Community Centers

Corpgov and the rich at least have one thing right: If you have a large group of like-minded folks who are all into the same things, a central gathering place can be both a recruitment incentive and a great tool.

Consider for a second the country club. Basically, for the wealthy and those who like to go into debt slavery pretending to be wealthy, it is a central gathering place located on golf courses in the middle of McMansion communities. Here, there is no need for someone to trash up their house hosting large parties and have to clean up. Instead, everybody who lives in the neighborhood pitches in (sometimes a vast sum) to have a shared event space, a private bar, and all they can take of their favorite activity. That is, without dealing with unsympathetic folks like downtrodden workers who's jobs and pensions they marched off with showing up.

Good thing is, that this can work for any group of folks. It does not have to be golf. It can be everything from your own commune compound out in the boondocks using techniques talked about in Rural Living to a reclaimed storefront out of an abandoned strip mall to a full fledged office! All sucessful and long lived activist groups eventually get a long term office and center. The really well established groups have centers worldwide. The radical eco-activists of Green Peace even have a compound in Antarctica and naval operations!

A good focus with reliable people will make fund raising easier. Possible focuses include environmental organizations, services to the homeless, religious services, communes, and alternative education. Start small. If your cause is worthy, it may spread and blossom and cause real change.

Questions to Ask

• Do you really want the headache and responsibility?

Some things seem really cool until the person that starts it realizes they are now “married” to their organization long after it stops being cool and exciting. Are you going to feel enthusiastic when one guy in your commune sleeps with another person's girl and you have some folks (good, contributing members) threaten to leave over it and YOU have to put out the fire? Are you willing to pay the bills for the lights and rent out of your pocket when folks use the services but do not want to or can not help contribute? Are you willing to be “the bad guy” if you have to ask someone who is not compatible with everyone else to leave? Are you going to trudge onward if a close associate who was trusted spends the donation money on heroin and skips town? Are you willing to deal with backlash if one of the members of your radical ecological organization blows up a logging truck and starts bragging to cops that he hangs out with your people?

• Do you want to start from scratch or is it more convenient to just start a chapter of an existing organization?

Answer this for yourself. If the existing group has good brand recognition and a good reputation, just establishing a chapter of this in your local area can be easier than starting from scratch. Many even have programs and may send down representatives to help. However, these organizations sometimes can also be rife with internal politics, egotistical leaders, and corruption not seen by the average member. Some may demand percentages of your donations to support the main chapter without care of if you can keep your own chapter afloat. You will be forced to tow the entire organization line, even if you disagree with parts of it. There have been cases of even powerful organizations collapsing or spitting due to drama and getting a bad reputation by the overall community regardless of how well you were doing locally! For some causes, there may be no organization available. Meet face to face representatives of any group you join forces with beforehand. It may be a good match or save you from dealing with much stress.

• Are you willing to start small?

Sometimes, the path of many miles begins with a small step. You may have to start out having meetings at other people's houses, a library, or someone else's facility who may not mind.

• Is this some wild, out of the blue solo idea or are you a trusted, longtime member within a huge network of folks who share your beliefs?

Any huge project like this goes much better if you already know tons of folks who may be supportive. But of course, the “if you build it, they will come” maxim does have virtue. If your idea is good, you give good services, and have a trustworthy reputation (or if you are the only game in town) you still may be successful. One word on “support”, though. There is a huge difference between vocally supporting an idea and being willing to actually donate time, action, and money to that effort.

• Do you have access to cash and/or skilled volunteer labor and materials?

Even if you rent, you are going to need deposits. You may have to spend money for renovations to make the place suitable for your purposes. If you luck out, this can be as simple as just coat of paint and getting furniture. Some places may need major high skill electrical or plumbing work or in bad cases, foundation work. It may even be necessary to build an entire complex from the ground up or at least get a bunch of trailers until you can build such a complex!

• Are people going to be sleeping or living there?

If so, you need to make sure the zoning is okay and you have the facilities necessary for tenants. Having only one bathroom for 36 folks can cause tensions. You probably want to have some way of dealing with people eating. You need to make sure everyone is going to get along. You are going to set reasonable but strict ground rules so cops do not come in and bust in the doors for some fool bragging about his pot growing, some asshole getting drunk and punching holes all in the walls and his girlfriend, or some jerk stealing from everyone else.

