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{{Short description|Planned, socially-cohesive, residential community}}
{{redirect-several|dab=off|Collective settlement (litigation)|Utopian Society (film)|Utopian experiment (disambiguation)}}
{{For|other uses of "Commune" and "Communal"|Commune (disambiguation)|Communal (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|Planned community|International community}}
[[File:Peckham Bruderhof.jpg|thumb|Members of the [[Anabaptist]] Christian [[Bruderhof Communities]] live, eat, work and worship communally.]]
[[File:Amsterdam - Young musicians - 1250.jpg|thumb|Young musicians living in a shared community in [[Amsterdam]]]]
[[File:Traditional Ashram.jpg|thumb|Traditional ashram]]
[[File:Ecovillage "Velyka Rodyna" in Troshcha 02.jpg|thumb|Ecovillage "Velyka Rodyna" in Troshcha ({{langx|uk|[[:uk:Троща (Вінницький район)|Троща]]}}).]]
{{Living spaces}}
{{Utopia}}

An '''intentional community''' is a voluntary residential [[community]] designed to foster a high degree of [[group cohesiveness|social cohesion]] and [[teamwork]].<ref name="communal">{{cite book|last1=Shenker |first1=Barry |title=Intentional Communities (Routledge Revivals) : Ideology and Alienation in Communal Societies |date=1986 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780203832639 |isbn=978-0-203-83263-9 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203832639/intentional-communities-routledge-revivals-barry-shenker |access-date=20 September 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="pitzer">{{cite journal |last1=Pitzer |first1=D. E. |title=Developmental communalism: An alternative approach to communal studies |journal=Utopian Thought and Communal Experience |date=1989 |pages=68–76}}</ref><ref name="mecalf">{{cite book |last1=Metcalf |first1=William James |title=The Findhorn book of community living |date=2004 |publisher=Findhorn Press |location=Forres, Scotland |isbn=9781844090327}}</ref> Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, which may be [[political]], [[religious]], [[Utopia|utopian]] or [[Spirituality|spiritual]], or are simply focused on the practical benefits of cooperation and mutual support. While some groups emphasise shared [[Ideology|ideologies]], others are centred on enhancing [[social connection]]s, sharing resources, and creating meaningful relationships.

Although intentional communities are sometimes described as [[alternative lifestyles]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Butcher |first1=A. A. |title=Communal Economics. |date=2002 |url=https://www.culturemagic.org/PDF/c3Communal20Economics.pdf |access-date=20 September 2021}}</ref> or [[social experiment]]s,<ref name=communal/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rubin |first1=Zach |date=31 August 2020 |title="A Not-so-silent Form of Activism": Intentional Community as Collective Action Reservoir |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0160597620951945 |journal=Humanity & Society |language=en |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=509–532 |doi=10.1177/0160597620951945 |issn=0160-5976 |access-date=20 September 2021 |s2cid=225187879|url-access=subscription }}</ref> some see them as a natural response to the isolation and fragmentation of modern housing, offering a return to the social bonds and collaborative spirit found in traditional [[village]] life.<ref>{{cite web |title=What is Cohousing? |url=https://www.cohousing.ca/about-cohousing/what-is-cohousing/ |website=Canadian Cohousing Network |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201180215/https://www.cohousing.ca/about-cohousing/what-is-cohousing/ |access-date=1 February 2022|archive-date=2022-02-01 }}</ref>

[[List of intentional communities|The multitude of intentional communities]] includes [[collective]] households, [[cohousing]] communities, [[coliving]], [[ecovillage]]s, [[monasteries]], [[Retreat (survivalism)|survivalist retreats]], [[kibbutz]]im, [[Hutterites|Hutterite colonies]], [[ashram]]s, and [[housing cooperative]]s.

== History ==
[[Ashrams]] are likely the earliest intentional communities, founded around 1500 BCE. [[Buddhist monasticism|Buddhist monasteries]] appeared around 500 BCE.<ref name=communalidea53>{{cite book |title=The Communal Idea in the 21st Century |date=28 September 2012 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |isbn=978-90-04-23625-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WQozAQAAQBAJ |access-date=20 September 2021 |language=en |page=53 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> [[Pythagoras]] founded an intellectual vegetarian commune in about 525 BCE in southern Italy.<ref name=metcalf/> Hundreds of modern intentional communities were formed across Europe, North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand out of the intellectual foment of [[utopianism]].<ref name=metcalf>{{cite journal |last1=Metcalf |first1=Bill |title=Utopian Struggle: Preconceptions and Realities of Intentional Communities |journal=RCC Perspectives |date=2012 |issue=8 |pages=21–30 |jstor=26240431 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26240431 |access-date=30 August 2021 |issn=2190-5088}}</ref> Intentional communities exhibit the utopian ambition to create a better, more sustainable world for living.<ref name=metcalf/> 

== Synonyms and definitions {{anchor|Synonyms|Definitions}}==
Additional terms referring to an intentional community can be [[alternative lifestyle]], '''intentional society''', '''cooperative community''', '''withdrawn community''', '''enacted community''', '''socialist colony''', '''communistic society''', '''collective settlement''', '''communal society''', '''commune''', '''mutualistic community''', '''communitarian experiment''', '''experimental community''', '''utopian experiment''', '''practical utopia''', and '''utopian society'''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sargent |first1=Lyman Tower |title=The Three Faces of Utopianism Revisited |journal=Utopian Studies |date=1994 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=1–37 |jstor=20719246 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20719246 |access-date=20 September 2021 |issn=1045-991X}}</ref>

