In 1941 the Bruderhofs
in England set up house in Uruguay,
set up a hospital in Uruguay.
What's more and more along the shore,
beyond first hot and then Cold War,
the Mennonite Central Committee
assisted the Bruderhof move,
which reminds one of cities and towns
staffed by Hutterite colonies, Bruderhof too
in a patchwork of getting along.
Not utopian, not in the least! Nor
were Doukhobors self-described 'Communists' banned
outright!
(that is, instead of seriously learning
from their practical experience). It
does to believe in God in communes, if you'd
rather they not bicker and unravel,
just as capitalist godlessness slays
souls, this in the midst of air-conditioned
whee! The world's a creepy crawly crumbling
place up close but like stained glass from way high
up.
These stained glass glitter waves red russet fields and green
paint chords of inner music sung by what this eye has seen.
*Obshchina signifies a historical Russian phenomenon in Tsarist times, that of village communism; a successful model which some ideologues tend to forget in their haste to announce that communism does not work, just as they forget the Hutterites, Bruderhof, Doukhobors and sundry. Communism does work, this non-communist declares, and it matters to declare this fact; to explode the inadequate going understandings of communism in practice and to situate these matters in the clear sight of day in art and thought.
** Of note, the Free Diggers of England proposed a similarly Crown-sponsored village communism, which suggests a clear-sighted view of the possible well worthy of mention.
