Style of Propaganda: Where Utilitarianism Meets Communism Meets McCarthyism

Admittedly, this piece of propaganda does not fall in line with the usual style of nearly all others. There is no one overbearing Bolshevik figure in the center, bathed in red and black. Rather, the focus is more on the writing and the picture is merely to support the claims. The illustration itself is done with the utilitarian style of drawing characteristic of the 50s and 60s. It is style of pen and ink with hatching, but no no cross-hatching, that has a very capitalist, "Golden Age America" air about it.

Personally, I assume that the left figure is the Bolshevist and the right figure is the capitalist American. This not a mere gander, but rather because of the face of the figure on the right bears a striking resemblance to one Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy was the Senator who led a crazed crusade responsible for the blacklisting of many innocent American citizens. But of course, at that time, he was a valiant politician on a quest to rid the United States government of Soviet spies and was, for a time, respected. It is not at all surprising that the illustrator chose to use McCarthy as the ideal for which we should base our interactions with communists upon.

The writing itself, as stated in the Ethos section, has a firm, imposing style about it. It is very much written in a list form of "do"s and "don't"s. Also, the neutral pronoun "him," referring to a Bolshevik, is seldom used in the article. Instead, the individual is referred to as "communist," perhaps more so than necessary, because it creates a sort of exigence, urgency in the tone of the article.