Ernest Riebe was a German-American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and a member of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...

(IWW), who was known for the

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

humor he used in his comic strips. He is best remembered for his comics series '' Mr. Block''.

Biography

Early years

He immigrated to the

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in the early 20th century from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and not much is known about his early and later life. However, it is known that he worked for the

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Industrial Worker The ''Industrial Worker'', "the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism", is the magazine of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). It is currently released quarterly. The publication is printed and edited by union labor, and is frequently ...

'' in 1912, and until 1922, IWW publications issued his work. For at least a decade, Riebe helped the IWW, and it is assumed he lived in Minneapolis and possibly later in Chicago.

Career

Ernest Riebe worked as a cartoonist for ''The Industrial Worker,'' a weekly newspaper published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). His most famous work was Mr. Block. On November 7, 1912, Mr. Block first appeared in the ''Industrial Worker'', a newspaper owned by the IWW, and the comic strip was also published in ''

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...

'' for three years. According to historian Franklin Rosemont, IWW cartoonists like Reibe did not profit from their comics. Twenty-four of the strips were compiled into America’s first radical comic book in 1913, and it was advertised by the IWW press. Riebe’s comic strips were anti-racist, and during the early 1920s, he and other similar cartoonists were criticized by the

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, and white-supremacist preachers and politicians. Through the comic strip, Riebe assailed the

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, the

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, and bourgeois values. He portrayed Mr. Block as a man "devoid of class-consciousness" who blindly believes that America is the land of opportunity, hard work pays off, and the boss looks out for the employee. However, in each strip, Riebe has Mr. Block faced with setback after setback. He gets laid off from his job because the company has been overproducing goods, gets abused by the police, is sent to jail, and among other things. Often, Riebe depicts the employers as manipulators of the workers. For instance, in one comic strip, the employer speaks individually with the mixed race employees and makes them work hard by pitting the workers against each other.

Other works

Another piece of work was the ''Crimes of the Bolsheviki: Dedicated to the Interests of the International Proletariat.'' Riebe wrote and illustrated the forty-seven page booklet, which was published in 1919. Half of the book consists of original illustrations and captions by Riebe, and the other half contains a reproduction of the

Constitution of the Soviet Union During its existence, the Soviet Union had three different constitutions in force individually at different times between 31 January 1924 to 26 December 1991. Chronology of Soviet constitutions These three constitutions were: * 1924 Constitu ...

. The booklet was written in a tongue-in-cheek manner to show the merits of Bolshevism. It also ridiculed the values of the bourgeois and showed that the complaints of the middle class were unwarranted because the Bolsheviks were trying to end

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and trying to get fair treatment across classes, specifically the working class. Riebe wrote another booklet, which was titled ''Mr. Block and the Profiteers,'' also published in 1919. Like the ''Crimes of the Bolsheviki,'' this booklet was an illustrated story, which focused on Mr. Block and further advanced IWW beliefs. Riebe also wrote a poem and play about Mr. Block for the IWW press.Joyce L. Kornbluh, ''Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology.'' Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1998; p. 427.

Gallery

File:BlockIW.png, IWW cartoon character Mr. Block burns his ''

'' to read ''

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'', instead. Ernest Riebe, 1913. File:BlockAFL.gif, IWW cartoon character Mr. Block, gets an AFL union card

Footnotes

Works

* ''Mr. Block: Twenty-Four IWW Cartoons.'' 913Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1984.
''Crimes of the Bolsheviki: Dedicated to the Interests of the International Proletariat.''
Chicago: All-American Publishing Co., 1919. {{DEFAULTSORT:Riebe, Ernest American editorial cartoonists German editorial cartoonists American comics artists German comics artists Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States Industrial Workers of the World members Year of birth missing Year of death missing