Commonwealth College (1923–1940) was a college started to recruit and train people to take the lead in socio-economic reform and prepare them for unconventional roles in a new and different society. An outgrowth of Job Harriman's New Lano Cooperative Colony in Louisiana, in 1923, William Zeuch, James McDonald, Kate Richards O'Hare, and Frank P. O'Hare joined with New Lano to found the institute in 1923. In the 1930s Commonwealth was essentially oriented towards training organizers for the rapidly growing labor movement. Tensions within the cooperative community led to a split, and Zeuch and Kate Richards and Frank P. O'Hare moved to Mena, Arkansas in December 1924, where the institution re-opened the next year. Name The college's founders, who were members of the Socialist Party of America, named the school after the phrases "the cooperative commonwealth" and "the universal commonwealth", which were used by many party members to describe their vision of a post-capitalist society. History and approach While campaigning for the Socialist Party of America, Kate Richards O'Hare and her husband Frank P. O'Hare met fellow activist William Zeuch, and the trio devised a plan for a college for workers who wished to develop their skills, as well as advance activism within the labor movement. They also envisioned for the college itself to double as a cooperative living space. Commonwealth College aimed to recruit and train people to take the lead in social and economic reform and prepare them for unconventional roles in a new and different society. Students, staff, and faculty all worked together in the operation of the institution, from growing and preparing food to the construction and maintenance of buildings. Each student was required to donate 20 hours of labor per week either in the carpentry shop or in the fields, sometimes even driving a team of giant white Arkansas mules. There was much curiosity nationally about Commonwealth. As an example, Roger Nash Baldwin, long-time director of the American Civil Liberties Union, was an active member of its advisory board. This curiosity often led to financial contributions. Upton Sinclair, Louis Brandeis, and V.F. Calverton are among the notable donors to Commonwealth. In 1926, the American Legion condemned the school, accusing it of being funded by the Soviet Union. These allegations, although later proven untrue, were later amplified by local newspapers, who also accused the school of promoting countercultural practices such as free love, as well as Bolshevism.