Commie Smurfs?

If you have a group of friends who are somewhat political and that grew up watching cartoons in the late 80's/early 90's, you will most certainly, one day, have a conversation, (possibly high or drunk), with the main question being, "Where the Smurfs a communist society?"

According to a recent post on The Atlantic Wire, people in France really like to talk about this a lot, (even when they are not drunk on le wine). And things there have heated up because of the publication of Antoine Buéno's "The Little Blue Book: A critical and political analysis of the Smurf society." The book, supposedly, claims that the Smurfs are Communists--and other horrible things. All this, however, is quickly dispelled by a quote from Thierry Culliford, (the son of The Smurfs creator, Pierre Culliford), who said: "My father absolutely wasn't interested in politics. When there were elections, he asked my mother: 'What should I vote?'"

Still, if you do a quick analysis of Smurf society, there isn't much to brag about. At best: they are an example of a primitive communist society. At worst: they are just cartoons.

But, is there anything good we can take away from the Smurfs? I did enjoy how worked cooperatively, happily, and in harmony, on big projects, like building dams and what not. And they all seemed pretty cool--except for Brainy Smurf, who was annoying.