: : KIB.BUTZIM M ARTIN Buber once wrote that ldbbutzim were 'an experlment' that did not fail. Considering the ldbbutz as an instltutional tonn ot Jewish colonisation, Buber's prognosis is an understatement though not quite in the sense he meant. The ldbbutzim during the Yishuv pertod in Palestine played a crttica.lly important polltical, Inilltary and social role in the development of the Jewish Btate and their pioneertng ethos was the symbollc 1mage ot the entire nation. To be a kibbutznik wa.s to be part of the leadership elite of the Zionist settlement. However, kibbutz soclallsm bas never beèn more than a pragmatic response to the unique histor1cal conditions of the creation ot the Jewish State in Palestine and must be Judged trom ·this perspective. It we remember that Z1onist-Soclal1sm was prtmarily tied to a particulartstic rather than universallst goal we can better understand the evolution of the k1bbutz movement and not be surprtsed at its present ind1v1duallstic and capitallstic character. In the Diaspora the image ot a k1bbutznik is still that of a musculàr p1oneer holding a hoe ln one hand, a gun ln the other. It ls an image relniniscent of the W11dWest Amertcan herttage and the herolc mythology of many colonisation movements. The hoe marked the retum to the so11by Jews who accepted their ·separateness and attempted to achieve a 'normal' nat1onhood by creating the1r own worker-farmer class. The gun was necessary to defend the foundation of the Jewlsh State against the indigenous population in a 'land without a people for a people w1thout a land'. Today only the latter half of the image is accurate: less than hal! of the klbbutz population works 1n the agrtcultural sector, while the gun has become an even more signiflcant part of daily living. In border ldbbutz1m, for example, members are now expected to carry guns at all tlmes -1n the dlning hall, to work, and ln the ch1ldren's bouses. This detensive posture retlects the nature of the larger Israel! soclety and the consequences of the pollcies of polltical Zionism. Jewlsh Soclallsm and Ztonfsm F ROM the 19091ncept1on of the collective settlements in Palestine, (Deganyah) ldbbutzn1ks were lmplement1ng rather distinct concepts of soclallsm and nationallsm. Zionist Soclallsm was a Inixture ot Marxist and non-Marxlst thinldng, growing trom the needs of colonisation and the cultural norms of the second and th1rd Aliyah. Its Marxlst component stressed the importance of creating a Jewish proletariat and landbased class to .prevent a reoccurence of the situation which had previously excluded Jews frorn the tradeguilds and agriculture. Ber Berochov, the leadini Zlopist-Marxist, utillsed the term 'conditions of production' wh1ch referred to inµoa- .125
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