### id263737119 Dithmarschen lasted 300 years > Eventually in 1559 the belligerent rich guys won out, with the Danish Count [Johan Rantzau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Rantzau) (1492-1565) eventually going in real hard to oppress the locals and just generally be a dick about things. However, a three-hundred-year run is longer than, say, America has been going at things, so you can’t say that a peasant-run communal elective system wasn’t possible or successful. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fr4j97jwsgjdb51cyskp16kp) - [[On Looking in the Past for a Better Future by Dr Eleanor Janega#id263737119 Dithmarschen lasted 300 years|View in Vault]]