Program Description

Most people have never heard the name Job Harriman, and fewer still know of his ideas for a society that was decades ahead of its time. He was a Socialist trying to create a better way of life for those who were displaced during the turbulent struggle between labor and capitalism in the early years of this century. Harriman envisioned a colony which offered such radical ideas as an 8-hour workday, equal education, health care, and food and shelter for all who were willing to put in an honest day's work. And while the history of utopias is usually one of naive idealism and failure, Harriman's concepts would later become standards in the American way of life. Where could such a group eventually settle and thrive? As improbable as it may seem, a small town in southwest Louisiana became their American Utopia.

Harriman was nearly elected Los Angeles' first socialist mayor. It soon became apparent that while he had the general public's support, the ruling powers of the period would not allow radical social reform to succeed at the ballot box. Harriman chose to elucidate his ideas by establishing a model society that demonstrated them. In 1914, the Llano del Rio Cooperative Colony was founded near Los Angeles. For several years the group prospered with its own agriculture, canning factory, fish hatchery, and other trades. When the burgeoning colony suffered financial and material shortages, and a conflict of ownership over their water rights, it was decided that relocation was necessary. Taking a train cross-country, the colonists traveled to a played-out lumber town near Leesville, Louisiana. It was here that New Llano went on to become America's last and longest-lived socialist cooperative.

By why, and how, did the colony thrive in this environment? Through interviews, letters, and archival photos, viewers will discover the answer. It's been said that "history is of the risk-takers. Those are the examples that propel us to be greater than ourselves. Without these examples it's a brutish race and a brutish life." This story of an American Utopia privides an example of American risk-taking, vision, grit and courage.

American Utopia is a co-production of Louisiana Public Broadcasting and Firefly Productions. Funding was provided in part by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the California Council for the Humanities, and the Louisiana Division of the Arts.