The term '''utopian community''' as a synonym for an intentional community might be considered to be of pejorative nature and many intentional communities do not consider themselves to be utopian.<ref name=communal/> Also the alternative term '''commune'''{{efn|The word ''commune'' is originally a French word appearing in the 12th century from [[Medieval Latin]] ''[https://wiktionary.org/wiki/communis communia]'', meaning a large gathering of people sharing a common life; from [[Latin]] ''communis'', things held in common.<ref>[[Communes of France]]</ref>}} is considered to be non-neutral or even linked to [[leftist]] politics or [[hippies]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Obadia |first1=Julienne |title=Assembly by Aggregation: Making Individuals in the Face of Others in an American Intentional Community |journal=[[Anthropological Quarterly]] |date=2020 |volume=93 |issue=1 |pages=1387–1420 |doi=10.1353/anq.2020.0016 |s2cid=226716773 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/757550 |access-date=21 September 2021 |issn=1534-1518|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Communal Idea in the 21st Century |date=28 September 2012 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |isbn=978-90-04-23625-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WQozAQAAQBAJ |access-date=21 September 2021 |language=en |page=11 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Mahanty |first1=Shannon |title=Could you handle life in a commune? |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/london-commune-living-housing-co-op-b953403.html |access-date=16 October 2021 |work=[[Evening Standard]] |date=7 September 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Definitions of "intentional community"
|-
! Authorship !! Year !! Definition
|-
| B. Shenker || 1986 || ''"An intentional community is a relatively small group of people who have created a whole way of life for the attainment of a certain set of goals."''<ref name=communal/>
|-
| D. E. Pitzer || 1989 || Intentional communities are ''"small, voluntary social units partly isolated from the general society in which members share an economic union and lifestyle in an attempt to implement, at least in part, their ideal ideological, religious, political, social, economic, and educational systems"''.<ref name=pitzer/>
|-
| G. Kozeny || 1996 || ''"An 'intentional community' is a group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values. The people may live together on a piece of rural land, in a suburban home, or in an urban neighborhood, and they may share a single residence or live in a cluster of dwellings."''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kozeny |first1=Geoph |title=Intentional Communities: Lifestyles Based on Ideals |journal=Community Catalyst Project, Fellowship for Intentional Community Online |date=1996 |url=https://articles-and-essays.s3.amazonaws.com/Intentional+community+/G-Kozeny-lifestyles-based-on-ideals.pdf |access-date=20 September 2021}}</ref>
|-
| W. J. Metcalf || 2004 || An intentional community is ''"[f]ive or more people, drawn from more than one family or kinship group, who have voluntarily come together for the purpose of ameliorating perceived social problems and inadequacies. They seek to live beyond the bounds of mainstream society by adopting a consciously devised and usually well thought-out social and cultural alternative. In the pursuit of their goals, they share significant aspects of their lives together. Participants are characterized by a "we-consciousness," seeing themselves as a continuing group, separate from and in many ways better than the society from which they emerged."''<ref name=mecalf/>
|}

== Variety ==
The purposes of intentional communities vary and may be political, [[Spirituality|spiritual]], economic, or environmental.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Strongin |first1=Fay |title=Imagining the Intentional Community Counterpublic |date=2010 |publisher=DSpace |edition=Dissertation |url=https://scholarship.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/bitstream/handle/10066/5440/2010StronginF.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=20 September 2021}}</ref> In addition to spiritual communities, [[Secularity|secular]] communities also exist.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Caplan |first1=Mariana |title=Spiritual Communities: There's More to Them Than Meets the Third Eye |url=https://www.ic.org/wiki/spiritual-communities-theres-meets-third-eye/ |website=[[Foundation for Intentional Community|Fellowship for Intentional Community]] |access-date=March 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702215255/http://www.ic.org/wiki/spiritual-communities-theres-meets-third-eye/ |archive-date=July 2, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> One common practice, particularly in spiritual communities, is [[communal meal]]s.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jul/25/inside-the-bruderhof-review-is-this-a-religious-stirring-i-feel |title=Inside the Bruderhof review – is this a religious stirring I feel?|last=Mangan |first=Lucy |author-link=Lucy Mangan |date=2019-07-25|work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=2019-07-31 |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> [[egalitarianism|Egalitarian]] values can be combined with other values.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dancingrabbit.org/social-change/social-change/dr-culture/feminism-empowerment-and-justice/ |title=Feminism, Empowerment, and Justice {{!}} Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage |language=en-US |access-date=2019-07-31 |archive-date=2021-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410182020/https://www.dancingrabbit.org/social-change/social-change/dr-culture/feminism-empowerment-and-justice/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Benjamin Zablocki]] categorized communities this way:<ref>{{cite book |last=Zablocki |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Zablocki |title=The Joyful Community: An Account of the Bruderhof: A Communal Movement Now in Its Third Generation |year=1971 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=Chicago |isbn=0-226-97749-8 |ref=Zablocki}}</ref>
* Academic communities (see [[Learning community#Living-Learning Communities|Living-Learning Communities]])
* Alternative-family communities (see [[Tenacious Unicorn Ranch]])
* [[Coliving]] communities
* [[Cooperative]] communities
* [[Countercultural]] communities
* [[Egalitarian communities]]
* [[Experimental]] communities
* [[Political]] communities
* [[Psychological]] communities (based on [[mystical]] or [[gestalt psychology|gestalt]] principles)
* [[Therapeutic community|Rehabilitational communities]] (see [[Synanon]])
* [[Monastery|Religious communities]]
* [[Spirituality|Spiritual]] communities

