We found an abandoned socialist colony - from 100 years ago!

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We found an abandoned socialist colony - from 100 years ago!

Postby stillrobertpaulsen » Thu Feb 09, 2017 2:45 pm

Along Highway 138 in the Antelope Valley in southern California, there are the remains of a socialist commune created over 100 years ago. It was called the Llano del Rio Colony and it was created by a former minister turned politician/lawyer named Job Harriman who formally launched the commune on May 1, 1914 on land in the southern edge of the Mojave Desert that he purchased in 1913.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXydZlhl1iQ

Neek and I have driven past the ruins of this commune during a number of different road trips over the years. So we were very excited to get out of the car and explore it for the first time!
"Huey Long once said, “Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism.” I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."
-Jim Garrison 1967
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Re: We found an abandoned socialist colony - from 100 years

Postby PufPuf93 » Thu Feb 09, 2017 10:37 pm

More cool stuff.

Was their water well water? They must have had a good flow to grow crops like alfalfa.

Who owns the property now?

Your blog: https://lexandneek.wordpress.com/2017/0 ... #more-2029

About Job Harriman from wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_Harriman

>>Llano Cooperative Colony

Following the narrow defeat in his second bid for Mayor of Los Angeles, Job Harriman turned his back on electoral politics. He instead sought to establish a self-sufficient community upon socialist principles. Together with a group of like-minded investors he purchased a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) parcel of land in California's Antelope Valley, which the group named Llano del Rio. The land included water rights — a critical factor due to the location of the land in an oasis in the Mojave Desert.[3]

Advertisements were taken in the socialist press and shares sold to interested families for $500 cash. In addition, each family was asked to contribute a minimum of $2000 in personal property to a "common storehouse" established for the benefit of the entire community.[3]
Beginning with just five families, by 1914 the Llano community had grown to over 1,000 people. Tents were replaced by adobe buildings, and various enterprises, such as a sawmill, kiln, cannery, and bakery, were established.[3] The group issued its own monthly magazine, The Western Comrade (later changing its name to The Llano Colonist, with Harriman acting as editor.[6]

Unfortunately, local farmers began to complain that the socialist community was consuming more than its fair share of precious water, resulting in a stream of lawsuits over the issue. Worse yet, the community proved incapable of advancing beyond a very basic economic level, causing discontent among its members. A new location was found in Leesville, Louisiana in 1918, but the new environs did not suit Harriman and he soon returned home to Los Angeles. The Llano community survived in difficult conditions into the 1930s.[3]

Thank you. Interesting.
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Re: We found an abandoned socialist colony - from 100 years

Postby stillrobertpaulsen » Fri Feb 10, 2017 5:52 pm

Good questions, PufPuf93. I'm not sure who owns the land, but I believe the water rights are owned by a private company, the Llano del Rio Water Company. I do know the site has been declared a California Historical Landmark #933 in 1982, but the 150 pound marker was stolen two weeks later.

http://angelesadventures.com/llanodelrio/
"Huey Long once said, “Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism.” I'm afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."
-Jim Garrison 1967
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