• What kind of services is your center going to offer?

An earthy, green, farming retreat is going to have much different needs than an urban religious center. It is best to start small if on a limited budget. For example, if your center is a day time drop-in center for wayward youth you may envision pool tables, fully stocked libraries, and a staff of 4 counselors, and a full kitchen serving meals. But, until you take off on fund raising you may have to cope with one or two staff, a bunch of dumpster dived couches, a few recycled 8 year old computers, and a cheap linksys router hooked to internet.

Finding Space

Zoning

If you are setting up shop in an urban area, look into what is allowed both by zoning law and by your rental contract (if you rent). There are occupancy limits in most buildings and most commercial zoning prohibits dwelling in the office. Find out what your rights are as far as having demonstrations with many people inside and/or outside. Can you place sign and tables on the sidewalk (if there even is a sidewalk)? Is there a place that is acceptable for your clientele to park cars and bicycles without having to pay or pissing off other businesses or land owners?

If you are setting up in a rural area, you may not have to worry about this as much, but you will still need to make sure you have the facilities on the land that suits your purposes or that the folks coming have understandings of what to bring.

Location

If in a city, you will need to find a space near your identified focus population in order to be effective. Bohemian earthy folks are going to frown on going to a Yoga center in the middle of the suburbs and away from their trendy habitat with 6 USD coffee and expensive bookstores. An inner city homeless ministry may do best in areas near day labor and bus lines. Look for something easy to find, near major streets, public transportation, and easily bicycle accessible.

The exception to this is if your center is in a rural area where the entire selling point may be “getting away from it all”. In this case, you will want to invest in a working center van to pick up folks who may not have access to a ride or for occasional supply runs to the nearest town.

Regardless of location, it is important to consider the political atmosphere, crime, and law enforcement attitudes in the area. For example, you are begging for trouble if you put an adult homeless shelter near a four star hotel (real life example: the Brantley Baptist Center homeless shelter in downtown New Orleans had massive trouble with this and had to shut down because the surrounding upscale 300 USD a night hotels did not like their customers around the smelly homeless waiting outside for a bed!) or if you hold a massive pagan worship event right smack in a small, secluded Bible belt rural parish or county! (real life example: Livingston Parish in the middle part of Louisiana had one such gathering on a private field. County cops searched and harassed attendees along with the local paper and church groups railing against them! ) Of course, sometimes you may want trouble to make a statement. But just be prepared for it.

Essential Services

Regardless of type, almost all communes, centers, and organizations offer these services. An organization that does not offer any services but to ask for donations has no reason to exist, and will be avoided and eventually die.

Information and Public Outreach

A good center always has information on services around the community that the clientele has interest in. They strive to be local experts in the theme they deal with and constantly pay attention to developing news and advances. A youth center knows what GED programs are out there. The rural agriculture commune knows the services in the nearest major towns and keeps a base of knowledge on farming. A drug advocacy group has the names of many sympathetic lawyers and keeps a good rapport with them, maybe even asking them to come speak. A disability support group has tons of information and lists of services and good doctors for those with that disability, and so on.

Atmosphere

A good community center is a place where people feel comfortable to come and hang out to meet other progressive types and coordinate the more overt parts of our struggle for freedom. Have comfortable seating. Try to have food available to visitors. If you have trouble with funding for this, some businesses are willing to donate day old foods (and many times fresh) to a worthy cause. Of course, a good website, letterhead letters, and business cards make you just that more legit. Make sure to hit up places that may share your sympathies. Late hours and free strong coffee are always good for encouraging deep radical discussion.

Education, Seminars, and Events

Community education and planned events can provide a great stream of recruits. Great ideas include:

• Group meditation or yoga

• Free university classes/ GED classes

• How-to seminars.

• Martial Arts classes.

• Literature study group or book of the week club.

• Religious functions, if it fits and is optional... be it Christian, Taoist, Pagan, Flying Spaghetti Monster or whatever.

• “Conversation and coffee” discussion panels.

• Good guest speakers who have great knowledge in their field other than the organization leadership.

