Tintin Forums

Lately I've been thinking what Tintin's political beliefs are and personally I think he's a socialist, communist, or even anarchist. Think about it, Tintin is always standing up for the little guy and fighting injustice and communism in it's purest form is supposed to be about equality for all, but then again they do all live in a mansion. I don't know, where do you think Tintin stands on the political spectrum?

Well, I think that Tintin is anti-war. Just think about all those times when he averted war, like in Land of Black Gold.

Tintin is defintley a pacifist in some sense. He does fight, but he doesn't go looking for trouble, it comes to him.

No, he's not a pacifist but he's not pro-war either. Tintin's fights when it calls for it. A pacifist doesn't fight, at all.

Tintin's politics tended to vary along with Herge's. If you read "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets" then you would hardly describe him as a communist or socialist; in fact the things he discovers are the sort that could bring down the Bolsheviks if they were not so firmly in power.

Tintin was also rather patronising towards the black natives of the Congo; he and Herge only appear to be appreciative of locals peoples and their different lifestyles from "The Blue Lotus" onwards. At this stage the impression I get is that of a right-wing attitude.

From "The Blue Lotus" onwards I'd say that Tintin was in the very least a liberal, or rather apolitical, someone who did not care for the politics of the situation.

For instance, he did not care who ruled a country or in what manner, just provided that he (Tintin) got his way in whatever he was doing. For example, he looks upon General Alcazar and Emir Ben Kalish Ezab as friends, even though they are tyrants, provided that they do not hinder his investigation of "The Broken Ear" or the explosive "Black Gold". He does not seek to overthrow regimes like that of Borduria, but rather tries to avert war over "King Ottokar's Sceptre" or rescue a friend in "The Calculus Affair".

Tintin may have helped expose the slave trade in "The Red Sea Sharks" or helped clear some gypsies over the theft of "The Castafiore Emerald" but he never striked me as the sort who was trying to change society as a whole. In "Picaros" he only does so in order to free his own friends from prison, but as we see in the last panel with the police patrolling the slums: one tyrant has simply replaced another and nothing else has changed.

As for living in a mansion, well if you discovered a valuable treasure or were gifted it by a lost city in the Andes, would you simply hand it all over to charity and stick to living in simple city apartments?

Herge did denounce Soviets and Congo though, and I've always been under the impression that they were ejected from the canon, but I'm not 100% sure.

Soviets was the only book which was never redrawn or colourised. That is why few consider it part of the canon. In any case it is rather poorly plotted and laid-out, signs of an artist and writer only really getting started in his chosen profession.

Congo however is still considered part of the canon. The events in it lead to Tintin's adventures in America and it is still widely published in continental Europe even if it is hard to find in the English-speaking world.

I wonder why Soviets was redrawn but Congo wasn't. I'd think if anything, Congo is worse. Also Soviets if you think about it should be read more as Anti-Stalinist propaganda.

I agree wholeheartedly. There is as much a lack of political stance in Tintin's world as there is romance. His mission is not solving social failings, but rather treating the symptoms. He tends to focus on the small, obvious problems; indeed, like a wrongly accused band of gypsies.
Tintin is probably well aware of world problems. If he does have any definite opinions, however, he doesn't act upon them. The only possible exception is a peace sign stuck on his helmet. His loyalty to the underdog, racial and religious tolerance, and sense of justice are likely the product of a highly moralistic personality. Tintin seems to operate on conscience. Politics probably have no bearing on him.

I must disagree with an earlier comment:


That is the case in Tintin and the Picaros, written in Herge's final years. Perhaps he did not care who ruled San Theodoros. However, he certainly didn't entangle himself in a revolution just to "get his way". Tintin has always put others first. He left Marlinspike to rescue Thompson and Thomson from ignominious deaths. He has a moral code; while unspoken, it clearly dictates that he, Tintin, is second to his fellows in preservation. I don't think Tintin has ever acted simply in his own interest.

I think one also has to take into account the time period when things where written, It was a very different world back then :P