The first kibbutzniks hoped to be more than plain farmers in Palestine. They even hoped for more than a Jewish homeland there: they wanted to create a new type of society where all would be equal and free from exploitation. The early kibbutzniks wanted to be both free from working for others and from the guilt of exploiting hired work. Thus was born the idea that Jews would band together, holding their property in common, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

Kibbutz members were not classic Marxists. Marx and Engels both shared a disdain for conventional formulations of the nation state. Although Leninists were hostile to Zionism, even in its communist manifestation, the Soviet Union, quickly recognized Israel. Later Soviet hostility largely served Moscow's diplomatic and military interests in the Arab world. Following the 1953 Doctors' plot and 1956 denouncement of Stalin's atrocities by Nikita Khrushchev in his Secret Speech, many of the remaining hard-line Kibbutzim communists rejected communism. However, to this day many Kibbutzim remain a stronghold of left-wing ideology among the Israeli Jewish population.