• Parenting classes or daycare/ kids classes.

• Member shared free dinners or lunches and potlucks.

What is a good idea in one place may not fly in another. It is important to have these always at regular, scheduled times and post these schedules on a bulletin board, any printed literature, and your website. Interesting topics will draw groups better than rambling sermons. If successful, you will bring in folks to utilize the space. Folks are much more likely to give donations to help pay the rent and upkeep if they are getting some benefit and the commune or center becomes a central part of life they look forward to. The whole “obligation because it is a good cause” thing only goes so far.

Sometimes it is important just to have events that allow folks to get to know each other without one-way communication like speeches or presentations. Give your members a chance to socialize between each other. This is one of the downfalls of many organizations, particularly many religious based organizations, that has led to drops in memberships and even many places closing.

Even if it is a “captive” audience like homeless ministries or you have a retreat in the woods with no way out without a car or long trek, many will be left with bad tastes in their mouths if any event is only an ego trip or you insult their intelligence. They will speak ill of your organization and any group remotely affiliated even years later. (real life example: In Phoenix, Arizona there was a religious based mission called Teen Challenge. They maintained large, dormitory style buildings for kids coming off of hardcore drugs. Now, some one way conversations and strict but reasonable rules can be understandable when rehabilitating hormone ridden teenagers with hardcore drug withdrawal. A good thing, right? However, they also occasionally had public feedings to homeless people if a “short” sermon and prayer was attended. What they would do was horrible and very disrespectful. The sermon would last TWO HOURS and have nothing to do with any plight the homeless faced! Instead, it consisted of only of self-congratulatory awards and acceptance speeches! The homeless were forced to sit and endure while forced to sit in the back of the room. If they left the building during this sermon, even to smoke, they were told they would not be able to eat. Some angrily protested this derogatory treatment and were promptly escorted out by off duty police for being disruptive. Afterward, the meal consisted of watered down Kool-aid and a soggy sandwich. Do you think anyone there except those who were part of the program were made into tithing converts? Do you think anyone there except the organizers saw this as a great thing for the community? Or did they just go along for the food or to get the hell out of there if they were locked down in the program and it was the only game in town?)

You may be tempted to do singles events. Do not do it. It is usually not a good idea most of the time. It creates tension of having to find mates and attracts those who may not give two shits about your activist agendas and only want to get laid! If the meeting is heterosexual, it creates problems of constantly needing to balance the male/female ratio in recruiting or else risk having people not want to show up because “there are no hot, non-loser guys” or “no girls but the one 40 year old in the corner with 3 kids” type deal. Even “free love”/ polyamory/ open relationship groups that actually make sex and dating an agenda constantly guard against this, many times only allowing married men who bring wives or single females in - no single guys allowed ever unless it is leadership. Instead, do a “coffee and conversation” type event. It is much, much better and much less stress, and you may actually get just that - great conversation!. If folks are just happening to hook up with others they meet in a community center, awesome. But, do not make it the selling point of coming there - lest it drown out the message.

Website

While word of mouth and fliers still have uses, most folks are going to find out about your project through some sort of online presence. This means a website. Your website should sum up the organization's philosophy, current events, news, and contact information. The great ones serve as a download center for .pdfs of all written material. If you have interesting speakers or how-to seminars, you can put archives up with mp3 podcasts or links to youtube to present your organization as a cool place.

You can also, if you wish, put up discussion boards for that extra touch. Just make sure they are maintained by someone and moderated to prevent Chinese spam flooders, flamers, and trolls from opposing philosophies that only agitate without discussing things rationally from taking over. The forums for some organizations can eventually become THE forum to go to for good discussions of that issue.

The website needs to look fairly sharp, so if you do not know how to do this, you may need to pay someone or enlist the help of a technically savvy friend or volunteer. A shitty and cluttered website that is never updated, has misspellings and broken links, or is nothing but a facebook or myspace profile is not going to cut it and actually can chase away folks who may have otherwise checked you out.

You should also sign your place up on sites that are established to help folks find your center. There are database sites aimed at every possible flavor of center. Sometimes multiple sites.

