7/18/07: Red Primer for Children and Diplomats (1967)

We’ve gotten a lot of mileage goofing on the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love. It’s been less fun watching people honoring that same marker—although the Whitney’s exhibition has some cool old stuff on display. Those revisionist revelers are still ignoring all the idiots who spent the summer of 1967 celebrating yet another anniversary.

That lameness was honored with the June ’67 release of Red Primer for Children and Diplomats, as explained by cartoonist Victor Vashi on the opening page:

In 1967, many people, West and East, are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the “Glorious” October Revolution. To help people understand more about what they are celebrating, we offer a few slices of the anniversary cake. We hope no one gets indigestion.

What follows is a sweetly savage dissecting of Communist propaganda. That same gentle spirit is found in Vashi’s biography on the back cover. He started his career in Budapest, where “the Nazis ‘loved’ his tart cartoons, so much that they ordered him to stay on for fifteen years…The Russians later became equally ‘fond’ of his humor.”

Vashi finally escaped to Austria in 1948, and went on to a long career that eventually brought him to America. That was back before people like him were considered Cold War crazies. Red Primer is a wonderful attack on both delusional history and the morons at the UN who were already trying to ignore harsh reality.

As it turns out, we don’t have to go into detail. Red Primer can be found in its entirety on this site. That’s convenient. Especially for us. Good thing we found that out before we wrote another rambling essay. It helped that we were too lazy to scan our own paperback, and went looking for a graphic to swipe.

That’s also how we learned this is all old news for people who’ve been reading James Lileks’ site. It’s hard to stay ahead of Lileks when it comes to old paperbacks. Anyway, enjoy Red Primer and try not to worry about how revisionist history hasn't changed much on this 90th anniversary.

Make it your own: There’s a few paperback copies left for your Luddite friends—but reasonably priced.

 

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