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Mr. Block: Twenty-Four Iww Cartoons

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This book is a facsimile edition of a 1913 collection of comic strips that ran in the "Industrial Worker," the newspaper of the early union the Industrial Workers of the World (also known as "Wobblies"). Mr. Block, a character with a wooden block for a head, represented the common wage worker; who disdains the dangerous radical unions and puts his faith in the capitalist system and its government, which only victimizes and exploits him in the end. The first cartoon in the collection sees Mr. Block trusting his savings to an investment firm, then looks on horrified as the firm's office blows up while its brokers ride off on a balloon to Monte Carlo. Another cartoon shows Block getting hit by a car; he takes the driver to court and two years later, wins a judgement of $100; after the attorney's fee, his total take for his misery is $5. Should we be disappointed that over a century later, we are still beset by Mr. Blocks who insist on protecting the rights of corporations to exploit people and governments to their own advantage?

The comic also set its sights on other unions, showing AFL workers being brought in to help break an IWW strike. Small wonder, when the Wobblies had the goal of eliminating the wage system entirely, and later announced that should war break out in Europe, they would not fight to defend capitalism.

This book of 24 comics from 1912-1913 is claimed to be the first example of the comic strip format being used for propaganda, radical or otherwise. This 1984 collection offers a new introduction comparing artist Ernest Riebe's work on the strip to "Happy Hooligan," and includes the lyric to a "Mr. Block" song by union troubadour Joe Hill.