FAIL school textbook(That I gotta read)

[RedMarxist]

So I was reading our high school textbook, which, when discussing the rise of Lenin described communism as[bare with me here I'm paraphrasing]: "Communism is a system wherein a single party state is created in which a dictatorship is formed"

WTF.

They confused Leninism with Marx's communism...somehow.

either they are lying or its a common misconception on account of the writers. Why do We have to read this shit? Now everyone will think communism is evil.:crying:

[Sensible Socialist]

I remember reading in the glossary that communism was a "single party political system where the state controls all property." I guess they didn't pick up on the whole stateless society idea. :rolleyes:

Edit: Most history textbooks are extremely pro-American and conservative. Don't expect a fair treatment of anything that goes against the status quo.

[Kamos]

Now everyone will think communism is evil.:crying:

That's pretty much the point - indoctrinate them while they're still young.

Our history textbook is a little better in this regard, fortunately; although it doesn't paint the ideology in a positive light or anything, it describes communism a little better, along with a few of its tendencies.

[Susurrus]

The most leftist thing in the required reading for my gov class is an excerpted paragraph from a George Carlin routine.

[ColonelCossack]

"Communism is a system wherein a single party state is created in which a dictatorship is formed"



They confused Leninism with Marx's communism...somehow.

That's not leninism :glare:

[A Revolutionary Tool]

You should have seen the language in my Econ textbook towards immigrants. It was talking about the economic impact of immigration and it literally used the word "besieged" when describing what immigrants were doing. Can't remember the exact line but it was something like "The U.S. is being besieged by Mexican and Chinese immigrants". I did a double take, that's some language you usually only hear from extremely far-right conservatives and fascists. Then I thought "We're being besieged by Chinese immigrants wtf?"

[PC LOAD LETTER]

So I was reading our high school textbook, which, when discussing the rise of Lenin described communism as[bare with me here I'm paraphrasing]: "Communism is a system wherein a single party state is created in which a dictatorship is formed"

WTF.

They confused Leninism with Marx's communism...somehow.

either they are lying or its a common misconception on account of the writers. Why do We have to read this shit? Now everyone will think communism is evil.:crying:
Yep. When I was in high school it was the same thing. The teacher even went on to add "Communism kills a lot of people, it's really bad. Don't listen to anyone that says they're a communist."

When I was in my freshman year of college (2007), one of my professors quipped "Karl Marx is an idiot that couldn't balance his budget"

[Wubbaz]

Tell me about it.

I recently started having "Society" classes in College on my last year and I was quite interested in reading what the book had to say about Marx, socialism and communism.

My book (which supposedly is written by university professors and p.hd people) does an incredibly bad job at explaning the difference between social-democracy and socialism. Also, the book mentions that the USSR had a dictatorship of a proletariat, but it does not explain what Marx meant by a dictatorship. Of course, now the whole class will think that the USSR was the real kind of communism, and that communism is nothing but a dictatorship. Oh yeah, and coincidentally the book mentions nothing about how 21 capitalist countries invaded Russia and sparked civil war, thereby ruining the Soviet economy and causing famines.

I will have a lot of talking to do to correct all of the hundreds of errors I found in this book.. I mean, even my teacher thinks that many countries in Europe have socialism. -.-

Though I am looking forward to seeing the look on their faces when I say that equality is not the ultimate goal of communism, nor a ideological value, and that in communism, there is no state.

[Misanthrope]

All the times communism has been included in the high school curriculum not once have I been assigned to read the manifesto. My only enjoyable experience of communism in high school was a marxist and feminist literary analysis unit, there was no Cold War propaganda ect. It also forced students to look at literature from the eyes of the oppressed.

[Caj]

High school history classes (in the US anyway, I don't know about elsewhere) are nothing short of right-wing propaganda. I found it helpful last year to read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States alongside my 9th grade US history textbook. Perhaps you could find a book of a leftist perspective that parallels your textbook and use the information from it to challenge some the inaccurate and right-wing assertions made by your teacher.

[Susurrus]

When I was in my freshman year of college (2007), one of my professors quipped "Karl Marx is an idiot that couldn't balance his budget"

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HHU05_zo3Pw/S0eLRGE-vbI/AAAAAAAAAnE/2HzMn6slGgM/s400/552.jpg

[Pretty Flaco]

My history textbook (i'm in IB history of the americas) is really weird. It's "unbiased" in that it throws a really conservative assertion about something and then responds with a more liberal minded one, or vice versa.

Honestly though, the passages about eugene debs aren't hostile. It also often refers to the IWW as "radical" but it had a lot of apologetic sounding things to say about it, such as "oh the workers in it were often immigrants or had the worst jobs, etc."

The book hates most unions though.:rolleyes:
union workers are just lazy spoiled brats after all. they want an 8 hour work day and a few cents more? damn. who do they think they are?


High school history classes (in the US anyway, I don't know about elsewhere) are nothing short of right-wing propaganda. I found it helpful last year to read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States alongside my 9th grade US history textbook. Perhaps you could find a book of a leftist perspective that parallels your textbook and use the information from it to challenge some the inaccurate and right-wing assertions made by your teacher.

