You feel a lot differently about not getting paid when you're working 10 hour days doing farm labor and can't afford to go anywhere even if you get a little time off. Cults intentionally pile on work to separate you from any existing friends/family/acquaintances.

The people running cults don't really want co-ops, they are almost exclusively narcissistic egomaniacs, they're doing it specifically to extract something from you. For men this is generally manual labor, money, and protection, from women it's often sex, child-rearing, and housework. If you're of the mind to stand up for yourself or others they'll kick you out pretty quickly if you don't submit via degradation and humiliation.

There's a reason it's only appealing in theory, there's a ton of reading from ex cult members to back this up... look into "Escaping Utopia" "Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults" and "Terror, Love and Brainwashing." Even intelligent and intentional people get sucked into these dynamics.