A COMMUNITARIAN PROSPECT

...For example, the often discussed but seldom tried possibilities of twoway cable TV might be explored...

...Surely, there are progressive elements within it today that are capable of seeing such a project to fruition...

...The shifts might run five four-hour days a week, three sixhour days a week, or even three days a week four hours a day, or some combination...

...It could produce the TV sets, calculators, textiles, copper tubing, electric light bulbs, tooth brushes, refrigerators, zippers, books, gasoline engines, and the thousands of other manufactured items we've come to expect...

...For example, to avoid commercial squalor, poor planning, and corruption, which often go along with private real-estate speculation, all income-producing property might be placed in trust to the community as a whole, which then would lease it to the final users...

...With both partners working only part-time outside the home and making equal contributions to the household finance, there's no excuse for the woman getting stuck with most of the cooking, cleaning, and washing...

...6) Please bear with us—we have accumulated quite a backlog of material, and you may have to wait for a few issues before you see your article in print...

...I have researched the UPS conditions and verified this information through personal interviews with UPS managers throughout the country...

...They satisfy what Veblen called the instinct for workmanship...

...A more conventional approach would be to interest a private industrialist in building the factory...

...If an experiment like this is to succeed, it's essential that the future colonists learn some basic homesteading skills before they get started, particularly in construction and horticulture...

...Against nearly everyone's expectations, the experiment proved a financial success and socially viable...

...Whether employers would actually go for such an arrangement depends almost entirely, I think, on whether their profits gained by the incentive-based work sprints would outweigh the loss of control...

...The local chapters would be primarily responsible for training...

...Check all your figures, dates, names, etc.—they're the author's responsibility...

...our living standards depend on them...

...A companion agreement might give the community exclusive rights to work in the factory, by barring the importation of strike-breakers during a breakdown in negotiations...

...The people at home would be free to listen or, if the 64 discussion failed to interest them, get up and walk away...

...Finally, taking advantage of its rural location, the community might take steps to attach to itself enough agricultural land—either in small family holdings or in larger farms operated by the community— to provide it with an independent food supply in the event of a strike...

...On the plus side, there would be a greater likelihood that the factory could make a go of it...

...Then, too, the future colonists will face problems of financing the purchase of land and housing and at least the rudiments of an infrastructure...

...The factories could run full-time, of course, and with computers to do the payroll, the extra paper work would be inconsequential...

...Let's make a start and see what we can do...

...And the comradeship that might develop during this interval would be invaluable, both in itself and in case the group decides to "go in" together to form a neighborhood unit...

...See Eliyahu Kanovsky, The Economy of the Israeli Kibbutz, Harvard University Press, 1966, p. 16...

...Carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work, heavy digging in the garden, and keeping all the major household appliances in good repair are just a few examples...

...3) Type your ms double-spaced, with wide margins...

...Minor institutions of this sort could knit families and neighbors together—a far cry from the isolation we find in most urban neighborhoods today...

...The worker would pull back from that "abdication of competency" Paul Goodman once wrote about and instead would create a more convivial world of work, a place where the alienating circumstances of modern mass production would no longer hold sway...

...For confirmation of these points, look to the performance of United Parcel Service, a successful company that has pioneered in the large-scale use of part-time labor...

...What is needed is an institution to perform, in a more modest way, the functions of the World Zionist Organization in sponsoring Kibbutz Deganiah...

...One is that workers can work faster (more efficiently) for shorter periods of time than for longer ones—just as in track-and-field the short-distance runners always run faster than the long-distance runners...

...The idea is for the workers to cut the hours they work in factories to a bare minimum, and then to use the money they earn, together with their leisure, to purchase tools and supplies and undertake a variety of other useful, humanly satisfying activities such as home-building, gardening, cooking, and so forth...

...We might stress the potential of this arrangement in other contexts too...

...IV S o where do we go from here...

...Individual subscriptions were essentially the means by which the first Kibbutz in Palestine— Deganiah—was financed near the turn of the century (in 1909...

...So let's contemplate the possibility—I'm not sure how one gets something like this started— of a U.S...

...Parents could regularly assist in the schools...

...It should also be responsible for finding investors and for developing a sound financial strategy...

...Part-time labor has the potential, at least theoretically, of being more efficient than comparable full-time labor...

...Not only would this enrich the community's human resources and prepare students for the sort of lives they might be expected to lead...

...A life that combines a measure of both leisure and affluence would seem closer than before...

