Buying the Farm: Peace and War on a Sixties Commune

by Tom Fels, Daniel Aaron (Foreword by)

Overview

This book tells the story of Montague Farm, an early back-to-the land communal experiment in western Massachusetts, from its beginning in 1968 through the following thirty-five years of its surprisingly long life. Drawing on his own experience as a resident of the farm from 1969 to 1973 and decades of contact with the farm's extended family, Tom Fels provides an insightful account of the history of this iconic alternative community. He follows its trajectory from its heady early days as a pioneering outpost of the counterculture through many years of change, including a period of renewed political activism and, later, increasing episodes of conflict between opposing factions to determine what the farm represented and who would control its destiny.

With deft individual portraits, Fels reveals the social dynamics of the group and explores the ongoing difficulties faced by a commune that was founded in idealism and sought to operate on the model of a leaderless democracy. He draws on a large body of farm-family and 1960s-related writing and the notes of community members to present a variety of points of view. The result is an absorbing narrative that chronicles the positive aspects of Montague Farm while documenting the many challenges and disruptions that marked its history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558499713
Publisher:	University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date:	10/12/2012
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Tom Fels, a museum curator and writer, has for many years researched, written, and lectured on the history of the 1960s. His Farm Friends: From the Late Sixties to the West Seventies and Beyond (2008) received honorable mention for the Eric Hoffer Book Award in independent publishing.

Table of Contents

Foreword: The Sixties in Perspective Daniel Aaron ix

Preface xi

Introduction: Reunion Snapshot 1

1 Origins (1968) 4

2 Early Days (1968-1969) 15

3 Farm Life (1969-1973) 22

4 Renewed Activism (1974-1982) 33

5 New Directions (1983-1992) 47

6 The Reunion (1993) 76

7 Aftermath (1994-1999) 91

8 Annus Horribilis (2000) 98

9 Annus Luctus (2001) 139

10 Annus Mirabilis (2002) 150

11 The Farm and Its Legacy (2002-2006) 169

Postscript 185

Dramatis Personae 189

Documents 193

Notes 207

Bibliography 213

Acknowledgments 219

What People are Saying About This

Ray Mungo

Born in conflict, Montague Farm continued through decades of tortuous discordance, but left its mark in books, films, and music directly derived from it.... The scholarship in Buying the Farm could not be more sound and up to date. Tom Fels is well known for his meticulous care with such research, and this book makes a significant contribution to the study of this counterculture and its people.

Bill Morgan

Using his insider's knowledge Tom Fels has skillfully painted a fascinating picture of how a group of activists brought their own individual idealism and idiosyncrasies from the city to experiment with anti-materialism in the country. For nearly four decades they tried to make their own lives more meaningful while acting as good stewards of the land.... Although their 'back to the land' project succeeded on an individual basis, it failed to discover a new way in which a larger society could work together in harmony. Did our generation of the Sixties come to realize that communal living and the rights of the individual could not coexist for long? The land itself remained the living witness to their struggles and the dreams of their youth. Fels has captured that paradox perfectly.

Anthony Seeger

Buying the Farm reads like an ancient Greek tragedy, written in gripping prose by a master storyteller. The story of Montague Farm is filled with important lessons for those establishing new ways of living and organizing in the twenty-first century. Raking through the ashes of this 1960s commune, Fels does us an immense service by revealing the glowing coals, bitter embers, and enduring lessons of the final years of the last century, and the beginning of this one.

Barbara Epstein

The Montague Farm brought together an extraordinary group of young people who created a community that promoted environmental activism, fused with a visionary cultural radicalism, and who struggled with the tensions between an ethos of mutuality and a commitment to individual freedom. Most eventually left the farm to move on to other phases of their lives, leading, ultimately, to a series of questions: What to do with the farm? Who had the right to make the decision? What values should govern the solution? Tom Fels tells this story with sensitivity and insight, and with a keen eye for the way in which high principle and genuine nobility were often intertwined with grandiosity and self-delusion. This book sheds light on the radical culture of the late sixties and seventies, and also on the painful process of its unraveling in subsequent decades

Tom Hayden

For today's young, the economic future is far more bleak, and global warming an unprecedented threat. Out of necessity, many will be searching for meaningful forms of communal self-sufficiency, healthful food, and renewable energy. Tom Fels' captivating and profound reflection on one earlier commune, Montague Farm, founded in the 1960s, offers hard-learned reflections, some practical, some eternal, from a time when communes were the chosen path of many. Elegantly written. An informative and worthwhile read.

Gary Goldberg

Tom Fels writes with eloquence, compassion, and ultimately wisdom, about the mythical and magical place known as Montague Farm.

