Uncle Sam and the Bolsheviki-I.W.W. Rat
About Uncle Sam and the Bolsheviki-I.W.W. Rat
Farmer Uncle Sam stands over a store of grain marked as the fine results of labor. A rat labeled both Bolsheviki and I.W.W. comes for the grain. Uncle Sam brains it. The cartoon is signed Animated by Ford.
More about Uncle Sam and the Bolsheviki-I.W.W. Rat
The National Film Preservation Foundation dates it about 1919 and times the surviving copy at 40 seconds, transferred at 22 frames a second from a 35mm preprint at the National Archives. It was made to run inside Ford's educational shorts. Scott Simmon's note ties it to the 1919 strike wave and to the 1918 Espionage Act convictions of I.W.W. leaders.
Themes
Background
The cartoon belongs to the first American Red Scare, when Ford's films treated the Industrial Workers of the World and Bolsheviks as the same threat to the grain.
Music
Brian Robison wrote a new score that pits Turkey in the Straw against the Internationale.
Preservation
The National Archives holds the 35mm preprint. The National Film Preservation Foundation circulates a 40-second copy.
Notes
- Brian Robison's new score sets Uncle Sam to Turkey in the Straw and the rat to the Internationale.
- The grain sack title on screen reads THE FINE RESULTS OF OUR LABOR.
- The rat carries both the word BOLSHEVIKI and the initials I.W.W.
- 1919 had about four million American workers on strike, about a fifth of the industrial labor force.
Scenes
- Uncle Sam clubs the rat before it reaches the grain sack.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-uncle-sam-and-the-bolsheviki--i-w-w-rat)
- National Film Preservation Foundation screening room