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156

(1897) [MARC] Author: Jonas Jonsson Stadling Translator: Will Reason With: Gerda Tirén, Johan Tirén - Tema: Russia
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156

Among German Colonists.

sexes between the ages of fourteen and sixty. Their own
common fund is administered by responsible trustees, who receive
no pay for their services, but regard it as a position of honour
and trust. No defalcations have been known among them.

It very rarely happens that anyone neglects his duty of
contributing his annual share to the common fund, or of
cultivating the land he occupies. If such a case should occur,
the delinquent is put under discipline, mostly of a moral
kind ; they have the power of expulsion, in the worst cases.

Each colonist has his land adjoining his house, and not in
different parts of the settlement, as frequently happens under
the bad system of the Russian Government. It is not
compulsory to take up this portion of land. Some prefer to work
for others, or engage in some industrial occupation. They
have a few manufactures, but obtain most articles of this
description in exchange for their farm produce. They practise
co-operation very largely in the disposition of such goods as
are destined for the market, and not for home consumption.
It is obvious that the right to become farm-holders on their
own account entirely prevents that mischievous, unequal
pressure, resulting in the forced sale of one’s labour for a
miserably inadequate return, that is lauded among Western
nations as a " beneficent freedom of competition." The
members of the community who live outside the colonies,
e.g., teachers, many of whom find positions in large cities,
retain their rights of membership by the annual payment of
their due quota, reckoned 011 their income. These duly
qualified persons can always take refuge from the competitive
storm of the capitalistic world, should they find its buffetings
too severe, in these havens of co-operative helpfulness, and
either take up their portion of land or fill any other position
for which they are qualified, at their option.

When the Government grants of land were found insufficient, *
the community bought other tracts, so as to provide the
minimum holdings guaranteed to each member.

The Mennonites are not communists in the complete sense
of the word, but recognise private property in all but the land,
and even there only that is communal that belongs to the

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