NationStates Jolt Archive

Treasure Chest was a monthly comic book published by the Catholic Guild from 1946 to 1972. Each issue featured several different stories intended to inspire citizenship, morality, and patriotism. In the 1961, volume 17 number 2 issue, the story "This Godless Communism" began. It continued in the even numbered issues through number 20. The entire story is presented here.

http://www.authentichistory.com/images/1960s/treasure_chest/cover_01.html

What a totally absurd comic.

It's much more likely that facism would hit this country *far* before communism

Those dastardly commies... :rolleyes:

tag

nice! those damn commies and fascists at it again?

You know, as far as I've read, they were right.

WE MUST RISE UP AGAINST THE THREAT OF COMMUNISM! EVERYONE, LET'S ALL WRITE LETTERS TO OUR REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT AND TELL THEM THAT WE WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH COMMUNISM! THEY WILL LISTEN TO US BECAUSE WE LIVE IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY!

This is a lovely depiction of American comic art before Japanization.
Don't get me wrong, I love anime, but the art in stuff like this is classic.

The storyline of course, reflects the times...

That comic must be why they banned drugs. What were they smoking when they wrote it?

That comic must be why they banned drugs. What were they smoking when they wrote it?

Believe it or not: thirty years ago America was a very different place than it is now. Before the Internet, heck before cable TV, ATMs, cheap travel... before Woodstock (the first one). Before leaving Viet Nam.

Think of the Brady Bunch. Not the movie/remake, but the ORIGINAL show, and it's camp value. Think Gilligan's Island and Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie. Watch Apollo 13 and pay close attention to the "home" scenes.

Back in the day, the "Pleasant Valley Sunday" the Monkies sang about *was* what most people had/aspired to/were sick of.

The comic is a valuable insight into the American Psyche of the time.

Communism might actually work if it wasn't for the fact that it doesn't actually work.

Communism might actually work if it wasn't for the fact that it doesn't actually work.

Dude, that's brilliant. :)

Hell, Im a conservative and I think the comics stupid.
"The Communists urged the people to rise up against their representative govornment"
Now, my Russian history is a bit rusty, but didnt the Communists urge the people to rise up against the Tsar?
Since when was the Tsar representative? As I recall they were generaly the same (if not worse) than your average monarch

"I know, lets go ask God what to do!"

And, as this comic has taught me, we know God exists. We have many proofs.

I agree with Dontgonearthere, but I read the whole thing through, and I don't notice any other major discrepancies.

"I know, lets go ask God what to do!"

It's a Catholic comic book! What are they supposed to write, the speech from Patton (http://americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechpatton3rdarmyaddress.html)?

As I can see, Communism works, If you apply it to group of people contanining six or less members.

When appied on national governments it turns out to be totalitarian military dictatorship, much like the one seen in the Treasure chest- comic. So thereby the comic is quite realistic. If I was a communistic nation taking over U.S. of A. as it existes today, I would immedeately take similar action, as in the comic.

By definition communism, in its original form, is "godless" Since its basic doctrines deny the existence of god of any kind.

The idea of workers ruling the society of equality and peace is fully unrealistic, since people tend to misbehave, if they are given half a chance to do it.

This will inevitably conclude to part of the society to form an elite, to get as much good as they can. and start to opress the others.

You may call me a cynical bastard, but I would take that as a compliment.

Hell, Im a conservative and I think the comics stupid.

Now, my Russian history is a bit rusty, but didnt the Communists urge the people to rise up against the Tsar?
Since when was the Tsar representative? As I recall they were generaly the same (if not worse) than your average monarch

well yes and no. they advocated the overthrow of the tsar. then, after there was a massive popular uprising (growing out of food-riots in st. petersburg, i believe. the police were sent in, and joined the uprising, then the army was sent in, and joined the uprising. keep in mind, this was the tsar sending the army in to kill people protesting a LACK OF FOOD when the country was also in the middle of losing WW1) so then the tsar's powerless and in prison, and there's a lot of different things going on, including lots of standard capitalism, the "Black Hundreds" super-right-wingers trying to reinstate the tsar and kill lots of minority and leftist groups, and lots of social democracy, and some workers communes and stuff. a pretty mixed bag. lenin solved this by taking over (seizing the winter palace was just a stunt: it was empty and nobody even died. there was barely a shot fired) and immediately declaring the peasant communes in the ukraine and the workers' communes in krondstadt to be the products of the White Army and Tsarist forces, and went about wiping out real socialistic practices throughout russia. so yeah, the communists overthrew a representative (hopelessly corrupt, inept, and malfunctioning) government. and while they were at it, they overthrew socialism.


