Inside a Post-Capitalism Community

In our new series, Outliers, VICE explores worlds beyond the economic mainstream, meeting people who’ve chosen unusual and sometimes radical relationships to money, commerce and capitalism. For our first episode we headed to Virginia, where a cluster of communes thrives in rural, conservative Louisa County. [Originally by US]

*This video originally aired on the VICE News YouTube Channel in 2017

[gilbenmoshe]

As someone who lives in a commune I'd like to explain: my community is still engaged in capitalism, while most of us don't have to deal with it directly. I don't have to think about spending, saving, investing or stressing about it. I don't like to deal with money so I like this lifestyle. It's not for everyone by any means.

[SajoieDeVie]

I lived here for a couple of years, and I love it when the algorithms randomly put videos about it in my feed. Good times. I enjoyed my time there.

[prenuptials]

This raises a very old and forgotten distinction between capitalism and socialism, which unfortunately fell out after the communist countries after the USSR co-opted the term. Socialism is when the workers own the means of production, capitalism is when they're privately held. Engaging in a market isn't capitalism, which should be obvious because markets existed before capitalism.

[wandererstraining]

To me, the strong message that is sent through that short documentary is that worker owned and worker operated businesses can work, and that they are likely a lot more comfortable to work within than many other business structures. Democracy in the workplace is going to be an important battle in the future.

[anonymousbosch]

I always suspected that half the appeal of zombie and post apocalypse movies and art was that it gives people an excuse to form or join an “intentional community” who are generally dissatisfied with our current state of society.
I’m a union worker an activist for similar reasons that are described in this segment

[getmyaccounttok]

The man jumping at the end surprised me a bit with that agility lol

[jonno.alexander]

The comments makes my eyes bleed. Ya'll, selling something for a profit isn't automatically "capitalism". Markets and profits have existed long before capitalism. This is a socialist community, period. They collectively own the means of production and all produce according to need, and even receive an equal salary.

[DialTransmition]

"tofu moral manager to boost the happiness of the residents who spend their days hauling bags of soybeans"
The jokes writes themselves

[ardalla]

I was a member. You can't really expect a video like this to give you any more than a brief overview -- and that's all it does. It's all very distorted. Average length of stay there is 10 yrs only if you mess around with the numbers until 'average' takes on a whole new meaning. If you make a list of the people who are there right now and average it out (I wonder if they mean 'median' instead of 'average') then you probably get the 10 yrs figure. But I digress.

I think the main takeaway from this is given between the lines. TO is NOT career oriented. The work that they do supports the community. If something you want to do doesn't support the community, you do it on your own time either at your own expense or you might receive a small stipend to buy some supplies you might need -- like paints and brushes if you are an artist. The community will not buy you a personal music instrument. If the community buys a drum kit, for example, it will be a public drum kit available to everyone.

The result of all that being: if you want a "career" ... engineering, professional musician, website design, anything medical, etc ... you're wasting your time at TO. It's an interesting place to live and hang out for a couple of years, but anyone staying longer than that is there only for ideological reasons or because the interpersonal dynamics of living that closely with others appeals to them so much that the rest of their life tends to fade away. That dream you might have once had of being a travel consultant or an accountant just evaporates. If that's what you want to happen to you, then TO is your spot.

Might also keep in mind that TO does not contribute to your Social Security account. If you stay there many years, then the prospect of receiving SS disappears as something you can depend on for retirement. Bottom line: people get stuck in community after a while and CAN'T leave (unless you want to live on the street and hope for a few bucks a day in donations to keep you from starving -- not a pleasant prospect for old age).

Also be aware that the basic human desire to have children is not a decision you can make for yourself at TO. Children have to be approved by the community. Not only children arriving with their parent(s), but also pregnancies. Another thing, if diet is a major consideration for you, you don't have much control over what you eat at TO. Meals are prepared, and if you don't care for them then you go into the kitchen and cook something you like better. And yet another thing, if you live in a city you might have access to a million possible friends. At TO, you're stuck with the small number of people who are there on the farm at any one time. If there is no one there you are attracted to, then you're sort of out of luck. You can hope someone shows up eventually ... or you can leave. Many people just leave.