We have that book in my classroom. One of my classmates who is a senior has read it, but our teacher is staunchly conservative. But at least he told us right out that anything we will ever read it going to have bias.

[Agent Equality]

Though I am looking forward to seeing the look on their faces when I say that equality is not the ultimate goal of communism, nor a ideological value,

Wait....so then equality is not an integral part of communism's agenda? :confused: I think you have your facts almost as mixed up as these right wingers do.

[Wubbaz]

Wait....so then equality is not an integral part of communism's agenda? :confused: I think you have your facts almost as mixed up as these right wingers do.

I never said it wasn't a goal of communism, just that it wasn't the ultimate goal. Most people tend to believe that communists strive to create a society in which there exists total equality between people in all aspects of life. Though I must claim that equality isn't one of the most important communist values - it is more seen as a positive 'by-product' when abolishing private property.

[MattShizzle]

So I was reading our high school textbook, which, when discussing the rise of Lenin described communism as[bare with me here I'm paraphrasing]: "Communism is a system wherein a single party state is created in which a dictatorship is formed"

WTF.

They confused Leninism with Marx's communism...somehow.

either they are lying or its a common misconception on account of the writers. Why do We have to read this shit? Now everyone will think communism is evil.

Let me guess, Texas? Or at least the US and it's a textbook used because Texas uses it.

[Klaatu]

Perhaps a huge book-burning bonfire is in order here... ;)

[Nox]

Surprisingly, my teacher (I'm from the UK) gave a very positive view of Communism, but he had a Lenin-style moustache/beard/haircut so everyone knew he was a Communist :D

[Nox]

I declare the 12th August 2011 to be 'Burn an American History Textbook day' :D

[Pretty Flaco]

Yeah, because burning books is an intelligent thing to do.

[RedMarxist]

I live in Georgia.

same. It has a lot of nice things to say about communism. nice as in "N-I-C-E."

It talks about the poor communists who were persecuted by McCarthy. And the innocent people who lost their jobs for being Reds.

Wanna know the real disturbing thing. It actually DOES say what communism is(a stateless, classless society) RIGHT AFTER TH PART ABOUT IT BEING LENINISM a few pages after!!!

so the writers got really REALLY lazy.

[Agent Equality]

I never said it wasn't a goal of communism, just that it wasn't the ultimate goal. Most people tend to believe that communists strive to create a society in which there exists total equality between people in all aspects of life. Though I must claim that equality isn't one of the most important communist values - it is more seen as a positive 'by-product' when abolishing private property.

Well what form of communism do you adhere to I wonder? The ultimate goal of the communism I know is to have a classless, stateless, equal society that allows the complete and total freedom of the individual through these means. (if you think I mean freedom in the liberal Bourgeoisie capitalist sense I am going to slap you) The abolition of private property, while integral, is just the means to get the means to complete this end.

How you could even claim that it isn't one of the most important communist values is completely beyond me. It seems you don't understand communism, or even the far left, at all mate :D

[Caj]

We have that book in my classroom.

You're lucky! The most "leftist" book we have in my school library is a book by Al Franken! :laugh:

[The Stalinator]

I remember in eighth grade I had a communist geography teacher who taught us what communism actually was, during a discussion about different forms of economy and their advantages. At first I was like "Hell no, that would never work!"

But about a month later my mind changed when I began to actually care about politics and the class struggle in my own country. I'm awfully lucky to have had a communist geography teacher. Here in Canada the textbooks aren't too bad, or at least the newer ones aren't.

If I ever see Mr. Friedman again I'm going to thank him for un-brainwashing me.

[Nox]

I remember in eighth grade I had a communist geography teacher who taught us what communism actually was, during a discussion about different forms of economy and their advantages. At first I was like "Hell no, that would never work!"

But about a month later my mind changed when I began to actually care about politics and the class struggle in my own country. I'm awfully lucky to have had a communist geography teacher. Here in Canada the textbooks aren't too bad, or at least the newer ones aren't.

If I ever see Mr. Friedman again I'm going to thank him for un-brainwashing me.

Lol, he has a very ironic name :D

[Mark V.]

Don't expect your school text books to be correct about a lot of history, economics or government. A People's History Of The United States is a good alternative and Lies my Teacher Told Me supplement. The former is available online for free, so you don't have to awkwardly ask your mom to buy a socialist book for you (though my mom was rather cool about it, she even got me Kapital from the local library).

But remember that just because you're reading a book written by an Anarchist or Communist doesn't mean everything in it is correct. I mean, they tend to be a lot better, but remember that the author will make mistakes as they're only human. Just try to critically about everything you read.

[Red_Struggle]

Could be worse. I had to read Wild Swans for my college history course.

[Reznov]

In my school, my history teacher is a Coach who constantly talks about sports. Whenever someone talks (Usually me) about history, he just starts to dread it and says "Just do the work and turn it in please."

