Life — March 25, 1920 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Bread Line" and "Bombs and Bolshevism" This page contains two satirical cartoons addressing early 20th-century American anxieties. **"The Bread Line"** (top) depicts unemployed men waiting for charity, illustrating economic hardship. The accompanying text mocks overly strict Prohibition advocates, suggesting their zealotry creates spiritual emptiness comparable to destitution—a critique of Prohibition's social costs. **"Bombs and Bolshevism"** (bottom) shows a formal gathering disrupted by violent revolution. The caption's reference to laying down to sleep suggests complacency among the prosperous elite toward growing radical movements. The cartoon satirizes wealthy citizens ignoring or dismissing the threat of communist/anarchist revolution, implying their indifference to social inequality fuels radicalism. Both cartoons critique American responses to poverty and social unrest during the post-WWI era.