“Commentary on privilege, capitalist exploitation, racism and social inequality, all perfectly encapsulated in single illustrations so cutting that they deliver their message through easy wit rather than anger…. Hoff’s plea for a more equitable world remains as relevant now as it was in 1935.” —Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier

THE RULING CLAWSS

THE SOCIALIST CARTOONS OF SYD HOFF

Introduction by Philip Nel

During his career as a New Yorker cartoonist, and before he wrote Danny and the Dinosaur, Syd Hoff wrote under a different name. He was A. Redfield, a cartoonist for the communist newspaper the Daily Worker, and a scourge of the rich and powerful. Scorning what he saw as the complicity and stale jokes of cartooning peers, Hoff set his sights on the ruling class and revealed them for what they were: hilariously inept, deeply selfish, and incredibly dangerous. Hoff spared nothing from his pen, lampooning police brutality, thin-skinned industrialists, racists, and the looming threat of fascism at home and abroad.

This edition of The Ruling Clawss includes a new introduction by the historian Philip Nel, who reveals the story behind the rise and disappearance of Hoffʼs Redfield. The Ruling Clawss cements Hoff as a master of the gag comic, whose work remains powerfully funny and troublingly resonant.

“Hoff skillfully captures the Depression-era moguls in artfully nuanced slapstick comedy. His images are a history of those times.”
—Steven Heller, PRINT Magazine

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ALMOST COMPLETELY BAXTER
Glen Baxter

ALL YOUR RACIAL PROBLEMS WILL SOON END
THE CARTOONS OF CHARLES JOHNSON

WHAT AM I DOING HERE?
Abner Dean