The Marxist ideal of a classless society was perhaps more closely approximated in the nineteenth and early twentieth century American Midwest than in any other setting to date. But in the minds of many in Holland, Michigan, this equality was brought about by democracy, respect for the law, and charity, not a social or economic ideology. In Fact, threats to general stability were scorned. In 1912 the editor of Ottawa County Times wrote, “We are opposed to those who preach agitation and discord….”