Radical Printing

Newsletters may be getting less common due to the internet, but there is always something to be said for a tangible piece of paper in one's hand to read over the cold, white glare of a monitor. You can place these in places where your target crowd may gather. Just get permission from whoever controls that space so your efforts do not get tossed in the trash right after you leave. You may even want to establish a mailing list for folks that enjoy reading. Of course, always offer your newsletter in .pdf form on your website! Just make sure your newsletter is well written with good logic and looks professional. If it is good, you may find it referenced and quoted or even used by smaller groups just forming far away.

Putting out fliers and pamphlets are a bit like spreading seed. Most are going to be viewed once, thrown in the trash or on the ground. It is pretty wasteful. During Mardi Gras in New Orleans in Jackson Square one year, locals commented that there where more Christian pamphlets tossed on the ground there from various missionary groups handing them out than beer cans from the bars! However, if the flier is well written and well done, you will find you may get one or two responses (sometimes more) from around every 100 of them. Of course, always keep fliers and pamphlets in your center containing lists of services, directions, and any information you want known.

Quality posters are another great way to advertise. If it is a great piece of art, as well as provide a statement, folks will gladly pay for it to put on their wall. Some of the protest and community organization posters of the 1960s and 1970s are now historical collectables worth quite a bit of money to collectors.

See also Starting a Printing Workshop and Underground Newspapers for more tips.

Internet

You can surely set up a public wireless Internet node. Additionally, a few old machines plugged into the network will let anyone without laptops get online to publish and blog.

Media Center, Podcasting, and Broadcasting

A good podcast, live presentation, youtube account, or even old school air wave broadcast can be a major selling point to your organization!

Try to get a computer projector, overhead projector, and possibly a large television screen and playback device for multimedia presentations. Recording equipment, lights, a modular TV set, and several backgrounds make for professional panel discussions, radio shows, and documentaries. Most of the media studio stuff is quite expensive and easily damaged. Expensive stuff with direct pawn value are popular targets for thieves (even by trusted project volunteers!) , particularly if your area is very public. For security, take home the gear at night or have it locked and watched.

If your movement is looking to produce a guerrilla radio program or podcast, a nice studio with good acoustics will really help in production and sound quality. Make sure the host knows how to talk professionally without “umms” or dead air. Nothing makes listeners cut the podcast or channel off and never listen to your message again than poor quality audio with bad voices and stuttering.

Do not try to transmit a pirate radio transmission from the community center. It will be a very easy investigation and you might forfeit without even a trail all of your expensive studio equipment as part of the crime of pirate broadcast. This is a concern even if your organization has the transmitter gear off site. Let someone else broadcast your Internet audio feed, just be sure that people know the FCC will probably watch all IP addresses connecting to your site, TOR might help with this. Also remember security culture such as recording a how-to video of how to grow pot done with actual plants grown in your area by a member if you live in an place where this is illegal, you could end up squeezed to out people by a grand jury under threat of jail for contempt of court.

Music is usually okay to put in if the show is broadcast or streamed live. If it is later put in an archive podcast, you will need to either have music that is open sourced or you have permission from the artist to use. All others you probably should edit out in the archive version. The RIAA, the same folks that sue grandma for her house because her grand daughter downloaded Brittany Spears on peer to peer, have been known to harass podcasters and event organizers from time to time.

See also Making Music and Guerrilla Broadcasting.

Attrition

Over time, folks may lose interest - even productive, long term members. Maybe they get a new job that takes up their time. Maybe they have a new baby. People move and interests can change. This is natural.

However, if you are losing too many members quickly, you may want to seriously examine what you are doing. Is your area of concern not relevant anymore? Has the population shifted or your ideal no longer a fad? Are you not advertising enough? Do you have poisonous members (and this means even leadership!) showing up and chasing everyone away because no one can stand that person?

Always be open to feedback and be approachable. Criticism is an incredibly valuable gift because they could had just left and never came back without even giving you a clue what is happening. Be ready to change an approach that may be hindering you, cancel unpopular events, or be willing to drop or counsel a problem member.

Avoid “cults of personality” and let everyone have a say. Have others who can take over things if something unfortunate happens to you.

