With the recent announcement that pop superstar Rihanna has been cast in The Smurfs Movie, a fascinating fan theory about the social fabric of the cute cuddly blue humanoids has resurfaced online. Although the adorable creatures are known for being fun, kindhearted, and family-friendly throughout the multimedia franchise that dates back to 1958, the wild theory suggests that the Smurfs are communists hiding in plain sight.

In 1998, a satirical essay by writer Marc Schmidt parodied the Smurfs as an example of socialism and its impact on European pop culture. Ten years later, in 2008, YouTuber Evan Topham published a satirical video positing that the Smurfs were devoted to communist tropes and tenets. Although cartoons and other fictional works have long featured subversive political motives and expressed subliminal messages, Smurfs creator Pierre Culliford has denied the controversial take. To better understand the theory, it's best to retrace the origins of the Smurfs and test their so-called communist leanings.

The Smurfs' Creation Story

Created by Peyo, the pen name of Belgian comic artist Pierre Culliford, The Smurfs debuted in 1958. The word Smurf is the Dutch translation of the French word Schtroumpfs. According to Peyo, he came up with the term "Schtroumpfs" when he couldn't think of the word for salt while sitting at a dinner table. Instead, Peyo asked a friend to pass the "Schtroumpfs" and the word was born.

In their debut in Peyo's Johann and Peewit comic, the Smurfs create a magic musical instrument in the story "The Flute with Six Holes." Peyo's wife, Janine Culliford, colored the artwork and chose the blue hue for the titular creatures. According to Culliford via the Comics Journal:

“That was a process of elimination. Green would have mixed them up under the foliage; yellow would make them look ill. If they were pink, they would seem embarrassed and, if they were red, readers would think they were angry.”

The color blue struck a cord among consumers as the Smurfs continued to branch out and increase its popularity across film, television, comics, and video games. Yet, 40 years after the introduction of the all-time great cartoon characters, bizarre theories among fans and writers began circulating online about the Smurfs and their communist political ideologies.

Social Evaluation of The Smurfs in the Media

Before the internet's proliferation, writer Marc Schmidt drew attention in 1998 for a parody article likening the Smurfs to socialists. In the article, Schmidt equates Papa Smurf with Karl Marx due to their big bushy beards. Of course, Karl Marx is the author of the infamous Communist Manifesto, a political book attempting to popularize communism as a viable socioeconomic structure. Schmidt's article also likened Brainy Smurf to Leon Trotsky and Gargamel as the embodiment of capitalistic greed, ideas that were advanced by others in the media in the passing years.

In 2011, French sociology instructor Antoine Bueno accused the Smurfs of espousing racist and antisemitic views in The Little Blue Book (via The Guardian). Bueno also stated that the Smurfs lived in a repressive totalitarian political environment despite each prominent character wearing Phrygian Caps, which became known as Liberty Caps and signified freedom in contemporary times in the long-running kids' cartoon.

According to Bueno's theory in the French magazine L'Express, (via The Atlantic):

"Smurfs, charming blue imps or horrible Stalinists, racists, and antisemites? ... In complete autocracy, the smurf society is collectivist and directed by a single and omnipotent leader, the great Smurf. They are ridiculous puritans. ... Racism is obvious in the black Smurf album where purity of blood becomes vital ... Or in that of The Smurfette, where the blond Aryan is idealized. Their sworn enemy, Gargamel, has a profile reminiscent of an antisemitic caricature and his cat is named Azraël."

A Deeper Look at the Theory and Peyo's Response

In response to Bueno's theory, Peyo's son, Thierry Culliford, pushed back and called the controversial views "grotesque and frivolous."

Despite Culliford's rebuke of Buneo and Schmidt's central theory, The Smurfs continued to be labeled as communists in the media. In 2008, Evan Topham made waves after posting a YouTube video explaining why he felt the Smurfs represent communist values. Although Topham was partially tongue-in-cheek in his analysis and made it clear to take it lightly, he laid out the parallels between the Smurfs' daily life and the basic tenets of communism.

For instance, Topham noted how the Smurfs live in a Kibbutz-like farming community and rely on self-sufficient methods of means and production. Moreover, the Smurfs coexist happily without using money, sacrificing themselves for the greater good of the community. Papa Smurf's favorite color is red, which has long been associated with the Red Scare of communism that dates to the Cold War. Topham even suggests that "Smurf" is a veiled acronym for Small Men Under Red Forces, meant to subliminally teach children about the Cold War dangers of the 1960s.

Topham also cites Gargamel as a symbol of greedy capitalism, only interested in enriching himself no matter the harm it causes others, stating "He’s [Gargamel] what happens when the individual makes himself more important than the society he lives in."

Are The Smurfs Communist?

Despite picking up steam online over the years, the controversial theories have been rejected by Peyo's family at every turn. The Atlantic reports that The Smurfs had zero to do with politics and that Peyo wasn't particularly interested in politics in her personal life. While it's nearly impossible to know what was in Peyo's heart and mind that led to the inspiration for the beloved animated kids' characters in the late 1950s, strange sociopolitical theories are bound to continue as the franchise continues its dominant reign.

In 2008, The Smurfs eclipsed the $4 billion revenue mark, making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises in history (as reported by Reuters). With the impending release of The Smurfs Movie in 2025, the franchise is poised to reenter the pop culture zeitgeist and continue its commercial success. The newest Smurfs movie will inevitably reverberate the communist theories that have gone viral in the past 25 years, likely forcing Peyo's family to answer to them again in the future.

The truth is that, despite making a decent argument or two, there's no telling for certain if The Smurfs are communists. The creators insist they are not, while fringe fans and scholars disagree. If The Smurfs are communists and have still grossed $4 billion thus far, they may want to rethink their economic strategy.