Communism, capitalism, work, crisis, and the market, described in simple storybook terms and illustrated by drawings of adorable little revolutionaries. 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. It all unfolds like a story, with jealous princesses, fancy swords, displaced peasants, mean bosses, and tired workers–not to mention a Ouija board, a talking chair, and a big pot called “the state.” Before they know it, readers are learning about the economic history of feudalism, class struggles in capitalism, different ideas of communism, and more. Finally, competition between two factories leads to a crisis that the workers attempt to solve in six different ways (most of them borrowed from historic models of communist or socialist change). Each attempt fails, since true communism is not so easy after all. But it's also not that hard. At last, the people take everything into their own hands and decide for themselves how to continue. Happy ending? Only the future will tell. With an epilogue that goes deeper into the theoretical issues behind the story, this book is perfect for all ages and all who desire a better world.

As the sun set on June 8, 1969, a group of teenagers gathered near a massive tree in a main square of Budapest to mourn the untimely death of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones. By the end of the evening, sirens blared, teens were interrogated, and the myth of the most notorious juvenile gang in Budapest was born. The origin of the Great Tree Gang became an elaborately cultivated morality tale of the dangers posed by allegedly rebellious youths to the conformity of communist communities. In time, governments across Cold War Europe manufactured similar stories about the threats posed by groups of unruly adolescents. In Children of Communism, Sándor Horváth explores this youth counterculture in the Eastern Bloc, how young people there imagined the West, and why this generation proved so crucial to communist identity politics. He not only reveals how communism shaped youth culture, but also how young people shaped official policy. A fascinating read on the power of youth protest, Children of Communism shows what life was like for the first generation to have been born under communism and how one evening spent grieving rock and roll under a tree forever changed lives.

In the 1920s, with the end of the revolution, the Soviet government began investing resources and energy into creating a new type of book for the first generation of young Soviet readers. In a sense, these early books for children were the ABCs of Soviet modernity; creatively illustrated and intricately designed, they were manuals and primers that helped the young reader enter the field of politics through literature. Children’s books provided the basic vocabulary and grammar for understanding new, post-revolutionary realities, but they also taught young readers how to perceive modern events and communist practices. Relying on a process of dual-media rendering, illustrated books presented propaganda as a simple, repeatable narrative or verse, while also casting it in easily recognizable graphic images. A vehicle of ideology, object of affection, and product of labour all in one, the illustrated book for the young Soviet reader emerged as an important cultural phenomenon. Communist in its content, it was often avant-gardist in its form. Spotlighting three thematic threads – communist goals, pedagogy, and propaganda – The Pedagogy of Images traces the formation of a mass-modern readership through the creation of the communist-inflected visual and narrative conventions that these early readers were meant to appropriate.

What are the differences between democracy, communism and socialism? This book on politics will provide wonderful, easy-to-remember definitions for your elementary student. It will also include examples of societies using these ideologies for even better understanding. There’s much to learn from this good book on political science. Grab a copy today.

A comprehensive documentary history of children whose parents were identified as enemies of the Soviet regime, from its inception through Joesph Stalin's death. With top-secret documents in translation from the Russian state archives, memoirs, and interviews with child survivors

The Truth About Socialism for Smart Kids is a beautifully illustrated children's book inspired by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago and Stephen Hicks' Explaining Postmodernism. A recent poll by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation showed that a majority of millennials would prefer to live in a socialist, communist or fascist nation rather than a capitalistic one. This phenomenon is nothing short of surprising since thinkers such as Steven Pinker have made a strong case for this era being the most prosperous and peaceful in human history. Perhaps the polled youth is victim of historical illiteracy regarding the destruction and misery caused since the Bolshevik Revolution. Or also it may be due to a recent study by Jonathan Haidt's Heterodox Academy showing that educators of liberal or outright radical leftist ideology have increased dramatically in the United States. In a 1978 commencement speech at Harvard, Solzhenitsyn himself said: "Liberalism was inevitably displaced by radicalism; radicalism had to surrender to socialism; and socialism could never resist communism. The communist regime in the East could stand and grow due to the enthusiastic support from an enormous number of Western intellectuals who felt a kinship and refused to see communism's crimes. And when they no longer could do so, they tried to justify them." Over 40 years have passed since that speech yet it sounds still applicable. Everyday we hear about worrying glimpses of radical leftist censorship under the guise of social justice or identity politics. And, worst of all, such news arise from schools, the places where viewpoint diversity and free thinking are supposed to be encouraged and flourish. The Truth About Socialism for Smart Kids is for the children of parents who wish the next generation not to be indoctrinated but, instead, given all the facts so they grow to be tolerant to dialogue and passionate about free thought and free speech.