Our idea of communes favors more hippy movement than governmental control, however, that is exactly what happened under the Chinese leader, Mao Zedong’s administration from 1958 to 1983. The People’s commune model was part of the Great Leap Forward, which demanded the mobilization of peasants in huge water projects during the winter slack seasons and thus improving agricultural production. These communes had political, governmental and economic functions and were divided into production teams and brigades.
Made up of a combination of smaller farm collectives, these communes consisted of 4,000 – 5,000 households and in some cases were as large as 20,000 households. Within the communes everything was shared – private cooking was banned and all kitchen furniture, pots, pans, and utensils were contributed to the main communal kitchen for communal dining. The peasants had no private property.
Assignments of household items, private animals, stored grains and other food items were made available for the commune as a whole. Every morning all farming activities were assigned centrally by cadres and commune leaders assigned each member of the commune with a job or task. In some places, money was outlawed. Even when bad weather hit the communal lands in 1958, 1959 and 1960 and famine became widespread the food resources were still being exported to urban areas.
Decades of governmental turmoil had these communes reconstructed, severely oppressed and eventually disbanded.
Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers 
January 21, 2016 at 4:16 pm
I’ve had friends who grew up in the American commune movement. None of them were happy about it.
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January 21, 2016 at 9:02 pm
What was the main concern/problem that they voiced about living in a commune? I would be interested to know, please.
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January 22, 2016 at 5:53 am
One of them felt that despite all the high ideals nothing ever got done and there was a lot of infighting. he said it was a very selfish environment.
The other felt he had no real parents. His mother and father were there, but they were more interested in politics and sexual encounters than raising children. It was as if communal caretaking of children made no one really responsible for the children. This man became a very successful photographer but never got over what he considered neglect and lack of maternal and paternal love.
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January 22, 2016 at 6:33 am
Oh, that is extremely sad. From the outside, it seems an ideal environment for all ages but obviously, in reality, only the adults benefited. Thank you for giving us examples, it is appreciated.
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January 22, 2016 at 6:33 am
Oh, that is extremely sad. From the outside, it seems an ideal environment for all ages but obviously, in reality, only the adults benefited. Thank you for giving us examples, it is appreciated.
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