Massachusetts Commune: $250 million inheritance funds protest and asylum

James Cox Chambers, an American heir to a multimillion dollar fortune, has deployed approximately $250 million to support a political experiment in rural Massachusetts. The funds underwrote the operations of a small communist community in Alford, where the group focused on self sustaining farm work, educational pursuits, and a martial arts studio. Chambers, often referred to as Fergie, served as the founding member and primary bankroller of this collective.

The Alford commune comprised fewer than a dozen individuals. The group established a jujitsu studio and gym with a specific membership rule: police officers were not accepted as members. This local initiative was backed by the Cox family, a liberal clan with a history of supporting leftist causes. Chambers sought to push these political commitments further by utilizing his personal inheritance.

Tensions escalated when the group organized a protest at Elbit Systems, an arms manufacturer owned by an Israeli entity. According to reports, the action resulted in charges of criminal mischief and criminal trespassing. Several members of the Alford community were arrested during the event, including Paige Belanger. Following these arrests, Chambers departed for Tunisia.

Chambers covered the legal defense costs for Belanger and other expenses arising from the protest. Despite this financial support, considerable rancor developed between Chambers, Belanger, and other former members of the community. The dispute has left a complex web of interpersonal conflict that the documentary filmmaker Sinéad O’Shea navigates through interviews and archival footage.

The legal status of Chambers has shifted from a local financial dispute to an international matter. His extradition to the United States from Spain is currently being sought. This request stems from allegations that he provided support for Hamas. The move places the wealthy heir at the center of a legal battle that spans three countries.

O’Shea’s film, titled All About the Money, explores these events without taking a definitive side in the interpersonal conflicts. The narrative weaves together historical facts and personal biographies, leaving viewers with questions about the primary subject of the story. The film presents Chambers as a central figure whose actions have driven the plot from a rural commune to a transatlantic legal case.

The documentary cuts between interviews with the arrested communards and Chambers in his new location. It highlights the contrast between the initial idealism of the Alford group and the subsequent legal and personal fallout. The story remains anchored in the specific financial decisions made by Chambers and the direct consequences those decisions had on the group's members.