17:
345:’s "Freeland" concept. He returned next year with more of his followers and soon the colony's population grew by 30%. By the summer of 1905 Horr was able to change the BCCs constitution drastically to adhere to the Freeland concept. A new "local union" was established in New York, and five others in the near vicinity. The changes were not appreciated by the colony's older residents who started to resist the conversion of the colony to the new scheme in late 1905 and the colony became bitterly divided between the two factions, sometimes resulting in violence.
175:
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eight elected trustees would head a department of the organization. The president would theoretically head an executive department to generally supervise the group, but the most important position was secretary, which would head the colonization department charged with planting socialistic colonies. There were also departments for education (headed by the dean), organization, which would create new local unions, exchange, industry (headed by the Master
Workman) and finance.
221:
255:. By the time that the national board, their families and others arrived in March, the first building, Fort Bellamy, was finished and several others were in progress. However most members of the BCC board stayed in nearby Edison, where they leased a "national headquarters" for the brotherhood. By that summer membership had reached 3,000 members and 18 states had organizers. Through the organization department and the group's newspaper,
281:
emphasis on the creation of a national organization and other colonies, feeling that the more immediate goal should be the completion of
Equality. In early April, at a contentious meeting of the two factions, a plan to start an additional colony at Edison of the administrators was defeated and the Equality colonists proposed an amendment giving the colony complete independence in internal affairs, which passed by a vote of 298 to 176.
263:
207:, but the BCC did not join the new organization, rejecting its "class struggle" thesis with a vision of a colony that would include middle-class professionals and "everybody who believes in cooperation" and not just "the laboring classes so called". Weakened by the loss of Debs and the defection of some of its membership to the new SDA, the BCC set out to start its first colony.
284:
August
Lermond resigned from the BCC and returned to Maine, where he founded a new group, the Industrial Brotherhood. By the end of the year, most of the board members had left. In January 1899, a new slate of officers favored by the colonists was elected, and that February BCC headquarters was moved
194:
was elected president and an attempt made to draft Eugene V. Debs by electing him national organizer. However, Debs was at the time a fledgling socialist preoccupied with miners' union strikes in the
Mountain West and never served in an active capacity as the BCC's organizer. Debs nevertheless warmed
186:
The constitution's preamble committed the organization to three broad goals: "1. To educate the people in the principles of
Socialism; 2. To unite all socialists in one fraternal association; 3. To establish cooperative colonies and industries in one state until that state is socialized." Each of the
280:
However, dissension developed between the colonists at
Equality and the BCC leaders at Edison. The colonists resented that their money was being used to keep the administration in town, while they lived in the crude, unfinished buildings at the colony site. They also objected to the administration's
348:
The final factor in the demise of the colony occurred on
February 6, 1906, when an unknown person or group of people set fire to several buildings at night. The worst loss was the barn, which burned completely to the ground, killing most of the colony's cattle. The perpetrator was never identified,
289:
circulation plummeted. The
Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth as an organization was subsumed by Equality. While lip service was given to the idea of planting new colonies and socializing Washington for the next few years little was actually done toward those objectives and were eventually
232:
On
September 1, 1897 G.E. "Ed" Pelton left Maine for the Pacific Northwest to secure land for the colony. After visiting several sites, on October 15 he made a down payment of $ 100 to Mathias Decker, a conservative Skagit County farmer, for 280 acres (1.1 km) of land in Blanchard, Washington
228:
By mid-1897 the BCC had about 2200 members in 130 local unions. After short tours in
Tennessee and Arkansas, Lermond announced that August that Washington would be the most likely state for colonization. The southern states were already well settled and faced the "Negro question", while Washington
90:
advocating the plan and suggesting that the socialist colonists would be able to initiate the collective ownership of the means of production in the state by voting in a socialist government. Lermond envisioned an organization of many local unions ("L.U.s") that would provide the colonists with
142:
This convention, however, did not materialize. Lermond could not get away from the Populist convention, and Imogene Fales attended a National Cooperative Congress that created a new American Cooperative union with her as secretary. The Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth was officially
55:
195:
up to the idea of colonizing a relatively unpopulated western state and making use of the ballot box to win control of state government and maintained close contact with the organization, meeting with Lermond in Terre Haute on May 24 to discuss possible unification of his
110:. In the spring of that year he announced he was setting up an "organizational meeting" to create a "National Union of the Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth" scheduled to be held in St. Louis on July 24–26, 1896, congruent with that year's
202:
Meanwhile, Victor Berger and his group were urging him to create a new socialist organization committed to political action and not colonization. Lermond, Parsons and Reed attended the June 1897 convention of the ARU which created the
293:
The colony flourished for a few years, building two large apartments, a barn, a dining room and kitchen, a school house, a public hall, a store room, a printing office, a saw mill, a root house, a blacksmith and copper shop, an
229:
had a small, sparse population with liberal inclinations and a Populist governor who was rumored to be sympathetic to the BCC. There were also a number of local unions already in the state, seven of which had sites available.
