Raising Reds - by Paul Mishler (Paperback)

About the Book

From the 1920s through the 1950s, American Communists established children's organizations, after-school programs, and summer camps with the aim of developing "revolutionary consciousness" in the minds of the younger generation. Mishler examines how radical parents' ultimate social and political goals--and their sometimes contradictory desires as parents--were reflected in the education and upbringing of their children.

Book Synopsis

From the 1920s through the 1950s, American Communists established children's organizations, after-school programs, and summer camps with the aim of developing revolutionary consciousness in the minds of the younger generation. In organizations such as the Young Pioneers of America and summer camps such as Camp Kinderland, located in New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and California, more than 20,000 children learned about Communist doctrines, played games designed to foster radical beliefs, and sometimes actively participated in key Communist causes and events - from May Day parades to labour strikes and political demonstrations.

Review Quotes

...well researched and thorough. I recommend it for historians interested in the history of radicalism and the left in the United States... historians of the family and of ethnic history would also find it of considerable value.--Mark McColloch "Industrial and Labor Relations Review"

Raising Reds is a most impressive approach to exploring aspects of radical childraising from the 1920s into the 1950s, the heyday of the Communist Party in the United States--Ronald D. Cohen, Indiana University Northwest "History of Education Quarterly"

A compassionate, coherent and cogent narrative of an idealistic cadre of radicals, once upon a time in America, who tried to transform society from the bottom up.-- "Science & Society"

An informative history.--Joan Wallach Scott "Lingua Franca"

About the Author

Paul C. Mishler is a labor educator and historian currently teaching at the Labor Relations and Research Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.