The Order of Enoch
According to Joseph Smith, after the Old Testament patriarch Enoch built Zion, the city was so loved by God that it and its occupants were taken up to heaven all at once. The Book of Moses, as dictated by Smith, states:
"The People of Enoch were of one heart and one mind and dwelt in righteousness, and there were no poor among them."
For Brigham Young, this was not a metaphor. He wanted to build that Godly kingdom in Utah, in real time. In this new world, thousands of Saints would live together like an extended family, with all property jointly owned. To achieve this, individuals would need to consecrate their property to the Church, after which they would receive shares according to their needs. In 1874, Brigham launched his plan for The Order of Enoch (a.k.a. the United Order) in earnest.
Brigham Young
The Forty-Fourth Annual Conference opened in the Tabernacle on May 7, 1874. Presentations by Brigham Young and others focused on explicating and promoting The Order of Enoch.
The Conference
The Salt Lake Herald (May 7, 1874) shares the excitement. Attendance was estimated at nearly 3000.
Orderville, exemplar for The Order of Enoch
Communities started United Orders, founded on the principal of common ownership, in Beaver, Logan, Ogden, and Park City, among other places. Most failed, but Orderville remained financially viable for nearly a decade.
Mormon self-sufficiency was key to Young's plan. He organized boycotts of non-Mormon merchants. To avoid a stampede of fortune hunters, he tried to prevent mineral exploration and conceal known silver deposits. The Church-owned Deseret News refused to publish advertisements for Gentile businesses. A major step forward was the founding in 1869 of Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI), a Church-owned enterprise meant to supply the Saints with the goods they required, ideally all manufactured in Utah. Non-Mormon merchants naturally saw ZCMI as one more threat to their survival.
Cooperative stores on East Temple in Salt Lake City
As per The Order of Enoch, some Saints opened cooperatives. These businesses were closed to Gentile merchants and shoppers.
The minds behind Enoch's Advocate planned its appearance to coincide with the Forty-Fourth Conference and named it, derisively, after The Order of Enoch.