Marxists Internet Archive: Subjects: Marxism and Art: Literature: Children's Literature

 

Resources and Reference

“...the more enlightened part of the working class fully understands that the future of its class, and, therefore, of mankind, altogether depends upon the formation of the rising working generation. They know that, before everything else, the children and juvenile workers must be saved from the crushing effects of the present system".
Karl Marx, Geneva Congress Resolutions, 1866


Russian children's literature/education resources
Children's literature criticism/Cultural Theory
Resources on authors and illustrators
Teaching resources
MIA texts and excerpts on education, family, child development
Party documents
Government documents
Youth organizations

Russian Children's Literature/Education Resources

Children's Books of the Early Soviet Era
Reading-room. From the State Library of Ukraine for Children
Russian Fairy Tales, a collection of images by David J. Birnbaum et al.
Russian Fairy Tales, a series translated by Katherine Lawson
Russian and Ukrainian folktales fom russian-crafts.com
The Soviet Classroom, images from a student 1969-1977
Selected Bibliography of works related to Russian children's literature or children in Russia

Children's Literature Criticism/Cultural Theory

A Bibliography of Criticism compiled by Perry Nodelman
Children's Literature and the Cultural Front conference presentation, Julia Mickenberg
"'Said a Bird in the Midst of a Blitz...': How World War II Created Dr. Seuss.", Philip Nel, _Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature_ 34.2 (June 2001): 65-85.
Cultural Logic: An Electronic Journal of Marxist Theory and Practice issue on Marxism and Education
Selected Bibliography of scholarly works on children's literature

Resources on Authors and Illustrators

The Crockett Johnson Homepage - Johnson's biography, early works, books and general children's literature resources
Howard Fast - bibliography, on-line texts, articles, images

Teaching Resources

MIA Student's Section
Dialectics For Kids
The History of Childhood and Education

MIA Texts and Excerpts

Voltaire
from Zadig, True Education, 1747

Rousseau, Jean Jacques
The Creed of a Savoyard Priest, from Emile, 1762

Hegel
Philosophy of Right: Part 3, Ethical Life - The Family, 1844

Thoughts on Reading Piaget, 1998

Marx, Karl
Proletarians and Communists, from Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1847
Juvenile and Children's Labour (Both Sexes) from "Instructions for the Delegates of the Provisional Council. The Different Questions." Congress of Geneva, 1866
The Employment of Women and Children from Capital Vol 1 part IV, 1867

Dobrolyubov, N.A.
The Importance of Authority in Education, 1857

Kropotkin, Peter
An Appeal to the Young, 1880

Engels, Frederick
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State , 1884

de B. Gibbins, Henry
from An Industrial History of England, 1890

Zangwill, Israel
from The Children of the Ghetto, 1892

Lenin, V.I.
from Lenin On Youth, numerous writings from 1895-1922

Ferrer, Francisco
The Way to Freedom, 189?

Simmons, May Wood
Education and Socialism, 1901

London, Jack
from The People of the Abyss, 1903

Debs, Eugene
Childhood, 190?

Hubbard, Elbert
from "In a Southern Cotton Mill", 190?

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins
Child Labor, poem, 19??

Evans, Florence Wilkinson
The Flower Factory, poem, 19??

Henderson, C. Hanford
Children and Economics, from What Is It To Be Educated?, 19??

Rozny, Joseph-Henry
from The Red Wave, 19??

Spargo, John
Socialism and Motherhood, 1914

Kollontai, Alexandra
Preface to the book Society and Motherhood, 1915
The First Steps Towards the Protection of Motherhood, 1917
Decree on Child Welfare, 1918

Bohn, William
An Educational Experiment, 1917

Lunacharsky, A. V.
To All Who Teach, 1918

Bukharin, Nikolai
Church and School in the Soviet Republic, 1919

Sanger, Margaret
Is Revolution the Remedy?, 1922

Trotsky, Leon
From the Old Family to the New, 1923
The Family and Ceremony, 1923
Family Relations Under The Soviets: Fourteen Questions Answered by Leon Trotsky, 1932
Thermidor in the family - from Revolution Betrayed, 1936

Kalinin, Mikhail I.
Study and Life, speech, 1926

Shaw, George Bernard
Church, School, and Press, 1928
Socialism and Children, 1928
The Population Question, 1928
Socialism and Marriage, 1928

