Degania

Summary

The kvutza that began as Um Djumi, a communal experiment of a more communist streak, and ultimately overshadowed Merhavia in the collective memory of the labour movement (Zionism and Cosmopolitanism: Franz Oppenheimer and the Dream of a Jewish Future in Germany and Palestine, PDF p.247-248).

Arthur Ruppin wrote in his memoirs that when he established the kvutza at Degania he thought the idea of the Siedlungsgenossenschaft, which was advocated by Franz Oppenheimer in the 1903 Congress, was realized, though Degania might have diverged from Oppenheimer’s rules in a few particulars; for Ruppin the cooperative side was the essential aspect (PDF p.247).
According to Ruppin’s biographer Etan Bloom, Ruppin’s main divergence from Oppenheimer’s model was his hands-on management style, seeking direct contact with local workers, against Oppenheimer’s management from afar through a mediator; the comparison between Degania and Merhavia shaped the collective memory of the labour movement and the historical narrative of Zionist settlement, and probably led to the Palestine Office’s reluctance to support Merhavia (PDF p.247).
Oppenheimer agreed to the use of Erez Israel Siedlungsgenossenshaft fund capital for the kvutza at Um Djumi, regarding it as a scientist’s control group, but considered it too small and intimate to be a real alternative to his extendable cooperative settlement (PDF p.248).

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