Reading Group Guide

Founded in the idealism of the 1960s, and successful over several decades of social, political, and environmental activism, Montague Farm, over the course of its long history, slowly unraveled, and was finally lost to its community.From a farm described by early members as a paradise and a symbol of a better world, it later turned into one that represented to them intractability and resistance to change. Much of the farm's early history presents a very positive picture. As strong and often early advocates for organic gardening, sensible health care, economic self-sufficiency, alternative energy, political change, women's rights, community values, authenticity, and craft the farm and its larger community offer lessons of much use to reformers of today. Its later history, rife with conflict, offers a different set of lessons for both members of communities and their leaders alike.The following questions are meant to highlight some of the many issues surrounding the history of Montague Farm and other altruistic enterprises, and to suggest some helpful and useful ways to approach the book.Questions:Idealism, hope, social change: The farm was founded in the hope of influencing or changing portions of American society. What sort of things did they hope to change? Are missions of hope and change sustainable? What are the alternatives to visions of hope and change? Contributions: What sort of contributions did the farm make to the life of its time? Were they worthwhile? Did they have lasting influence? Would they have happened without independent institutions like the farm? How were individual farm members affected by the novel life there? Flaws: What were some of the problems faced by the farm community in pursuit of its goals? Could these have been foreseen? How might we approach such issues when they arise? Perfectionism: Highly focused endeavors like the farm are often afflicted by the notion of "getting it right:" that nothing but complete devotion to the task at hand will do. What are some other examples of this — sports teams, political parties, armed forces, businesses of various kinds? What are the advantages of such an attitude? The liabilities? Power, influence: We often have to deal with individuals or groups claiming superior importance, reason, or power. What is an appropriate reaction to this? Is there anything to be done about it? What price do we pay for such actions? For the ensuing reactions? The farm: Who could have carried on the values of the farm? Could the future of the farm really be controlled? How would one do this — or any family, nation, large or small organization? Compare the example of Philadelphia's Barnes Foundation, Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, or other restrictive gifts.Spirit, place: For some, selling the farm was a viable option, as the group's values and spirit were seen as more important than the particular place where they had been enacted. How important are particular places to the aspirations attached to them? Is there a relation between place and values? Can place be an essential factor? Compare the case of Israel, or a national park such as Yosemite. Community: The farm's future was at times endangered by the self-declared actions of a few. At Montague, one member tore down a fence built by others. Should a community tolerate damaging behaviors? Are there other courses a community can take? Some communal organizations have survived for substantial lengths of time. A few well known examples are the Oneida community, the Shakers, the Bruderhof, Twin Oaks, and The Farm, in Tennessee. Why do such communities survive? How do they accomplish it? Could this be a model for others? People are free to live out their values independently. Why do they join communes and other self-identified groups? Could you live on a commune? Why or why not? What values would your commune have to have? Does a community, small town, borough, or neighborhood share the characteristics of a commune? The book: What other real or fictional characters might be used, like those of the Iliad, to describe the principal characters in the story of Montague Farm? What issues did the author of Buying the Farm not address? What sort of lessons can be gleaned from the farm experience? What sort of price did the farmers pay for their youthful dreams? Related reading: Buying the Farm is one of a number of books and articles on the extended family of Montague Farm. Other relevant farm authors include Steve Diamond, Asa Elliot, Peter Gould, Stephen Davis, Marty Jezer, Ray Mungo, Peter Simon, and Richard Wizansky. The farms have also been included in critical studies by such scholars of contemporary history as Barbara Epstein, Judson Jerome, Rosabeth Kanter, John McMillian, Blake Slonecker, and Robert Surbrug. Additional bibliographical material on the farm group is available in Farm Friends. Recently published or republished books that directly complement Buying the Farm include:Famous Long Ago, Raymond Mungo, University of Massachusetts Press, 2012What the Trees Said, Steve Diamond, Beech River Books, 2006Farm Friends, Tom Fels, RSI / Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008Smoking Typewriters, John McMillian, Oxford University Press, 2011A New Dawn for the New Left, Blake Slonecker, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013A number of books related to this subject and period are available from the University of Massachusetts Press, among them those below. For others see: www.umass.edu/umpress/ Famous Long Ago, Raymond MungoHuerfano, Roberta Price Beyond Vietnam, Robert Surbrug Framing the Sixties, Bernard von Bothmer Farm Friends: Tom Fels' earlier book on the extended family of Montague Farm, Farm Friends: From the late sixties to the west seventies and beyond, is currently distributed by the author at: PO Box 816, North Bennington, Vermont 05257. Websites: Further information about the extended farm family and its archive, Famous Long Ago, can be found at these web sites: University of Massachussetts farm archive site: http://scua.wordpress.com University of Massachusetts Special Collections site: www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/ Tom Fels / FamousLongAgo.org site: www.famouslongago.org/

Editorial Reviews

"Born in conflict, Montague Farm continued through decades of tortuous discordance, but left its mark in books, films, and music directly derived from it. . . . The scholarship in Buying the Farm could not be more sound and up to date. Tom Fels is well known for his meticulous care with such research, and this book makes a significant contribution to the study of this counterculture and its people."—Ray Mungo, author of Famous Long Ago: My Life and Hard Times with Liberation News Service

"For today's young, the economic future is far more bleak, and global warming an unprecedented threat. Out of necessity, many will be searching for meaningful forms of communal self-sufficiency, healthful food, and renewable energy. Tom Fels' captivating and profound reflection on one earlier commune, Montague Farm, founded in the 1960s, offers hard-learned reflections, some practical, some eternal, from a time when communes were the chosen path of many. Elegantly written. An informative and worthwhile read."—Tom Hayden, author of The Long Sixties