(Real world example: Back during the 1970s, Abbie Hoffman had the Yippies and Kerry Thorton had the Discordians. Both groups had similar goals and aims and had polite relations, if not different approaches. However, decades later, the Yippies are a footnote in counterculture history and the Discordians are very much still around. Why is that? For one thing, Yippie stands for Youth International Party, meaning if you are pushing 30 or beyond it implies you may not be welcome, even if you agree with the philosophy. Discordians made no distinction. While that may keep out some, and there are some groups based on youth that have centers like fraternities or student organizations, it is not the only reason. The main reason is cult of personality and someone willing to help run things other than the founder. Abbie Hoffman and one of his buddies were pretty much “THE LEADERS” and had no room for individual chapters or any one else to add to the collective body of knowledge. Thorton, on the other hand, let anyone with something legitimate to add be heard. Hence the Yippies faded with the death of Hoffman when no more bestseller books came out while the Principia Discordia has many versions (the newest only vaguely resembling Thorton's early work) and a newer work called “The Black Iron Prison” has been added long after Thorton died. When running a group, look at it not so much that you are “the leader”, but more a fellow member and friend facilitating good things happening. The members are the stars. Martial Arts groups have a saying, “The white belt is king, the black belts stay after and mop floors.”)

Anti-Counterinsurgency

Some centers may attract the attention of opposition groups or even CorpGov agents and pigs looking to shut people down for crimes real or imagined.

Identifying Plants

Types of Plants:

• Groups who have a similar mission, but want to recruit from your members instead of cold recruiting.

http://wiki.stealthiswiki.org/wiki/Community-Centers 7/9

• Opposing groups who want to know your plans to develop counter plans.

• Undercover cops and agents. Particularly found in drug legalization circles or radical circles that have a tendency to use DIRECT action against established powers. Do not think your group is immune because it is borderline mainstream, either. They have even been known to infiltrate radical Baptist anti- abortion groups as well as hardcore anarchist G20 protest groups from time to time.

Properly teaching security culture can make a big difference if the police or groups who may be opposed to your mission are sending plants into your community center. This gets quite a bit harder the more people frequent your center.

Preventing and Foiling Plants

• Enforce a “no open talk of violence or illegal activity” policy. Open discussion of lawbreaking is permissible discussion ONLY if it is in a detached academic sense and not planning actions.

• This includes DOING illegal actions in the center during public meetings. Example: even if your group is a drug advocacy group or even friendly to the idea, it is never done in a public setting or even talked about. This includes someone planning to “turn everyone on with a big blunt at his house” after the meeting and announcing this. Keep stuff like this on the down low and only amongst established long time friendships in private areas, preferably away from the community center. That new guy who has only been there two weeks or so could very well be a cop or a opposing group member who would love to get some regular, important members busted!

• Be watchful of those that constantly are attempting to violate security culture and the above rules. If they continue to disobey this even after gentle reminders, you may need to boot them.

• Be cautious of those who seem to hang out waiting to talk to new arrivals but not to regulars.

• Try to greet and to talk to everyone who enters to get a feel for their motives and reason of being there. Not only is this good hospitality and makes folks feel welcome, it is a good security measure.

Bugging

Always assume that your phones, internet, and building are all bugged or tapped. Modern spy gadgets are cheap and easy for the police and opposing groups to get. If you need to have a secure discussion, take a walk along a busy street.

Security Culture

Make security culture a major focus of the culture in your community center. Making and posting motivational posters similar to the posters from World War Two will be a constant reminder and a great idea. The legality and ability to stay open depends on following security culture rules if any of your regulars are involved in direct action.

Always separate the center or commune from any direct actions of it's members. This works regardless of philosophy or theme. Radical Islamic mosques in the Middle East may have had several members that blew up things, but the mosque itself remains faultless. Similarly, during the anti-abortion protests of the 1980s and 1990s, a few folks vandalized those clinics and there was even the case of a few abortion doctors getting shot! Of course, the Baptist church they went to and the pro-life organization they frequented are always blameless, even if many sympathized with such direct actions! This is because they NEVER allowed public discussion or planning of ANY direct action (except in academic, detached discussions) in public meetings!

If it works for big organizations like the Southern Baptists or the Islamic Mosques, it will work for your center, too.