...The community could plan for the use of slower, less expensive cars and greater use of feet, bicycles, and buses, and found country stores and home-delivery systems...

...Not every factory owner is a moneygrubbing s.o.b...

...Town Planning • Some of the most interesting possibilities emerge out of the ways the community might organize its land...

...For while the community would be in a strong bargaining position vis-a-vis its employers— with well-defined strike powers backed by the land—unreasonable demands could be met by a temporary shut-down of the plant, which would leave the community without its source of outside income...

...It's also crucial that individual members start saving money for a down payment on the land and the purchase of enough building materials to get roofs over their heads...

...In any case, this is one of the things we ought to find out...

...III N ow what about the employers...

...Most office and factory jobs are inherently boring, no matter how the work is organized...

...When many large organizations are under fire for ignoring the human impact of their policies, they might want to set an example or two showing an effort of finding new ways to improve the work experience...

...Men, for example, must learn the basic skills of cooking if these are to become habits in later life (more on this below...

...Child Care • With both parents free to spend a good part of each day at home if necessary, a little schedule-juggling could eliminate the need for professional day-care centers...

...Some of their sorting sheds are in rural areas staffed by farm women working three to five hours a day...

...But the core of these techniques—standardization, specialization, and a far-reaching division of labor— has a stultifying effect on working life...

...Even among those attracted by the life style, not everyone has the required stamina, patience, and aptitudes...

...A bicycle factory, an agricultural processing plant, or a mail-order operation like L. L. Bean's are possibilities...

...A second point is that under the arrangement I'm proposing it's likely that the workers will be working, if anything, slightly fewer hours in the week than would be their preference...

...Of the three possible sources of capital funding, this is probably the least attractive...

...Town meetings could be televised and, for the most important decisions, special referenda held...

...Or take a chance and send us your article...

...When I survey the vast urban-industrial wasteland of contemporary America, I often ask myself this question...

...Who's going to supply the capital to finance a factory in the countryside run on part-time jobs...

...The headquarters of the association should, among other things, serve as a central clearinghouse for information about the project...

...homesteaders' association...

...So incentive-based work sprints are a way of boosting labor's productivity...

...Instead, a new division of household responsibilities could be worked out...

...The techniques of mass production are here to stay...

...it gives them a stake in the outcome...

...Let's consider the possibility of part-time jobs in the country...

...Imagine, then, small groups of a dozen or so people meeting for a few hours each week to teach themselves these skills...

...They require an agency that can bring the prospective participants together and coordinate a series of actions between conception and realization...

...And while the community itself must be the final arbiter as to what would be best for it, here are some to consider: Sexual Equality • Couples starting out could experiment with building true equality into the new household economy...

...Consequently, not only will they work harder—with incentives—but there should be less tardiness, absenteeism, and timewasting than in a plant employing full-time workers...

...In this way tyranny by committee and filibuster would be reduced, and ordinary citizens could play a more active role in local affairs...

...q To Our Contributors: A few suggestions: (1) Be sure to keep a copy of your ms—the mails aren't always reliable...

...But the gains in security and morale, to say nothing of fairness, would more than offset any minor inconvenience or sacrifice of efficiency...

...Guaranteed Employment • The community might guarantee every member a paying job by agreeing to share out the available work...

...There are a couple of reasons for this...

...For these a special supplemental arrangement might be worked out with the nearest regional hospital: a prepaid group major-medical plan for the community as a whole...

...and Sidney Harmon stand out as examples of enlightened ownership...

...Such an approach would give maximum flexibility to the experiment...

...Chaim Weizmann in his memoirs noted that the parliamentary form of the World Zionist Organization helped to throw up a highly qualified leadership for that cause, so perhaps a similar form could be adopted here...

...The most urgent need would be a union to bargain collectively with the employers...

...They would see their parents and neighbors as adults to emulate rather than people who disappear every day to go to their job...

...A community clinic with its own salaried staff could be outfitted to handle all but the most serious cases...

...That its dominant corporate institutions show few signs of being radically transformed only adds to the bafflement...

...Wages are well above the national average— over $12 an hour (they're organized by the Teamsters, and use a group piece-rate system)— and still these are UPS's most productive and labor-efficient operations...

...Families wishing to leave the community, or to move from one place to another within it, would be free to sell their plots (though a sale might need the approval of the community board or council...

...One would be an agreement with the employers not to pull their plant out of the community without prior notice and some form of compensation in case no replacement could be found (since to withdraw unilaterally would leave the community, with all of its property, stranded...