190:
Not all of these positions were filled, however. Lloyd and Hunter declined their positions, and the post of distributor was apparently unfilled. In new elections held in January 1897, radical minister
349:
but each faction blamed the other for the arson. A suit was filed in Skagit County to dissolve the colony and the BCC went into receivership; its history ended when its land was sold for $ 12,500 to
851:
95:, which colonized Kansas with abolitionists prior to the U.S. Civil War in order to make the territory a free state. Lloyd gave the plan modest financial backing.
298:, a bakery, a cereal and coffee house, and a milk house. Its population fluctuated, but was about 100 by the spring of 1903, when only the "die hards" remained.
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financial, material, and moral support, coordinated by a national "center or union" controlled by seven trustees. His immediate model was the
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to Equality. From that point membership in the BCC fell to nearly 300, material support and new members from the outside dried up and
237:. Additional purchases and contributions were made until the colony reached an area of 600 acres (2.4 km) by the summer of 1898.
920:
46:
in 1897. It was meant to serve as a model which would convert the rest of Washington and later the entire continent to socialism.
362:
329:. This colony should not be confused with Equality in its later stages which was sometimes referred to as Freeland Colony.
492:"Equality Colony: A Brief History Showing Our Objects and Present Condition — Cooperative Colonies Are Not All Failures"
102:
that winter. In December 1895, Lermond issued a call for the creation of more local unions in the pages of the New York
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announced the adoption of a constitution and the election of seven officers: Lloyd as president, Lermond as secretary,
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Logo of the Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth, the entity behind Equality Colony in Washington state
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A page describing the collection that links to the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections.
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Lermond started the first local union in Warren on October 18, 1895, and Pelton established the second in
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arrived with his family at age 14 in April 1898 and began to learn journalism and printing by working on
204:
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that a series of socialist colonies be established in a single western state (Gordan suggested Texas.)
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national convention, to which he was a delegate. A formal "call" for this convention was published in
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on June 1, 1907. A few families stayed in the area on plots of land that they owned individually.
314:. He eventually became its editor, until the publication folded in December 1902. He also started
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Lermond and Pelton started a vigorous letter-writing campaign to notable reformers such as
147:, which was quickly becoming the movement's semi-official newspaper. On September 19, the
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newspaper of the Equality Colony published at Edison, Washington from 1898 through 1902
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Fabian anarchism : a fragmentary exposition of mutualism, communism and Freeland
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The first fifteen settlers arrived on November 1, 1897 and named the colony after
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681:"E. G. Pelton and other socialists found Equality Colony on November 1, 1897"
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The colony's origins lay in ideas of New England reformers in the mid-1890s.
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28:
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259:(which began in May), the Brotherhood maintained its "national character".
718:
LeWarne, Charles P., "Equality Colony: The Plan to Socialize Washington,"
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In 1900 and 1901 some colonists left Equality to found a new community on
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723:
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75:, and Ed Pelton had been intrigued by an idea originally suggested by
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635:. San Francisco, CA, US: Freeland Ptg. & Pub. Co. p. 3.