See Security Culture for more tips.

Sabotage, Thievery, and Embezzlement

DO NOT STEAL FROM YOUR RADICAL COMMUNITY CENTERS AND BOOK STORES

Many of those that we wish to serve are of a subculture that views stealing from "Da-Man" as being a revolutionary act. Since the stealing instinct sometimes becomes ingrained, you need to take special care that valuables are not accessible to visitors. Unfortunately, this often means not carrying a stock of merchandise since much of it will go out stuffed in pockets and backpacks.

Bars on windows, backed up files and computers, and a good sprinkler system as well as paid up insurance are important. Good inventory control on anything that is given out like food for meals is also in order. Some places even go as far as to require that any donations must be given as a money orders made out to the center to cut back on those who would be tempted to leech off the funds.

Take all these things into account should the police, industry, or even a disillusioned former member decide to eliminate your radical meeting space.

Fight

Communes

Last updated: 9 June 2011

Due to stigma attached to the name title "commune", many communal residential communities that would have once been been so named, along with other communities formed in similar spirits, are now called "intentional communities".

Anyone with access to a home or piece of land can start an intentional community or commune, but there are also many existing ones that people can join. There are many different sorts of communities, and many different ways for them to work, but plenty of general concerns for all people considering this lifestyle to consider.

Finding Communes

With communes constantly springing up and breaking up all the time the only way of keeping track is websites that list them, meaning you have to trawl through pages, searching addresses and plotting them on a map. Another method is volunteering, less communal but hundreds of farms, See Get a Job.

The Fellowship for Intentional Community ( http://fic.ic.org/) has a large, easily searchable database (http://directory.ic.org/records/?action=search&advanced=true) of intentional communities, planned communities that promote social interaction, not limited to, but including, what were once called communes. This database allows one to search based on a number of criteria, including location, size, religious/spiritual path, openness to queers, use of drugs, dietary practices, and decision making and leadership style.

There are many other directories of intentional communities, including some with a more particular focus:

Intentional Communities Database - http://icdb.org/

Cohousing Association of the U.S. - http://www.cohousing.org/

Ecovillage Network - http://www.ecovillage.org/

Diggers & Dreamers - The UK Guide to Communal Living - http://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk/

Directory of Intentional Communities and Ecovillages in Europe - http://www.eurotopia.de/

Christian Intentional Communities on the Web - http://www.newcreation.org.uk/links/

Felowship of international communities - http://directory.ic.org/iclist/geo.php

European ecovillage directory - http://www.gen-europe.org/addresses/EVindex.html

Connects farmers interested in teaching with people interested in farming - http://www.growfood.org/farms

Archived list of anarchist groups, projects and collectives from Eastern Europe -://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zUNVH- Dbng0J:abb.hardcore.lt/joomla/index.php%3FItemid%3D60%26id%3D10%26option%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dsection+Communities+in+Struggle+ (Eastern+Europe)&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

In the city or in the country, communes can be a cheap and enjoyable way of living. Although urban and rural communes face different physical environments, they share common group problems. The most important element in communal living is the people, for the commune will only make it if everyone is fairly compatible. A nucleus of 4 to 7 people is best and it is necessary that no member feels extremely hostile to any other member when the commune gets started. The idea that things will work out later is pig swill. More communes have busted up over incompatibility than any other single factor. People of similar interests and political philosophies should live together. One speed freak can wreck almost any group. There are just too many day-to-day hassles involved living in a commune to not start off compatible in as many ways as possible. The ideal arrangement is for the people to have known each other before they move in together.

Once you have made the opening moves, evening meetings will occasionally be necessary to divide up the responsibilities and work out the unique problems of a communal family. Basically, there are two areas that have to be pretty well agreed upon if the commune is to survive. People's attitudes toward Politics, Sex, Drugs and Decision-making have to be in fairly close agreement. Then the even most important decisions about raising the rent, cleaning, cooking and maintenance will have to be made. Ground rules for inviting non-members should be worked out before the first time it happens, as this is a common cause for friction.

