Llano Cooperative Colony

LLANO COOPERATIVE COLONY. The establishment of the Llano del Rio Cooperative Colony was inspired by the vision of socialist organizer Job Harriman (1861-1925). Harriman, a former Socialist Labor Party candidate for governor of California and for vice president, was the leading candidate for mayor of Los Angeles in 1911. His campaign was undermined by controversy over the sensational McNamara bombing trial, with false accusations and guilt by association ultimately leading to his defeat. Disillusioned, Harriman decided that the future of socialism lay in economic organization rather than electoral politics. He and his associates bought 9,000 acres of land in Antelope Valley, north of Los Angeles, and established a cooperative community, the Llano del Rio Colony.

The Llano community was officially founded on May Day in 1914 with a small number of colonists and the promise of a $4 per day wage, an eight-hour workday, health care, and other benefits of social cooperation. On this basis, it quickly grew in numbers and range of activities. By 1917, membership had reached a thousand, 2,000 acres had been put into cultivation, economic enterprises included factories, warehouses, and a hotel, and the community’s publications had achieved wide circulation. However, problems began to multiply as the wage system proved unworkable, agricultural productivity lagged, internal conflicts developed, and surrounding ranchers became overtly hostile. It was decided to move the colony to a more hospitable site.

In October 1917, 200 members moved all their belongings on chartered trains to west central Louisiana, an area with a history of support for socialism and organizing by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). There, the community established the New Llano Colony on 20,000 acres bought from a lumber company. In its difficult early months, the community lost most of its members and narrowly escaped complete disaster. However, it soon began to grow and steadily developed into one of the most impressive communitarian experiments in US history. While the socialist influence remained strong in New Llano, the majority of the new members were at most socialist sympathizers. The strongest commitment was to the practical experiment in social cooperation that the colony embodied, rather than to any larger political ideology.

The achievements of that experiment were quite impressive. At its height, the colony had 600 members who benefitted from such communal amenities as free health care, childcare, elder care, education at all levels, laundry service, and three prepared meals a day or food to cook individually. Members undertook a wide range of productive enterprises. These included a general store, office building, train depot, lumber yard, sawmill, wood drying kiln, veneer plant, woodworking shop, canning factory, peanut butter factory, broom factory, shoe repair shop, ice house, print shop, sheet metal shop, electrical shop, machine shop, plumbing shop, blacksmith shop, gas station, laundry, restaurant, bakery, library, hotel, theater, school, funeral home, hospital, and nursing home. The private homes and rooming houses were all supplied with electricity and running water. The colony produced its own timber for its sawmill and raised berries. Some of the enterprises did extensive business with the surrounding communities. Three branch communities were started, specializing in raising sugarcane in south Louisiana, fruit production in Texas, and ranching in New Mexico.

The colony’s educational, cultural, and intellectual achievements were significant. Education was influenced by the Montessori method, and stressed contributions to the community, both practical and intellectual skills, independent thinking, arts, and music. Children went to school half a day and worked in the cooperative industries the other half. The community constructed a large daycare center for the younger children, an exceptional undertaking for the period. Commonwealth College, the first cooperative college in the country, had its beginning at New Llano, and the colony established the first public library in the area, with 5,000 volumes. It was also known for its printing and publishing activities and became an important publisher of socialist and progressive literature.

New Llano made notable advances in achieving social justice, but there were also some serious shortcomings. Women were accepted as full-time workers in the community’s enterprises, had equal voting rights, and had the right to hold all offices. They also benefitted from the system of cooperative childcare, food preparation, and provision of other services. There was up to two years’ maternity leave for new mothers. However, women also bore the burden of combining full-time employment with a disproportionate share of the remaining housework, and in practice decision-making remained primarily in the hands of men. The most notable ideological inconsistency was the exclusion of Blacks from the colony. The members feared persecution by the local community if it were integrated (even though the IWW had previously, and successfully, established biracial labor organizations in central Louisiana).

In addition, for most of its history the colony was plagued by internal conflict. These centered around the personality of George Pickett, the former coach, real estate agent, and insurance salesman who succeeded Harriman as leader. New Llano lost one-third of its members in 1924 when Pickett’s faction defeated the followers of the ailing Harriman. Pickett’s energy, ingenuity, and authoritarian style gained him a strong following, but it also generated a fierce opposition that rebelled against his increasingly dictatorial methods. Particularly notorious were his “Psychology Meetings,” which were designed not only to discuss issues but also to discredit dissenters. Finally, in 1935, a “revolution” was staged against Pickett, and he was removed from office. The membership then split into irreconcilably hostile camps, and legal battles over control began. The colony also came under severe stress from the Great Depression, which produced serious economic setbacks and a flood of destitute new members. The local elite, which was always hostile to New Llano, is thought to have influenced the courts to hand down decisions aimed at destroying the community. Continuing conflicts and unwise economic ventures finally ruined the colony, which was sold by a court in 1939 for a mere $6,600.

For decades, neighbors in the Leesville area talked admiringly about the community’s accomplishments and its peaceful, hard-working members. While the Llano Colony illustrates the dangers of authoritarian leadership and factionalism, its greatest lesson is its demonstration of the impressive achievements possible for ordinary people working together in a cooperative community.

Hardy, Elle. “Seeking Utopia in Louisiana.” Current Affairs (Feb. 07, 2019).

Murrah, Bill. “Llano Cooperative Colony, Louisiana.” Southern Exposure 1 (1973–1974).

American Utopia. Written and directed by Beverly Lewis. Firefly Productions and Louisiana Public Broadcasting, 1994.

Museum of the New Llano Colony, Website. http://www.newllanocolony.com/DBcolonist/pickettgeorge.html.