Barks, Mao, and the Cold War

[L. Schulte]

Sigvald was asked not to let political comments on the DCML, and in general 
I would agree.  The statement in question that many Left-wing intellectuals 
"went soft" on Mao  is correct, even though Mao had a huge number of people 
executed (estimates vary, but 30-50 million is a good figure).  Many on the 
left looked the other way, as they had done with Stalin.  (Remember that 
both Hitler and Stalin started WW II and were allies.) This is parallel 
with the softness today towards Castro, whose body count is not as high

Certainly Barks was writing and drawing during the Cold War against 
Communism, and occasionally with things like Brutopia (= brutal utopia, an 
ironic comment on Stalin's and Mao's brutal 'workers' paradises') his love 
of freedom and his/Scrooge's support of basic hard-working capitalism are 
obvious.  Certainly most of the stories are apolitical, but now and then 
his anti-Communism comes through.