...or, rather, the possibility of factories in the countryside run on a system of part-time employment...

...The growth and preparation of food (except cereal grains and crops such as soybeans) is another...

...One half—the industrial half—would remain thoroughly modern and efficient...

...ARMED WITH THIS ARGUMENT, we have at least three sources for obtaining the necessary capital funds to underwrite a pilot project: (1) individual subscriptions...

...The disadvantages would also be similar, but made worse by the fact that the community would be dealing with a bureaucracy and couldn't very well enjoy the same personal access to the top...

...The then recently formed World Zionist Organization, which obtained its money from private donors, purchased a farm on Lake Kinnereth in the Jordan Valley and leased it for a year to a group of young Zionist pioneers...

...Within this sphere the worker would regain control of his or her tools and materials...

...A by-product of this new emphasis is that children would be exposed to the grown-up world of work much more than now...

...Owing to developments in transport and communications and, yes, in computers (the list includes everything from the new satellite telecommunications to the interstate highways and the 18-wheel truck), we're now in a position to try new industrial arrangements that even a generation ago would have been judged hopelessly impractical...

...A Laundromat makes sense too, not only because it saves money but because it would provide a convenient spot to meet and chat...

...Parttime jobs in the country would be a boon for these marginal farm families, and the companies would find them a well-motivated source of part-time labor...

...Similar workshops can be held in gardening, cooking, and other wanted skills...

...Isn't this a field for youthful, idealistic endeavor...

...For urban middle-class youth in particular, the spirit may be willing but the flesh often weak...

...The advantages and disadvantages of this option are nearly the reverse of the first...

...But the two together might do the trick...

...On the minus side, in all likelihood there would be less flexibility to try new ways...

...That is, incentive-based work sprints are a way of increasing productivity and of suiting the workers' jobs more to their needs...

...These facts hold true whether we're talking about a capitalist or a socialist economy...

...If there's a delay, it's because a few editors are reading your article...

...If profits are the main desideratum, it's quite conceivable that they could...

...The goal—an experiment showing it's possible to have a socially balanced economy that honors and respects the whole man and the whole woman—is as old as the means are new...

...Instead, its attention could be focused on the manufacturing process...

...Home-building is one example...

...The experiment, of course, might fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the merits of its animating concept...

...On the other hand, certain areas of the economy have stubbornly resisted the techniques of mass production or else have yielded to them with inferior results...

...All this would require a new competency...

...The aim is to avoid a one-way dependency by a mere balance of power between labor and capital—but to build, rather, one between land and labor joined together, on the one side, versus capital on the other...

...These films might be used, and small backyard workshops held, to teach people these skills...

...A more traditional relationship between labor and capital would probably prevail, at least initially...

...During a downturn in the economy, for instance, instead of 10 percent of the work force being laid off completely and the other 90 percent continuing to work as before, all could take a 10 percent cut in hours and shift around the still-existing jobs in a way that would include everyone...

...With a computer to keep the books, it should be possible to make the necessary calculations speedily, on a quarterly or even monthly basis...

...At the same time corporations are under enormous pressure to increase the effi66 ciency of their labor force, both in order to meet foreign competition and to avoid costly new outlays in equipment...

...At its center the major public and commercial buildings— the biggest stores, the town meeting hall, library, movie house, and so on—could be grouped in a landscaped parklike mall...

...Realism tells us it could be a couple of years, or more, of planning and preparing before anything concrete could start to happen...

...Adapting this approach, we might try to assemble a group of wealthy liberal donors who would agree to purchase shares in a small factory...

...This would encourage a mutually responsible relationship...

...Taking it a step further, the community might wish to institutionalize this arrangement in the formal educational system (that, in any case, tends to mirror the society in which it exists...

...THE EDITORS 68...

...Yet it isn't the most radical proposition imaginable, if only because it honors that American penchant for private property in household and homestead—in my judgment, the rock on which experiments of this kind are most likely to founder...

...5) We're usually quick in giving editorial decisions...

...Look at our last few issues to see if your idea fits in...

...just a few chapters of a dozen members each...

...Projects like this don't happen of themselves...

...It's here that the houses would get built, the gardens planted, the food cooked, the children (and, later on, the old people) cared for...

...Now suppose we present our concept to the corporations as a strategy for achieving both of these ends at once...

...What we're looking at is the possibility of a compromise—a trade-off, really—between the age-old longing for the simple life and the technological imperatives of modern society...