Other then that, my mom brought me the book. She didn't really care what it was.

[Susurrus]

I had a wonderful world history teacher who let me teach the segment on communism and the Soviet Union. Then she called me back to do it the following year. :cool:

[Catmatic Leftist]

I read in a LOGIC textbook, a textbook dedicated to CRITICAL THINKING, and one of the examples was about ad hominem, and the commentary was "well, if communism is for state control, and George was a communist, then calling for privatization of property would be inconsistent, so the ad hominem argument would be valid."

:rolleyes:

[Nox]

Yeah, because burning books is an intelligent thing to do.

As is being unable to detect sarcasm :rolleyes:

[Seresan]

I had the same problem... So I found an excuse to inform the class about Trotsky for a class. Got a good mark on it, too.

[LegendZ]

Let me give you guys a couple of excerpt's from my American Gov. Book

"Socialism is an economic and political philosophy based on the idea that the benefits of economic activity-wealth-should be equitable distributed throughout a society. This fairness is achieved through the principle of collective (that, is public) ownership of the most important means by which goods and services are produced and distributed.[VERY IMPORTANT PART] Socialist nations are often democratic; still they must rely on centralized planning to achieve their goals."

I KNO RIGHT. EVEN CRAZIER

"In 1848, Marx and Engels wrote The communist Manifesto...This political document condemned the misery caused by the industrial revolution. It called upon oppressed workers across Europe to free themselves from "capitalist enslavement". Marx believed that capitalism was fatally flawed. The proletariat-the workers-were being so badly abused by the bourgeoise-the capitalists-that they were certain to rise up and overthrow the capitalistic system. The pamphlet ended with this rallying cry."

"The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries, unite!!."

WOWOWOWOW THAT'S NOT ALL

"The movement was deeply split, however, by the question of how best to achieve socialism. Some argued that a socialist society could come only out of a "violent and bloody revolution." Over time, those who took that view came to be called communists. Others argued that socialism could be attained by peaceful means through the democratic process. Today the terms socialism and socialist are used to identify those evolutionary socialists.The BLP and other major "Social democratic" parties in Europe are leading examples of that brand of socialism(What it meant here was when the first Social Democratic parties were created and Social democrat and Democratic Socialist were interchangeable terms.)... In the 1997 elections, however, Labour Party leaders deliberately chose to follow a "third way," moving away from Socialism. Socialist parties in France and Germany have also reconsidered some of the socialist objectives that have becomes to expensive to remain.

Not bad huh? Well after that point the book confuses socialism with social democracies. All in all not bad for an AMERICAN GOVERNMENT book for SOUTH CAROLINA schools. I'm pretty sure we all know how progressive this state has been. We all know how much of a liberal pinko commie loving state this is so this was actually kinda surprising to me that they actually dedicated an ENTIRE section on socialism and a Subsection on Marx. Not to mention an actual QUOTE from the Communist Manifesto. Now if South Carolina, the redneck version of Jersey Shore has this in TEXTBOOKS and your state doesn't, YOU KNOW your state is fucked up.

[Sun at Eight]

I live in Georgia.

same. It has a lot of nice things to say about communism. nice as in "N-I-C-E."

It talks about the poor communists who were persecuted by McCarthy. And the innocent people who lost their jobs for being Reds.

Wanna know the real disturbing thing. It actually DOES say what communism is(a stateless, classless society) RIGHT AFTER TH PART ABOUT IT BEING LENINISM a few pages after!!!

so the writers got really REALLY lazy.

Besides any disagreements I might have about seeing the definition as fitting Leninism, you should read the book Mark V. mentions, Lies My Teacher Told Me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_My_Teacher_Told_Me). Although I didn't realize it reading it as a young teenager, it probably had a pretty big influence on my views of American history and how US textbooks are used as propaganda. The reason you should read it isn't so much to learn the history, although that part is written in a memorable and lively style, but more to learn about the methods of the companies, committees and state education boards that produce the final textbook. The anti-communism is par for the course, and can come from both liberals and conservatives, but since you live in Georgia, you may want to check how Reconstruction is covered. The Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow provide a huge portion of the textbook's basic factual errors.

[bietan jarrai]

That's not leninism :glare:

Funny thing is, I'm pretty sure this guy called himself a marxist-leninist about a month ago or something :rolleyes:

EDIT: About the actual subject, obviously school textbooks in a capitalist country are never going to admit communism as a great thing. Mine wasn't really that bad (usual bullshit about the USSR; usual martyrdom of Trotsky; though it did go easy on Marx and Engels and the organisation of the working class) but my teacher was really anti-commmunist. Really got on my nerve, I did try to convince other students that those were lies, wasn't too successful, they were already convinced communism was bad because China and DPRK are bad.

[Misanthrope]

Another good story I have, in eighth grade every kid loved me in history class. I would debate with my openly right wing teacher, keeping us away from the lesson plan. I loved that guy. He gave me some great books, including the manifesto. Not all teachers are complete assholes, this guy was the man, he encouraged free thinking.. Man I miss him.