== Membership ==
Members of Christian intentional communities want to emulate the practices of the earliest believers. Using the [[Bible|biblical]] book of [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] (and, often, the [[Sermon on the Mount]]) as a model, members of these communities strive to demonstrate their faith in a corporate context,<ref name="ic.org">{{Cite news |url=https://www.ic.org/directory/bruderhof/ |title=Bruderhof – Fellowship for Intentional Community |work=Fellowship for Intentional Community |access-date=2017-11-11 |language=en-US}}</ref> and to live out the teachings of the [[New Testament]], practicing compassion and hospitality.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=[[Fellowship for Intentional Community]] |date=1995 |title=Communities Directory |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=Missouri, USA. |isbn=0-9602714-4-9}}</ref> Communities such as the [[The Simple Way|Simple Way]], the [[Bruderhof Communities|Bruderhof]] and [[Rutba House]] would fall into this category. Despite strict membership criteria, these communities are open to visitors and not reclusive to the extent of some other intentional communities.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://christlife.org/blog/learning-from-the-bruderhof-an-intentional-christian-community |title=Learning from the Bruderhof: An Intentional Christian Community |work=ChristLife |access-date=2017-10-27 |language=en |archive-date=2022-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407004601/https://christlife.org/blog/learning-from-the-bruderhof-an-intentional-christian-community |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A survey in the 1995 edition of the "[[Communities Directory]]", published by the [[Fellowship for Intentional Community]] (FIC), reported that 54 percent of the communities choosing to list themselves were rural, 28 percent were urban, 10 percent had both rural and urban sites, and 8 percent did not specify.<ref name="ftc"/>

== Governance ==
The most common form of [[governance]] in intentional communities is [[democracy|democratic]] (64 percent), with decisions made by some form of [[consensus decision-making]] or voting. A [[hierarchy|hierarchical]] or [[authoritarianism|authoritarian]] structure governs 9 percent of communities, 11 percent are a combination of democratic and hierarchical structure, and 16 percent do not specify.<ref name="ftc">{{cite book |chapter=[[Fellowship for Intentional Community]] |date=2005 |title=Communities Directory |edition=4th |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=Missouri, USA. |isbn=0-9718264-2-0}}</ref>

== Communes' core principles ==
The central characteristics of communes, or core principles that define communes, have been expressed in various forms over the years. The Suffolk-born radical [[John Goodwyn Barmby]] (1820-1881), subsequently a [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] minister, invented the term "{{linktext|communitarian}}"<ref name=Encyclopedia>{{cite book |last= Stockwell |author-link= Foster Stockwell |first= Foster |title= Encyclopedia of American Communes |url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofam00stoc |url-access= registration |year=1998 |publisher=McFarland & Co. |isbn=9780786404551 }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=June 2024}} in 1840.<ref>
{{oed | communitarian}} - "A social banquet of the adherents of the Communist, or Communitarian school is expected to take place." ''New Moral World'', 1 August 75/1.
</ref>

At the start of the 1970s, ''The New Communes'' author Ron E. Roberts classified communes as a subclass of a larger category of [[utopia]]s.{{refn|Roberts 1971.}} He listed three main characteristics:{{refn|Roberts 1971.}}

* First, egalitarianism – communes specifically rejected hierarchy or graduations of social status as being necessary to social order.
* Second, human scale – members of some communes saw the scale of society as it was then organized as being too [[Industrialisation|industrialized]] (or factory sized) and therefore unsympathetic to human dimensions.
* Third, communes were consciously anti-[[Bureaucracy|bureaucratic]].

Twenty-five years later, Dr. Bill Metcalf, in his edited book ''Shared Visions, Shared Lives'', defined communes as having the following core principles:{{refn|Metcalf 1996.}}{{page needed|date=June 2024}}

* the importance of the group as opposed to the [[nuclear family]] unit
* a "common purse"
* a collective household
* [[group decision-making]] in general and intimate affairs

Sharing everyday life and facilities, a commune is an idealized form of [[family]], being a new sort of [[Primary and secondary groups|"primary group"]] (generally with fewer than 20 people, although there are examples of much larger communes). Commune members have emotional bonds to the whole group rather than to any sub-group,{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} and the commune is experienced with emotions that go beyond just [[social collectivity]].<ref>
{{cite book
 |editor-last1         = Metcalf
 |editor-first1        = William James
 |year                 = 1996
 |title                = Shared Visions, Shared Lives: Communal Living Around the Globe
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=nTLaAAAAMAAJ
 |publisher            = Findhorn Press
 |page                 = 7
 |isbn                 = 9781899171019
 |access-date          = 15 June 2024
 |quote                = Within a commune, the group is experienced with emotions beyond just social collectivity.
}} 
</ref>