as to the comic:
i like the part where commies take over and won't let us pray or teach religion in schools.

it's the clever, age-old tactic of taking one of the religious right's pet peeves about seperation of church and state, and projecting it onto the communists.

as to the comic:
i like the part where commies take over and won't let us pray or teach religion in schools.

it's the clever, age-old tactic of taking one of the religious right's pet peeves about seperation of church and state, and projecting it onto the communists.

Though my knowledge of Russia is rusty, didn't those damn commies :) in the USSR also shut down all of the Orthodox churches?

Karl Marx thought religion absurd and divisive.

As I can see, Communism works, If you apply it to group of people contanining six or less members.

how about "communism works when people engage in it voluntarily"
because i'd say no matter how many people, if you force it on someone, it wouldn't work. (why six?)

... By definition communism, in its original form, is "godless" Since its basic doctrines deny the existence of god of any kind.

maybe. if you're differentiating socialism and communism. which might be a good idea, as radical socialism is usually FAR preferable to radical (stalinist) communism. either way, the Catholic Workers and other such christian socialists might disagree with you on that point.

The idea of workers ruling the society of equality and peace is fully unrealistic, since people tend to misbehave, if they are given half a chance to do it.

the best chance you can give people to misbehave is to give them lots of concentrated power.
think of how much more "misbehaving" you can do with the control of an army and a button that launches the largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

You may call me a cynical bastard, but I would take that as a compliment.

i'd just call you wrong.
i'm cynical about lots of things. like the ability of a small group of people with lots of power over everyone else to ever behave responsibly. or in a manner not horrifyingly destructive.
such cynicism leads me to think that there shouldn't be such groups.

maybe i'd call you wildly, naeively optimistic about the tendency of small groups of powerful individuals to NOT fuck things up beyond all recognition.

Though my knowledge of Russia is rusty, didn't those damn commies :) in the USSR also shut down all of the Orthodox churches?

actually, they did that, and seized all the church's assets, in the middle of a horrible famine. no, not to feed the peasants. because they figured the peasants were too desperate, "such that they are eating the flesh of dogs and of the recent dead," to stop the bolshies from grabbing all the church's gold. lenin wrote a memo to the comintern about it. look it up: good reading.

but that's not at all what i was saying. hard as this may be to believe, there is a REAL SUBSTANTIVE difference between what i described above, and just outlawing the teaching or mandatory practice of religion in schools.

it's the difference between beating up all the religious kids and taking their lunch money, and everyone being required to GIVE their lunch money to fund religious services.

Hell, Im a conservative and I think the comics stupid.

Now, my Russian history is a bit rusty, but didnt the Communists urge the people to rise up against the Tsar?
Since when was the Tsar representative? As I recall they were generaly the same (if not worse) than your average monarch

The Tsar wasn't in power during the Russian 'Revolution.' He abdicated the throne earlier.

What a totally absurd comic.

It's much more likely that facism would hit this country *far* before communism
Well seeing as the comic series that is being talked about was written during the cold war, you have to realize communism was a much more powerful force.

Odd how Mao isn't mentioned. Perhaps his Cultural Revolution (one of the stupidest things ever done by a ruler IMO) would have made it hard for the reader to take communsm seriously as a threat. Then again, the whole comic is nigh-impossible to take seriously.

That comic was so bad, it was brilliant!
Also, did you see Trotsky?! I know he had a goatee beard but it was drawn in such a way, and he was coloured a slightly reddish tint, he looked like the devil! Excellent!

Oddly enough, I didn't see a single passage out of the Manifesto or Capital, and they talk about actual Communism? Lenin, Stalin, etc.- Corrupt Dictatorship.

