The MIT Press has done the English-speaking world the great favor of translating a book called Communism for Kids by Bini Adamczak from its original German. The mere existence of this book proves that Marxist haven’t yet figured out that their ideology leads to nothing but ruin.
Before we consider the aspects of communism left out by Communism for Kids, there are a few points we must concede at the beginning. Yes, it funny that a book that sets out to instruct young people in communism is sold on Amazon, instead of distributed free by the MIT Press. Surely they wouldn’t argue they don’t have the ability to distribute it for free as widely as Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book? The whole Amazon angle is double hilarious considering that as of this writing, the book is on sale for 25 percent off the regular price. Using the market forces of supply and demand to sell more copies of Communism for Kids would get everyone involved arrested in their dream communist country.
Secondly, there is the author herself. From Amazon’s “about the author” section: “Bini Adamczak is a Berlin-based social theorist and artist. She writes on political theory, queer politics, and the past future of revolutions.” Why are the books promoting communism always written by artists and those that study queer politics, instead of people that grew up repressed by communist regimes? What Bini Adamczak and most of her special type of communists fail to comprehend is that under many of history’s most famous communist governments, they’d be among the first up against the wall. Che Guevara hated homosexuals and opened a concentration camp in Cuba to “reform” them.
The Amazon listing for Communism for Kids includes this description of the book:
Once upon a time, people yearned to be free of the misery of capitalism. How could their dreams come true? This little book proposes a different kind of communism, one that is true to its ideals and free from authoritarianism. Offering relief for many who have been numbed by Marxist exegesis and given headaches by the earnest pompousness of socialist politics, it presents political theory in the simple terms of a children’s story, accompanied by illustrations of lovable little revolutionaries experiencing their political awakening.
Naturally, the action unfolds in a fairytale setting, bringing to mind the tired old canard of college Marxists everywhere, “real communism has never been properly implemented.” Even with a children’s story setting and cute illustrations, Communism for Kids will have a tough job convincing its intended audience that communism is the best — there is evidence that the generation following millennials is becoming quite conservative, in part as a backlash against leftists who embrace Marx in the same way Bini Adamczak has.
But what is important about Communism for Kids isn’t whatever Marxist bilge is included, but the real world facts of communism that every kid should learn.
For example, it doesn’t include anything about the way Communist leaders ruthlessly consolidate power by eliminating their enemies. The book The Commissar Vanishes by David King studies the chilling way Stalin’s regime manipulated photographs as members of his circle were sacrificed to maintain his power. Many photos start with a crowd of people and end up with just two, or in some cases Stalin alone. For younger readers, this was at least fifty years before Photoshop existed, and photo manipulation was done by skilled craftsmen. This book will teach any young person everything they need to know about communism.
In case you think bumping off rivals is ancient communist history, the half-brother of the leader of North Korea died mysteriously this year.
Speaking of North Korea, Communism for Kids doesn’t touch on the famine that seems to be a required aspect of every communist country, along with armies that march funny, the color red, and an obsession with controlling every part of people’s lives. Famine has cost the lives of untold millions in North Korea, along with much greater numbers in other communist countries like the People’s Republic of China. In some cases, these famines were due to killing or imprisoning those with the knowledge to properly work the land, like landowners and the educated, but in others, they are simply due to the draconian ways communist governments maintain their control. Take for example the recent news out of Venezuela, where the government’s answer to bread shortages was to arrest the bakers.
If famine always follows communism, its related evil of mass imprisonment and execution are always close behind. Bini doubtlessly steered clear of the Gulag Archipelago and North Korea’s similar prison camps. There aren’t any cutesy illustrations of who is deemed an enemy of the state and executed for their (often dreamed up) crimes. It isn’t for lack of examples, like the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia who killed about 25 percent of the population.
Famine, executions, and the other ways communist regimes have found to kill their own people accounted for an estimated 94 million deaths in the 20th century. But according to Bini, the jury is still out on communism.
Some of communism’s most interesting moments are cartoonish enough that they could take the place of whatever children’s stories Bini could dream up. For example, Chairman Mao’s “Hundred Flower Movement,” in which disaffected intellectuals were invited to criticize Mao’s government but then most that did were arrested for political crimes.
Breitbart News will not be doing a proper review of Communism for Kids, out of respect for communists outraged that this book is being sold (and touted as #1 in Amazon’s “Children’s Government Books”). But we are left with two questions:
Doesn’t the MIT Press have anything better to do? Secondly, has Bini Adamczak paid the fee to visit Karl Marx’s grave to read her book to him? It’s a tourist trap now if you didn’t know, proving once again that capitalism always wins.
Colin Madine is a contributor and editor at Breitbart News and can be reached at cmadine@breitbart.com
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