Practical Dreamers

An exciting examination of how the people of Malcolm Island use their
community resources to fashion a distinct way of life. The book details
the early history of the settlement at Sointula, then describes the
roles played by the local credit union and a series of other
co-operatives—consumer, fishing, tree planting, restaurant and food
processing, shellfish—to show how the people of Malcolm Island work
together in their common and individual interests. A must read for
anyone interested in co-ops and the Social Economy in British Columbia
and for anyone interested in the islands that dot its coast line.

"Practical Dreamers is a readable, twentieth-century history of the evolution of the communitarianism on Malcolm Island where Sointula is the best known of several small and originally Finnish Communities. It was a community designed with utopian ideals of cultural preservation, independence, mutual cooperation, and collective economic security in mind."
-From the review: Harpelle, Ron. (June 2008). Canadian Historical Review. Vol 89(2) pages 257-302. Available in pdf online.

"More than previous historians, Wilson evokes Sointulans' remarkable mix of attitudes: they were rugged individualists with a do-it-yourself communitarian approach to problems. Wilson shows how Sointula adapted again and again to changing conditions. When their fishing co-op failed, they joined the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union, and waged a successful strike."
-Crawford Kilian, The Tyee
Read full review here

Chapter Titles:

• A vision of Utopia
• Forming the Dream
• From Utopia to Community, Dream to Reality
• Growth and Change
• New Paths and Old Ideals
• Calm Before the Storm
• Co-operative Comeback
• Sointula: Present and Future

Editor: Kevin Wilson

Publisher: New Rochdale Press

Year: 2005