Communities shouldn't be able to fail like so. Your average stand-alone commune doesn't get that much bigger than a family-farm. The idea that everyone should have to lock-in to such an arrangement is kind-of toxic.
Don't approach the problems you're talking about from the perspective of a serf.
EDIT: On reading your link, you've hit upon precisely why I wouldn't encourage too deep an integration between artisans and single communes. Everyone in the commune should know how to make their commune work and who to go to outside the commune when specific tools or expertise are needed beyond their commune's residents.
No one person in a commune should be irreplacable or capable of taking the whole thing down in a way that prevents residents from being able to just up and leave.