There is only one "L" in "hilarious."

Even in the first page there are so many errors.

Read it then read my points.

1. The American Revolution also came about through violence and bloodshed.

2. The people didn't have a representative government. They had an autocratic monarchy, followed briefly by an autocratic oligarchy of the industrial elite.

3. "Giving up their freedom?" What freedom did they have in the first place?

I'm not trying to be an apologist for Soviets, just it's fun to point out idiocy.

tag

I loved the bit on page 6 when the mother says she has to go to work (horrors! a married woman working!) and the boy turns to his father and says:
"I remember learning at school that Communists don't believe in the family. They say they're going to 'free' the woman from the home and put her to work"
Now is just me, or is there something wrong with that scene? Obviously Feminism hadn't yet taken hold. I guess you're always have to tell important iformation to the 'Man of the House', even if it affects the woman and she's standing right next to you.
Also, the little twerp's got a bow-tie on! That's just annoying. I hate those things.

That is priceless.

"Welcome to Chicago!"
"I haven special orders from Moscow to take charge of communists here and train them to overthrow democracy."

Hurrah! The Nazis have liberated us from the communists!

"And in your daily lives as students, always try to be Christlike."

But, seriously, it is impressive just how badly they understood Stalin... And decided to completely omit the Tzars... But really, how important was Nicholas II to Russian history and the communist revolution?

I've lived in a communist/socialist country and I assure you this comic is not at all "hilarious", it is too close to the truth to be funny. When it comes to depicting the evils of socialism they are only very slightly exagerating ("daddy, why are they taking our crops?" - "they say all he land belongs to the state now"). Yeah they have a pro-religious agenda to push ("let's ask god about what to do" yeah whatever) but it is not that far from reality.

jack chick totally stole his endings from there

Where are all the superheroes?!? :eek:

Hell, Im a conservative and I think the comics stupid.

Now, my Russian history is a bit rusty, but didnt the Communists urge the people to rise up against the Tsar?
Since when was the Tsar representative? As I recall they were generaly the same (if not worse) than your average monarch

They've sort of got it right. The provisinal government that came into being after the Febuary Revolution was aiming at representative democracy. The October Revolution was against the Provisinal Government, not the Tsar.

What a totally absurd comic.


I beg to differ, having lived 20 years in socialist Poland and three years in the USSR (under Gorbachev, so I could hear what the Russians had to say about their own history when they were able to speak up finally). The first book is pretty accurate depiction of life under communism during Stalin reign. In Poland they couldn't ban religion and private property entirely because they feared the nation would revolt, but other than that the comic is quite right.

I couldn't read the next book, on origins of communism, because I don't like sweeping generalizations ;)

of course you did !


own up, you are dirk from boston and you love the monkey a little too much !!!

of course you did !
own up, you are dirk from boston and you love the monkey a little too much !!!
Being an undereducated east-european post-communist non-native speaker I am, I dunno what the monkey bit is supposed to mean but if you want to try me, just grab some 30+ year old poor guy from Poland who believed the american dream and is now flipping the burgers in the US and have him ask me a few questions, like what the hell is "cena urzędowa", "bon PKO" or how could selling an Atari ST in Moscow in 1988 buy my father a new car.

I loved the bit on page 6 when the mother says she has to go to work (horrors! a married woman working!) and the boy turns to his father and says:
"I remember learning at school that Communists don't believe in the family. They say they're going to 'free' the woman from the home and put her to work"
Now is just me, or is there something wrong with that scene? Obviously Feminism hadn't yet taken hold. I guess you're always have to tell important iformation to the 'Man of the House', even if it affects the woman and she's standing right next to you.
Also, the little twerp's got a bow-tie on! That's just annoying. I hate those things.

A nudge/prop to the passage in the Communist Manifesto about freeing women from marriage. I don' have my copy here, but I know it's in the first 20 pages.

Feminism? Are you mad? This thing is WAAAAAY before Woodstock, let alone the 80s!

yes. this comic rules - they should re-issue it as a fundamentalist islam warning :)

Odd how Mao isn't mentioned. Perhaps his Cultural Revolution (one of the stupidest things ever done by a ruler IMO) would have made it hard for the reader to take communsm seriously as a threat. Then again, the whole comic is nigh-impossible to take seriously.

Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution

This comic is from 1961.
http://www.toonopedia.com/treasure.htm

Hell, Im a conservative and I think the comics stupid.

Now, my Russian history is a bit rusty, but didnt the Communists urge the people to rise up against the Tsar?
Since when was the Tsar representative? As I recall they were generaly the same (if not worse) than your average monarch
Kerensky had established a representative government after the Tsar was overthrown. It was this government the communists worked to overthrow before it could get firmly established.

Poor Poor Father Ryan

Bump

Actually, just wondering. Why was the capital moved to Chicago? Was that the most socialist part of the US in the early 60s?

Actually, just wondering. Why was the capital moved to Chicago? Was that the most socialist part of the US in the early 60s?

My *guess* would be because it had the biggest building, and is fairly removed from DC.

That, and maybe people were used to corrupt, totalitarian governement there? ;)

Actually, just wondering. Why was the capital moved to Chicago? Was that the most socialist part of the US in the early 60s?

the chicago area is one of the historic hotbeds of american socialism. though actually, milwaukee is the place to be for socialists with actual power - they had several of the longest serving socialist mayors in the country and often had the majority of the alderman seats, even into the 60s. and there is also symbolic value in going to the place where the haymarket martyrs are buried.

but i doubt that the people who made this comic knew or cared about that. chicago is just the central city of the country.

Ahh, thanks.

Could it be taken as evidence as bias on the publishers part against Chicago though?

Could it be taken as evidence as bias on the publishers part against Chicago though?

treasure chest was apparently being published out of ohio at the time - so that would be where the bias against chicago comes from. ohio kind of historically got skipped over in favor of chicago.

because honestly, who cares about ohio?

I love propaganda that makes accusations of propaganda.

Great find.

the chicago area is one of the historic hotbeds of american socialism. though actually, milwaukee is the place to be for socialists with actual power - they had several of the longest serving socialist mayors in the country and often had the majority of the alderman seats, even into the 60s. and there is also symbolic value in going to the place where the haymarket martyrs are buried.

but i doubt that the people who made this comic knew or cared about that. chicago is just the central city of the country.

We had one here in Bridgeport (Jasper McLevy), but it didn't turn out so well... not plowing the streets (inc. Main Street) is a great way to not get re-elected.

However, the best line ever was his retort about the snow:
"God put it there, he'll take it away!"

At least he understood irony...

One thing I want to know is who the hell were the couple always having a drink next to the water cooler?
They knew more about the current state of the USSR as it was at that time than the CIA did. They seemed to know exactly what Stalin and Kruschev were planning the moment they decided.
We need to hunt them down and send them to Washington to help them out with knowing what's going on in the world today. The current administration obviously doesn't have a clue.

I've lived in a communist/socialist country and I assure you this comic is not at all "hilarious", it is too close to the truth to be funny. When it comes to depicting the evils of socialism they are only very slightly exagerating ("daddy, why are they taking our crops?" - "they say all he land belongs to the state now"). Yeah they have a pro-religious agenda to push ("let's ask god about what to do" yeah whatever) but it is not that far from reality.

You didn't live in a communist country, as a (true) communist country has yet to exsist. You can label a country anything you want, it doesn't make it so.

You didn't live in a communist country, as a (true) communist country has yet to exsist. You can label a country anything you want, it doesn't make it so.

This is a MAJOR piece of trash. Every time I hear it, I wince as I've been to FOUR Communist nations.

This arguement holds NO water -- because unless you LOBOTOMIZE people, "pure" or "true" Communism is not possible in a society that has money. The *ONLY* successful Communist state was that of the Spartans. (Tribes like the aboriginies, etc. are NOT states.) This is because:
1) People inherently try to improve their lives and the lives of their children.
2) People do NOT inherently work for the collective good -- all people enjoy seeing the fruits of their labor.

Unless you have a direct barter economy, it is impossible to have a Communist society!

That said, saying "true Communism" has never been tried is a joke. True Democracy has never been tried, either: yet we can see from the real world which of these two works better in practice.