Johann Most: When His Skin Is Not In Danger, And— / When It Is

Nast splits the plate into two panels to savage Johann Most, the German-born anarchist editor of Freiheit, whose calls for political violence terrified American readers in the tense aftermath of the Haymarket bombing. Above, Most blows a trumpet while clutching a socialist flag; a scroll unrolls from the bell reading "General Devastation Must Be Mercilessly Proclaimed and Carried Into Execution," signed with Most's own boast from Freiheit: "I am not only there but I am very much there." Below, the same scroll lies abandoned under a bed — Most's hiding place when real danger arrives. The caricature renders Most with exaggerated wild hair and hunched posture, typical of Nast's ethnic shorthand for German radicals. The argument is blunt: anarchist rhetoric is cowardice dressed as revolution.