The founding of Israel’s kibbutz system of 'collective farming' was the largest communal experiment in recorded history. Jewish European and Russian immigrants to Israel began establishing kibbutzim in the beginning of the 20th century. The kibbutzim, though, were more than an agricultural commune, they were a social revolution that also played a crucial part in the definition of Israel’s current day borders.
Kibbutz - Societal Philosophy - Communal Living and Farming
Originally, the Kibbutz was a voluntary communal organisation of agricultural communes that started out as ‘collective farms’ combining socialism and Zionism. Persons who established this type of settlement were not forced to do so by a central regime. As Rabin points out in Growing Up in the Kibbutz, 1965, they banded together from personal conviction and belief in the justice of economic collectivism and social equality in a period when independent farming was impractical.
Kibbutz - Socialist System - Ideological Convictions
The Kibbutz socialist system was formed on the basis of their founders ideological convictions which were delineated during their time as members of youth movements in Europe. They perceived the society around them as decadent and degenerate and decided to rebuild society by first regenerating the individual. The Marxian precept, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" was established as the primary and essential principle of kibbutz life.
Kibbutz - Israel’s Politico-Strategic Needs
Besides being primarily communal farming communities, kibbutzim played a major role in the politico-strategic needs of the founding of the Jewish State. Towards the end of the 1930s, partitioning of Palestine between Arabs and Jews seemed inevitable. So, in readiness, the kibbutz movement began establishing kibbutzim settlements in remote and mostly inaccessible parts of the Mandate, in order to increase the chances of inclusion of strategic areas into Israel when the final division of the land took place and to increase the Jewish presence on all borders.
Kibbutzim such as Kfar Ruppin, Masada and Tirat Zvi located on the Jordan border, Hanita and Dan on the Lebanese border and Ein Gev and Kfar Szold on the Syrian border were settlements that were strategically established from 1938-40.
Kibbutz - No Room for Children
As Bettelheim notes, in his book, 'Children of the Dream',1969, the kibbutz farming community started out as a society that had no interest in children and no plans or room for them in its formation and existence. It was only after children started 'arriving' that the kibbutzniks decided on any form of child-care.
Kibbutz - Collective Child Rearing
In the beginning, it seems that the kibbutz founders did not trust themselves to raise their own children. So, they used a collective method of child rearing that Bettelheim claims represented a rejection of the family since the children lived in children's houses and were raised primarily by child carers not their own parents. Bettleheim adds that the members chose this method because it was felt that the family itself needed to be disassembled in order to raise the "new Jew"; a new generation that would be "normal”, “free", and "manly", and “unsullied by the exile”.
Kibbutz - Significant Influence on Israel’s Society
Despite the fact that the kibbutz population never reached more than seven percent of the Israeli population, it has had a major influence on the image of Israel’s society and produced many individuals who have been influential in the founding and progression of the State of Israel. Moshe Dayan, Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, and Amos Oz are examples of the many military leaders, intellectuals, writers and politicians that were raised in a kibbutz system.
Kibbutz - from Socialism to Capitalism
Presently, there are around 260 Kibbutzim in Israel. The average kibbutz has a membership of about 200 adult 'kibbutzniks' and a total population of around 500. In 2001, internal politics and economic restraints forced significant changes to take place within the kibbutz movement that enabled 200 of them to ‘privatise’ themselves; subsequently, many kibbutzim no longer operate as socialist cooperative systems.
Kibbutz - a Unique Experiment
Israel’s kibbutzim contributed a vital role in the establishment, founding and image of the State of Israel. They developed a unique system of child care and education. They were a revolutionary, communal experiment and many still remain committed to their basic primary principle of equality for all.
Find this article interesting? Read: Israel's Kibbutz Movement - Collective Child-Care and Education
Sources:
- Bettleheim, Bruno. Children of the Dream. London: The Macmillan Co.,1969.
- Psychological Bulletin: Children of the Dream Revisited. Vol. 116, No. 1. The American Psychological Association, 1994. 99-116
- Rabin, A.I., Growing Up in the Kibbutz. New York:.Springer Publishing Co., 1965.
- Spiro, Melford E., Children of the Kibbutz. Harvard University Press, 1965.
Lesley Lanir - Freelance writer, lecturer and teacher trainer Lesley Lanir, writes on foreign language learning disorders, linguistics, and literature.