"Using his insider's knowledge Tom Fels has skillfully painted a fascinating picture of how a group of activists brought their own individual idealism and idiosyncrasies from the city to experiment with anti-materialism in the country. For nearly four decades they tried to make their own lives more meaningful while acting as good stewards of the land. . . . Although their 'back to the land' project succeeded on an individual basis, it failed to discover a new way in which a larger society could work together in harmony. Did our generation of the Sixties come to realize that communal living and the rights of the individual could not coexist for long? The land itself remained the living witness to their struggles and the dreams of their youth. Fels has captured that paradox perfectly."—Bill Morgan, author of I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg and The Typewriter is Holy: The Complete, Uncensored History of the Beat Generation

"The Montague Farm brought together an extraordinary group of young people who created a community that promoted environmental activism, fused with a visionary cultural radicalism, and who struggled with the tensions between an ethos of mutuality and a commitment to individual freedom. Most eventually left the farm to move on to other phases of their lives, leading, ultimately, to a series of questions: What to do with the farm? Who had the right to make the decision? What values should govern the solution? Tom Fels tells this story with sensitivity and insight, and with a keen eye for the way in which high principle and genuine nobility were often intertwined with grandiosity and self-delusion. This book sheds light on the radical culture of the late sixties and seventies, and also on the painful process of its unraveling in subsequent decades"—Barbara Epstein, author of Political Protest and Cultural Revolution: Nonviolent Direct Action in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Minsk Ghetto, 1941-1943: Jewish Resistance and Soviet Internationalism

"Tom Fels writes with eloquence, compassion, and ultimately wisdom, about the mythical and magical place known as Montague Farm."—Gary Goldberg, creator of Family Ties and author of Sit, Ubu, Sit

"Buying the Farm reads like an ancient Greek tragedy, written in gripping prose by a master storyteller. The story of Montague Farm is filled with important lessons for those establishing new ways of living and organizing in the twenty-first century. Raking through the ashes of this 1960s commune, Fels does us an immense service by revealing the glowing coals, bitter embers, and enduring lessons of the final years of the last century, and the beginning of this one."—Anthony Seeger, Distinguished Professor of Ethnomusicology, Emeritus, UCLA

"Fels the writer has a keen ear for tone and cadence as he goes from one subject to another, imitating the effects of a fine iambic pentameter. This nearly lyrical prose works in Buying the Farm for two reasons. First, Fels is well schooled in writers whose stories move along easily, such as Ovid, Lytton Strachey, and Henry James. More importantly, however, Fels returns to his successful technique from Farm Friends by giving much weight to his dramatis personae."—Bennington Banner

"His newly released book 'Buying the Farm' is an absorbing reflection on communal living."—iBerkshires.com

"Fels, a resident during the farm's early years, traces protracted disputes that challenged assumptions of what the farm stood for, and who ultimately owned it. . . . Real-world problems undermine ideals. . . . Recommended."—Choice

"Buying the Farm is a deeply personal account, but Fels adds to his personal memories the careful attention to accuracy and details that marks a disinterested historian. It is a delicate balancing act. . . . Yet there is an important advantage to combining the roles of insider and outsider in this way."—Walloomsack Review

"With Tom Fels's new book it can safely be said that Montague Farm has the best published record of any of the communes. . . . Montague Farm was a great embodiment of the ethos, the ideals, of the 1960s. Its story is by turns delightful, thought-provoking, and disturbing. The story is quite human, leaving one to wonder why persons devoted to peace and love and brother/ sisterhood can end up being real asses when it is time to move on. We are richer for having the birth, life, and torturous death of Montague Farm fairly recorded."—The Sixties

From the Publisher

With Tom Fels's new book it can safely be said that Montague Farm has the best published record of any of the communes.... Montague Farm was a great embodiment of the ethos, the ideals, of the 1960s. Its story is by turns delightful, thought-provoking, and disturbing. The story is quite human, leaving one to wonder why persons devoted to peace and love and brother/ sisterhood can end up being real asses when it is time to move on. We are richer for having the birth, life, and torturous death of Montague Farm fairly recorded.

The Sixties

Buying the Farm is a deeply personal account, but Fels adds to his personal memories the careful attention to accuracy and details that marks a disinterested historian. It is a delicate balancing act.... Yet there is an important advantage to combining the roles of insider and outsider in this way.

Walloomsack Review

Fels, a resident during the farm's early years, traces protracted disputes that challenged assumptions of what the farm stood for, and who ultimately owned it.... Real-world problems undermine ideals.... Recommended.

Choice

His newly released book 'Buying the Farm' is an absorbing reflection on communal living.

iBerkshires.com

Fels the writer has a keen ear for tone and cadence as he goes from one subject to another, imitating the effects of a fine iambic pentameter. This nearly lyrical prose works in Buying the Farm for two reasons. First, Fels is well schooled in writers whose stories move along easily, such as Ovid, Lytton Strachey, and Henry James. More importantly, however, Fels returns to his successful technique from Farm Friends by giving much weight to his dramatis personae.

Bennington Banner