Page 17 - C.A.L.L. #36 - Summer 2013

Our very own Michael Livni of the International Communes Desk visited Twin
Oaks community – Here’s what he discovered…

Twin Oaks, (TO), the veteran commune of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities in
North America, was founded in 1967. Its 460 acres (1840 dunam) are located outside
of Louisa, Virginia, between Charlottesville and Richmond. Fortuitously, my cousin
th
Gordon, lives half an hour away in Palmyra. On Saturday, May 19 (organized tours take
place on Saturday from 2 pm to 5 pm) Gordon, my partner Brenda and I drove over for
the tour led by veteran TO member Valerie Renwick. We stayed on for supper and
after supper I made a presentation on Kibbutz Lotan to some 25 interested members –
but that is not part of our story here.

Some Background on Twin Oaks.

TO was founded by a group of people who wished to realize the ideal of a utopian
community based on ideas of controlling the social environment. They were inspired by
the utopian novel, Walden Two, written by the behavioral psychologist, B. F. Skinner in
1948. In his novel, Skinner posited a somewhat authoritarian and hierarchical society
with behavioral rules of positive and negative reinforcement. The authoritarian and
non-egalitarian aspect was hardly compatible with the spirit of the late 60’s. However,
TO did adopt some of the Walden Two organizational format as well as terms used in
the book such as planners, managers, councils (boards) and labor credits.

TO has 90 members and 13
children. There are also
“visitors” who have opted for a
mutual acquaintance experience
of three weeks. Currently (July
2012) there is a waiting list of
12 candidates for membership
and the list is expected to
grow. The average member
stay at TO is eight years.
Twenty members have been at Michael Livni hosted by Valerie Renwick at Twin Oaks
TO for more than ten years.
One member remains from the
founding generation.

TO limits its membership to 90 – 100. It strives for a male/female balance. Children
are limited – one child per five adults. TO accepts children if they desire to become
members but there is no expectation that children will be a major element of future
membership.

On two occasions TO has been proactive in initiating additional egalitarian communes –
East Wind in Missouri (1974) and Acorn (1992) just 12 kilometers from TO itself.

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