With the simple definition of a commune as an intentional community with 100% income sharing, the online directory of the [[Fellowship for Intentional Community]] (FIC)<ref name="directory.ic.org">{{Cite web |url=http://directory.ic.org/ |title=Welcome to the Intentional Communities Directory |website=directory.ic.org |access-date=28 September 2010 |archive-date=8 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110908071732/http://directory.ic.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> lists 222 communes worldwide (28 January 2019).<ref name="FICComunes">{{cite web |url=https://www.ic.org/directory/communes/ |title=Commune Directory – List of Communes |date=28 January 2019 |work=FIC Online Communities Directory |publisher=[[Fellowship for Intentional Community]] |access-date=28 January 2019 |quote=We use commune only when referring to communities that share their income and resources completely, or nearly so |archive-date=28 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328213634/https://www.ic.org/directory/communes/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Some of these are religious institutions such as [[abbey]]s and [[monasteries]]. Others are based in [[anthroposophic]] philosophy, including [[Camphill Movement|Camphill]] villages that provide support for the education, employment, and daily lives of adults and children with [[Developmental disability|developmental disabilities]], [[Mental disorder|mental health problems]] or other [[special needs]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.philly.com/2013-10-05/news/42721660_1_camphill-soltane-disabilities-communities | archive-url=https://archive.today/20131031050322/http://articles.philly.com/2013-10-05/news/42721660_1_camphill-soltane-disabilities-communities |archive-date=2013-10-31 |title=At Camphill Kimberton, crafting a different way to live |newspaper=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]}}</ref>

Many cultures naturally practice communal or tribal living, and would not designate their way of life as a planned "commune" per se, though their living situation may have many characteristics of a commune.

== By country ==
{{see also|List of intentional communities}}

=== Australia ===
In [[Australia]], many intentional communities started with the hippie movement and those searching for social alternatives to the nuclear family. One of the oldest continuously running communities is called "[[Moora Moora]] Co-operative Community"<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://mooramoora.org.au |title=Moora Moora Co-operative Community|website=arachnoid.net.au|access-date=28 October 2021|language=en}}</ref> with about 47 members (Oct 2021). Located at the top of [[Mount Toolebewong]], 65&nbsp;km east of Melbourne, Victoria at an altitude of 600–800 m, this community has been entirely off the electricity grid since its inception in 1974. Founding members still resident include Peter and Sandra Cock.

=== Canada ===
Utopian communities were established in Canada at [[Brights Grove, Ontario]], [[Holberg, British Columbia| Holberg, BC]] and [[Ruskin, British Columbia|Ruskin, BC]]. The Finnish settlement at [[Sointula]], on Malcolm Island, BC, is a well-known historical Canadian utopian settlement. An Ontario Quaker sect, [[The Children of Peace]], formed a utopian farm settlement at the community of Hope (now Sharon) in East Gwillimbury, York Region, which operated from 1825 to 1889. Prairie activist [[Edward Alexander Partridge|E.A. Partridge]] discussed the possibilities of a utopian co-operative commonwealth called  "Coalsamao" in his book ''A war on poverty: the one war that can end war''.<ref>Thomas 1984, p. 180</ref>

As well, other settlements were established on [[Temperance movement|temperance]], [[Henry George]], [[Tolstoyan movement|Tolstoyan]], [[Doukhobors|Doukhobor]], [[Orthodox Mennonites|Orthodox Mennonite]] and [[Hutterites|Hutterite]] principles.<ref>Rasporich, "Utopian Ideals and Community Settlements in Western Canada 1880-1914", in ''Prairie West Historic Readings'', edited by R. Douglas Francis and Howard Palmer, 1992</ref><ref>Fort Pitt Hutterite Colony (Frenchman Butte, Saskatchewan, Canada) at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Accessed March 28, 2025</ref>

[[List of  intentional communities|Several intentional settlements]] exist today in Canada.

=== Germany ===
[[File:Rhon Bruderhof Building.jpg|thumb|A building on the Rhön [[Bruderhof]]]]

The first wave of [[List of German utopian communities|utopian communities in Germany]] began during a period of rapid urbanization between 1890 and 1930. At least about 100 intentional communities are known to have started,{{sfn|Conti|1984|p=66-149}} but data is unreliable.{{sfn|Wedemeyer-Kolwe|2017|p=132}} The communities often pursued [[Freikörperkultur|nudism]], [[vegetarianism|vegetarian]] and [[organic food|organic]] agriculture, as well as [[anabaptism]], [[theosophy]], [[anarchism]], [[socialism]], [[eugenics]] or other religious and political ideologies. Historically, German emigrants were also influential in the creation of intentional communities in other countries, such as the [[Bruderhof]] in the United States of America and [[Kibbutz]]im in Israel.
In the 1960s, there was a resurgence of communities calling themselves communes, starting with the [[Kommune 1]] in [[Berlin]], without knowledge of or influence by previous movements.{{sfn|Wedemeyer-Kolwe|2017|p=158}}
A large number of contemporary intentional communities define themselves as communes, and there is a network of political communes called "Kommuja"<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kommuja.de |title=Kommuja-Netzwerk |website=kommuja.de |access-date=28 September 2010 |language=de}}</ref> with about 40 member groups (May 2023).

In the German commune book, {{lang|de|Das KommuneBuch}}, communes are defined by Elisabeth Voß as communities which:{{sfn|Voß|1996|p=17–26}}
* Live and work together
* Have a communal economy, i.e., common finances and common property (land, buildings, [[means of production]])
* Have communal decision making – usually consensus decision making
* Try to reduce hierarchy and hierarchical structures
* Have communalization of housework, childcare and other communal tasks
* Have equality between women and men
* Have low [[ecological footprint]]s through sharing and saving resources

=== Israel ===
[[File:PikiWiki 3560 Architecture of the Golan Heights.jpg|thumb|The communal dining hall in [[Kibbutz]] [[Merom Golan]], ca. 1968–1972]]

