Communism

Members of People's Liberation Army in Big Bird in China

Communism is a political ideology and a specific branch of socialism. It generally seeks to establish a future classless, stateless social organization based upon common ownership of the means of production (in some ways, not unlike Doozers). Though it has its roots in the writings of Karl Marx, Communism has taken many forms, and is always set up in stark contrast to capitalism.

References

• In a Wilkins Coffee commercial, Wilkins, in Soviet Russia, asks for Party Line Coffee. Wontkins suggests Wilkins Coffee, and is upbraided as a traitor for selling "capitalist coffee." Wilkins then surreptitiously orders two pounds of Wilkins, to be sent through the back door.

• In the 1964 Valentines Day episode of The Jimmy Dean Show, Rowlf the Dog reads a card from the wife of Nikita Khrushchev, then First Secretary of the Communist Part of the Soviet Union. Rowlf only reads the first two lines, "Roses are red, violets are red..."

• China has been a Communist nation since 1949, although its form has been modified somewhat in recent decades. Members of China's People's Liberation Army (formerly the "Red Army") can be seen pointing and smiling at the capitalist visitor Big Bird in the TV special Big Bird in China.

• In the Panel Discussion on episode 107 of The Muppet Show, Miss Piggy shouts "Pigs of the world, unite!" when she is made the subject of one too many bacon jokes by guest star Florence Henderson. The rallying cry spoofs that of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in The Communist Manifesto.

• In the second part of the Dinosaurs story "Nuts to War", Howard Handupme reads the surnames of individuals targeted for disagreeing with the government's war reports. The list is dominated by people who had, in real life, been blacklisted in the 1950s as a result of known or suspected Communist ties. The list included Martin Ritt, Dalton Trumbo, Lillian Hellman, Sterling Hayden, Ring Lardner, and Dashiell Hammett.

• When Lash Holstein arrives to save Dorothy Bovine in Muppets Tonight episode 202, he's encountered by Moo-ing the Merciless's henchman Bart, who tells him that he's dead meat. Lash corrects him, stating that he's red meat. Bart replies, "Well, better dead than red," a Cold War slogan used in the 1950s referencing red as the emblematic color of communism.

• The Creature Shop TV movie Animal Farm is adapted from George Orwell's political allegory, satirizing Communism and how its theories are belied in practice.

Mentions

• In a 1971 editorial from Louisiana newspaper The Councillor, a critic accused Sesame Street of being radical and pro-Communist, claiming that the show introduces "tots to real live Reds, and sugarcoats those Reds to make them look like good guys. An excellent example is Pete Seeger...."