The gift that keeps on giving keeps on giving. Since the publication of the German translation of A Living Revolution in 2021 there seems to have been renewed interest in this now-nearly-14-year-old book, largely, I assume, thanks to the efforts of its translator Lou Marin. No further comment from me, except that I'm going to post (pretty scratchy) translations of three of the mysteriously numerous reviews that have popped up over the last year. The first is by German academic Dr. Maurice Schuhmann, published in March 2022.
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A little Eden in this world
James Horrox reports on anarchism in the kibbutz movement
by Maurice Schuhmann
A few years before his death, the German anarcho-syndicalist Augustin Souchy published a euphoric pamphlet entitled Reise durch die Kibbuzim [Journey Through the Kibbutzim] (1984). In it, he enthusiastically describes the insights and experiences he had gained while traveling through various kibbutzim. His report ends on an emotional and problematic note as follows: “Almost 2000 years ago, the Jews brought Christianity to humanity, unfortunately transplanting the Garden of Eden to the afterlife. Today, the kibbutzim bring at least a little Eden back to this world.” Almost 40 years later, the German translation of the 2009 study A Living Revolution by British political scientist and author James Horrox has now been published.
Although the closeness between the kibbutz movement and anarchism has often been alluded to – especially in the more recent general surveys of anarchism (Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible) or in studies of modern anarchism (Uri Gordon, Hier und Jetzt[1]) – with the exception of the abovementioned writings by Souchy, Horrox’s study stands alone.
Starting from a few fundamental remarks on anarchism and Jewish socialism, namely the ideas of A. D. Gordon, an early kibbutznik and leader of the Hapoel Hatzair (Young Worker) movement, in the opening chapters Horrox focuses on the first three Aliyot (waves of Jewish migration to Palestine) in the period between 1882 and 1924. Over the course of the first Aliyah, kvutzot (agricultural collective settlements) were founded, while in the second wave, the kibbutzim developed as an independent form of settlement.
Among the protagonists of the second wave – who created, among other things, the first kibbutz, Degania, which still exists today – the influence of early socialist thinkers, Leo Tolstoy and the theory of Peter Kropotkin was particularly present. In the third – mediated not least by the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber – Gustav Landauer’s idea of community gained a stronger foothold. Within the third wave, however, the influence of a Marxist-influenced socialism became stronger, and this spread in the mid-1920s. But Horrox also offers a brief look at the later years and developments that saw the anarchist impulse pushing back in the kibbutzim.
In the almost 15 years between the founding of Degania and the end of the third Aliyah, the kibbutzim functioned on the basis of a socialist way of life. Horrox outlines the foundations of this model, which can still be found in some of today’s kibbutzim, and subsequently brings up the question of a ‘new kibbutz movement’. In presenting how the kibbutz model works, he critically examines the ethos of labour, for example – albeit without problematising the gender-specific distribution of work that existed among the first generation of kibbutzniks – and addresses the pedagogical approaches.
Following on from this, and increasingly drawing on interviews, he sheds light on the relationship that the anarchist movement in Israel has with the kibbutz movement. In doing so, he is forced to conclude that “many of today’s Israeli anarchists no longer have much interest in the experiences of the early communards.”
Horrox’s well-founded presentation of the anarchist tradition within the kibbutz movement offers a very good introduction to the history and early development of this unique community movement, which, in contrast to the mostly short-lived early socialist commune projects of the followers of Cabet, Saint-Simon and Fourier, can look back on more than 100 years of history. Furthermore, Horrox fills a research gap in the otherwise rich literature on this movement by providing a foundation for the postulate of a closeness between anarchist thought and the early kibbutz movement, advocated by Noam Chomsky among others, which often appears in secondary literature.
Horrox’s study is supplemented by several appendices – including a reprint of Nahum Goldman’s correspondence with Gustav Landauer and Uri Gordon's preface to the first American edition.
James Horrox: Gelebte Revolution. Anarchismus in der Kibbuzbewegung. Verlag Graswurzelrevolution, 259 S., br., 24,80 €.
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[1] The title under which the German translation of Gordon’s book Anarchy Alive! was published in 2010.