[[Kibbutz]]im in [[Israel]], (sing., kibbutz) are examples of officially organized communes, the first of which were based on agriculture. Other Israeli communities are [[Kvutza]], [[Community settlement|Yishuv Kehilati]], [[Moshavim]] and [[Youth village|Kfar No'ar]]. Today, there are dozens of urban communes growing in the cities of Israel, often called [[urban kibbutz]]im. The urban kibbutzim are smaller and more [[Anarchism|anarchist]].<ref>Horrox, James. "A Living Revolution: Anarchism in the Kibbutz Movement", pp. 87–109</ref> Most of the urban communes in Israel emphasize social change, education, and local involvement in the cities where they live. Some of the urban communes have members who are graduates of [[zionism|zionist]]-[[socialism|socialist]] youth movements, like [[HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed]], [[HaMahanot HaOlim]] and [[Hashomer Hatsair]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Horrox |first=James |title=Rebuilding Israel's Utopia |journal=Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture |date=October 2007}}</ref>

=== Ireland ===
In 1831 John Vandeleur (a landlord) established a commune on his [[Ralahine|Ralahine Estate]] at [[Newmarket-on-Fergus]], [[County Clare]]. Vandeleur asked Edward Thomas Craig, an English socialist, to formulate rules and regulations for the commune. It was set up with a population of 22 adult single men, 7 married women and their 7 husbands, 5 single women, 4 orphan boys and 5 children under the age of 9 years. No money was employed, only credit notes could be used in the commune shop. All occupants were committed to a life with no alcohol, tobacco, snuff or gambling. All were required to work for 12 hours a day during the summer and from dawn to dusk in winter. The social experiment prospered for a time, and 29 new members joined. 

However, in 1833 the experiment collapsed due to the gambling debts of John Vandeleur. The members of the commune met for the last time on 23 November 1833 and placed on record a declaration of "the contentment, peace and happiness they had experienced for two years under the arrangements introduced by Mr. Vandeleur and Mr. Craig and which through no fault of the Association was now at an end".<ref>[https://archive.org/details/industrialcoope00pricgoog <!-- quote="the contentment, peace and happiness they had experienced for two years under the arrangements introduced by Mr. Vandeleur and Mr. Craig and which through no fault of the Association was now at an end". --> ''Industrial Co-operation, the Story of a Peaceful Revolution: Being the Account of the History, Theory, and Practice of the Co-operative Movement in Great Britain and Ireland: Prepared for the Co-operative Education Association''], Catherine Webb, Co-operative union, limited, 1907, p. 64</ref>

=== Russia ===
In [[Russian Empire|imperial Russia]], the vast majority of Russian peasants held their land in communal ownership within a [[Mir (commune)|''mir'']] community, which acted as a village government and a cooperative.<ref>Энгельгардт, Александр, Письма из деревни, М., 1987</ref><ref>Морозов, Юрий, Пути России. М., 1992, т. 2, гл. 13</ref> The very widespread and influential pre-Soviet Russian tradition of monastic communities of both sexes could also be considered a form of communal living. After the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|end of communism in Russia]], [[monastic communities]] have again become more common, populous and, to a lesser degree, more influential in Russian society. Various patterns of Russian behavior — {{transliteration|ru|toloka}} (толока), {{transliteration|ru|pomochi}} (помочи), {{transliteration|ru|[[artel]]}} (артель) — are also based on communal ("мирские") traditions.

In the years immediately following the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|revolutions of 1917]] [[Tolstoyan movement|Tolstoyan]] communities proliferated in Russia, but later they were eventually wiped out or stripped of their independence as [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivisation]] and ideological purges got under way in the late 1920s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/tolstoys-guiding-light|title=Tolstoy's Guiding Light|author=Charlotte Alston|year=2010|publisher=[[History Today]]}}</ref> Colonies, such as the [[Life and Labor Commune]], relocated to [[Siberia]] to avoid being liquidated. Several Tolstoyan leaders, including [[Yakov Dragunovsky]] (1886-1937), were put on trial and then sent to the [[Gulag]] prison camps.<ref>[[Charles Chatfield]], [[Ruzanna Iliukhina]] ''Peace/Mir: An Anthology of Historic Alternatives to War'' 	Syracuse University Press, 1994. {{ISBN|0815626010}}, (p.245, 249-250).</ref>

Some Tolstoyans emigrated to Canada.<ref>"Leo Tolstoy's Teachings and the Sons of Freedom in Canada", https://doukhobor.org/leo-tolstoys-teachings-and-the-sons-of-freedom-in-canada/ Accessed March 28, 2025</ref>

=== South Africa ===
In 1991, [[Afrikaners]] in [[South Africa]] founded the controversial Afrikaner-only town of [[Orania]], with the goal of creating a stronghold for the Afrikaner minority group, the Afrikaans language and the Afrikaner culture.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Orania and the third reinvention of the Afrikaner - Carel Boshoff - DOCUMENTS|url=https://www.politicsweb.co.za/documents/orania-and-the-third-reinvention-of-the-afrikaner-|access-date=31 January 2021|website=Politicsweb}}</ref> By 2022, the population was 2,500. The town was experiencing rapid growth and the population had climbed by 55% from 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/afrikaners-flee-to-their-desert-eden-g8vbg8qc7 |title=Archive.ph |website=[[The Times]] |access-date=2022-10-10 |archive-date=2022-06-15 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220615164734/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/afrikaners-flee-to-their-desert-eden-g8vbg8qc7 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> They favour a model of strict Afrikaner self-sufficiency and have their own currency, bank and local government, and only employ Afrikaners.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/oct/24/an-indictment-of-south-africa-whites-only-town-orania-is-booming |title='An indictment of South Africa': Whites-only town Orania is booming |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=24 October 2019}}</ref>

