Kibbutz(im) and Cooperatives: Cooperative Ideas in 1960s Socialist Hungary—With Israeli Flavor

• In Event: Emigration, Collectivization, and Desecration: The State Management of Jewish (and Israeli) Affairs in Global Perspective

Abstract

In autumn 1960, a surprisingly positive review of one of the most important Israeli socio-economic innovations, the kibbutz, appeared in a leading Hungarian economic journal. The author reviewed a book on kibbutzim and other cooperatives by Walter Preuss (Tel Aviv University).The Israeli, Hungarian-language newspaper, Új Kelet [New East], reprinted the article, while a member of the Israeli Communist Party of Hungarian origin published a criticism of the same piece, challenging the democratic and anti-capitalistic character of kibbutzim. This tension reflected entwined and mutually referential debates in both countries over whether to follow Soviet collectivization models or adapt collectivization to local circumstances.

Author

• Attila Novák, Ludovika U of Public Service (Hungary)