Life, 1918-08-22 · page 23 of 34
Life — August 22, 1918 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical page mocks post-World War I American anxieties about Bolshevism (Soviet communism). The main article, "Have You a Little Bolsheviki?", uses darkly ironic humor to portray Bolsheviks as dangerous infiltrators who will inevitably spread through American society like a disease. The text warns readers must "provide" Bolsheviki to protect against desperate former wealthy people—a backhanded way of expressing paranoia about communist revolution. The secondary cartoon "His Preference" uses a racist caricature (labeled "Rastus," a dehumanizing stereotype) to make a joke about preferring airplane service to cavalry because planes don't bite—trivializing serious military concerns with crude humor typical of the era. The "Popular Conceptions" section satirizes American stereotypes (bankers, milliners, commuters) with exaggerated descriptions of their actual behavior and motivations. The page reflects 1920s Red Scare hysteria—the widespread fear that Bolshevism would destroy American capitalism and values.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIFE: Have You a Little Bolsheviki? EY ZRYONE must provide for the future, and unless we are careful there is not going to he enough Bolsheviki to go around. It would be great pity if after the war there were too many American homes with no Bolsheviki run- ning about the ‘premises, filling the air with his circum- ambient whiskers, and the patter of whose footsteps could not be heard on the tessellated pavements still left to us by the cement trust. Besides, we shall undoubtedly need a Bolsheviki to pro- tect us from the hordes of former millionaires and pluto- crats who, rendered desperate for lack of food, will be prowling about. We should all stand in with the Bolsheviki now, before it is too late, Though indigenous to Russia, the Bolshe- viki takes root in any soil, and grows rapid- ly; in a few months’ time, indeed, any Bol- sheviki is temperamentally mature enough to knife any government there is, to plot against his best friends, to sell himself out to the highest bidder and to stab any- liody who betrays any character or intelli- gence above the average. This heing so, it is necessary to be gentle with your Bol- sheviki; do not, on any account, give him the impression that you know any- thing. If he got the idea that you had a sense of honor or loved your country, he might turn and rend you. His Preference FRIEND: So you are in the aviation corps. I thought you enlisted in the cavalry. Rastus: Ah dun change. Friexp: What was the reason? Rastus: Wal, suh, foh one thing, an aeroplane, after it throws yo’ out very seldom walks over an’ bites yo. A FUTURE Popular Conceptions HE Banker is a slech person whose main object in life is to keep people who need it from borrowing money, who makes enormous sums in the stock market, and during odd moments amuses himself in going over the books f the bank to find out how much each customer has on deposit. He then gos- sips about this to his friends while playing cards with them on his yacht or in his Adirondack camp. A Milliner is an Irish woman with a French name who takes thirty cents’ worth of material, arranges it in a wire frame and charges thirty dollars for it. A Commuter lives just beyond the PRESIDENT outskirts of any large city, and passes his time catching the 8:02 train in the morning and the 6:02 at night. He is almost always on his homeward jour- ney accompanied by a cook, who comes back to town near him, but not with him. He is always loaded down with bundles. On Saturdays and Sundays he cuts his grass, plays golf, oils his motor car and shows benighted visitors from the metropolis over his garden. Anxiety WONDER how far the govern- ment control of the telephone will extend.” “T hope it will control the conver- sation of my wife and the neighbors.” “A DE'IL AMONG THE WOMEN” comicbooks.com