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Comment by d3ad1ysp0rk | Hacker News Reader

Do you have any data for this argument?

Can't find any long lasting ones. For example, hippie communes were common in the 60's and 70's. They've all vanished. The largest, San Francisco's 1967 "summer of love", only lasted a few months before collapsing.

"those who gathered in Haight-Ashbury during 1967 allegedly rejected the conformist and materialist values of modern life; there was an emphasis on sharing and community. The Diggers established a Free Store, and a Free Clinic where medical treatment was provided."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Love

This is place is most likely an exception to the rule but here is a single counter-example; a long-standing commune near my hometown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Oaks_Community,_Virginia

A more interesting article on it:

http://www.twinoakscommunity.org/paxus-307/pax-modesty-ineff...

It's a survivor of "thousands" of communes started in the 60s and 70s, perhaps the only one. Turnover is about 12% a year. Perhaps the secret to their success is the ability to attract a constant stream of replacements, as members who tire of communism leave.

Even so, it shows that if you want to live in a communist society, you're free to form one here in America.

Me, I'll pass.

Israeli kibbutzim is probably the largest example, where you have a set of many communes so you can see what is an accident and how the average behaves; and they were/are long lasting.

They're supported with government money, as they are unable to support themselves. That's not success.

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