A 'Third Way" to Save the Kibbutz?
Rosner, Menachem
J0-ANN MORT and Gary Brenner present a kind of recipe for saving the Israeli kibbutzim from the existential-economic-demographic– ideological crisis they are undergoing ("Kibbutzim: Can They...
...Hence, a number of compromise models were developed, chiefly in some of the multigeneration kibbutzim like Hatzor...
...The only way to save the kibbutz from the fate of past communal societies is to adjust to the new realities, choosing a "third way between collectivism and the market...
...In the past, some of these did not manage to balance the costs of the services they provided with their income...
...But the designers of this reform still held that all material rewards should be distributed on an egalitarian basis...
...2," the privileges are considerably reduced by the high internal taxation system and by the egalitarian component of the composite income...
...This step limited the influence of factory workers as well as the authority of the kibbutz general assembly...
...The example of one out of 265 kibbutz communities is enlightening and illustrative, but of limited value...
...2" is an example...
...MENACHEM ROSNER is a member of Reshafim, which belongs to the Kibbutz Artzi movement...
...1" has not yet been implemented...
...The relatively low percentage of young people among kibbutz members is related to this challenge...
...The achievements of many communities faithful to DISSENT / Fall 2000 n 91 ARGUMENTS kibbutz values and the large-scale opposition to the nonegalitarian reforms suggest that there is still a chance for ideological reorientation and institutional renewal...
...An interesting example is Kibbutz Hatzerim, the main owner of the corporation Netafim (the co-owners are two other kibbutzim...
...The real picture is that there are many not a handful solvent and relatively successful kibbutzim that maintain the basic values of the kibbutz...
...But above all we must reformulate the raison d'être of the kibbutz...
...Now, it can help to fulfill urgent tasks in Israeli society in the fields of education, culture, and social integration...
...Now they have been leading, as the case of Hatzor illustrates, a stubborn struggle to introduce "reforms" that reflect their managerial views and ensure their privileges...
...It is more difficult to study the outcomes of "reform no...
...Central kibbutz arrangements, such as rotation in managerial positions, were created specifically in order to prevent the establishment of a managerial oligarchy...
...The reform did not have an impact on the achievements of economic units such as factories...
...Sociological research performed in sixtyseven Kibbutz Artzi (the left association of kibbutzim) communities shows significant correlations between economic success and aspects of kibbutz organizational culture, such as the diffusion of economic information, opportunities for members to participate in decision making, dialogue about changing kibbutz needs, and individual work patterns.' The findings illustrate the connection between economic success and participatory democracy, not between success and inequality...
...Yes, there is a need for a better fit between members' aspirations and occupational opportunities...
...The nonegalitarian reforms, even when they follow from the best intentions, would serve to erase the differences between the kibbutz and the surrounding society...
...The first reform introduced in most of the kibbutz factories was the establishment of boards of directors...
...IT IS EASIER to examine the results of the first kind of reforms since these have been established for quite a while, in a relatively large number of kibbutzim...
...Hatzor's "reform no...
...In Hatzerim the traditional egalitarian model is fully preserved...
...It was among those that found itself in deepest difficulty after the financial crisis of the seventies...
...They are now workers who need a "committee" to represent them in front of the new managers...
...But their success is mainly DISSENT / Fall 2000 n 89 ARGUMENTS related to changes in the strategy of their industrial plants...
...Ten of these belong to kibbutzim, and in none of these ten have the nonegalitarian reforms been introduced...
...The larger controversy in the kibbutz movement, however, concerns proposals for the non-equal distribution of economic rewards...
...Some beginning moves have been made in this direction, by the establishment of urban kibbutzim, for example, and by efforts by some established kibbutzim to address the educational needs of children in the communities around them...
...The article stresses correctly that "accepting the market as the basis for salaries represents a historical point of no return...
...Market rules and hierarchical principles would be introduced in economic organizations, and many communal services would be privatized...
...The market value of their work is one of its components...
...The Institute for Research of the Kibbutz and the Cooperative Idea, 1995 (Hebrew...
...These are multigeneration communities, with a large group of founders who have retired after a lifetime of work...
...2. Menachem Rosner, Dany Rosolio, and Michael Palgi, "Boards of Directors in Kibbutz Industry...
...There is no comparison between Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroeder's "third way," aimed at amending the capitalist system, and the radical changes in central kibbutz values and communal institutions advocated by Mort and Brenner...
...But the authors point out that this is a compromise that "falls short of achieving even minimal reformist expectations...
...When they introduced the nonegalitarian system, they also cancelled many communal services...
...On the other hand, the countervailing egalitarian arrangements depend on a balance of forces, which might well change...
...From this point of view, the neoliberal ideology of "the intrusion of market relations into all spheres of life" is an even greater challenge than the neoliberal economy...
...Netafim is a brand name for innovative irrigation equipment and drip systems...
...It is true that according to the complex system of "reform no...
...Another goal of these reforms, as the article states, was the improvement of the demographic situation—making the kibbutz more attractive for young people...
...and yes, there is a need for a better form of social security...
...Annual sales are approximately $230 million...
...The first kibbutzim to introduce reforms of this sort decided that members' income would be based only on "market value," after internal taxes were deducted...
...The kibbutz movements strongly opposed the introduction of a market value, nonegalitarian income...
...Except for the elected kibbutz mem90 n DISSENT / Fall 2000 bers and responsible officeholders, most board members were outside experts, not kibbutz members...
...The willingness to make such a compromise stems from the strong opposition the reformers encountered, and also from some legal constraints...
...J0-ANN MORT and Gary Brenner present a kind of recipe for saving the Israeli kibbutzim from the existential-economic-demographic– ideological crisis they are undergoing ("Kibbutzim: Can They Survive the New Israel...
