Communism for Kids
By Bini Adamczak
Translated by Jacob Blumenfeld and Sophie Lewis
Overview
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.
About the Author
Bini Adamczak, a Berlin-based social theorist and artist, writes on political theory, queer politics, and the past future of revolutions.
Endorsements
“Communism for Kids, by Bini Adamczak, is in fact for everyone, an inspired and necessary book especially now, a moment when people feel that we are on the verge of the destruction of the world, and without any new world to hope for, or believe in. Have two hundred years of capitalism brought us freedom? Or just more inequality than has ever been experienced by humans on earth? Global capitalism is not human destiny, it merely is. To think beyond it, with the help of Adamczak’s primer, is to take a first step toward freedom, at least the freedom to imagine other worlds.”
—Rachel Kushner, author of The Flamethrowers
“This delightful little book may be helpful in showing youngsters there are other forms of life and living than the one we currently ‘enjoy’; and even some adults might learn from it as well. At a time when our younger generations are not only dissatisfied but active enough to have some new thoughts of their own and to look around seriously for alternatives, political pedagogy has a real function and might well, as here, be reinvented in new ways.”
—Fredric R. Jameson, Professor of Comparative Literature, Professor of Romance Studies (French); Director of Institute for Critical Theory, Duke University
