What evidence do you have that shows that it was the company that was dictating this?
Another FReeper (I don’t remember who)in a T-day thread last year told me that these colonists were influenced by this style of government based on other Christian groups that were trying it in other parts of the European world.
Thanks again Jack for your response. an article titled “The Pilgrim Story: Vital Insights And Lessons For Today” by Dr.Judd W.Patton of the Bellevue University Economic$ Department states; “The contract between the Adventurers (the London Virginia Company) and the Pilgrims consisted of ten points. The most critical of which stated, “that all such persons as are of this colony are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all other provisions out of the common stock and goods of the said colony.” Further it was agreed that during the first seven years, “all profits and benefits that are got by trade, traffic, trucking, working, fishing, or any other means of any persons, remain still in the common stock until the division.”
Communal arrangements seemed to be springing up at that time and seemed like good ideas till they failed, as they did in the Plymouth colony.
I've yet to find a copy of that contract but will keep looking.
So it appears you and others were right. The Mayflower Compact was not the culprit that dictated an communal style of governance.