---
title: 'May Day parade satire: dollar-throne figure and ''US''-helmeted puppets, Budapest'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/budapest-mayday-dollar-throne-1953/
description: In Budapest's 1 May march a costumed group draws ribbons from a throne topped by a dollar-sign disc, where a top-hatted man in a striped costume sits, to…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Costumed parade satire of the United States: a dollar-sign throne, striped costume and helmets marked 'US', some worn with dark full-face coverings. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![May Day parade satire: dollar-throne figure and 'US'-helmeted puppets, Budapest](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/budapest-mayday-dollar-throne-1953.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/budapest-mayday-dollar-throne-1953.jpg)

# May Day parade satire: dollar-throne figure and 'US'-helmeted puppets, Budapest

In Budapest's 1 May march a costumed group draws ribbons from a throne topped by a dollar-sign disc, where a top-hatted man in a striped costume sits, to marchers in helmets marked 'US', skeleton costumes and aristocrats' court dress. The staging labels the capitalist West as a financier pulling the strings of war-makers, and blames the danger of war on that one bounded figure.

- **Date:** May 1, 1953
- **Period:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=cold-war)
- **Made by:** May Day parade, Budapest (marching group not identified), under the Hungarian Working People's Party government
- **Region:** [Eastern Europe and Eurasia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=eastern-europe-eurasia)
- **Country:** [Hungary](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=hungary)
- **Medium:** [Photograph](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=photograph)
- **Issuer type:** [Mixed](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=mixed)
- **Regime:** [Hungarian Peoples Republic](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=hungarian-peoples-republic)
- **Leader:** [Matyas Rakosi](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=matyas-rakosi)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Demonize](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=demonize)
- **Themes:** [Economy and finance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=economy-finance), [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military)
- **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Fortepan (donor: Magyar Rendőr)](https://fortepan.hu/en/photos/?id=17992), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** CC BY-SA 3.0 (Fortepan site footer: photos published under CC-BY-SA-3.0) Fortepan / Magyar Rendőr, ID 17992 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

## Text on the object

Original (Hungarian) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
XIII. KERÜLETI SPORTCIPŐ K.T.SZ. DOLGOZÓI

(helmets) US
(dollar-sign disc on the throne) $
(placard beside the throne) [illegible]
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
WORKERS OF THE 13TH-DISTRICT SPORTS-SHOE K.T.SZ. [cooperative]

(helmets) US
(disc) $
(placard) [illegible]
```

Only the banner behind the group and the marks 'US' and '$' are legible; the small placard beside the throne is out of focus. 'K.T.SZ.' is read as printed and its expansion is not verified.

[← 1953년 새해를 맞는 米帝 强占下의 南半部風景 (Scenes of the Southern Half under U.S. Imperialist Occupation, at the 1953 New Year)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kpa-new-year-1953-south-scenes-leaflet-1953/) [Invest a "Truth Dollar" in Radio Free Europe →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/truth-dollar-1954/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Exit Liberté a la Francois! or Buonaparte closing the Farce of Egalité, at St. Cloud (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exit-liberte-buonaparte-gillray-1799/) (Nov 21, 1799 · Name-calling)
- [Van Moscouw tot Elba moest ik wyken (From Moscow to Elba I had to give way), Napoleon caricature by Wijnand Esser](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-moscouw-tot-elba-napoleon-esser-1814/) (1814 · Name-calling)