Early Christian Socialism?

There's a meme going around the net quoting the 13th chapter of C S Lewis’ Mere Christianity, in which he observes that by economic standards and practice one would call the early Christian movement “Leftist.” The meme itself raised some suspicion as to accuracy, but Lewis did indeed make that observation.

And it is a trivial observation for anyone whose hackles are not immediately raised by anything even remotely pink, let alone red. Because by any objective standard, the Christian community described early in the Book of Acts resembles nothing so much as a religiously inspired commune, living with all goods in common, and shared ideology concerning wealth and community.

And like all communes, it didn't last. Due to the human desire for self-preservation, and the tendency for even egalitarian systems to come to rely on volunteers who edge into being professional leaders, almost all communes eventually evolve into capitalist oligarchies or corrupt dictatorships, or simply decline to the point of extinction as they try to remain faithful to their original idealistic vision.

That being said, I remain a committed Christian Socialist, not because I believe such a regime will come to pass, but because I believe even the tentative approach to it is better than the capitalist vision, and far better than the fascist alternatives.

— Tobias Stanislas Haller