Not even the Pilgrims could make socialism work

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Appelboom, C. (2026, October 24). Not even the Pilgrims could make socialism work. Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/4778190/not-even-pilgrims-could-make-socialism-work/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Quick Summary

The article discusses how early American settlers known as the Pilgrims attempted a form of socialism upon their arrival in the New World, based on William Bradford's historical account "Of Plymouth Plantation." This experiment involved abolishing private property and implementing communal living, which ultimately proved unsuccessful according to Bradford’s own description. The piece aims to highlight this often-overlooked aspect of American history for contemporary relevance to current debates about socialism.

Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-24, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

In 2026, the Washington Examiner published an article drawing a parallel between early American history and socialism, focusing on the Pilgrims who arrived in the New World aboard the Mayflower. According to William Bradford's historical account titled "Of Plymouth Plantation," upon their arrival, the Pilgrim leadership decided to implement a communal living system where private property was abolished. However, this experiment in utopian socialism proved unsuccessful, as detailed by Bradford himself.

The article references Vladimir Lenin’s assertion that modern American history began with one of its few truly revolutionary events but argues that socialists often overlook an early socialist experiment conducted by the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Despite the historical significance and the lessons it offers about communal living, the Examiner suggests that this period is now disregarded by contemporary socialists.

Written for “Pilgrims And Socialism” on 2026-10-25, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

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Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

0 of 6 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

Leans right

of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate

Publisher signals

66/100

Washington Examiner's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Politics

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-10-24 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Washington Examiner · 3484 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Connor Appelboom

2 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 William Bradford, who was one of the Mayflower’s passengers and one of Plymouth’s original governors, wrote a history of their endeavors originally titled Of Plymouth Plantation.

2026-10-24 · assertive framing · Not even the Pilgrims could make socialism work

🔮 It is believed they will again 20 years later, thanks to the Iran war, despite our allegedly winning it over 60 times.

2026-09-18 · assertive framing · Will the midterm elections be a repeat of 2022?

Also by Connor Appelboom

Will the midterm elections be a repeat of 2022?

2026-09-18 · Washington Examiner

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

America American Mayflower Pilgrims Plymouth

Subjects

American NORP · 2× America GPE · 1× Bradford PERSON · 1× Pilgrim NORP · 1× Pilgrims NORP · 1× Plymouth GPE · 1× Vladimir Lenin PERSON · 1× William Bradford PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Vladimir Lenin wrote in his Letter to American Workers that “The history of modern, civilized America opened with one of those great, really liberating, really revolutionary wars of which there have been so few.”

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-24

🔮 William Bradford, who was one of the Mayflower’s passengers and one of Plymouth’s original governors, wrote a history of their endeavors originally titled Of Plymouth Plantation.

2026-10-24 · Washington Examiner

Not even the Pilgrims could make socialism work · assertive framing

Claims (6 extracted, 0 hedged)

history → write → which

It is unfortunate that socialists now disdain American history, because there is a socialist experiment to be found early on that they can learn from. asserted

they → disdain → that

It is even connected to a group of people every American knows about: the Pilgrims. asserted

American → connect → people

William Bradford, who was one of the Mayflower’s passengers and one of Plymouth’s original governors, wrote a history of their endeavors originally titled Of Plymouth Plantation. asserted

who → write → Plantation

Arriving in the New World, the Pilgrim leadership chose to begin an experiment in communal living. asserted

leadership → arrive → living

They abolished private property and replaced it with the utopian socialist model. asserted

They → abolish → model