Bobby Kaltenbach

News Editor

    Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas has become a Christmas staple since its first publication in November of 1957. Each year, millions of kids learn the story of the furry green curmudgeon and the amiable, holiday-loving citizens of Whoville. The  book has inspired two television specials, a live-action movie, and even a musical. While the common reader may be familiar with some of the more abstract themes that the story presents (e.g., the importance of joyfulness and the ever-present possibility of redemption), many people have yet to recognize the socioeconomic undertones of the book, some of which appear at first glance to be anti-capitalist, a position that Seuss subtly implied during the Red Scare of the 1950s. What I’m proposing certainly won’t be a popular position, but after many lonely hours spent studying Seussology at the local library I can draw only one possible conclusion: Dr. Seuss was a communist.

    The town of Whoville is, for all intents and purposes, a metaphor for a communal paradise. The people work tirelessly, dedicate themselves wholly to the good of others, and even eat their Christmas dinners together at a gigantic table. If the Whos are the goodhearted proletarians in whom Marx and Lenin had such unshakeable faith, then what is the Grinch? Comrades, the Grinch is the archetypical capitalist, one whose core values can be reduced to greed, cruelty, and exploitation. He is a vile creature whose green posterior is reflective of the illness that consumes his soul. He has a dog named Max, a sympathetic character made to be analogous to an American factory worker or  a Russian serf. His heart is revealed to be “two sizes too small.” Seuss’ opinion of the Grinch is unequivocally contemptuous, and his polemic against the creature makes up the brunt of the story’s narration.

    Seuss evokes Christmas in the pagan sense, eschewing all references to the holiday’s religious aspects and viewing it instead as the embodiment of the sense of group well-being. When Christmas hits Whoville, all pettiness and needless conflict is put aside in favor of simple values such as friendship and kindness. The Grinch, of course, is the antithesis of this spirit. Like all of the bourgeoisie throughout history, the Grinch sees the Whos’ happiness as a sign of empowerment, and he proves that he will invoke any and all means to give the Whos a miserable Christmas.

    By stealing Christmas from the Whos, he satisfies two of his insatiable thirsts – his need to exploit the working-class and his rabid desire for needless commodities. Though the Grinch succeeds in his effort to possess all of the commercial representations of Christmas, he fails in his effort to break the Whos’ spirit. This is where Seuss’ communism makes itself most apparent. The Whos care nothing about the materialism with which the Grinch sees Christmas. They place more importance on more general morals, the value of the community first among them.

    In the book’s conclusion, the Grinch’s soul endures a communist revolution. Even he cannot help but be transformed by the Whos’ indomitable spirits. So complete is the Grinch’s metamorphosis that his heart grows to three times its original size. It is clear that Seuss believes that even the most ardent capitalist can be converted, and one cannot help but ponder whether the Grinch’s ultimate embrace of communism is an understated gibe at the McCarthyism of 1950s America.

    There is probably no better example of communist infiltration than How the Grinch Stole Christmas. To my fellow freedom-loving Americans, I leave you only with this: be wary of the things to which you expose your children. The villainous presence of Marxism can be found around every corner!