A common view I have encountered is that dictatorships often
maintain popular support through political indoctrination. Assuming there is
some validity in this view it is worth investigating the
"brainwashing" of children through mediums such as books and cartoons
in authoritarian and totalitarian regimes.
Exploring briefly some of the children's literature released
in the Soviet Union under Stalin is certainly an interesting read, check out http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/fdaa6fc4-2523-11e3-9dcc-00144feab7de.html#slide14
In 1930 'Piatilekta'
was released which is a child friendly picture book portrayal of the goals of
Stalin's First Five Year Plan. Morality tales and books such as Arkady
Gaidar's 1933 children's book 'The Tale
of the Military Secret - in which a Little Boy Keeps a Big Secret and Saves the
Communist Motherland' were also popular. Books such as these demonstrate a
use of children's literature as an ideological and political tool.
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| The Five Year Plan for Kids! |
Please do comment with links to any further or current use
of children's media as a political or ideological tool for authoritarian
regimes.
Good link, Joseph - there are lots of good examples of this, not just from Soviet Russia but from many of the great totalitarian regimes, for whom the education of the young is really important. Yet does indoctrination work well? It might seem that three generations of indoctrination failed to produce properly Soviet subjects, no?
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