Ditching socialist roots, kibbutz makes a comeback

By Brenda Gazzar

KIBBUTZ KRAMIM, Israel (Reuters) - With its socialist doctrine of shared possessions -- down to your underwear -- and love of the land, the kibbutz for years symbolized Israel's earthy Zionist ideals.

But Israelis abandoned the collective farms in droves as socialism fell from favor in the 1980s, urban centers flourished and many kibbutzim sank into debt as they struggled to weather hyperinflation and soaring interest rates.

Now the kibbutz is staging a tentative comeback by embracing reform and eco-friendly practices to attract young families looking for an alternative to the daily grind.

"It's no longer a commune," said Udi Nathan, who moved his family to Kibbutz Kramim in Israel's Negev desert in 2006 after a decade of living in the country's secular metropolis Tel Aviv.

"It has its socialist aspects ... but we don't share our wallets with people, which I think is good and is in tune with what's going on today."

Traditionally, the kibbutz was an agricultural settlement founded on Zionist-socialist principles, where everyone worked the land and shared income and possessions. The first collective farm was founded in 1909.

Besides initially being a practical venture in group living, the kibbutz played a central role in Zionist settlement of the land before and after the founding of the Jewish state.

Despite its idealistic image among many Israelis, others see the kibbutz -- some of which were founded on deserted Arab villages after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War -- as part of what they call the Zionist "land grab" of the last century.

NEW SCHOOL KIBBUTZ

Some 50,000 people left the collective farms between 1984 and 2004 as the egalitarian way of life lost appeal and the farms struggled with the economic crisis of the mid-1980s.

But many kibbutzim have improved their finances over the past decade thanks in part to government help, and have relaxed rules on sharing income and possessions.

Tiny Kibbutz Kramim was founded in 1980 with an eye toward "making the desert bloom". Today, it has a large vineyard and plantations, rents out dozens of cabins for tourists and co-owns a gas station with another kibbutz.

Like some two-thirds of Israel's 273 kibbutzes, Kramim became a "renewed" kibbutz when it underwent privatization, meaning members now earn and keep differential salaries, are charged for services like food and laundry, and pay taxes.

The taxes provide a safety net for the most vulnerable and pay for the kibbutz's share of communal services and other mutual aid, such as a portion of members' healthcare and education expenses.

Since it was privatized in 2006, the number of families at Kibbutz Kramim has doubled to 33 and it has plans to add some 100 families in the next five years.