It's somewhat ironic that Karl Marx is said to have contemplated dedicating Das Kapital to Charles Darwin. Clearly, by 1867, the differences between Darwinism and Marxism were emerging: the former sees society as a result of human nature whilst the latter sees human nature as a result of society (especially economics).

As a consolation prize to Marx, I'll concede that - albeit within the parameters of evolutionary biology - socioeconomic patterns, community structure, residential configuration, and the manner by which the means of production is controlled does have a profound impact on individual psychology and group dynamics. That's why, from the first, Levittown has attracted the interest of sociologists as well as historians.

The famous cooperative spirit of the Levittown pioneers, the state in which thousands of veterans and war brides and Baby Boom offspring found themselves in nearly identical situations, and all of Levittown as virtually one big back yard for all those youngsters translated into an utterly unique experience. Indeed, in the January 15, 1950 issue of The New York Times, Ralph G. Martin said "the result is a new way of living - and a new kind of person."

Levitt & Sons utterly changed the face of Long Island and, ultimately, the nation. It's ot mere hyperbole when Bob Koenig, our local songwriter, says "he [Levitt] changed the world" in his Hey Levittown. They spirited into being an entirely novel landscape, both physical and cultural. Suburbs existed before Levittown but with Levittown suburbia became a new sociological pattern; brought into fruition that which 19th Century visionaries like Ebenezer Howard has conceived.

As important as these physical alterations were, as significant in meaning as it is when veterans dwelling in substandard housing or near-homelessness suddenly find themselves living in brand-new Cape Cods and ranches, the metamorphosis within the Levittown resident is oftentimes overlooked. Levittown changed the Levittowners themselves. "A community of harassed veterans could take hold of life once more," said Levittown resident Paul Widlitz in the September 19, 1957 issue of The New York Times, facilitated by the "transition from uncertain war veterans into mature husbands and fathers."

The process has frequently missed the attention of critics who chose to see only "cookie-cutter houses", "mindless conformity," and "little boxes." Case in point were the original, and somewhat idiosyncratic, restrictive covenants which were far less limiting than we suppose today given that the young men and women who moved to Levittown in 1947 had known only the deprivations of the Great Depression and the regimentation of the war years. Jenni Buhr's 1987 essay "Levittown as a Utopian Community" (Long Island Studies Conference) noted the social class ramifications: "In Levittown, they [deed restrictions] served the purpose of training working class urbanites to be middle class suburbanites."

Levittown in this respect may represent the bourgeoisization of blue collar families to the chagrin of many who saw the tycoons of the Gilded Age fall from the sky and the middle class face poverty during the Depression, and thus predicted the rise of the proletarian. Strident anti-communist William Levitt had himself observed this when he said that no man who owns his own home and backyard could ever be a communist if only because he's too busy with work, gardening, home improvements, and involvement in civic organizations in the community. And yet, in many ways, the Levittowner was the vanguard of a revolution - a revolutionary way of life heralded by radical mass-production, civil engineering, and marketing techniques.    

Does Levittown, or what it represented in the 1950's and 60's, still have the potential to be the home of Ralph G. Martin's "new kind of people?" I believe so. I'm old enough to recall Levittown in its American Dream heyday - or at least the twilight of that heyday. I've seen taxes, inflation, housing and job shortages create a de classe middle class whilst in places like the "Asian tigers," the standard of living, middle class, and suburban lifestyle is booming.

Too many of us no longer have the potential to own our own home and backyard and, if we are even employed, work multiple jobs that leave us with little time for gardening, home improvements and involvement in community organizations. Many of us, if only to see our children and grandchildren have an American Dream of their own the way our parents and grandparents did, are compelled to be revolutionists. But, just as anarchy is no justification for tyranny and tyranny is no justification for anarchy, a revolution must have as its objective the restoration of order, authority, and prosperity for it is in those things that we find the template for "a new kind of person."   

Want to learn more about the history of Levittown and the surrounding communities? Visit www.levittownhistoricalsociety.org