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262:
498:. New Series (9). Brotherhood Co-operative Commonwealth: 1, 4.
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49:
520:– via Chronicling America « Library of Congress.
826:– via Chronicling America « Library of Congress
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writer George Boomer (1862-1915) was among the editors of
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organized through a mail referendum conducted through the
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July 11 and 18, and was endorsed by Henry Demarest Lloyd,
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with the BCC at convention scheduled three weeks later.
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University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections
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832:"Peter L. Hegg Equality Colony photographs"
790:Smith, Frederick E., and Lowe, Florence M.
733:. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
233:located 2 miles northeast of the hamlet of
50:Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth
44:Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth
936:1897 establishments in Washington (state)
810:, Brotherhood Co-operative Commonwealth,
722:vol. 59, no. 3 (July 1968), pp. 137-146.
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337:In autumn 1904 the colony was visited by
42:by a political organization known as the
931:Utopian communities in the United States
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276:the weekly newspaper of Equality Colony.
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325:called the Free Land Association, or
302:, who would later play a role in the
926:Populated places established in 1897
916:History of Skagit County, Washington
757:"Equality's Struggle for Existence,"
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762:whole no. 55 (May 27, 1899), pg. 2.
318:in 1899 for the colony's children.
13:
210:
155:as treasurer, Frank Parsons dean,
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947:
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768:The Forging of American Socialism
731:Utopias on Puget Sound, 1885-1915
921:Politically motivated migrations
93:New England Emigrant Aid Company
852:"Photos of the Equality Colony"
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58:The Equality Colony, circa 1900
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1:
490:Halladay, H.W. (1901-11-01).
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224:Logo of Equality Colony, 1898
71:, a journalist and farmer in
720:Pacific Northwest Quarterly,
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363:The Cooperative Brotherhood
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205:Social Democracy of America
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770:. Columbia, SC: Howard H.
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62:
729:LeWarne, Charles (1995).
306:of 1919 as editor as the
100:Damariscotta Mills, Maine
838:. Orbis Cascade Alliance
766:Quint, Howard H (1953).
627:Horr, Alexander (1911).
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641:2027/uc1.31175035182222
452:"Plan to Redeem Toil,"
304:Seattle general strike
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197:American Railway Union
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69:Norman Wallace Lermond
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308:Seattle Union Record,
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77:Socialist Labor Party
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88:Henry Demarest Lloyd
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760:Industrial Freedom,
706:, pp. 109–111.
685:www.historylink.org
670:, pp. 105–107.
617:, pp. 114–115.
593:, pp. 102–103.
468:, pp. 285–291.
274:Industrial Freedom,
180:Industrial Freedom,
163:master workman and
128:William D. P. Bliss
807:Industrial Freedom
496:Industrial Freedom
312:Industrial Freedom
287:Industrial Freedom
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257:Industrial Freedom
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153:B. Franklin Hunter
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34:colony founded in
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605:, pp. 88–89.
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545:, pp. 63–66.
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157:Morrison I. Swift
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290:forgotten.
159:organizer,
120:Eugene Debs
911:Bellamyism
905:Categories
887:49°N 122°W
861:2021-07-24
842:2021-07-24
776:B000GJHY72
690:2019-11-02
654:2021-07-24
517:2021-07-24
466:Quint 1953
441:Quint 1953
405:Quint 1953
369:References
300:Harry Ault
241:Settlement
161:I. E. Dean
40:Washington
816:2333-8466
794:. , 1988.
784:988670668
649:867716052
629:"Preface"
504:2333-8466
167:, of the
32:socialist
892:49; -122
749:47010928
724:In JSTOR
357:See also
333:Freeland
327:Freeland
252:Equality
171:editor.
106:and the
824:7500268
713:Sources
512:7500268
266:Former
79:member
63:Origins
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296:apiary
235:Edison
27:was a
878:122°W
216:Plans
875:49°N
820:OCLC
812:ISSN
780:OCLC
772:ASIN
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735:ISBN
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