The Adversary wants people to believe that gathering Zion can't work, so that they won't even try. The foundation is a godly people who have love and are willing to try. Modern society finances are very complex, but a Zion people can grow into it, and make it happen, with some adjustments as needed.
Others have done it--look at the examples of others. Modern examples are the Jewish kibbutzes or moshavs, and small communities of people like Amish, Hutterites, and Fundamentalists. You probably just had an uncomfortable feeling there with some of the names of those groups. That's where you learn to adapt the successful principles that they have, to your own group of people and own outlook. There will be commonalities (speaking of positive aspects) that run through these groups in how they overcome obstacles and succeed in making a living without hating or mistrusting each other.
One really big attribute is LOVE. When people become purer and experience the LOVE of God, then they find it easier to love and cooperate with others.
Lehi and the Tree of Life (Love of God)
I'm not sure where the image came from
Here's a look at why Zion communities haven't been built: https://lastdaysgems.blogspot.com/2021/06/a-humorous-but-truthful-look-at.html (The story of the Little Red Hen).
There's the idea that Zion does not work because they look at examples of the Restoration. The longest Zion - consecrated community {Orderville, Utah} lasted about 20 years. Some of the communities fell apart because of circumstances beyond their control: Not enough rain, or flooding, or in one place, once the railroad came through that changed the economics of the area. In other communities it was a problem with the people living there (like, who would be in charge and how much work some people did versus others).
We live in different times than the pioneer ancestors did. However, we can pioneer a new movement now, adapted to our times. Things are complex: People have tight work schedules, lack of capital sometimes, taxes, liability and insurances to consider. However, something which we have now that the pioneers DIDN'T have, is speedy travel and many modern conveniences.
People need to decide if they would want a Zion community (a super-Ward or Branch) in their own ward or stake (congregation or ecclesiastical region) in the city or suburb, or go rural with lots of agriculture and self-reliant ways to make a living. In the city and 'burb, Saints can increase their Zion-ish ways by, in a coordinated way, increasing the members with gardens, learning new self-reliance skills (such as, I had a ward member who built a brick oven in his backyard {mostly for cooking pizza}, and he also had chickens); ward members with certain skill sets which come in handy can have an evening in the building where they teach other members the how-to. The bishop can also have a bulletin board in the building (or a ward/stake Facebook account) where members can advertise their businesses {with a disclaimer}, or ask for help or offer to teach or help others. How many times do people do business with non-believers or people that they don't know and aren't associated with, because they don't know what people around them have to offer?
If you the reader would be interested, Berel Solomon on YouTube (he's a dark haired orthodox and has a check mark on his channel) -- has some videos where he explains about a community doing business with each other, building up the congregation. This guy is Jewish (and oftentimes, Jews have to stick together), but he does have interesting ideas about working or networking together. He even advocates that people should cooperate more with each other in day to day life, no matter which group of people you associate with (religion, race, interests, etc). He admits that sometimes there is a bad apple, but the community has to learn how to deal with those type of people, but ultimately the group is stronger together than going at most things alone.
Some of his key words on his channel {regarding money} would be: Economy, money, wealth, sell, business, charity or tzedakah, pledge, action, work, owner, real estate, plan, success/successful, fail, secrets, profit, executive, owner, difficulty, masterclass, win, winning, opportunity/opportunities, fear, leads, coaching, rebuild, lost, career.
If you don't like him, find someone else with good ideas.
