Labor was the central topic of propaganda and educational films from the GDR. A short search of the archives showed that the films used in the civics classes of the countrys schools relied on the same archival footage for decades. Initially, these images were used in a fairly stilted, serious way. Later, the films became more lively and more in keeping with the expectations of teenagers. The New Era is a short civics lesson taught in 2006. It both calls up the ghosts of Communist education and reminds us of the dream that mankind may in some paradisical future be able to reap the fruits of its labor.