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THE FORT WAYNE JOURNAL-GAZETTE
Publishing Information COMMUNISM IN INDIANA
(Editorial)NOV. 29, 1937
Communism in Indiana! Oh, yes. Don't let anyone tell you differently.
Communistic experiments have been made in Indiana for more than a century.
And, without exception, they failed.
You know the story of New Harmony, down in the southern section of the state, in Posey county.
Robert Owen created the New Harmony experiment, paying $150,000 for some 30,000 acres on which to establish the principles of communal working and communal living.
In less than five years, Robert Owen lost everything except his shirt.
For Robert Owen's experiment flopped.
An enlightening summary of attempts to plant the seeds of Communism in Hoosier soil appeared in yesterday's Indianapolis Star.
Its author was Henry A. Pershing of South Bend, authority on the life of Johnny Appleseed and Hoosier history enthusiast.
According to Mr. Pershing, Indiana has had 20 or more settlements "in which all the land was owned in common and each one did his share and received in return for his labors his food, clothing, and some money."
Many of these settlements, Communistic in nature, were offshoots from New Harmony.
One was the Blue Spring community in Monroe community, near Bloomington.
Another was the Coal Creek community on Fountain county, near the Illinois line.
Lagrange county housed two such settlements, St. Joseph county one, and so it went throughout the length and breadth of Indiana.
Nearly as significant as the failure of all these Communistic experiments is the fact that elsewhere in America, communities based on Christian principles and exuding religious idealism not only succeeded but grew rich.
Communism per se has never flourished in Indiana. It has never flourished anywhere. In order to understand why abject failure will ever mark its course in the future, a study of Communism's failure in the past will prove profitable.