Radical Communes

Structures: A low-rise or multilevel warehouse can be subdivided with cinder block walls much like a storage unit center with cyclone fence for secure ceilings allowing the central heat to work. In very rural areas military tents at first transitioning to inexpensive storage sheds. Most of the day will be spent in community areas and the small rooms/cabins/tents are for solitude, sleeping, and secure dry storage. Other ideal remodels for apartments are closing nursing homes, Hotels, motels, small hospitals, or old office buildings. Most people will want to move on to more normal dwellings once they get a job or start a serious relationship. Squatting has more ideas about structures and organization.

Utilities and Services: Have plans for garbage disposal, network, electricity, water, sewage, and heat. Also have in mind that some people will fill a room with junk then freak out and leave. Fire sprinklers and a good sprinkler water supply for every room is a must. If you can't get the city to accept your settlement try to make an arrangement to get power and utilities from a nearby property. Have private meters installed at the utility split so your group will pay for it's fair share.

Internet: Internet with a fat connection is a must for rebels, rugged computers could be placed in common areas. Consideration should be given to unofficial caches of pirate media on the network to keep the connection from bogging down from downloaders, an internal PTP setup can help share files. You could install a VOIP asterisk server and make a communal telephone exchange. A large file server for internal use is useful.

Activities: Regular activities and social gatherings are key to making a working large commune. Look into the history of the YMCA. Evaluate the services provided by a university dorm and try to come up with low cost options to many of these for your tenants. If you are able to pull this plan off and not be a filthy slum lord rents should be very low. Services for bicycles is important, the shop must be crewed to prevent tool theft and help to those new to bike repair.

Rules: Security physical and network should be a high consideration as you will surely have occasional pigs undercover in such a radical crash site. All questionable legal activity must be kept at the individual level as official endorsement could endanger the co-op or owner. Strict rules preventing interference in the lives of others and violence must be enforced, there is always the offer of the road to trouble makers. Rules requiring securing personal items will reduce distrust from theft.

Making it Work: This dream of ultra cheap housing is thwarted by local zoning regulations it is difficult to get variance for housing in an industrial area where you might find a warehouse. Try lobbying the city council if you have the backing to try such an idea. We have seen churches be allowed to ignore zoning on church owned property. Try organizing as the "Mosque-Church-Synagogue-Temple of no Homelessness" and really teach the religion of nobody left behind (Registering your group as a church through the Universal Life Church ( https://web.archive.org/web/20110914133838/://www.ulc.net/) can save on paperwork, and having all your members Ordained Ministers can be a strong show of solidarity).

An idealistic democratic power struggle, while appealing, may fail and lead to power struggles that destroy a commune. It might be better to run a slightly impersonalized apartment building with a radical landlord than a failed radical commune with an overly specific goal and too much group planning.

Starting your own Commune

A commune is a commitment to a specific way of life and a commitment to other people. It's an extended family. Within a commune you get to set the goals and rules for a whole community. It's needed by people who feel society's goals and rules don't fit their own. Rather than compromise one's life for the sake of a lifestyle you can't abide, you get to try your own ideas in a private utopia.

Starting a commune is no small task. You can't just say I'm going to start a commune and viola! you have instant commune. The first hurdle is finding like-minded people to join you. You would have to have some friends or people you've already spent some time with and shared ideas.

The second hurdle is finding a place for the commune. Actually a commune can be anywhere, even in the middle of a city, depending upon those principles discussed earlier. If you're a back-to-nature type you'd probably like to be out in the country somewhere. You'd could buy or lease an old farm, one where there hasn't been too much soil contamination (again good luck). Old farms usually have lots of out buildings that can be usefully adapted to commune living. Old farms have another advantage, they're old. That means they're cheaper to rent or buy, and the commune can fix up the buildings.

It's good to be in an area where the surrounding community won't immediately be against you. It takes years to build trust in farm communities, and it would be easier if you had a measure of acceptance to begin. This would be the case if there is another good commune in the area. Some places where there are lots of communes are Oregon, and Tennessee. Of course there are many other places, and some communes are so low key, the neighbors might not even know it's not a family.

