Kibbutz

Fülszöveg

Thirty-five years ago a small group of young Polish Jews, eighteen to nineteen years old, arrived in Israel and, a year later, founded Kiryat Yedidim. Their kibbutz— their venture in Utopia—is a flourishing communal society today. Unlike the majority of Israeli kibbutzim, it adheres rigidly to a Marxist, pro-Soviet, anti-re-ligious ideology, and its way of life is uncompromisingly socialist. Mr. Spiro and his wife lived in Kiryat Yedidim for eleven months. This book is an anthropological examination of the society created by those young enthusiasts of a generation ago—the people who are today its older generation.
A member of Kiryat Yedidim repudiates "private citizenship" in the ordinary sense for the sake of total allegiance to the community. This kibbutz is a fellowship of people who share a powerful set of convictions. Labor, they hold, is an end in itself: especially physical labor, and agricultural lalDor most particularly. Yet these people are not farmers by background,... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Thirty-five years ago a small group of young Polish Jews, eighteen to nineteen years old, arrived in Israel and, a year later, founded Kiryat Yedidim. Their kibbutz— their venture in Utopia—is a flourishing communal society today. Unlike the majority of Israeli kibbutzim, it adheres rigidly to a Marxist, pro-Soviet, anti-re-ligious ideology, and its way of life is uncompromisingly socialist. Mr. Spiro and his wife lived in Kiryat Yedidim for eleven months. This book is an anthropological examination of the society created by those young enthusiasts of a generation ago—the people who are today its older generation.
A member of Kiryat Yedidim repudiates "private citizenship" in the ordinary sense for the sake of total allegiance to the community. This kibbutz is a fellowship of people who share a powerful set of convictions. Labor, they hold, is an end in itself: especially physical labor, and agricultural lalDor most particularly. Yet these people are not farmers by background, but middle-class European intellectuals, and accordingly they give most respect to "the synthetic personality"—the member who can at the same time withstand toil and give the community moral and intellectual leadership. Their economy is based on the principle that what is used and produced by the community belongs to the entire community: everyone works; no one earns wages or owns property. Life and experience in the group have virtually superseded rugged individualism. Children are brought up collectively from infancy through high school. Nor do man and wife create a family in our sense: Mr. Spiro sees them rather as two closely associated members of
MODERN HOMESTEADERS The Life of a Twentieth-Century Frontier Community
By Evoii Z. Vogt
During the depths of the Great Depression a small band of pioneering farmers migrated from the Texas Panhandle to found a new town. Today in a remote New Mexican village, these farmers and their families still cling to solid frontier values—independence, rugged individualism, and an ever-optimistic faith in their capacity to master nature. But their town is slowly dying. Evon Vogt lived among the people of "Homestead" for five years studying their relationships, habits, and above all, their values. Here is an absorbing account of America in change— where a proud past is meeting and being defeated by the inexorable march of a technological civilization.
A Belknap Press Book. Illustrated. $4.25
A SOLOMON ISLAND SOCIETY Kinship and Leadership Among the Siuai of Bougainville
By Douglas L. Oliver
In this modern anthropological study, Professor Douglas Oliver portrays the culture of the Siuai (pronounced See-wy) of Bougainville. In former times these people were fierce and relentless war leaders—their clubhouses were lined with the skulls of their enemies. Now the Siuai are almost wiped out as a result of the ravages of World War II.
Two years of side-by-side existence with these people gave Mr. Oliver excellent opportunity to study their social structure. In this volume he discusses religious, political, and economic interests, and gives a comprehensive account of their kinship system and terminologji. But the main task of the book is to describe the indigenous institution of leadership within the context of the total Siuai culture. While of special interest to social anthropologists, this book should also appeal to other readers interested in life in the Pacific islands. Illustrated. $10.00
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