=== United Kingdom ===
[[File:Findhorn wind turbines.jpg|thumb|The wind turbines at Findhorn make the Ecovillage a net exporter of electricity.]]
A 19th century advocate and practitioner of communal living was the [[utopian socialism|utopian socialist]] [[John Goodwyn Barmby]], who founded a Communist Church before becoming a [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] minister.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Utopias and Utopians: An Historical Dictionary |last=Trahair |first=R.C.S |publisher=[[Greenwood Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=0-313-29465-8 |location=Westport |pages=[https://archive.org/details/utopiasutopiansh0000trah/page/27 27–28] |url=https://archive.org/details/utopiasutopiansh0000trah/page/27}}</ref>

[[The Simon Community]] in [[London]] is an example of social cooperation, made to ease [[Homelessness in the United Kingdom|homelessness]] within London. It provides food and religion and is staffed by homeless people and volunteers.<ref name="The Simon Community">{{cite web |url=http://www.simoncommunity.org.uk/ |title=The Simon Community |quote=We are a community of homeless people and volunteers living and working together in a spirit of love, acceptance, tolerance and understanding. We aim to reach out to support and campaign for people who are experiencing homelessness, and particularly those for whom no other provision exists |date=2014-03-21 |publisher=The Simon Community |access-date=2014-03-21}}</ref> Mildly nomadic, they run street "cafés" which distribute food to their known members and to the general public.

The [[Bruderhof]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk/communities/existing/south-east-england |title=South East England {{!}} Diggers and Dreamers |website=www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk |access-date=2019-04-30 |archive-date=2020-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615090413/https://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk/communities/existing/south-east-england |url-status=dead }}</ref> has three locations in the UK.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jul/25/inside-the-bruderhof-review-is-this-a-religious-stirring-i-feel |title=Inside the Bruderhof review – is this a religious stirring I feel?|last=Mangan |first=Lucy |author-link=Lucy Mangan |date=2019-07-25 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=2019-08-15 |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In [[Glandwr, Pembrokeshire|Glandwr]], near [[Crymych]], [[Pembrokeshire]], a co-op called [[Lammas Ecovillage]] focuses on planning and [[sustainable development]]. Granted planning permission by the [[Welsh Government]] in 2009, it has since created 9 holdings and is a central communal hub for its community.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lammas.org.uk/ |title=Lammas |quote=The Lammas project has been created to pioneer an alternative model for living on the land. It empowers people to explore what it is to live a low-impact lifestyle. It demonstrates that alternatives are possible here and now. |date=2014-03-21 |publisher=Lammas |access-date=2014-03-21}}</ref> In [[Scotland]], the [[Findhorn Foundation]] founded by [[Peter Caddy|Peter]] and [[Eileen Caddy]] and [[Dorothy Maclean]] in 1962<ref name="Findhorn Foundation">{{cite web |url=http://www.findhorn.org/aboutus/vision/history/#.UyuHWPl_uSo |title=Findhorn Foundation – Findhorn Foundation History |quote=The Findhorn Community was begun in 1962 by Peter and Eileen Caddy and Dorothy Maclean. |date=2014-03-21 |publisher=Findhorn Foundation |access-date=2014-03-21 |archive-date=2014-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140321075353/http://www.findhorn.org/aboutus/vision/history/#.UyuHWPl_uSo |url-status=dead }}</ref> is prominent for its educational centre and experimental architectural community project based at The Park, in [[Moray]], Scotland, near the village of [[Findhorn]].<ref name="local">Local relations between the [[Findhorn Foundation]] and the village of [[Findhorn]] have occasionally foundered over inconsiderate use of the word "Findhorn" to mean either the former or the Ecovillage. See, for example, Walker (1994), [[Talk:Findhorn Foundation]] and also [[Findhorn (disambiguation)]].</ref>

The [[Findhorn Ecovillage]] community at The Park, Findhorn, a village in Moray, Scotland, and at [[Cluny Hill]] in [[Forres]], now houses more than 400 people.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Martin |last2=Fournier |first2=Valerie |last3=Reedy |first3=Patrick |title=The Dictionary of Alternatives: Utopian and Organization |date=2007 |publisher=[[Zed Books]] |isbn=978-1-84277-333-8 |page=100}}</ref>

Historic [[Agricultural commune|agricultural examples]] include the [[Diggers]] settlement on [[St George's Hill]], Surrey during the [[English Civil War]] and the [[Clousden Hill Free Communist and Co-operative Colony]] near [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] during the 1890s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St George's Hill – Surrey Diggers Trail |url=https://www.diggerstrail.org.uk/st-george-s-hill/ |access-date=2021-03-15 |website=www.diggerstrail.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Henderson |first=Tony |date=2015-12-16 |title=How Clousden Hill communist agricultural colony in Newcastle sought to change the world |url=http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/how-clousden-hill-communist-agricultural-10602306 |access-date=2021-03-15 |website=ChronicleLive |language=en}}</ref>

=== United States ===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:American-Commune-Bedtime-Story.jpg|thumb|A young couple from an American commune reads a bedtime story. {{FFDC|1=American-Commune-Bedtime-Story.jpg|log=2009 August 31|date=May 2012}}]] -->
There is a long history of [[List of American utopian communities|utopian communities in America]] that led to the rise in the communes of the [[hippie]] movement—the "[[back-to-the-land]]" ventures of the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kanter |first=Rosabeth Moss |author-link=Rosabeth Moss Kanter |title=Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in Sociological Perspective |url=https://archive.org/details/commitmentcommun00kant |url-access=registration |access-date=March 14, 2014 |date=January 1, 1972 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-14576-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/commitmentcommun00kant/page/32 32]}}</ref> One commune that played a large role in the hippie movement was [[Kaliflower Commune|Kaliflower]], a utopian living cooperative that existed in [[San Francisco]] between 1967 and 1973 built on values of [[free love]] and [[anti-capitalism]].

