The Plymouth Pilgrims accidentally ran the first documented socialist experiment in America three centuries before Marx scribbled his manifesto. ... "common storehouse" system from 1620-1623 delivered textbook collectivist results

x.com ^ | May 5, 2026 | Handre @Handre

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Handre

 

@Handre

The Plymouth Pilgrims accidentally ran the first documented socialist experiment in America three centuries before Marx scribbled his manifesto. Governor William Bradford's "common storehouse" system from 1620-1623 delivered textbook collectivist results: mass shirking, crop failures, and near-starvation.

Bradford recorded the disaster in detail. Young men "complained that they were oppressed" when forced to work for others without reward. Productive colonists watched lazy neighbors receive equal rations despite contributing nothing. The system "was found to breed much confusion and discontent" because it violated basic human incentives. People starved while fertile Massachusetts soil lay underworked.

The turnaround came swiftly in 1623 when Bradford abandoned the collective model and assigned private family plots. Production exploded overnight. Women and children voluntarily joined field work when their families directly benefited from extra effort. The same colonists who nearly died under socialism suddenly produced abundant harvests under private property.

Bradford explicitly credited private ownership for saving Plymouth Colony. He documented how individual responsibility transformed human behavior within a single growing season. Individual effort cannot be separated from individual reward without destroying both.

Every socialist experiment since Plymouth has repeated this identical pattern. Different century, different continent, same predictable collapse when planners ignore the reality of human nature.

No matter what they call it, whenever and wherever collectivist ideas are put into practice, disaster soon follows.

 

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[Nateman]

Every year around Thanksgiving Rush would tell this story.

[Nateman]

[Wuli]

And it didn’t work.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

Yes, El Rush-Bo included this insane attempt at what is basically a commune.

The Real Story of Thanksgiving

https://officialrushlimbaugh.com/the-true-story-of-thanksgiving/

The Pilgrims nearly starved because they practiced a form of “socialism” or collectivism—holding all property in common—which destroyed the incentive to work. They thrived only after Governor William Bradford assigned private plots of land, introducing free enterprise and creating a massive harvest.

[Jim W N]

Didn’t work.

They had the good sense to abandon socialism.

[Jim W N]

Nobody’s version of socialism has ever worked...

[SteveH]

I thought Jamestown common store was the first colonial attempt at socialism (1607).

and this would not count what seems to be numerous partially successful attempts by native americans (eg cahokia collective land management, etc) well before jamestown.

[SteveH]

also the article appears to presume that written documentation is a necessary prerequisite towards proving that a settlement attempted socialism— i am fairly certain that archaeologists would tend to disagree...

[Vermont Lt]

And…they nearly starved.

[Hyman Roth]

It just hasn’t been done right. /SSSSSS

[CatOwner]

I wonder how many socialist European countries would have collapsed by now if not propped up by the US.

[ComputerGuy]

My ancestor Richard Warren among them.

[stanne]

Yeah. And it failed

[stevio]

I’ve told my kids in their younger years, that communism only works in a loving family.

[SunkenCiv]

Some of the ancestors died from that, more than a couple didn't, so, whew!

• William Bradford's "common storehouse" [Brave search]

[Nateman]

Socialism is basically legalized theft. How could such a system ever work?

[sopo]

Well there was Joseph in Egypt

[normbal]

Curiously, everywhere, every time it’s tried, the socialist experiment produces the same results. Scarcity, greed, coveting, sloth, famine, starvation, death. When weaponizd - forced upon a previously successful group or country - it causes genocide.

Dementiacrats call this a success story and believe if it’s ONLY done just a LITTLE bit differently, it’ll produce different results.

[No name given]

And socialism NEVER will work ever.