What Is Our Purpose?

If you’ve spent any time poking around on this site, you may wonder what the purpose of it is. Or what about it sets it apart from other sites that touch upon Utopian Socialism in one way or another. The answer is that this site has five specific goals in mind:

1. To demonstrate that the 19th century Utopian Socialist movement is not something that should be relegated to the dustbin of history and forgotten. Their failed social experiments conveyed many lessons to future generations that can be analyzed, corrected, and expanded upon. Their failure was not in vain, but has been part of a long process of experimentation that continues to this day. 

2. To demonstrate that the modern intentional communities movement is built upon the lessons learned from their failed 19th century counterparts. The colossal failure of Marxism represented an interruption of that process, but which is now being resumed and carried on. The result of that ongoing experiment is that it has been refined to a considerable degree and is now well positioned to deliver broader benefits to society. 

3. To increase awareness of the many groups and organizations that are doing valuable work in this field, to showcase some of their successes, and to demonstrate the likelihood of those successes continuing to a broader degree as we move forward. As it is, there is almost nothing in the mainstream media about the intentional communities movement. Even groups positioned on the left give it little to no attention. As their successes continue to fly beneath the radar of both the mainstream and left wing media, it is the goal of this site to shed some positive light upon them. 

4. To see a greater harmonization of efforts by the many disconnected groups and organizations that are working in this field under a broader Utopian Socialist umbrella. Groups like the Federation of Egalitarian Communities (FEC), the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), and many others, are doing fine work within their own little spheres. But I don’t think they consider how their efforts intersect, or how their combined efforts could produce larger dividends. If, for example, the communities within the FEC were to act as test beds for the work being done in perennial polycultures by The Land Institute, each would benefit the other in the long run and serve to amplify each others successes. Similarly, if intentional communities were to contribute to the development and testing of Marcin Jakubowski’s Open Source Ecology, especially the Global Village Construction Set, each would help the other along. 

5. To position Utopian Socialism as the most promising venue for leftists to invest their efforts in the 21st century, and to thus become the leading successor to the failing capitalist paradigm. It seems increasingly unlikely that the coming capitalist-driven ecological apocalypse can be avoided in its entirety. The best that can probably be hoped for at this late stage is to mitigate its worst effects to some degree. The more that groups within the Utopian Socialist umbrella embrace this role, the better positioned they’ll be to surpass the antiquated notion of revolutionary Marxism on the one hand, and the ineffectual notion of reformist politics on the other, as the best method for usurping capitalism’s role as the dominant social paradigm, and of leading the transition to a sustainable and equitable society.