Life — March 27, 1919 — page 28: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is anti-Bolshevik propaganda from Life magazine. A figure labeled "Bolshevik" (identifiable by the "UNCLE SAM & CO." storefront and "RUSSIA" sign) recruits workers, showing them a sign reading "WORKERS WANTED - FULL TIME - GOOD PAY." The cartoon's satire claims the Bolshevik promises improved conditions ("bettered my condition in less than two years"), but the visual evidence contradicts this: the recruited workers appear gaunt, poorly clothed, and struggling. The backdrop shows industrial chaos and decay labeled "RUSSIA." The joke attacks Communist recruitment propaganda as deceptive—the Bolsheviks claim to offer prosperity and employment, but their actual system produces poverty and hardship. This reflects American anti-communist sentiment during the Russian Revolution period (approximately 1917-1920s), when fears of Bolshevism spreading to America were widespread.