In an Era of Wars and Revolutions: American Socialist Cartoons of the Mid-Twentieth Century

Sean Matgamna (ed.)

ISBN 10: 1909639214 / ISBN 13: 9781909639218

Edité par Phoenix Press 0, 2019

A propos de cet article

Has some light general reading/shelfwear - otherwise this is a clean, tight copy. Dispatch within 24hrs from the UK.

N° de réf. du vendeur 067169

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: In an Era of Wars and Revolutions: American Socialist Cartoons of the Mid-Twentieth Century
• Éditeur: Phoenix Press 0
• Date de parution: 2019
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1909639214
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781909639218
• Reliure: Soft cover
• État de l'article: Good
• Type de livre: Book

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

The cartoons collected in a new book depict US politics, workers struggles, Jim Crow racism, the Roosevelt New Deal, and Stalinism at its height, as revolutionary socialists saw them at the time.

Revue de presse

Pictures can sometimes convey ideas more vividly than a thousand words or a 10-minute speech. Cartoons are both valuable propaganda and effective agitation. This 300-page book of cartoons spans the end of the period of high imperialism, from the 1920s to the Second World War, and culminates in the mid-1950s at the beginning of post-war US hegemony. The first selections centre on the nature of capitalism. Some of the metaphors still resonate, such as capitalists as vultures, the state as an octopus with tentacles that enmesh the working class, and imperialism embracing the whole globe. Others perhaps less so: for example, as the introduction points out, the idea of capitalists as fat men in stripy trousers and bowler hats. Class struggle questions are drawn out: capital as a machine for pumping out surplus from workers, the wage ceiling (literally overhead) and the ambiguities of inflation okay for the bosses to put up prices, but not for workers to demand higher wages. Working-class politics is one of the key themes of the collection, showing how the Communist and Trotskyist press took up issues of women s liberation, anti-racism and other important matters of solidarity and workers unity. One of my favourites is two boxers, labour and capital. The demand on the worker is to use both hands not just the economic struggle but independent political action, currently behind the worker-boxer s back. Another is the journalist with a roller running over hordes of workers with jingoism, a clever play on the word press . The demand for a trade union-based independent labour party has the image of a large cop and a large capitalist threatening workers. Another has a coin with Republicans on one side, Democrats on the other ( heads they win, tails you lose ), while in another, the labour party is a life belt for a worker in the sea clinging to the Democrat boat. One powerful image is of a worker, chained and gagged, while a capitalist sits with an elephant and donkey (symbols of the US Republican and Democrat parties) on his knee. The cartoons are particulary good at illustrating transitional demands, which are Marxist answers on immediate questions around which workers can organise, but that also point towards working class power. For example open the books is presented using a locked book with profits on the cover, indicating that by opening it the source of workers exploitation will be revealed. For workers control of production , a large worker advances towards the factories, while a small capitalist holds his hands out in despair, the worker saying, If they can t run them, we can . In a telling cartoon on tactics, two politicians plead with the worker to write to their congressman, while behind them are two clubs, inscribed with March on Washington and general strike . Fighting racism is one of the strongest sections of the book, reflecting the terrible experiences of African-Americans during this period, including lynchings, the colour bar in many jobs, and slum living conditions. There is a drawing of Emmett Till, the 14-year old murdered in the South in 1955, his body laid out on an altar at the feet of a judge wearing a KKK hood. Another has a black soldier returning after war (having fought in the segregated US army) to find the Statue of Liberty with a black man hanging lynched from it, as a welcome home . The book also does a good job in puncturing the uncritical nostalgia for the Roosevelt era which is still found in the trade union bureaucracy and among the new deal Greens. - Paul Hampton --Solidarity 309, 15 January 2014

When I first opened In the era of wars and revolutions , I was taken back sixty years, seeing again cartoons published by the Workers Party/Independent Socialist League (ISL) in its paper, Labor Action, which I always looked forward to receiving. But this not a simple reminiscence. I was struck ag --Solidarity 309, 15 January 2014

When I first opened In the era of wars and revolutions , I was taken back sixty years, seeing again cartoons published by the Workers Party/Independent Socialist League (ISL) in its paper, Labor Action, which I always looked forward to receiving. But this not a simple reminiscence. I was struck again by the special power and sharp lessons taught by these cartoons. It is much more than a simple cartoon book. It is an excellent textbook on the history of revolutionary socialism between the mid-1920s and mid-1950s. The introduction is most moving and the historical timeline section complements the thirteen topical chapters. These group the cartoons, with their accompanying dates and explanations, putting them in historical and political context. While they reflect a particular time and struggle, they remain fully relevant today. Sean Matgamna has done an excellent and imaginative job overall. He closes the introduction with a powerful and moving poem on the Irish national and social struggle. - Ed Strauss --Solidarity 309, 15 January 2014