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
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
- Made by
- May Day parade, Budapest (marching group not identified), under the Hungarian Working People's Party government
- Region
- Eastern Europe and Eurasia
- Country
- Hungary
- Medium
- Photograph
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Hungarian Peoples Republic
- Leader
- Matyas Rakosi
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- Economy and finance, War and the military
- Techniques
- Name-callingScapegoating
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Fortepan (donor: Magyar Rendőr), 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
XIII. KERÜLETI SPORTCIPŐ K.T.SZ. DOLGOZÓI (helmets) US (dollar-sign disc on the throne) $ (placard beside the throne) [illegible]
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.