[[Andrew Jacobs (journalist)|Andrew Jacobs]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote in 2006 that "after decades of contraction, the American commune movement has been expanding since the mid-1990s, spurred by the growth of settlements that seek to marry the utopian-minded commune of the 1960s with the American predilection for privacy and capital appreciation".<ref name="NYTimes 2006-06-11">{{cite news |first=Andrew |last=Jacobs |author-link=Andrew Jacobs (journalist) |title=Extreme Makeover, Commune Edition |date=2006-06-11 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/weekinreview/11jacobs.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=1 |access-date=2009-07-21}}</ref> The [[Fellowship for Intentional Community]] (FIC) is one of the main sources for listings of and more information about communes in the United States.

Although many American communes are short-lived, some have been in operation for over 50 years. The [[Bruderhof Communities|Bruderhof]] was established in the US in 1954,<ref name="ic.org"/> [[Twin Oaks Community, Virginia|Twin Oaks]] in 1967<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.twinoaks.org/ |title=Twin Oaks Intentional Community |website=www.twinoaks.org |language=en-gb |access-date=2017-11-11}}</ref> and [[Koinonia Partners|Koinonia Farm]] in 1942.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.koinoniafarm.org/brief-history/ |title=Brief History |work=Koinonia Farm |access-date=2017-11-11 |language=en-US}}</ref> Twin Oaks is a rare example of a non-religious commune surviving for longer than 30 years. A newer intentional community is [[Synchronicity LA]].

