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Bowman Gum Company (fl. 1951) Fight the Red Menace: The Children's Crusade against Communism trading cards; 37. Concentration Camp

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09627.37 Author/Creator: Bowman Gum Company (fl. 1951) Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Trading card Date: 1951 Pagination: 1 collecting card ; 6 x 8 cm. Order a Copy

One trading card from the Red Menace collection, "37. Concentration Camp" soldiers violently abusing a prisoner. Reverse side contains propaganda narrative describes concentration camps in the Soviet Union, lists the living conditions of a camp. Text mentions that "Ambition is dangerous under red rule," lists a farmer or kulak wanting his own farm, or factory worker desiring higher wages as ambitious.

Gulags or forced-labor camps, were created by Vladimir Lenin and carried on through Joseph Stalin's rule from the 1930s and 1950s. The camps largely incarcerated petty thieves and political opponents. After Stalin's death in 1953, the gulags continued on. In 1953, it was recorded that there were 2.5 million people incarcerated of which 465,000 people were political prisoners. Gulag prisons were closed by 1987, but similar penal systems existed in Russia until the 2000s.

1945 to the Present
Propaganda
Communism
Military History
Prison Camp
Labor
Cold War
The Fifties

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