---
title: I don't think I can make it
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/i-dont-think-i-can-make-it-1961/
description: A ragged, sweating man marked 'Russian People' shoulders a giant hammer-and-sickle tied on his back with rope, a shovel in one hand.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. I don't think I can make it

[![I don't think I can make it, 1961 US cartoon: A ragged, sweating man marked 'Russian People' shoulders a giant](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/i-dont-think-i-can-make-it-1961.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/i-dont-think-i-can-make-it-1961.jpg)

# I don't think I can make it

A ragged, sweating man marked 'Russian People' shoulders a giant hammer-and-sickle tied on his back with rope, a shovel in one hand, and reads a sheet headlined 'Khrushchev announces new "dramatic plan" for a Communist "Utopia" in 1980' beside an empty wheelbarrow. The cartoon argues that the promised utopia is a heavier burden for ordinary people than a benefit. The technique tell is its target: a glittering-generalities promise (utopia by 1980) shown in quotation marks and set against visible hardship.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)

## Text on the object

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

```
KHRUSHCHEV
ANNOUNCES NEW
"DRAMATIC
PLAN" FOR A
COMMUNIST
"UTOPIA" IN 1980

RUSSIAN
PEOPLE

JIM BERRYMAN WASHINGTON STAR
```

[← Tough Course for a young skipper to chart](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-tough-course-young-skipper-1961/) ["Grenzgänger zu bedienen ist unter unserer Würde": shop poster, Königs Wusterhausen district →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-grenzgaenger-shop-poster-1961/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Royal Museums Greenwich version), oil on panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i-greenwich-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)