I debated for a while whether to post something about a new book published by MIT Press, Communism for Kids. It’s not historical fiction, which are the kind of reviews I want to focus on, but I feel strongly enough about this to go ahead and comment on this insanity.
At first I thought the book was a joke. Unfortunately, it’s not. Communism for Kids was written by a German author and first published there – in 2004 – before MIT Press stupidly decided to publish an English translation this year. Dear god, why?
Wikipedia says the author, Bini Adamczak, was born in 1979. So, she was only 10 years old when communism fell in the former USSR and Eastern Europe! In 1989, I was a recent college graduate when the Berlin Wall fell and watched the celebrations around the world. A few years later, as a television news reporter, I had an opportunity to report on Romania’s orphanages and saw firsthand how communism – under the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu – had destroyed that once-thriving country. I heard many stories of the evils of the flawed system from the people who lived it.
Adamczak believes communism can work if implemented correctly. Yeah, heard that one before. How many millions of people must die before this failed idea of utopia is quashed forever? Adamczak conveniently forgets that under any system someone has to be in control (or will fight to be in control in the absence of a leader). Under communism, there’s no separation of powers, no separate governmental branches to provide checks and balances. One unified government, headed by one person, owns and controls EVERYTHING.
The nineteenth century British politician, Lord Acton, knew what he was talking about when he said that “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Communism begets despots: Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Castro, and North Korea’s Kim family, just to name a few.
The MIT Press statement, which you can read here, says Adamczak uses fairy tales to decry capitalism and espouse the ideals of communism.
Communism is no fairy tale; it’s a nightmare. Why is MIT Press being complicit in this attempted brainwashing of children? It should be ashamed to publish this garbage. No one should be hoodwinked by Communism for Kids.