...Short shifts may be the most efficient way to organize the lowskill, routine jobs in a factory...

...The irony is that from a technical standpoint the possibilities have never been more interesting...

...Clearly, the community members themselves will not be able to supply the funds...

...Then at a certain prescheduled time debate would end and the vote be taken...

...Without a union, there's little hope that the community can protect its rights and interests...

...So unless we limit applicants to heirs of substantial family legacies, outside help will be essential...

...Yet we cannot ignore the fact that large corporations control the lion's share of our manufacturing capacity...

...It runs in a direction that should appeal to the pioneering spirit of young people eager to explore the potentials of living and working in the post-industrial economy...

...It was indeed an important pilot: the start of the Kibbutz movement...

...If so, we can be sure that his motives will be complex, since neither profits alone nor public relations would be enough to justify the decision...

...The result might be superior education all the way around...

...A few may sponsor progressive programming on public television, but as a rule such liberal leanings stop abruptly at the factory gate...

...What we really want to look at is the kind of community that might develop around an economic base of factories in the countryside run on part-time jobs...

...Does it mean that the idealistic young of the next generation will have nothing better to look forward to than 40 years in the suburbs...

...This period should be used by the prospective homesteaders to prepare themselves financially and practically for what lies ahead...

...The care of children is a third...

...If possible, this should be done under the supervision of persons who've already acquired building-trade skills (and, the woods of Vermont are full of them, would-be homesteaders who were motivated in the '60s...

...Finally, to insure the system's integrity—and thus the workers' confidence in it—the books of the enterprise should be open to the workers or their representatives...

...And supposing the capital can be found, what are to be the relations between the factory and the community around it...

...Then, too, the manufacturer would be experienced and knowledgeable in regard to the product's manufacture and marketing...

...They might purchase a communal tractor to plow up their garden plots in the spring...

...To assure some professional competence, a full-time trained manager could be hired—preferably someone agreeable both to the shareholders and the workers...

...Corporations aren't noted for their zeal in experimenting with new industrial arrangements...

...Over half the farm families in America, for instance, now depend on money earned by outside employment in order to stay on their farms...

...The Israeli Moshav with its cooperative production and individualized—or rather, familialized—consumption is a closer model than the better-known Kibbutz, with its collectivization of production and consumption...

...There are several possibilities, but before we look at them I want to emphasize an important point...

...But my proposal differs from the Moshav in important ways...

...The payment system could be based on the same principle as that at Deganiah: a minimum wage plus a fixed share of the net proceeds, the precise share to be determined by the relative amounts of labor and capital employed...

...How does one actually launch such an experiment...

...WHOEVER the ultimate investors and employers might be, it seems certain that the community must take steps to guard against the dangers of becoming a company town...

...Since their interests should be the first priority, perhaps an association made up of the future homesteader-colonists would be the most appropriate body...

...A growing economy has more than doubled the productivity and real wages of workers since the end of World War II, even if the rate of productivity growth has recently slowed...

...For overworked teachers it would mean an "out" from the impossible task of trying to instruct upward of 150 pupils (roughly, five classes of 30 students each) a day...

...The other half—the informal half— would be under the individual's personal control or that of family, friends, and neighbors...

...These risks might be reduced, however, by buying an already going concern...

...Friedrich Engels and Robert Owen both owned factories, and in our time the brothers Green (who founded the Lincoln Electric Co...

...As we're not an academic journal, we prefer that they, wherever possible, be dropped altogether or worked into the text...

...Not only will this insure their seriousness...

...All sorts of interesting possibilities suggest themselves when we start to imagine the kind of community that might develop around such factories...

...There's just a chance that a chief executive officer somewhere might be persuaded to underwrite our experiment...

...Others might turn up...

...It happens that these activities give the greatest intrinsic rewards to those who do them directly, for themselves...

...Students might attend classes half a day and spend the other half apprenticed in a variety of arts and crafts—industrial, domestic, as well as in fine arts and crafts...

...Out of this increased productivity can be financed not only a higher wage rate but also a higher rate of return on the capital invested...

...By "part-time jobs" I mean jobs that would be essentially half-time or less...

...And will it continue to be true—as it is now by default—that practically the only way searching youth can escape from mass society, and find a fraternity of purpose within it, is to surrender their minds and dignity to a cult...

...The rudiments of workplace democracy might evolve and various innovative arrangements—ways to cut waste, improve efficiency, and so on—could be devised...

