Communal Experiments: Shakers; Robert Owen, New Harmony; Oneida Community (nov 1, 1840 – oct 1, 1849)

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Communal experiments were people trying to break away from society and try to make a mini-Utopia. Many were short lived yet people kept trying to make them work. One of the earliest experiments were known as the Shakers and had around 6,000 members in various communities by the 1840s. They died out around the 1900s because of the lack of recruitment. New Harmony was another of these experiments was created by Robert Owen in New Harmony, Indiana. He had hoped his Utopia would provide an answer to the inequity and alienation caused by the industrial revolution, however, his experiment also failed due to financial probems and disputes among members. The Oneida Community was rather successful and known for producing very fine silverware however, it was criticized over its practices of free love and how everything was share

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