With large groups of people, it is infinitely easier to just add onto the old – like a coral reef – than to wipe clean the slate and start anew. Even though the redesign is more efficient, the old ways will still be used as long as things still get done. Look at computer programming.

As for why people are still drawn to communism(in the case of the kibbutz and other collective movements in Israel – and quite honestly many Jews) is twofold.

The first is that the Jews who lived in Israel since time immemorial (they are small in number but they exist) as well as the settlers from Europe all lived Hobbesian lives previously; short, nasty, brutish, always looking over their shoulder for the next pogrom. Communism was coming into vogue, and they figured that since they share the same values, background etc they could band together to create a utopian socialist society in their historical homeland. This was also after an Enlightenment occured within the Jewish community, and many young people rejected Orthodox Judaism in favor of more liberal streams or rejected it outright and became Zionists(indeed, most Israelis are secular, and identify as Jewish culturally.

The second factor is the Jewish notion of “Tikun Olam”, which directly translates into healing the world. This principle states that Jews should strive to make the world a better place, and while many Jews have made their positive mark on the world, the unfortunate fact is that while we can proudly hold up Milton Friedman as a credit, we also have Karl Marx, Jacques Derrida etc.