Class Struggle (Board game)
New York, NY: Class Struggle, Inc., 1978.
Original Class Struggle board game, an early edition but not the first. Housed in a large cardboard box, 10.5” x 20.5”, featuring a photomontage of Nelson Rockefeller and Karl Marx arm-wrestling. Components complete and include: *1 20” square folding mapboard, divided into 84 squares in three concentric rings
Good. Box has staining and is warped and misshapen at edges with slight curvature to the upper lid. Game board slightly warped from storage, some chance cards offset, minor toning to letter and instructions.
A two to six player board game created by then NYU Poli-sci Associate Professor, Bertell Ollman as a satirical encapsulation of his views on capitalist society vs. the workers. Essentially Marxist Monopoly each player move around the board obtaining assets and debts and must confront strike alliances and elections. Players also choose "Chance Cards" that either benefit their working class rights or their capitalist oppressors. "If you haven't washed the dishes or made supper in the last week, move 2 spaces back. (Divisions between the people serve the Capitalist Class)." Throw the dice and take your chances, just be careful to avoid nuclear war!
*12 wooden blocks
*6 stiff die cut pieces of cardboard to place in wooden blocks, to denote players/classes in the game: Workers (hammer); Capitalists (top hat with dollar sign); Farmers (tractor); Small Businessmen (cash register); Professionals (briefcase); Students (mortarboard hat) with original die cut board.
*4 Minor Class cards (Farmers, Small Business, Professionals, Students) to remind you of your alliances
*2 Event Cards: “Trade Unions Formed” and “Workers’ Political Party Formed”
*2 decks of Chance cards, of 35 cards each, one for the Workers and one for the Capitalists.
*1 six-sided “genetic” die (symbol of each of the six classes on each face)
*2 six-sided moving dice, each one numbering 1-3 twice
*1 Beginner’s Rules pamphlet, 10 pages
*1 Full and Tournament Rules pamphlet, with designer’s notes and commentary, 26 pages
*124 Asset coupons
*62 Debit coupons.
Price: $250