...For example, each neighborhood unit might include a common green around which the houses would be grouped: a place for children to play and for adults to congregate...

...A provision could be made limiting each family to one plot, to prevent landlordism and empire-building...

...Self-government • The community could experiment with new ways of bringing democracy to local government...

...This might be facilitated by the fact that there would be many more tasks than at present that need doing around the house, including many traditionally thought of as "man's work...

...And there is always the chance that the factory owner might try to take unfair advantage to exploit what is, essentially, a captive work force (I will return to this problem...

...It's clear, to begin with, that even a small-scale pilot will need some sort of organization behind it...

...Under this novel arrangement men and women would work parttime in rural factories, and in their free time would build their own houses, cultivate gar62 dens, pursue hobbies, arts and crafts, and other outside interests...

...2) private industrialists...

...It doesn't 67 have to be a very large organization...

...Either through mismanagement, bad luck, a poor market, inexperience, lack of capital—all hazards in starting a new business from scratch—the venture might go awry...

...The average job in manufacturing today requires an initial investment in excess of $50,000 to make it productive...

...Provided wages are tied to output with a proper incentive (and a proper incentive here must mean, finally, profit-sharing), we should see a gain in output per work hour...

...The possibility of finding a liberal corporate sponsor is perhaps a will-o'-the-wisp...

...This holds even under the first option outlined above and certainly under the second and third...

...The advantages of having a corporation sponsor the experiment are basically the same as having a private industrialist, except that the venture might be better financed...

...I've freely drawn on the communitarian tradition that includes, in addition to the Israeli examples, the writings of Paul and Percival Goodman, the work of the Resettlement Administration, the English Garden City movement, Kropotkin's Fields, Factories and Workshops, and that runs back eventually to Owen and Fourier...

...The arrangement was 65 essentially one of profit-sharing: to the Kibbutz community went a minimum wage for the workers, plus half of the proceeds of the operation...

...The rationale is straightforward...

...So why not take advantage of these facts by dividing the economy in two...

...So naturally they'll be eager to earn every penny they can...

...In the layout of the community as a whole, care could be taken to achieve greater compactness of design, with shorter distances between work and home and the places where people shop...

...Yet discounting the druggy, uncapitalized hippie communes of the 1960s, we have to go back half a century—to the Great Depression and the Resettlement Administration—to find any significant experimentation in this area...

...3) liberal corporations...

...Producing an established product, with a proven or even expanding demand (a new branch plant to meet a growing market for a particular brand item would be ideal), the community would not have to worry so much about selling what it makes...

...Our American society has long been noted for its organizational and practical flair...

...For residential holdings— the land on which people actually live—a condominium arrangement might be worked out under which each family could buy its own plot, and this plot would constitute a voting "share" in a neighborhood corporation that manages these holdings as a whole...

...Considering its unusually exposed situation, the community might take other steps as well to enhance its bargaining position...

...Health Maintenance • To help contain the cost of medical care and insure universal coverage, the community might organize its own healthmaintenance organization to which all its members would subscribe...

...Must they be content, all but a lucky few, to pass their days at boring jobs in offices, factories, and fast-food franchises, and their evenings in front of the TV, watching sit-coms and action adventures...

...Being in a rural location, dependent upon just one or at best a few primary sources of employment, and with possibly no nearby alternatives, the community would be foolish to entrust its wellbeing to the good faith of its employers...

...The parents could share responsibility for child care and once more make the home into a place of 63 nurture and support...

...Neighborhood Co-ops • With half the new economy centered around home and garden, families living close together might pool their resources and take advantage of the opportunities cooperation allows...

...The workers would have a great sense of responsibility and could assume an active role in day-to-day management...

...This would require a social contract among all the members of the community— and also between the community and its employers...

...The army and navy produce excellent training films on how to do frame construction...

...A series of small neighborhood shops for wood- and metal-working, ceramics, and auto repairs might be organized...

...obsessed with the bottom line...

...Here I want to propose a line of development— a set of possibilities—that lies near the frontier of feasibility...

...2) Please don't write to ask whether we're interested in such and such an article—it makes for useless correspondence...

...4) Notes and footnotes should also be typed double-spaced, on a separate sheet...

...With these legal arrangements—or others of a similar intent—the community would be able to demonstrate the superiority of planning over the market in the tasteful and rational development of a site...

...And please remember that we can't return articles unless they're accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope...