We must do away with the absolutely specious notion that everybody has to earn a living.

[1939]

131. A few years back

I read a history of the utopian communes that sprang up in the US during the early 19th century. Many of them were bankrolled and set up by rich men who were intrigued by the idea of "utopian".

Most of them foundered on the idea that the artists and musicians were providing a valuable contribution to the commune by their art and music and were entitled to an equal share of the food produced by the commune farmers who plowed, hoed, and harvested the food. The farmers tired of seeing these "drones" just left the commune and the place fell apart when the artists and musicians didn't have anything to eat. When the rich philanthropists got tired of subsidizing a losing proposition, the whole place collapsed.

The main contribution of communes to society turned out to be selective breeding for the "ideal man" which then led to the eugenics movement.