In the first Knesset elections in 1949 the party received 3.5% of the vote and won four seats, which were taken by Shmuel Mikunis, Eliezer Preminger, Tawfik Toubi and Meir Vilner.

In the 1951 elections Maki received 4% of the vote and won five seats, with Emil Habibi and Esther Vilenska entering the Knesset.

During the session, the Prague Trials of 1952 caused the pro-Soviet Labour Zionist Mapam to break with the Soviet Union.

The 1961 election campaign was helped by the ruling coalition's involvement in the Lavon Affair, and Maki gained five seats.

However, during the early 1960s tensions within the party intensified between the largely Jewish faction of Moshe Sneh and Shmuel Mikunis, which considered Israeli national interests and accepted Israel's right to exist, and the mostly Arab faction of Meir Vilner, which accepted the Soviet pro-Arab and anti-Zionist stance without reservation.