The Hope

Postcards

There are a collection of postcards from 1884-1896 in which American citizens were requesting Albert K. Owen and John Lovell to send them copies of the “Credit Foncier”, that magazine that Owen and Lovell used to promote the utopian ideals of co-operation, and details about the colony established in Topolobampo Bay. Despite the negativity that Owen was gaining concerning the prospect of his utopian community, his dream was still able to capture the interest of many. It is this interest and initial corresponde that speak of the blossoming hope that people had for the colony. Though the colony may not have turned out the way Owen and his followers had planned, it had been a hope to keep the people going through times in which many were dispirited, and was a hope that many returned to even if only in the spaces of thought. As Bacconlini analyzes, “Usually what we accomplish is less than we desired, and, after a rest, we dream again, achieve something, and dream again” (313). Those of Topolobampo, those that wrote these eager postcards, may have been viewed as disillusioned by many, but they were dreamers, and not only that but they acted upon those dreams.

Letter to Anita

In one of her first letters to a school teacher, Clarissa Kneeland writes, “There was a certain warmth and liberty about the colony life that is not, as far as I know, duplicated in any other places”. This sentiment was given even after the colonists were forced to leave Topolobampo Bay, illustrating the hope people had concerning what this utopia could have been and reminiscing over the fact that the ideal society they had hoped for had not been able to continue. The utopia itself, however, never truly died. Sean Graffan explains how utopias are more than just the spatial concepts they may provide, but are rather the assertion of  possibility (11). It was for that possibility of something better, that social change colonists wished for, that became the foundation of hope within the Pacific City. As Sargent says, “we can hope, fail, and hope again. We can live with the repeated failure and still improve the societies we built” (127). Topolobampo may have had been considered a failure to many, but does not invalidate the hope that the colonists had for the ideals they were trying to put into practice, nor does it make the utopian ideals themselves less meaningful.

Pioneer Song

In I Dream of an Ideal City, Albert K. Owen envision a society of “an ideal folk, who will be forever struggling for the ideal life, the ideal religion, the ideal home, the ideal sentiment, the ideal in industries, and the ideal in perfection” (15). As idealistic, and therefore unrealistic, as this may appear to his audience, one key phrase that Owen uses is that the people “will be forever struggling”. There is struggle in reaching utopia, and those who remained in Topolobampo despite the hardships understood this. People like Ira Kneeland who writes, “what we wanted, had to be built” and Marie Howland who promoted the ideals through her own newspapers and letters, saw past the turmoil and towards the potential of Topolobampo. Because it wasn’t just about escaping the problems of American society, it was about building a better society.

Such is the theme of Mr. Thurstan’s Pioneer Song no. 2, which recognizes the struggle that persisted within the colony, but still seeing the good that would come out of it. Thurston composes, “We’ve worked and toiled these weary years” and “we’ve suffered disappointment oft”, acknowledging the colonists’ struggles. As song carries on, the tone becomes more hopeful and celebratory as the colonists continue to imagine an ideal city. His expectation focuses on how “then all people we shall be / A bright and shining light - / A good example - a morning star / To guide them in the night”.  

Ethical-Social Reformation of Our Day

Albert K. Owen gave an address to co-operators at Woolwich, England on March 15, 1894 in which he expressed the hopes and ideals of the Topolobampo Colony, or rather what he calls the “Ethical-Social Reformation” of his day. The address, also published in vol. 2 no. 14 of New City, begins by quoting Taine, “Man is a creature strictly of circumstances”, that closely echoes the sentiment that the main purpose of utopias are to include “better or societies inhabited by people who are better because they live in a better society” (Bacconlini, 302). Even after eight years of discord considering the socialist colony, Owen still had belief in 1894 that the Pacific Colony at Topolobampo could be the site for reformation because the colony attempts the “care and culture of man according to the best light that can be obtained upon what is best”. There was still that hope that the utopian ideals of co-operation could succeed. Owen’s “ethical-social reformation” of Topolobampo was idealistic, and with that idealism came risk.

A Song of the Century

“A Song of the Century”, by M.H (speculated to be Marie Howland), begins by asking “who had time for ideal sighness / When the morning lights turn gray”. As an exposition, this gives a despairing tone, but the author continues on with determination about how we - or rather the audience of the time - need to have hope for the future and carry on. In the last stanza, “Away from ideal scorning / And away from useless tears” and then “Onward, upward, with the years” is a lyrical statement that represents the hope that reverberated through many of those within the colony of Topolobampo. It was this hope that, as Cecelia Tichi reflects about nineteenth century utopias, attempts to “transform[s] a gilded nation into an exemplary golden one”. Except, instead of transforming the community in which they lived, Owen proposed the “exemplary golden” society needed to be established from the ground up. It was also this hope, however, that led people to leave behind their homes and give up their belongings and money. As hopeful as the colony itself may have tried to remain, their hope came at a price.

"When We Came Out As Refugees"

As a member of the Topolobampo colony, Clarissa Kneeland wrote, “There was a certain warmth and liberty about the colony life that is not, so far as I know, duplicated in any other places”. This sentiment was stated even after the failure of the colony, illustrating the hope people had concerning what this utopia could have been and reminiscing over the fact that the ideal society they had hoped for failed in the end. Yet, as Sargent explains, “We can hope, fail, and hope again. We can live with repeated failure and still improve the societies we build.” (127). Topolobampo may have had many problems, and may have been doomed to fail from the start, but does that invalidate the hope that these people had for their colony?  Does it make the ideal they shared less meaningful? In another of her letters to her friend Anita, Clarissa Kneeland details how the colony was forced out Topolobampo. Their excavation, though it came to a surprise to the colonists, can be understood by those of present-day when looking back through the records and finding that Albert Owen did not actually own the land in which the colony had attempted to settle in. For all their struggles in establishing the colony and the railroad - and failing to do so - they were just squatters on this land. This was a fact that Owen never thought to share with the shareholders and colonists. In her letter, Clarissa may come off as both heartbroken, naive and arrogant as she laments about how, “our sacrifices who had been of no avail, our years of work and struggle of no avail to establish what we aimed for, however, such Mexico may have benefitted from our effort”.