The Smurfs, the cuddly blue comic strip creatures loved by generations of children, are anti-Semitic and racist, treating blacks like moronic primates, a new book claims.

The claims by Antoine Bueno, a lecturer at Paris' Sciences political sciences school, have been branded a "disgrace" that "soils the legends of our childhood" by an army of Smurf lovers.



Under the guise of a "critical and political analysis of Smurf society", Bueno's 'Little Blue Book' deconstructs the world of Smurfs.

His conclusions are that the blue men created in 1958 by artist Peyo, represent an "archetype of totalitarian society imbued with Stalinism and Nazism".
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The author backs up his claims of racism by citing Peyo's first work The Black Smurfs in French but translated as The Purple Smurfs for reasons of political correctness.

In the story, a Smurf gets stung by a black fly that turns his skin black, drives him insane and deprives him of speech. Soon the entire village has changed colour.

Bueno says the story is clearly racist. When the Smurfs turn black, "they are reduced to the state of primitives who jump around and cry: 'Gnap! Gnap!' They lose all trace of intelligence and become completely moronic."

He also claims that the Smurfs' arch-enemy, the wizard Gargamel, is a anti-Semitic caricature of a moneygrabbing Jew.

Papa Smurf, is portrayed as a dictator, whose red hat and trousers are a nod to Stalin. The book has sparked a wave of anger on the Internet from Smurf lovers.