Class Struggle is a board game for two to six players, designed by Professor Bertell Ollman. It was published in 1978 by Avalon Hill. The game was intended to teach players about the politics of Marxism and was loosely compared to the board game Monopoly.[1][2][3]
Gameplay
editThe game pits Workers against Capitalists, represented by hammers and top hats respectively.[3] Players receive their class by a roll of the "genetic" dice.[4] Players move around a board following dice rolls and draw "Chance" cards which either advantage or disadvantage them.[5]
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Publication history
editIn the year of its release, Bertell Ollman was interviewed about the game by print and TV news journalists.[6] Critics of the game considered it to be "subversive" and lobbied some stores to remove the product from their shelves, largely unsuccessfully.[7]
After attracting mainstream media attention during the Cold War, the game went on to sell approximately 230,000 copies.[8] In 2014, Keith Plocek wrote that the objectives of the game were to "avoid nuclear war and win the revolution". Plocek claims that the game "disappeared" in 1994.[8]
In 1983, Bertell published a book about the making of the game, bringing it to publication, and subsequent events, titled Class Struggle Is the Name of the Game: True Confessions of a Marxist Businessman.[9]
Reviews
edit- Jeux & Stratégie #23 (as "Lutte des Classes")[10]
References
edit- ^ "Class Struggle". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
- ^ ""Class Struggle" game shows real system, Marxist prof says (1978)". The Eagle. 24 May 1978. p. 39. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
- ^ a b "Of professors, politicians, presidents (Class Struggle board game mention) (1981)". The Salina Journal. 7 June 1981. p. 4. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
- ^ Ollman, Bertell (1978). "Class Struggle Board Game Beginners Rules". DIALECTICAL MARXISM: The Writings of Bertell Ollman. New York University. Archived from the original on 20 August 2004. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ "'Class Struggle' latest game". Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph. 25 May 1978. p. 49. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
- ^ "(NBC) Tomorrow - game creators Bruce Spitz and Bertell Ollman (1978)". The Gettysburg Times. 20 November 1978. p. 14. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
- ^ "Board game purged (Class Struggle) (1979)". The Ottawa Journal. 14 December 1979. p. 14. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
- ^ a b "The Story of Class Struggle, America's Most Popular Marxist Board Game". 12 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
- ^ Bertell, Ollman (1983). Class Struggle Is the Name of the Game: True Confessions of a Marxist Businessman. New York: William Morrow. ISBN 9780688006457.
- ^ "Jeux & stratégie 23". October 1983.
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