“The Little Movement” – November 1952

A group of little metal wind up soldiers plan to take over the “adult” world by getting adults to buy them for children. One soldier, “My Lord,” gains control over a young boy and orders him to go to a toy store and pick up a package of weapons. The plans of the toy soldiers are stymied when the boy’s toy teddy bear, pig, and rabbit tear the soldiers to pieces. They had already neatly dispatched a few other toy soldiers in the neighborhood. There’s a nice bit of empathetic commentary on the life of children—it is easy for the little soldiers to control them, because their whole lives consist of being ordered around by parents, teachers, etc.

*