...89 percent of the products are exported...
...No convincing proof has been found that the reforms, especially the nonegalitarian salaries, have contributed to the economic improvement of those kibbutzim that chose to introduce them...
...Hatzor's adjustment involved two reforms, both connected to changes that the kibbutz movement has been debating since the late 1980s.The first reform required a separation between the kibbutz community and its economic units...
...But the great majority maintain their original egalitarian principles, though the introduction of a form of nonegalitarian income is still an issue...
...On a deeper level, the trends of decommunalization are strongly connected with the transition of Israeli society from a highly egalitarian to a normal capitalist society with huge socioeconomic gaps, based on a dominant neoliberal ideology...
...2," because the first kibbutz that introduced a nonegalitarian system did so only five years ago...
...It is worth adding that not all the young managers support the nonegalitarian reform, but most of its initiators belong to this group...
...Paper presented at the Sixth Conference on Kibbutz Research, 2000...
...The point is to avoid this fate, and to act while there are still chances for renewal...
...joint ventures were initiated and sub-companies were set up abroad...
...Like Mort and Brenner, I also believe that there is a need to "re-invent" the kibbutz, but in a very different way...
...Judging by all the available historical precedents, the introduction of nonegalitarian reward systems has always been a crucial step in the decommunalization of communal societies...
...3 Mort and Brenner vividly describe the gap between the young manager flying around the world and the kibbutz member spending his life raising turkeys...
...Recently, Dun & Bradstreet rated the economic performance of the leading 150 Israeli manufacturing corporations...
...1. Dany Zamir, "Economic success and coping with the crisis...
...Mort and Brenner nowhere acknowledge that Hatzor is not a representative kibbutz...
...The contribution of organizational culture," University of Haifa...
...The main problem with the "reforms" is that they surrender to this market ideology...
...These were kibbutzim younger and smaller than Hatzor...
...In many plants—but neither in Hatzerim nor in several other successful kibbutzim— there was an increase in the number of hired workers...
...This is a misrepresentation...
...In Hatzor today, members receive a "composite income...
...in some of them even "reform no...
...Successful kibbutzim like this one have made many adjustments but in a different direction...
...In kibbutzim like Hatzor, the situation is quite different...
...A comparative examination of demographic data—prior to the introduction of the reforms and afterward—unfortunately does not indicate any improvement...
...ARGUMENTS The economic feasibility of the kibbutz is a necessary condition for its survival, but not a sufficient one...
...egalitarian and seniority rules also figure in its calculation...
...New products were developed and adapted to new markets...
...On the other hand, there was a commitment to maintain the living standard of retired members and also to maintain communal services...
...Over the years, various features of it were adopted in almost half the kibbutzim...
...1" in Hatzor was based on this concept...
...Has their economic situation improved...
...The thesis of the article is that the traditional, egalitarian, democratic kibbutz cannot survive under contemporary economic conditions...
...That is also a deviation from kibbutz values, but this trend might be reversible (it has been reversed in the past...
...On the one hand, larger salaries were paid to members with managerial or (some) professional responsibilities...
...Most of those that introduced the two reforms were in economic difficulties...
...But the evidence is to the contrary...
...Some kibbutzim set out with the composite system but then moved on to full non-equality...
...He is professor emeritus of sociology and founder of the Institute for Research of the Kibbutz and the Cooperative Idea at the University of Haifa...
...Dissent, Summer 2000...
...The latter reached their positions on the basis of general trust...
...Many have developed new fields of economic activity—tourism, commerce, services, and so on...
...3. Menachem '1opel, "The Discourse of Technocrats and Others about the Kibbutz...
...MANY OF THOSE hurt by the reforms had played central roles in the establishment of the economic foundations of the kibbutz...
...In some of these kibbutzim, the budget imbalance continued after the reform was introduced...
...In the past, the kibbutz was a pioneer in nation-building...
...In Hatzor, as they tell us, this gap was even formalized when a "workers' committee" was established to assist and protect members negotiating their salaries...
...Thus they balanced their budget, but opened a considerable gap in family living standards...
...Since the Mort-Brenner thesis is that these reforms are necessary conditions for the economic success of the kibbutz, we would assume that the reformed kibbutzim are the most successful...
...new technologies were introduced...
...In 1999, the fully nonegalitarian system existed in 10 percent of the kibbutzim, whereas in 12 percent the composite system was in use...
...Survival depends primarily on the identification of members with communalsocialist values...
...Only some tentative conclusions seem possible...
...A research comparison found no difference in economic outcomes between factories with such boards and those without.' A similar picture emerged when comparison was made between kibbutzim that had undertaken a larger separation of economy and community and those that had not (this research, by Uriel Leviatan, is as yet unpublished...
...The development of a managerial perspective, which the article exemplifies, is an expression of this surrender...
...Several kibbutzim will probably lose their communal identity...
...But it did improve the incomeexpense balance of smaller and younger communities...
...The fact that many kibbutzim were and are economically more successful is indicated in their article only when they write that "there are a handful of kibbutzim that . . . maintain most of the historical framework of kibbutz collectivism, but for various and unique reasons, these few are financially solvent, even wealthy...
...In some kibbutzim the managers' threat to leave the kibbutz if the reforms were not implemented was a crucial factor in the decision...
...Reform no...
...There is a basic contradiction between this step and the organizational culture and values of the kibbutz...
...The University of Haifa: The Institute for Research of the Kibbutz and the Cooperative Idea (Hebrew), 1998...
...The result is hinted at by Mort and Bernner: "reform no.2," they say, "may result in deficit spending and/or social unrest...
...Their article is mainly a description and analysis of developments at one kibbutz, Hatzor, during the 1990s...
Vol. 47 • September 2000 • No. 4
