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First off, if anyone has even better and more accurate information, please share it. History, accurate history, is a necessity for knowledge and growth.

I think that Ms. Spurlock needs to do more homework on the subject. It wasn’t communism, and it wasn’t the settlers that initiated the system that was used at the time, but was instead imposed by the financing company, the London Company, for the settlement on the original charter. It wasn’t an “experiment” as she states, but was a dictated agreement by the London Company for them paying for the settlement, which obviously failed.

The socialism style of living was abandoned and thereafter things changed and life for the early colonists improved. Capitalism is what saved the colonies in the end.

This is the reason for the Communism claim. Two settlements, Jamestown, settled originally 1606, and Plymouth shortly thereafter. A couple pieces of information and an article from HumanEvents.com follows at the end of those two pieces.

As for her “restoring history” claim, I think it was in reality a more of re-writing history, to suit their own views…Communism, the word itself, was not in the charter. I can find no information proving that such a word existed. A socialistic type of life was part of the charter, though I believe it was termed “communal” at the time.

Read “Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–47″ by William Bradford, the Colony’s longtime Governor.

Some snippets from around the web…

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Jamestown 1616

The colony had originally been organized with community ownership of all assets. The settlers shared food, tools, products, jobs, and theoretically even the profits. In 1616, however, that experiment is terminated and all the assets are divided up among the members. The conclusion is that the first experiment in pure communism in America was a failure.

By now the trial and error period is over, and Jamestown begins to function as a cooperative enterprise. The leaders of the colony turn out not to be the well-born, but those who can function and survive in the wilderness. “”
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Jamestown Chronology:

For an account of the difficulties in Jamestown, read the excerpt from Captain John Smith’s “Generall Historie of Virginia,” which was printed in 1624. He describes his own adventures but also offers a grim account of the “starving time.”

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Plymouth

The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that conceit of Plato’s … that the taking away of property and bringing community into a commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing…. For this community … was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. The strong … had no more in division of victuals and clothes than he that was weak and not able to do a quarter the other could; this was thought injustice….

(William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–47, New York: Knopf, 1952, pp. 120–21.)

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After the poor harvest of 1622, writes Bradford, “they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop.” They began to question their form of economic organization.

This had required that “all profits & benefits that are got by trade, working, fishing, or any other means” were to be placed in the common stock of the colony, and that, “all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock.” A person was to put into the common stock all he could, and take out only what he needed.

This “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” was an early form of socialism, and it is why the Pilgrims were starving. Bradford writes that “the strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes, than he that was weak.” So the young and strong refused to work and the total amount of food produced was never adequate.

To rectify this situation, in 1623 Bradford abolished socialism. He gave each household a parcel of land and told them they could keep what they produced, or trade it away as they saw fit. In other words, he replaced socialism with a free market, and that was the end of famines. “”

From:
The Ludwig von Mises Institute (A Pro Libertarian Institute)
Founded in 1982 as the research and educational center of classical liberalism, libertarian political theory, 518 West Magnolia Avenue • Auburn, Alabama 36832-4501 • Phone: 334.321.2100 • Fax: 334.321.2119

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The impetus for this story predates talk radio, the Internet, and Fox News. The agreement between the Pilgrims and their backers, which predated even Plymouth Rock, stipulated that for seven years the colonists were to “have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock and goods.”

From: http://www.humanevents.com/
See the website for the full article.

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People often confuse socialism with communism, so it is quite common that the term communism is used, even if wrongly used. In reality it was a form of socialism (communal living) that was part of the charter and agreement between the finance backers and the colonists.

Ms Spurlock is correct… the system put in place when the Pilgrams arrived was a socialist system. Though it was probably not called that. Obviiously the lady was explaining similarities… Every Pilgram was supposed to work for the common good – like the communist / socialist systems today. Naturally their system broke down – because of the lazy – evidently there were Democrats back then.

The colony nearly starved to death so they changed to a capitalist system. Once people were able to work their own land and shops the community thrived… I’m assuming the forefathers of the Democrats were the dunces we’ve seen in the stocks.

Marx put forth the Manifesto… he never worked a day in his life… he was from an upper class Prussian family, went to college, majored in poetry and flunked out… HIs father supported him in any case… probably to keep him from coming home. He hung around the University coffee shops with other failures… he did get his PhD however… he paid a few Marks and sent away to a phony university which issued him his degree via mail… much like our present University system… if you hang around college long enough, make sure you learn a couple large works… not too many… you too get a Phd… and get to teach others.

Vote for Gail… she’s obviously smarter than the fools who run this site.

Reality could be more remarkable as compared with celebrities.

Its wonderful to understand that facts might be a bit off in this candidates position. That is rich. Failing, in spite of being … Simply Misinformed!

Such huffing and puffing from the Insider folks!

Does the fact that Ms. Spurlock is 100 percent correct in reporting this history carry any weight with them at all? Makes one wonder what other facts – historical or otherwise – they choose to ignore.

She is correct.

She is 100% correct. That is one of the greatest lessons of our Nation. Communism doesn’t work, and it HAS been tried before, by the Pilgrims. If you don’t learn your true history, you are bound to repeat it. And the revisionist history that has been all that is taught in schools for the past 100 years is not true history. In order to get true history you must learn from history book and historians that call to us from before 1900.