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Affinity group]]
* [[Anarchist Catalonia]]
* [[Anarcho-communism]]
* [[Art commune]]
* [[Burning man]]
* [[Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood]], Canadian Community [[Doukhobors]] (1900-1938)
* [[Common land]]
* [[Communal land]]
* [[Commune (documentary)|''Commune'' (documentary)]], a 2005 documentary about [[Black Bear Ranch]], an intentional community located in Siskiyou County, California
* [[Commune of Paris]], 1870
* [[Community garden]]
* [[Cooperatives]]
* [[Counterculture of the 1960s]]
* ''[[Diggers and Dreamers]]''
* [[Drop City]]
* [[Egalitarian communities]]
* [[Ejido]], a form of Mexican land distribution resembling a commune
* [[Equality colony]]
* [[Jean-Baptiste André Godin|Familistère de Guise (Social Palace)]], France
* [[Fellowship for Intentional Community]]
* [[Free State Project]]
* [[Free Vermont]]
* [[Great Leap Forward]], a time period in the 1950s and 1960s when the Chinese government created such communes
* [[Hramada]], a Belarusian commune assembly or peasant commune; a term adopted by many left-wing parties
* [[Hutterite]], a Christian sect that lives in communal "colonies"
* [[List of American utopian communities]]
* [[List of intentional communities]]
* [[Obshchina]], communes of the Russian Empire
* [[People's commune]], type of administrative level in China from 1958 – early 1980s
* [[Phalanstère]], France
* [[Renaissance Community]]
* [[Slab City, California]]
* [[Squatting]]
* [[Tolstoyans]]
* [[Temporary Autonomous Zone]]
* [[List of American utopian communities]]
* [[Well-field system]], a Chinese land distribution system with common lands controlled by a village
* [[World Brotherhood Colonies]]
{{Div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book | last =Conti | first = Christoph | year =1984 | title = Abschied vom Bürgertum. Alternative Bewegungen in Deutschland von 1890 bis heute | publisher = Reinbeck| isbn = |language=German}}
* Curl, John (2007). Memories of Drop City, The First Hippie Commune of the 1960s and the Summer of Love, a memoir. iUniverse. {{ISBN|0-595-42343-4}}. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090413150607/http://red-coral.net/DropCityIndex.html Red-coral.net]
* Curl, John (2009) ''For All The People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America'', PM Press. {{ISBN|978-1-60486-072-6}}.
* Fitzgerald, George R. (1971). Communes Their Goals, Hopes, Problems. New York: Paulist Press.
* Hall, John R. (1978). The Ways Out: Utopian Communal Groups in an Age of Babylon. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
* Horrox, James. (2009). ''A Living Revolution: Anarchism in the Kibbutz Movement''. Oakland: AK Press.
* Margaret Hollenbach. (2004)''Lost and Found: My Life in a Group Marriage Commune''. [[University of New Mexico Press]], {{ISBN|0-8263-3463-6}}.
* {{cite book |ref=Roberts |last=Roberts |first=Ron E. |title=The new communes: coming together in America |url=https://archive.org/details/newcommunescomin00robe |url-access=registration |year=1971 |publisher=[[Prentice-Hall]] |isbn=9780136124733}}
* [[Rosabeth Moss Kanter|Kanter, Rosabeth Moss]]. (1972) ''Commitment and community: communes and utopias in sociological perspective.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-674-14575-5}}
* [[Rosabeth Moss Kanter|Kanter, Rosabeth Moss]]. (1973) ''Communes: creating and managing the collective life.'' New York, Harper & Row. {{ISBN|0-06-043476-7}}
* Lattin, Don. (2003, March 2) Twilight of Hippiedom. [http://www.sfgate.com/ The San Francisco Chronicle]. Retrieved March 16, 2008
* Lauber, John. (1963, June). Hawthorne's Shaker Tales [Electronic version]. Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 18, 82–86.
* {{cite book |ref=Metcalf |last1=Metcalf |first1=Bill |last2=Metcalf |first2=William James |title=Shared visions, shared lives: communal living around the globe |year=1996 |publisher=[[Findhorn]] Press |location=Scotland |isbn=1-899171-01-0}}
* Meunier, Rachel. (1994, December 17). Communal Living in the Late 60s and Early 70s. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from [https://web.archive.org/web/20140322055129/http://www.thefarm.org/lifestyle/cmnl.html thefarm.org]
* Miller, Timothy. (1997) "Assault on Eden: A Memoir of Communal Life in the Early '70s", ''Utopian Studies'', Vol. 8, 1997.
* Roberts, Ron E. (1971). The New Communes Coming Together in America. New Jersey: Prentice Hall inc.
* Van Deusen, David. (2008) [https://web.archive.org/web/20140112013716/http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=2008green-mountain-communes ''Green Mountain Communes: The Making of a Peoples’ Vermont''], Catamount Tavern News Service.
* [[Laurence Veysey|Veysey, Laurence R.]] (1978) ''[[The Communal Experience: Anarchist and Mystical Communities in Twentieth Century America]]''
* {{cite book |last=Voß |first=Elisabeth |title=Das KommuneBuch |trans-title=The Commune Book |year=1996 |publisher=Verlag Die Werkstatt |location=Göttingen |language=de |isbn=3-89533-162-7 |chapter=Was ist eine Kommune? |trans-chapter=What is a commune?}}
* {{Cite book | first =Bernd |last= Wedemeyer-Kolwe | year =2017 | title = Aufbruch: Die Lebensreform in Deutschland| place = Darmstadt | publisher = Philipp von Zabern| isbn = 978-3-8053-5067-9|language=German}}
* Wild, Paul H. (1966 March). Teaching Utopia [Electronic version]. The English Journal, Vol. 55, No. 3, 335–37, 339.
* [[Benjamin Zablocki|Zablocki, Benjamin]]. (1980, 1971) ''The Joyful Community: An Account of the Bruderhof: A Communal Movement Now in Its Third Generation'' (University of Chicago Press, 1971, reissued 1980), {{ISBN|0-226-97749-8}}. (The 1980 edition of the [[Whole Earth Catalog]] called this book "the best and most useful book on communes that's been written".)
* [[Benjamin Zablocki|Zablocki, Benjamin]]. (1980) ''Alienation and Charisma: A Study of Contemporary American Communes'' (The Free Press, 1980), {{ISBN|0-02-935780-2}}.
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last=Christian |first=Diana Leafe |author-link=Diana Leafe Christian |title=Creating a life together: practical tools to grow ecovillages and intentional communities |publisher=New Society Publishers |location=Gabriola Island, BC |year=2003 |isbn=9781550923162 |oclc=232159819 }}
* Curl, John (2007) ''Memories of Drop City, the First Hippie Commune of the 1960s and the Summer of Love: a memoir''. iUniverse. {{ISBN|0-595-42343-4}}.
* [[Rosabeth Moss Kanter|Kanter, Rosabeth Moss]] (1972) ''Commitment and Community: communes and utopias in sociological perspective.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-14575-5}}
* McLaughlin, C. and Davidson, G. (1990) ''Builders of the Dawn: community lifestyles in a changing world''. Book Publishing Company. {{ISBN|0-913990-68-X}}
* Lupton, Robert C. (1997) ''Return Flight: Community Development Through Reneighboring our Cities'', Atlanta, Georgia:FCS Urban Ministries.
* Moore, Charles E. ''Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People''. [[Plough Publishing House]], 2016.
* "Intentional Community." ''Plough'', Plough Publishing, www.plough.com/en/topics/community/intentional-community.
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/t-magazine/intentional-communities.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage Mariani, Mike: ''The New Generation of Self-Created Utopias''], The New York Times, January 16, 2020

== External links ==
{{NIE Poster|year=1905|Communistic Societies}}
* [http://thefec.org Federation of Egalitarian Communities]
* [http://www.ic.org Intentional Communities Website]
* [http://www.eurotopia.de eurotopia European Directory of Communities and Ecovillages]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120407101106/http://wiki.ic.org/wiki/Main_Page Intentional Communities Wiki]
* [http://directory.ic.org/records/communes.php List of Communes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110908071732/http://directory.ic.org/ |date=2011-09-08 }} in the [http://directory.ic.org Communities Directory] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110908071732/http://directory.ic.org/ |date=2011-09-08 }}
* [http://community.cultureunplugged.org/ Intentional Community For Media and Spirituality] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130918112407/http://community.cultureunplugged.org/ |date=2013-09-18 }}
* [http://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk/ Diggers & Dreamers UK directory & Journal]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/09/19/style/BUSHWICK09192010.html The Twitter Age Embraces Communal Living] – slideshow by ''[[The New York Times]]''
* [http://communa.org.il/ International Communes Desk]

{{Simple living}}
{{Co-operatives |types}}
{{Sharing economy}}
{{Anarchism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Intentional communities| ]]
[[Category:Housing cooperatives]]
[[Category:Intentional living]]
[[Category:Living arrangements]]
[[Category:Sharing economy]]
[[Category:Types of communities]]