The Anti-Monopoly Board Game That Promoted a 'Soviet America' | How a socialist board game from 1934 exemplifies an era where American communists saw proletarian revolution as imminent and inevitable
The Anti-Monopoly Board Game That Promoted a 'Soviet America' | How a socialist board game from 1934 exemplifies an era where American communists saw proletarian revolution as imminent and inevitable
In 1934, American Communists translated a Stalinist book about revolution into a children’s game. Curiously, it didn't catch on.
It's a common misconception that Monopoly is a hymn to capitalism.
Actually, it's a reimplantation of the Landlord's Game, which was designed to demonstrate the mechanics of wealth accumulation and its nasty consequences when almost everybody end in poverty.
A close-up of the northeast quadrant of the map/board shows some of the obstacles on the way to Soviet America, from the obvious, such as Wall Street and “Boss Thugs,” to the “misleaders” of seemingly sympathetic organizations such as the American Federation of Labor and the Socialist Party.
Lol
"Splitters!!!"
PS: looks less boring than monopoly, though, more chaos :D
Was just thinking that.
Monopoly can actually be a pretty quick game if you play by the rules. Which literally nobody does.
If this is on sale now I think a lot of people would like to get a copy (for collection)
the only thing i can see is WWWWEEEE
I'm surprised one of the most dangerous things about being a communist isn't one of the trap squares- being a Bolshevik in 1936 Russia.