Life — January 16, 1919 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Life" Magazine Satire Page Analysis This page satirizes **Bolshevism and communist revolution**, likely from the early 1920s post-Russian Revolution period. The main illustration shows what appears to be a **devil figure** addressing a gathering of former soldiers ("Hades colony of former U-boat commanders"), tempting them toward violent revolution. The caption warns these ex-warriors are being seduced into a "low-ceilinged structure" lit only by sulfur candles—a hellish metaphor for communism. The text beneath ("Reaping the Whirlwind") uses a mathematical progression joke: one profiteer makes ten protesters; ten make one hundred dissatisfied workers; one hundred make "one thousand Bolsheviki." This satirizes how communist recruitment spreads geometrically through social discontent. The satire presents Bolshevism as demonic manipulation exploiting economic grievance among the working class and military veterans.