The Truth about Socialism for Smart Kids

Book excerpt: 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.