John,
I was in Poland in the 1980s. The Soviets ruled their communist bloc with an iron fist. Freedom of thought was expressly forbidden. It could get you thrown into a gulag.
But I had one mission in mind. I needed to do everything in my power to bring the ideas of free markets and liberty to people in the communist bloc.
Before the collapse of the Soviet Empire, I smuggled books (and raised money to support book smuggling) into Eastern European countries such as Poland and into the Soviet Union itself.
One of my most treasured possessions is a copy of Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose that I arranged to be translated, published, and distributed in Polish in defiance of the communist regime in Warsaw. I make no apologies for that, so don’t ask me for one.
I organized translations of and publications in Polish of works by Ludwig von Mises, F. A. Hayek, and others.
Before my return trip to the United States, I was detained by the Security Service at the Okęcie airport. They interrogated me for hours and confiscated the materials and publications relating to the underground activity I was involved in.
But it was too late for the Soviets and their thugs. A network had been established, and getting free-market literature into Poland had begun. The downfall of the Soviet Union was near.
I had already been speaking and writing for the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) for a decade, often sharing with FEE audiences what I learned behind the Iron Curtain.
Now FEE is fighting against classroom indoctrination in the United States–indoctrination in the same bad policies and ideas I was trying my best to undermine in communist countries.
I am personally asking you to support our work to get free market and pro-liberty education into classrooms here in the United States.
Can you donate $10, $35, $100, or any amount you can generously spare towards this goal? Click here to donate >>
While we aren’t smuggling books as I did in the 1980s, FEE is creating a new educational system for kids called FEE in the Classroom.
FEE in the Classroom
FEE in the Classroom’s one-of-a-kind educational workshops uniquely engage, inspire, and equip high school and college students with a deeper understanding of the principles of free enterprise, limited government, and entrepreneurship directly in their brick-and-mortar schools and through their virtual classes.
Over 87% of these seminars are held in high schools, 65%+ of which are public schools.
In a single day, 75–300 students engage with FEE’s faculty of acclaimed instructors through compelling lectures, exciting economic experiments, engaging group discussions, and Q&As on how the core principles of individual liberty and free-market economics apply to their daily lives, communities, careers, and state of the nation.
Our goal is to reach 23,000 students by the end of this year.
John, help FEE “smuggle” the ideas of liberty into high schools across the country. I am looking to raise $50,000 online to fund our next several FEE in the Classroom workshops.
Please select an amount below to donate today.
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Thank you,
Lawrence Reed
President Emeritus
P.S. I thought you would enjoy this bit of history as well.
Ronald Reagan, who helped destroy the Soviet Union, was a big fan of FEE’s magazine, The Freeman. Here he is with Nancy Reagan enjoying a copy of it.
Please help us today fight back against a rise in socialism. FEE is leading the charge once again with FEE in the Classroom.
FEE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization, so donations made to FEE are tax-deductible to the full extent allowable by law.