The Amish live in communes where as far as I know they practice what could be considered a form of communism. They also live in ways that are self sufficient and sustainable. However, they have been criticized for their conservative religious views (which come with unpleasant things such as homophobia, etc) as well as their complete denouncing of anyone who leaves, which many consider symptoms of a cult. Another thing is that you have to follow their specific religion to live in their community.
I’ve never heard any communists comment on them, so what do people in this community think of the Amish and their lifestyle?
There’s a tendency to idealize amish, for their communitarian values or whatever else, but for the most part they’re an extremely regressive patriarchal / feudal society, as you pointed out. Control of land and distribution of their agricultural product is in the hands of the patriarchs, with all the subjugation of women and reactionary values that entails. Pretty much the main good thing about them is they don’t let community members starve, but so do mormons (and they don’t forsake capitalism to do that). A genuine communist among the amish would be excommunicated in a hot minute for wanting to overthrow the rule of the patriarchs.
I wouldn’t call them sustainable, any more than any other utopian socialist project is sustainable: they’re allowed some land and can support a small population, but that’s it. They’re a feudal form of society existing in world capitalism and they don’t and can never challenge it (and many amish communities nowadays run stores and restaurants to get some cash). Communism is revolutionary and seeks to wrest production from capitalists to serve all humanity, and advance the productive forces, the amish are reactionary feudalists who just want to be left alone.
edit: forgot to link Engels - Socialism: utopian and scientific, there’s audiobooks for it on youtube too.
Just curious, do you consider the Amish a cult? I’ve heard a lot of arguments that they are because of their extreme religious views and how they disown anyone who leaves their commune.
There’s a ton of christian sects like that, one I knew her family disowned her for living with her boyfriend and not being married (women are property in these patriarchy sects). I dunno the overlap and definitions of religion and cult can get pretty blurry.