UTOPIA AND REALITY - A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF COMMUNAL SETTLEMENTS IN AMERICA AND ISRAEL.

The article focuses on communal movements in the U.S. and Israel. A utopian communal group may thus be defined as a voluntary and egalitarian community which is sustained by the co-operative efforts of its members devoted to developing the communal resources and which utilizes these resources to provide essential goods and services for its members as well as all other additional goods and services that are compatible with the belief in the intrinsic value of a simple way of life. The kibbutz differs from nearly all other utopian communal movements in that it was, and is, inextricably linked to a national movement, its members having provided much of the ideological stimulation and the active leadership for the Zionist movement based on the desire to build a national home for the Jews in Palestine. Thus, in analyzing the kibbutz movement, it is necessary to realize that it is sustained by three interlocking, generally consistent, but occasionally conflicting, motivations, namely, socialist, nationalist and pragmatic. Many of the ambiguities and contradictions of kibbutz life arise from its involvement in the surrounding society and from its efforts to reconcile socialist, national and pragmatic considerations.