Vygotsky, Lev
The Problem of the Cultural Development of the Child, 1929

Fast, Howard
from The Children, 1937

Gorky, Maxim
"The People Must Know Their History", from Culture and the People, 1939

Makarenko, Anton
Lecture to Parents, 1939
The Road to Life (An Epic of Education), 1955

Fromm, Erich
Character and Social Process, 1942
Individual and Social Origins of Neurosis, 1944

Wallen, Henri
The Psychological and Sociological Study of the Child, 1951

Fast, Howard
from Korean Lullaby, 1951

Castro, Fidel
History Will Absolve Me, 1953 (see passages about educational reform)

Pablo, Michel
The Liberation of Women: on the question of women, the family, and children, 1960

Séve, Lucien
An Embryonic Science: The Psychology of Personality, 1974

Party documents

Social Democratic Party
Education Platform, Seattle School Board elections campaign, 1901
Programme of The Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party, 1917 (see points 13-16)
Foundations of a Communist Youth League, Martin Abern, 1934
1936 Trotskyist Resolution on Youth
1938 Trotskyist Resolution on Youth
The International Conference of the Youth of the Fourth International at Lausanne Switzerland.
1938 Socialist Workers Party Resolution on the Young Peoples Socialist League
Adopted at a November 19-20, 1938 National Committee meeting of the Socialist Workers Party. By Joseph Carter.
1938 Socialist Workers Party Resolution on the Young Peoples Socialist League (Fourth Internationalist)
Documents from the SWP National Committee Plenum New York, November 19-20, 1938.
A Speech To The Youth on Trotsky, Joseph Hansen, 1941

Government Documents

The Leningrad Institute For the Study of Mother and Infant Protection 1934 (pamphlet)

Joint Legislative Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities
Second Report: Un-American Activities in Washington State 1948 (on the Communist Party in the field of education)

University of Washington Tenure and Academic Freedom Committee, Hearings 1948 (against the charge that teachers tried to "convert" students to communism)

University of Washington President Allen's Recommendations, 1949 (regarding the expulsion of professors Butterworth and Phillips)

Thomas McGrath's Statement to the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 194? (on a teacher's responsibility to refuse to cooperate)

Current Communist Goals, 1963 (testimony to the US House of Representatives)

Youth Organizations

Germany

SAJ, the Union of Young Socialist Workers, 1922 (SPD) -- Verband der sozialistischen Arbeiterjugend, formerly Verband der Arbeiterjugendvereine Deutschlands, formed in 1919

Red Falcon groups, 1927 (SPD) -- Rote Falkengruppen, part of the SAJ

Friends of Children, 192? (SPD) -- Kinderfreunde, children ages 8-12

FSJ, Freie Sozialistische Jugend, 1920 (Communist Party)

KJD, the Communist Youth of Germany, formerly the FSJ, (Communist Party)

Poland

Zukunft

Hungary

Association of the Working Youth -- Dolgozó Ifjúság Szövetsége, 19??- 1956

Communist Youth Association -- Kommunista Ifjúsági Szövetség, successor to the above (DIS) from 1958-1989

Democratic Youth Association -- Demokratikus Ifjúsági Szövetség, successor to KIS in 1989

Association of the Hungarian Pioneers -- Magyar Úttörok Szövetsége, a communist scout association for children.

Spain

Spanish United Youth League

Greece

OKNE -- Confederation of Communist Youth Organizations of Greece, 1928-??

Korea

Young Korean Communist League

Anti-Imperialism Youth Association, later Young Korean Communist Association

United Kingdom

English Labour League of Youth

Russia

Cuba

Young Pioneers, 1961, Organizacion de Pioneros Jose Marti

Young Communists, 1962, Union de Jovenes Comunistas

Canada

Socialist Youth, 1933, Cooperative Commonwealth Federation

Young Communist League, 193?

United States

YPSL, Young Peoples Socialist League, 1902, Socialist Party of America

YCL, Young Communist League, 1919, American Communist Party, (sometimes referred to as the Young Workers League).

Youth For Socialist Action, 192?, Socialist Action

YCI, Young Communist International, Communist International (Third International)

SYC, Spartacus Youth Clubs, 1932, Communist League of America

YPSL, Young Peoples Socialist League, 1938, Socialist Workers Party

Young Socialist Alliance, 1959, Socialist Workers Party

Youth for Socialist Action, 1997

 

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Last updated on 5 May 2023