The ship I was on had about 300 enlisted and under maybe 50 officers. After a year or so you knew everybody's name and enough about personalities to avoid conflicts. I don't think a non-military pure commune of that size could stand.

At some point I'll bet communism begins making concessions to human nature. What do you think?

The univ claimed the mantle of communism because the wages were equal? What else? How was it funded?

I wonder how Mondragon's are able to sustain community trust at 500. Probably because they don't require community in the sense of culture but only within the organization.

B

For a few years, when I was teaching at another college, I used to hook up with a Political Science professor who was a former officer on a submarine. His speciality was analyzing and understanding small intentional communities. His interest grew from his life in the Navy. We used to take our classes to a small religious commune in the mountains outside of Denver to get an experience of communism.

The communist college was a Bible college funded by donations. Not many people there would have been willing to call themselves communist. As I recall, a lot of them voted for Goldwater. It certainly was not democratic or anti-authoritarian which seem to be important parts of communism. But they were economically egalitarian (which the slight exception of women--who were paid less)

Some people argue that Mondragon is unsuccessful in resolving class differences, even at 500. But they do manage to run a successful operation.

I am still reluctant to make bold statements about 'human nature'. I haven't been mislead by lifelong study of other animals which have fixed natures

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1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
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1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
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