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
- Date
- August 1, 1961
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Washington Evening Star (cartoonist Jim Berryman)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Kennedy Administration
- Leader
- John F. Kennedy
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Economy and finance, Labor
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives, Records of the U.S. Senate, Jim Berryman Political Cartoons (NAID 5730852), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Jim Berryman, Washington Evening Star. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. Senate, 5743293 (NAID 5743293).
Text on the object
KHRUSHCHEV ANNOUNCES NEW "DRAMATIC PLAN" FOR A COMMUNIST "UTOPIA" IN 1980 RUSSIAN PEOPLE JIM BERRYMAN WASHINGTON STAR