I recommend if you are serious about starting a commune you go visit one, and maybe live there for awhile. This way you can really checkout the lifestyle, the commitment it entails and whether you could really dig it. In any case you would learn a lot, and maybe get some good ideas for your own commune. You can also get some ideas by reading up on Utopias and learn more about the philosophy behind the communal concept. Check out the Farm's website to see how one of the more successful communes did it! You can also visit our Communal Living Forum and discuss this with others who've lived on communes. A good resource for finding existing communes is the Intentional Communities Website.

In summary successful communes have been started in many different ways. Some starts have been very casual, with little structure - "hey, let's share a house" to form a shared household. Others, like new Housing Co-operative, may start with extensive professional planning using Cohousing consultants. These resources can help people start new communities by dealing with the start-up issues faced by most communities.

Some elements to consider working on in the first months you spend together. This assumes you have a core group of at least 2-3 households.

Vision/Goals Statement

This should define the intentions and directions of the community. It needs to clearly state what you hope to achieve as a group. Give it to every future member. Although some forms of community, like co-housing are not as ideological as other types of communities, in any community there are often values and assumptions which drive the participants. Define the goals and values clearly and carefully and write them down. You need to give this document to every prospective member. The more detail you can flesh out in a vision statement, the better it will be at filtering in like minded people. This document is very exclusionary. You can have diversity of many kinds in the group, but it really helps you down the road, to have people who share the same vision. For example, if the group vision is to create low income housing, you may need to make a number of tradeoffs and decisions to accomplish the vision. If several people in the group do not share the vision of low income housing, when you get to the point where you have to make those trade-off decisions, you will very likely have problems, big messy group conflict problems, because those who do not share the vision, will NOT want to make the trade-offs required. Working in a group to form a community is a very challenging enterprise, and the more vision and common goals the group shares, the easier it is to move ahead.

Group Decision and Communications Process

This process is usually a very democratic one where consensus is used in decision-making. However many communes have a very strong leader with a vision, and the members heed this person's will. I have heard many horror stories of communes where one leader issued the orders and used all sorts of methods to achieve compliance. Let's see, there's Guyana (Jim Jones), Waco, Heaven's Gate (the internet comet cult), that Swiss one, plus many others that haven't ended in mass suicide, just mind control, sex control, discipline by fear, etc. It's a fine line between a commune and a cult, especially with a powerful charismatic leader whose authority is unquestioned. So we hereby warn those who would follow such a person. Much better to find a commune where there is no central authority figure, and power is shared equally among the members (good luck!).

You need to answer the following questions:

• Who are members? What is the process and qualifications to become a member?

• How are decisions made? Who gets to make them?

• How will meetings be run? Who gets to talk, when?

• How will conflicts be handled/resolved? When we don’t agree how will we work it out?

• How will records be kept?

• How will new members be brought up to speed?

• For more info see Group Decision and Communications Process.

Start up Money

You should have answers to the following questions:

• How will expenses get paid?

• Who will keep records of what has been paid?

• Is there a membership fee? How much?

• Will payments be refunded? If so, how?

Define Your Legal Structure

There are many different legal structures that can be used for an intentional community. For complex community development projects, such as is often the case for cohousing, it is common for more than one legal structure to exist as the community and project goes through different phases. It costs very little to incorporate, which offers you some protection of your personal assets. Being incorporated also lends legitimacy to your organization in the eyes of banks and other agencies. For more info see Legal.

Community Bylaws

Based on the decisions made in Group decision and communications process, write them down as part of the bylaws for your organization. These will be changed several times as you evolve your group and the ways it operates - the purpose is to write down your agreements NOW so you don’t forget them.

You need to create a record which you (and those who have yet to arrive) can refer to. Hopefully, the newcomers won't point out too many inconsistencies between what you agreed to do and what you actually do.

Get a Bank Account

Once you incorporate you will be able to get a tax ID number and a corporate bank account. Use this for all expenditures and put someone responsible in charge of keeping track. Remember, once you start spending peoples money you are a legal entity in the eyes of the courts and the tax man. Lots of communities have gotten in trouble from bad accounting. For more info see Community bank accounts.

Collect Assessments from Members

Start with a small sum, like $20 a month. Along with an initial $100 investment this will identify those who are committed and also painlessly raise some startup capital for mailing, legal paperwork, advertising, etc.