Being a socialist is hard. Being an accidental socialist is harder. Because I didn’t really choose this life per se. I was never into the ideology. I don’t like hammers (manual labor, gross) and red bandanas (I’m more of a winter). And I always thought Lenin was a Beatle. 

No, I became a socialist because of a boy…

Bullshit aside, why am I doing this?

It seems lots of places in the States these days want to experiment with socialism. Or at least what they think socialism is. But most of the time, they are cosplaying. Grabbing the good, ignoring the bad, and then going home to enjoy 31 flavors of capitalism on their iPhones. But unlike almost everyone on the planet, I became part of one of the few actual, 100% real McCoy socialist societies left in the world.

I have somehow found myself living on a socialist commune (also known as a kibbutz) in name of **gags ** love. So, even though I am not an expert on Marx’s The Communist Manifesto, I do live in a community that attributes much of its principles and ethos to it.

I thought that maybe it was time to write down my experiences: the good, the bad, and the ugly, and share it (because we socialists love sharing!). 

Here, I will write about my experiences living on a socialist kibbutz,  from the philosophy and lifestyle, to how to raise a family, to the daily life challenges that might look different than the things you experience. 

Okay, Strange Lady, continue… 

The truth is, all because of a boy,  I have lived on a completely socialist kibbutz in Israel for the past 13 years.

(Phew, just that sentence was a lot to unpack.)

Now, before I get into my truly wild experiences as an American spoon-fed capitalist to a socialist democrat farmer, there are few things you need to understand:

What is a kibbutz? Kibbutz in Hebrew loosely translates to “community” or “gathering”. The OG hora Image: Kluger Zoltan / Government Press Office of Israel

Kibbutz in Hebrew loosely translates to “community” or “gathering”.

Imagine a large........

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