Life, 1919-08-28 · page 29 of 40
Life — August 28, 1919 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes wealthy young socialists ("Jerome" and "Cuthbert") who romanticize Russian Bolshevism while living comfortable bourgeois lives. The dialogue mocks their hypocrisy: they eloquently praise Soviet equality and a "Proletariat Dictatorship," admire working-class struggle, and want to hear a radical prophet preach about abolishing the State—yet they casually discard cigarette butts while doing so, revealing their actual class indifference. The cartoon titled "Hey, Mister! Your Grip is Leaking!" depicts street-level working people, contrasting sharply with Jerome and Cuthbert's detached theorizing. The satire suggests that these dilettante socialists are fascinated by revolution as ideology or performance, not genuine political commitment. The "Perfect Marriage" scenario below appears unrelated or continues a separate satirical thread about appearances and social perception. **Context**: This likely dates from the 1920s Red Scare period, when American magazines mocked fashionable "parlor communists."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
& gs teeter eps atid vial] Batam pert . 4 PR ervecre, poor, I long to be one of that noble lives by the honest labor of its hands Jexose: After all, Cuthbert, is there in “Wey, Mister! all the YOUR GRIP IS LEAKING!” THE DAY'S CATCH brotherhood. that any spectacle so inspiring as that of the honest Russian workingman seizing by force the things which Capitalism workd has denied him? What is so wonderful as the perfect equality of Soviet government and a Proletariat Dictator- ship? Cotiperr othing, Jerome, nothing! And how my spirit revolts to think that | must be bound by silly laws enacted for the benefit of the Capitalists. Down on the East Side, Jerome, there is a wonderful man—a veritable prophet—who wears a red shirt and speaks to a chosen few each night on such raw, red theories as the Futility of the State and the Allness of Labor: theories which will soon be facts. Let us go and sit at his feet! Jeon: Yes, let us go and warm ourselves in the glow of that precious symbol, the red shirt! Let us go at once! (Throwing their cigarette butts r Jerome and Cuthbert exeunt feverishl Scenario Title: a Perfect Marriage | When they took their wedding trip everybody thought * they were an old married ex aple 2. When they went to New York, at the end vears, everyone thought they were newly wed 3. When they traveled in Europe five years later pe said they weren't married at all—they seemed to be t ing such a yood time comicbooks.com