Life — August 31, 1922 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Russian Exchange" - Political Satire on Currency Collapse This poem by G.S.C. satirizes the collapse of the Russian ruble following the Bolshevik Revolution. The text mocks how Russian currency became worthless—theater performers used rubles as stage props because they "look like money" but held no real value. The accompanying cartoons illustrate the absurdity: a man spills coins carelessly, while others celebrate wildly, suggesting the currency's worthlessness made people treat it as a joke. The poem references Wall Street's prediction that the ruble "will probably decline again / And disappear completely," and suggests depositing the ruined currency at the "Chauve-Souris" nightclub (a famous Russian émigré cabaret in Paris) where impresario Balieff could "console us." The satire captures American amusement at—and schadenfreude over—Soviet economic disaster.