Tintin's Soviet adventures: Early commi-skepticism in French cartoons.

Do I have a special place in my heart for the French Tintin because his first literary adventure took place in the land of Soviet Russia? Mais, bien sur.

In 1929, Tintin In the Land of the Soviets appeared in a children's supplement to a Belgian daily newspaper, Le Vingtième Siècle. Hergé's satire on the Soviet state preceded the grand anti-communist crusades of the 1940's and 1950's . Soviet propaganda to persuade the world outside Russia that the economy was booming was a particular target for Hergé, as were the activities of the secret police, the OGPU.

According to Benoît Peeters, the only source Hergé used when making this album was a book entitled, "Moscou sans voiles" from 1928 by Joseph Douillet. Douillet was the Belgian Consul in Rostov. Some of the scenes from the the album was taken directly from Douillet's book including the voting scene. Onderzoek shares the scene in question:

We see the communist comrade Oebijkon (who is resigning from the presidency) delivering a speech. This is what he says: 'We have tree lists: one of these comes from the communist party. Let anyone who is against this list raise their hand!' At the same moment Oebijkon and four of his comrades pull their revolvers and direct them menacingly at the peasant audience. Oebijkon continued: 'Who votes against this list? No one? Then I declare that anyone voted for the communist list. There is no need to vote for the other two lists anymore.'

Herge was just twenty-three when he wrote this first Tintin story. For more tantalizing Tin-isms:

• Yuri Kim has more on Tintin's  travels in the USSR.
• Listen to the Tintin TV series tune here.
• Enjoy the Greek-ish music associated with Tintin's travels and the Golden Fleece.
• Download an entire Tintin adventure in English; The Red Sea Sharks makes for great car tripping. And this French episode, truer to form, makes for great trips of all kinds.
• It never hurts to have a few Tintin coloring pages printed out for grumpy old folks and Francophobe friends. 
• The Economist pays tribute to Tintin, a "very European hero".
• Was Herge an anti-communist who collaborated with fascists? Or something equally bete? Some anti-Semitism mixed in there? More on Tintin's ideology.