One of the problems at Jamestown was that the first wave of colonists in 1607 were not cut out for the hard work of carving a colony out of the Virginia countryside. They were not tough blue collar men. They were largely the second sons of a primogeniture gentry seeking to enrich themselves. They thought that they would find gold and they wasted their time looking for it.
They planted the colony in a swampy section of the James river. The river was filled with fish, and had they had the sense and ability to catch them they could have eaten well. But they didn’t. Nor did they have the knowledge of how to plant the crops that they would need, and build the shelter to protect them from the weather. So between a lack of food, a lack of shelter and malaria courtesy of their swampy environment they died in huge numbers. Only 38 of the original 144 lived to see the second year.
The few that survived were put under martial law by Captain James Smith in order that they might survive. It wasn’t really socialism, it was martial law with the survivors forced to live like a military company. Everyone was ordered to spend time farming and building shelter. Unfortunately Captain Smith was badly injured in a gunpowder accident and was forced to return to England. Conditions worsened, the winter of 1609-1610 was the worst of all, the Starving Time. One colonist resorted to cannibalism.
More English colonists arrived along with supplies. What really saved the colony was a small group of Polish workmen who knew how to do practical things like build houses. The unsung heroes of Jamestown.
The colony was a financial failure and the Virginia Company went bankrupt in 1624, just four years after the Pilgrims stopped for a beer run up at Plymouth thinking that they had landed in Virginia. That bunch really did try the commune thing from the start, having learned nothing from the preceding dozen years of experience down in Jamestown. Yankees.
John Rolfe/Pochahontas
12 generations later
Me