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I've heard arguments that The Smurfs and The Super Mario Bros were somehow communist, however the internationally popular Swedish cartoon Bamse clearly is.
From wikipedia's page on Bamse:
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From wikipedia's page on Bamse:
Originally posted by Wikipedia
Bamse and his friends are very clear about their values. They are strongly opposed to racism, bullying and violence. Bamse is not only the strongest bear in the world, but also the kindest, often repeating his slogan "Nobody is the better for being beaten". The original villain, a black wolf simply called Vargen ("The Wolf"), became a friend of Bamse after consistently being treated kindly. (Vargen occasionally falls back into crime, and Lille Skutt never trusts him.) The only villain that is depicted as unredeemable is Krösus Sork ("Croesus Vole"), a crude capitalist who will do practically anything for money. This, together with the overall focus on sharing and some of the "school" pages making pro-Chinese and Vietnam statements, has led some people to accuse the series of promoting communism.
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Originally posted by lewrockwell.com
The small yellow bear is Bamse. Bamse is a popular children’s comic character who appears in both comics and televised cartoons. He is an ordinary little teddy bear, living with the other nice cuddly animals in the forest. But when the baddies, such as the trolls or the wolves, start hurting the nice animals, Bamse drinks some kind of magical "thunder honey" and uses the super strength that he gains to beat up the bad guys.
The comics of Bamse are really about communicating values to small children and Bamse has become an important icon in Swedish society. What is striking about Bamse is that he is a socialist. The bad guys in Bamses world are driven by capitalist greed and lack of solidarity. Bamse regularly stops Krösus, an exploitative capitalist rat, from profiting from hurting other animals.
Bamse spends a lot of his time teaching children fundamental socialist values. Joakim Nilsson has written a very interesting essay (in Swedish) where he goes through the various political messages in Bamse. The comics are usually written for small children and have simple storylines (a wolf steals some carrots from the rabbit, Bamse beats up the wolf and gives back the carrots, etc.) but they can be quite sophisticated when it comes to politics. In a comic from 1983 the children can read:
"In Bejing there is the greatest square in the world – Tien An Men. Tiananmen Square. On October the first of 1949 millions of people joined together there to hear Mao Zedong proclaim the People's Republic of China. The country was liberated from the warlords, businessmen and foreigners who had ruled previously. Before this liberation, many millions of people starved to death. After 1949 food has been distributed fairly and nobody starves. This is one of the most important events of the 20th century – a quarter of the people on the Earth are Chinese!"
[...] He also explains to them how greedy and evil capitalists are and the importance of solidarity, high taxes and a welfare state.
Bamse is not really a fan of private property or the rule of law either. Already in 1973, there is a story where Bamse becomes a police officer and catches somebody robbing a toy store. However, Bamse realizes that the burglar is his friend who is stealing the toys for her child’s birthday. Bamse sees this as an adequate reason for stealing and releases the burglar. He also promptly tells the owner of the store, who demands that the burglar be punished, to "Shut up!" When Bamse ends up in prison for misconduct as a policeman, he simply runs away. And so the story ends happily.
The comics of Bamse are really about communicating values to small children and Bamse has become an important icon in Swedish society. What is striking about Bamse is that he is a socialist. The bad guys in Bamses world are driven by capitalist greed and lack of solidarity. Bamse regularly stops Krösus, an exploitative capitalist rat, from profiting from hurting other animals.
Bamse spends a lot of his time teaching children fundamental socialist values. Joakim Nilsson has written a very interesting essay (in Swedish) where he goes through the various political messages in Bamse. The comics are usually written for small children and have simple storylines (a wolf steals some carrots from the rabbit, Bamse beats up the wolf and gives back the carrots, etc.) but they can be quite sophisticated when it comes to politics. In a comic from 1983 the children can read:
"In Bejing there is the greatest square in the world – Tien An Men. Tiananmen Square. On October the first of 1949 millions of people joined together there to hear Mao Zedong proclaim the People's Republic of China. The country was liberated from the warlords, businessmen and foreigners who had ruled previously. Before this liberation, many millions of people starved to death. After 1949 food has been distributed fairly and nobody starves. This is one of the most important events of the 20th century – a quarter of the people on the Earth are Chinese!"
[...] He also explains to them how greedy and evil capitalists are and the importance of solidarity, high taxes and a welfare state.
Bamse is not really a fan of private property or the rule of law either. Already in 1973, there is a story where Bamse becomes a police officer and catches somebody robbing a toy store. However, Bamse realizes that the burglar is his friend who is stealing the toys for her child’s birthday. Bamse sees this as an adequate reason for stealing and releases the burglar. He also promptly tells the owner of the store, who demands that the burglar be punished, to "Shut up!" When Bamse ends up in prison for misconduct as a policeman, he simply runs away. And so the story ends happily.
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