There's plenty of great progressive literature around, but most of it was written for other progressives. There's nothing wrong in that. But if we want to see change in the world, we need a different approach than just preaching to the choir.

We at Cat's Out of the Bag are anti-capitalists who have concluded that most Americans can't even see that capitalism exists--and how it dictates their lives. Many accept inequality, racism, imperialism, consumerism, and environmental destruction as if these were inevitable. Many have no confidence the world can be changed.

We can't urge people to critique or oppose capitalism until they learn to recognize it and its ramifications--that step is enormous! And we trust that once people see that the current system is only one way of living in the world, critical questions will spring up on their own. So that's where we start out.

Our pamphlets--on the way capitalism works, its history, the impact of peak oil, Hurricane Katrina, and other topics--will speak directly and simply. They begin with everyday concerns or incidents and then put them into context. Following each story will be links to other websites and resources. We hope to accompany critique with some inspiration and renewed confidence in the possibility for challenge and change.

Our approach is non-sectarian and non-dogmatic. Early Marx, classical Marxism, Guy Debord, the IWW and the anarchist tradition are all important to us. But we adhere to no party line or particular analysis. We simply hope to show people how our world looks from an anti-capitalist perspective.

We've taken our format from today's master propagandists: we've detourned Evangelical Christians. Chick Publications' little comics have sold in the millions. They're handed out, talked over, and left in telephone booths and laundromats. They're a favorite choice of those who want to "spread the word" but who are too shy to preach. We thought: why shouldn't there be little political comics? After all, we have a message too, one which makes a lot more sense than Jack Chick's, and we want to open people's eyes to it.

We'll be selling our comics in bundles, priced to cover the cost of printing and mailing--everything else is donated. We'll leave some white space on the back for you to add your own contact information We want these pamphlets to be cheap, because we're hoping that every progressive and anti-capitalist will want to have some on hand to give to friends, customers, co-workers, fellow union members, school teachers, and even strangers on the street--and to leave in laundromats and telephone booths, too...

We are a small collective, and all of us are volunteering our labor and time. We hope you'll want to join us by sharing our comics with people in your area. Please write to us and we'll let you know when our first literature is ready. We hope that will be by the end of November. Every pamphlet will be posted on line so you can read it before ordering. We also invite artists and writers with ideas for other comics to contact us for submission guidelines.

(We also have an Answers page, in case you have more questions, and a pdf page with downloadable publicity material.)

Let's let the cat out of the bag!