Full Description
This volume continues the narrative account of
the history of the kibbutz movement from the outbreak of the Second World War
onwards. This period included a number of dramatic and complex developments:
the effects of the world war and the Holocaust on the kibbutzim and their youth
movements; the political struggles which led to the end of the British mandate;
the War of Independence, including the role of the Palmach and the political
controversy it engendered; the crises which followed the establishment of the
State of Israel and the politics of the kibbutz movement in the early years of
independence; and the kibbutzim's gradual adaptation to their new position in
Israeli society and to the problems and challenges of a multi-generational
society in the late twentieth century.
Although the detailed narrative ends in 1977
(when the Israeli political system, and the status of the kibbutz, underwent a
radical change), it is followed by a detailed overview describing the many
developments which took place between 1977 and 1995.
Much of the material is new in any language, and
virtually all is new in English. Throughout, economic developments, immigration
and agricultural settlement, political and ideological issues, and internal
social developments are presented as interdependent and as vitally affected
by—and often affecting—the changing fortunes of the Jewish people, the Zionist
movement, and the Jewish community in Palestine/Israel. But the kibbutzim are
also presented as a special instance of a widespread social phenomenon:
communal and co-operative societies.
Contents
List of Tables
Note on Translation, Transliteration, and References
Rates of Exchange and Inflation, 1935-1990
Introduction
1 The Kibbutz Movement in the War
The War Effort • The Politics of Mobilization • Jewish Self-defence
2 The Kibbutz Movement and the Holocaust
The European Youth Movements • Middle Eastern Youth Movements • The Yishuv • The Role of the Kibbutz Movements • Attitudes and Ideologies
3 The War Years: Settlement, Economics, and Politics
Immigration and Absorption • Settlement • Economic Developments • The Politics of the Kibbutz Movements
4 Flight and Struggle: The Pre-State Period
The Exodus from Europe • Revolt and Reaction: The Struggle • Economics and
Settlement, 1945-1948
5 The War of Independence
The War and the Kibbutzim • The Palmach in the War of Independence • The War of Independence and the Arab Refugees
6 Economics, Settlement, and Politics, 1947-1949
Economics • Settlement: The Peak of Achievement, 1948-1949 • Political Developments • The Kibbutz Movement after the War
7 The End of Pioneering? The Kibbutz in the 1950s
The Crisis: Symptoms and Causes • The Kibbutz in the State • Solutions • Successes and Failures
8 Politics and Crisis, 1949-1954
Mapam • The Politics of the Kibbutz Me'uhad • The Division • The Prague Trial
9 Towards Prosperity: Settlement, Economics, and Politics, 1954-1977
Security • Settlement • Economics • Politics • The Religious Kibbutzim • The Kibbutz in Israeli Society
10 The Dilemmas of Prosperity: Social Developments, 1954-1977
Demography and Social Change • Culture • Patterns of Consumption • Gender •
Education • Research and the Social Sciences • Seventeen Fat Years
11 Achievement and Crisis
Seven Decades—Seven Crises • Sources of Strength • Sources of Weakness: Privileges and Penalties • Élitism and its Discontents • May 1977 • Laws of Change
12 Twenty Years On: 1977-1995
Politics and War • Settlement • Economics • Social Developments • The 'New Kibbutz' • Reflections and Conjectures
Appendix 1: New settlement by movement, 1939-77
Appendix 2: Population of kibbutzim as percentage of Jewish population, 1939-77
Appendix 3: The kibbutz movement, 1995
Appendix 4: Guide to other settlements mentioned
Map: The kibbutz movement in 1995
Glossary
References
Index
