Read the little red book

You sit back in your seat on the train and settle in to read this little red book that you have to suppose is yours since it was in your luggage. No matter how unfamiliar it is to you. You switch on the overhead light again and open the book to the first page. You read:

Quotations from Chairman Charlotte Perkins

“Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!”

This edition is dedicated to the fallen Heroes of the Union who gave their lives in the Second American Civil War and the continuing fight against international capitalism, milled and bound in Paper Mill № 83, Toledo, People’s State of Ohio, and accepted for circulation by the Central Office of the People's Commissariat for Public Culture and Education, People’s State of Chicagoland.

You look incredulously at the embossed picture of the woman on the page, looking back at her title of Chairman, and then back at her for a moment. Then you flip to the next page and find a table of contents, skimming the chapter headings: “Quotations on Classes and Class Struggle”, “Quotations on Socialism and Communism”, “Quotations on War and Peace”, “Quotations on the People's Army”, “Quotations on Unity and Discipline”, and “Quotations on Men.”

You read forwards through the little book and find that, true to its name, it is a book of quotations. Many many quotations in big bold letters. It’s not particularly well made, the spine wobbly, the pages so thin that they are nearly transparent and are torn slightly in places, but the quotations are short and snappy, and each one has a paragraph following it to lend them context.

“The class struggle, once the engine of historical change, is now but a memory in this new Union. In unity, we find our strength, and in cooperation, our prosperity.”

You read and then flip forwards a few more pages from the section entitled Quotations on Socialism and Communism.

“Our socialism is not a doctrine, but a promise; a promise of bread for the hungry, education for the ignorant, and dignity for the downtrodden.”

And from Quotations on War and Peace:

“Our nation was born thrice in war, first against royal tyrants, second against the slaver’s lash, and third against the boot of the bourgeoisie; but it will thrive in peace. Our commitment to our socialism is also our pledge to a future warless world.”

Quickly flipping through the rest of the book looking for anything interesting, you catch sight of a page with the quotations circled in pencil under the section “Quotations on Men”, which reads:

“Even when men are few, we must guard against old customs that treat people as commodities. Groom prices, arranged marriages, and studding are not just unsocialistic; they are undignified. We stand for a society where relationships are built on mutual respect and free will, not on the antiquated notions of supply and demand applied to our husbands and sons.”

The following paragraph of context does nothing to help you understand its condemnations of groom prices, arranged marriages, and studding by actually explaining what per say those are.

“These practices commodify human relationships, reducing the sacred bond of marriage to mere transactions and perpetuating the reactionary notion of ownership over another’s life and body. Such customs are remnants of feudal and bourgeois thinking that sought to control and dictate personal lives for economic gain. Our socialist principles demand the abolition of these outdated traditions, advocating instead for free association and marriage based on mutual love, respect, and equality. We reject any form of relationship that undermines the individual’s autonomy or that treats people as assets to be traded, for they are antithetical to the revolutionary spirit of our new union.”

With the next quotation, circled several times over by pencil, reads:

“We must guard against the pedestal of scarcity, for no person should be worshiped for mere existence. Men, like women, are to be valued for their contributions to society.”

You feel your eyebrows climb up a step. “Worshiped for mere existence,” is certainly a strong statement from a woman socialist against the idea of patriarchy, but leaves you unsure. Something feels off about the wording, the implicit assumption in the quotation that you supposed to already know exactly what it’s supposed to be referring to. You decide to look at the following paragraph for context:

“Elevating and infantilizing men simply because they are fewer reinforces reactionary ideals that run counter to our revolutionary goal of true equality among all groups be they gender, race, creed, or craft. It perpetuates an unjust hierarchy of the people, which is a vestige of feudal and bourgeois thinking and counter-revolutionary in nature. Our commitment to our socialism is rooted in the belief that all individuals, regardless of gender, should stand on equal footing, contributing to society based on their abilities and receiving according to their needs. The pedestal of scarcity is a dangerous construct that we must dismantle to pave the way for a society free from the chains of tradition and the inequalities they perpetuate.”

Still a little befuddled, you close the little red book, somehow less comfortable with what is going on here than you were before reading it. One thing though is certain in your mind, that you are not in the Kansas that you knew anymore.