OCTOBER 1855
October 15th. I stopped keeping a journal when we reached the settlement. This is our sixth month here now, but I don’t know where to begin. The vegetable garden has been expanded, a run has been built for the livestock, the agricultural work and manufacture of bricks continues, we’re building new homes for the families with children. Some of the settlers complain of the monotonous food and arduous work. People are occasionally testy to one another and there are arguments sometimes. It isn’t good for the future of our settlement. Conflicts and disputes are settled in a people’s tribunal. The settlers present decide on the sanction. Conflicts, which are called public investigations, take place in the Common House, Carlane from the first group of settlers runs them so everyone doesn’t speak at once, supposedly he used to be an adjunct judge. He sits at the head of the room with his back to the window, the parties of the dispute face him and the settlers are on the benches in back. There are red and black flags on the walls. Everything is public, the discussion and the decision as well. It’s essential that order reign, since otherwise we wouldn’t become the vanguard of a new society. Anarchy is not arbitrariness, and freedom must be answerable to that which makes it possible. But every sanction must be adequately explained, so the guilty party won’t persist in his mistake. In the old society people kept things secret, not wanting evil to flow to the surface. But evil suppressed is the source of hatred and individualism. On the contrary it is essential to say everything out loud so that nothing remains hidden. Jean Allegret is entrusted with counting the votes. A hundred settlers live in our settlement, including children. Besides the Common House we have about thirty other buildings, workshops, a granary, a tannery, and a school. In the courtyard in front of the Common House every day at sunset we hold a moment of gathering: the settlers form a circle, clasp each other by the hand, and remain silent until the moment when the sun sets. After that we break up into small groups or pairs and talk about the future. Two fires have broken out in the settlement, one when lightning struck the granary, the other from someone smoking a pipe. Smoking has been forbidden since then, the same as the consumption of alcohol, but some people smoke and drink in secret. The Germans who work on the construction of the road a few kilometers from here sell them tobacco and liquor. They live in a free settlement too, by the name of Trautes Heim, they’re allowed to smoke, snort tobacco, and once a week drink alcohol. Zeffirino says that if we want to stop thinking the old way, first we need to change our behavior, rid ourselves of our habits and vices. Individual freedom has been temporarily suspended because it turns out that people aren’t ripe for it yet, although it remains our goal in consideration of the fact that it’s the first requirement of harmonious development. However, it is important that people first agree on what freedom is, and whether or not the self-will of a few individuals is the expression of true freedom. Anarchy doesn’t mean just unthinkingly imitating nature, we must build the foundations of civilization. Shortly before our arrival in the settlement a referendum was held, and a constitution was issued, and a Charter of Obligations. Some settlers objected that anarchy was opposed to all precepts and prohibitions, but the majority decided that it was necessary for people to uphold obligations, because that’s the way the groundwork is laid for a new civilization. The draft constitution was approved by a large majority, but Germaine was opposed. Germaine teaches geography and political history in the school and says she would rather leave than have to submit to a dictatorship. Everyone has the right to leave the settlement, but they aren’t allowed to take anything with them, since no one is free to cancel their voluntary commitment. To cancel one’s voluntary commitment is a crime against us all. I’m not sure whether today is October 15th. Bands of thieves and firebrands roam the area, setting out at dusk and arriving at the gates of the village in the morning, they walk barefoot in single file and tread lightly as cats. Bats as big as mountain eagles live here, they taste like roasted hen. The Indians raise pigs with a dark stripe down their back, dogs, hens, and birds with a big flat beak they use for catching fish. They call them
ayayas. Their word for knife is kop and fishing rod is poontang. Elisabetta and I hardly see each other anymore. Last month she lodged a complaint against Umberto, saying that he forced her into unplanned intercourse. Umberto objected that he believed Elisabetta had consented, because when a woman says No, no, she actually means Yes, yes. But Carlane said that maybe that was how it worked in the world of the bourgeoisie, but not in our fraternal society, where everyone, including women, weighs their words and uses them in their original and unambiguous meaning. Umberto declared that he had his doubts, because several women in our fraternal society had originally told him No, no and then were satisfied afterwards. Cattina stood up and said that she could confirm that, and that Elisabetta was a tease who strutted around in front of the men and then acted insulted, and she meant what she said in the original and unambiguous meaning, weighing her words. I felt sorry for Elisabetta, but Germaine agreed with Cattina. But Manfredi, who lives with Cattina now, agreed with Elisabetta and said that maybe Umberto was spreading diseases. Umberto objected that he wasn’t spreading diseases and lived a healthy, well-balanced life. Zeffirino wrote a booklet titled Health for One, Health for All, which he circulated through the settlement. There is a paragraph in it about venereal diseases and how the settlement can protect against them. There is also a paragraph in it on smoking and alcohol. Under the constitution the women belong to everyone, but in order to avoid problems, an Executive Council decides who they will have intercourse with. But sometimes there are instances of unplanned intercourse. To keep the women from tempting the men, they wear their hair cut short, and as soon the settlement budget will allow it, we’re going to purchase cloth to sew the same clothes for all of them. Jealousy will be strictly punished. Jean Allegret said that the measure was directed mainly at men, that women aren’t jealous because they have a greater sense of unity and harmony and are peace-loving by nature. Elisabetta broke into tears and Umberto received a second-degree censure. We purchased new muskets and forbade the Indians from wandering around the settlement. When we arrived here, there was a welcoming ceremony during which each of us got a settlement scarf, men black and women red. Some members of the settlement don’t wear them. Decio stayed in the settlement five weeks, but apart from old Tranquillo and Giacomo he no longer had any allies, he had grown bitter and spent most of his time drinking and smoking herbs he had acquired from the Indians and eventually he was expelled for violating the Charter and ignoring the censure and not attending the moments of gathering and saying that when he saw us sitting in a circle it looked like some kind of new religion and the only part of religion that appealed to him was the gin. Umberto said in reply that he was in favor of unplanned intercourse, but the moments of gathering awaken the higher emotions in man and that too is part of life. I think it’s good that Decio left, because he was eroding the optimism born of the sap from the tree which we intend to plant here, serving as an example to the others who come after us. We live in difficult conditions, but we are joined by a brotherly bond. The interests of each correspond to the interests of the whole. First the essential, then the useful, and only after that the pleasant. Work, even if not always fun, valorizes each of us, and we reap only what we sow. Let each work according to his abilities.