[nuterra]

Me: *Looks at comments* "This is Capitalism."
Me: *watching video*
Video: Workers collectively owning the means of production.
*Socialism intensifies.*
Me after video: Damn lol this is deeply Socialist. I am more surprised the CIA hasn't shown up yet.

[dorianalexander]

I'm surprised this community is getting so much hate. They're just living together happily making hammocks and tofu. 😂😂😂 And they have a chill process to join. Others require 6000 dollars to go take a 5 week gardening class and if they like you then you can stay. So compared to all that they seem to have found a way to live in a communal sense but also survive in the real world. It seems much more relaxed than feeling like you're always having to compete with others, feeling isolated from one's community and like no matter how hard one tries, it's never enough. I have lived in a community vaguely like this and it was really really nice. Granted there was more diversity but we all had separate jobs based on interest and shared resources. We had a large garden that fed the people that lived in the house. Granted it was on a much smaller scale but it was still a nice moment in time while I resided there.















I eventually left because my mom was going through some hard times and eventually died of sadness. After I stayed and took care of my father with dementia. And now my husband and I are looking into trying to create something similar to our community home in the future. But baby steps.

[SonofKiernan]

“What we are doing is Capitalism”

Vice: “THIS COMMUNITY HAS DROPPED OUT OF CAPITALISM”

[itsmesanto]

This is like farmers working together and taking care of everyone that creates an equal society where no one is competing with each other which makes all happy and contented with life.

[maff]

Instantly respected this man when he acknowledged he was still living in a capitalist regime

[MichalKunst]

They are basically regular company, which priority is not profit, but "employees". This can work in small communities where are no freeloaders.

[f-alightningii]

I don’t think people understand the difference between altering the social structure of a community away from capitalism...and abolishing the concept of capital. The title is clickbaity, I know. This community still exists within a capitalist society, but it’s clear that the institution of the community is not to bear profit or hierarchical economic structures, but to achieve an equilibrium between the participants, which is fundamentally not capitalist. It’s post capitalist. It similar to the relationships proto-capitalist societies had with “post feudalism”. It was a gradual transition.

Not a socialist/communist. I merely think there is a fundamental difference between capitalism and what this community practices, regardless of any participation in the outer capitalist system.

[mexdonough]

For all the people commenting: No, *markets* don't equal capitalism. The commune is engaged in a market where most companies *are* capitalist because their workers are not the owners of the companies where they work. In the commune, they are. This is why it is not a capitalist company, it is a *cooperative*

[andyginterblues]

My family purchased what was to become Twin Maples Farm in upstate N.Y. in the early 1970's. It was definitely a commercial enterprise, although we were sometimes labeled as being communalistic. This was mostly due to our small- scale and "old- fashioned" farming practices (organics), and local prejudices that prevailed at the time. Anyway, we lost pretty much the entire place to foreclosure in the 1990's, small farms in N.Y. have had a hard time hanging on. (we only had a little over 150 acres to work with) With the economy seemingly sliding into another deep recession, I am now working on plans to revive Twin Maples. It wouldn't be on the original property, (the land was cut up and sold off following the foreclosure). It might not even be in New York state. I noticed in the graphic at the beginning of this video that upstate N.Y. is now apparently home to several communal communities, I wonder if anyone who is currently involved in one of these would care to chat, and give me some input and advice. Thank you.

[immerzart]

I feel like a lot of the negative comments are here because the title, but also because it's only 7 minutes. It's a really interesting subject, and I wish Vice would do more on the other communities they mentioned (kind of like their Kentucky Ayahuasca series but it's not following One Guy)

[meesterrain]

I have nothing negative to say about this story. Although I would go about the occupational system differently, for 15yrs I’ve been saying that this is an inevitability positive alternative to the grind. I’ve always dreamt of a hi-tech but energy renewable community. Communities integrating, stronger educations, better mental health...basically looking more @ a mindful future than a destructive past.