I always wondered why the Pilgrims kept dying out. I would ask and got vague responses from my teachers like it was the cold weather or lack of training or I don’t know. Knowing this piece of the puzzle makes much more sense, not only in the matter of how the Colonies started to flourish but also in the matter of how the American spirit of independence and entrepreneurship was born from those that came from a controlling Monarch country. In a distant land far from their oppressors with the freedom to think for themselves and listen to God’s good words they learned and created the true American Dream and Spirit!

Obama, Pelosi, Reid and the rest of the socialists in this administration need to study this example and note that their leftist policies and programs FAIL every time they are attempted. Socialism can only survive as long as it can be artificially “propped up” with producer’s (taxpayer’s money). However, when the number of producer’s pulling the economic “wagon” gets too small to pull all the entitlement-dependent consumers IN the wagon, the economy dies. Pay attention!!! America is tettering on the edge of a fiscal abyss…and all our pr3esident can think of to say is “FORWARD!”

This is correct. Natural systems are not based on on communism. Communism is actually unnatural. Even in ant and bee hives which the communist most address as communal. There is the idea that the society never advances nor it never does anything except for eat work to feed birth work to feed then die off. Which even then it is a monarchist society as the Queen in both societies lives the most comfortable natural life.

Then we see life as a whole. The Communist wish us all to be more cavemanish. However, even in caveman days as per living they each fought for their own mate, did not share unless the other was able to also find something to trade freely out of their own values and worth.

Communism itself is a means of economic warfare. Which allows one tribe to take over another tribe by enforcing slave-ship to a single party to all. so they can slowly devour all cultures and economies except for their own.

Rider I
Anti Economic Warfare Blog Cite

At that time, communism was merely an economic system, not an ideology. Will Durant documents other communist communities initiated by Jesuits in South America among hunter-gatherer societies during the same era, and speaks highly of them.

The primary point of my statement was to demonstrate that communism and socialism are extremely old, and the antithesis of “progressive”. Democracy is also old and was firmly rejected by our founders because democracies only last until the majority discovers that they can “vote” themselves other people’s money. Several republics also predated the founding of the United States of America.

Being fully educated in all of the prior forms of government, our founding fathers crafted a unique combination of checks and balances in the development of our Constitutional Republic, which is the newest and most truly progressive form of government ever devised. They deliberately engineered a new form of government that cultivated the highest character of mankind and mitigated its inherent frailties.

A little over a century later, in an aristocratic backlash against the forces of liberty, Karl Marx was recruited to write The Communist Manifesto. He appropriated the musty old idea of communism to give a “populist” façade to tyranny. A certain segment of the populace has bought it hook, line and sinker. And… I just happen to have a bridge for sale…just kidding, it’s against my principles to take advantage of others. But as mentioned above, if one forgets history or chooses to neglect it, one is doomed to repeat it.

Best regards,
Gail Spurlock

Good letter Gail. Communism destroys personal initiative (sort of like the massive growth of “entitlements” for which no personal effort is required — lessened eligibility requirements and significant increases in spending under Democrats for the 4 years that they had total contol of both the House and the Senate, from Jan., 2007 until Jan., 2011). Socialist/statists like those who permeate the current administration are focusing on only one goal, Obama’s re-election via radicalization and the redistribution of wealth from those who earned it to those who didn’t. Obama is convinced that “If I rob Peter to pay Paul, I get Paul’s vote!” (Unfortunately, he is right in too many cases.)

“Every time the government attempts to handle our affairs, it costs more and the results are worse than if we had handled them ourselves.” Benjamin Constant, Cours de politique constitutionnelle (1818-20)

Henry Clay once said, “Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees.” When those officers repeatedly tell the public what the public can plainly see isn’t true, that trust is broken. President Obama and the Democrat leaders in Congress have repeatedly and consistently broken this trust with the American people…to the point that the “change” for which so many had originally “hoped” has yielded an abysmal national reality (i.e., “HOPELESS CHANGE”), plus a material and substantial abrogation of: states’ rights; the constitutionally-prescribed powers of the legislative branch; and, our individual liberties. It is far past time for the House of Representatives and Speaker Boehner to act affirmatively on behalf of our Republic, our Constitution and “We the People.” America cannot afford 4 more years of Obama’s promised “fundamental transformation” to a socialist state.

I am insulted not only by your preposterous claim, but more by your politicization of history, with great disregard for the TRUTH. You cannot call something by a name when that thing which you name comes before the name was coined. (Like calling Christ a Christian) Additionally, you have judged the pilgrims without actually describing who they were, in any way shape or form. You omit the religious views of the day and lack accountability for shaping the world in which they came from. You claim that it is communism to share resources? Then I assert that every Goddamned house in this country is communist. Despite your quantity of education, you could have saved yourself a lot of money by simply getting a library card, since I am certain you do not know how to use a computer properly. You are ignorant and incorrigible, but I am simply judging you on your similarities.

Thank you

[...] Gail Spurlock, whose most high-profile moment of the campaign came after her assertion that the pilgrims were communists. Adding to the stakes in that race, as the Dallas Voice points out, is Clayton’s chance to become [...]