Life — May 6, 1920 — page 25: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This single-panel cartoon contrasts two figures representing different types of revolutionaries. On the left stands a scruffy, bearded man in tattered peasant clothing with crude weapons—representing a violent, working-class revolutionary. On the right is a well-dressed military officer in uniform with formal regalia, representing an establishment or aristocratic "revolution." The caption "There Are Revolutions and Revolutions!" suggests the satirist is commenting on how revolutions differ dramatically depending on who leads them. The joke appears to critique the hypocrisy that violent upheaval by the poor is treated as dangerous radicalism, while similar upheaval by the military or elite is presented as legitimate governmental change. This likely reflects early 20th-century anxieties about labor movements versus military coups.