Mr. Block is an American comics character, created by Ernest Riebe in 1912 and commemorated in a song written by Joe Hill. He is the protagonist of an eponymous satirical comics series which appeared in left-wing publications to sympathize with the common worker. Decades later ''Mr. Block'' gained historical importance for being a predecessor to

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

Comic strip

Mr. Block, who has no first name, was created on November 7, 1912, by Ernest Riebe, a member of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

(IWW). Block appeared that day in the

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

newspaper ''

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

'', smoking a cigar and wearing a checkered suit with a

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or ...

. Subsequently, Mr. Block lost the fancy clothes but often kept a hat, ten sizes too small, perched on one corner of his wooden blockhead. "Mr. Block is legion," wrote Walker C. Smith in 1913. "He is representative of that host of slaves who think in terms of their masters. Mr. Block owns nothing, yet he speaks from the standpoint of the millionaire; he is patriotic without patrimony; he is a law-abiding outlaw... holicks the hand that smites him and kisses the boot that kicks him... the personification of all that a worker should not be."

Eponymous song

Joe Hill wrote "Mr. Block" to the tune of "It Looks to Me Like a Big Time Tonight". The song, like the comic strip, is bitterly satirical about the

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

and the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...

. Sometimes also called "Please Give Me Your Attention", it has remained a popular number through multiple editions of the ''

Little Red Songbook image:wobbly boy.jpg, 180px, The ''Little Red Songbook''The ''Little Red Songbook'' is a collection of songs related to the international trade union the Industrial Workers of the World first published in 1909. Its self-declared purpose is to "fa ...

''.

References

External links

A collection of cartoons at the IWW website
Anarchist comics 1912 comics debuts Comics about politics American comics characters American comic strips Comics characters introduced in 1912 Fictional construction workers Industrial Workers of the World publications Male characters in comics Satirical comics Songs with lyrics by Joe Hill (activist) Songs about comics Songs about fictional male characters Trade union songs American satire American political satire Political satire comics Public domain comics Comic strips started in the 1910s Criticism of capitalism Counterculture of the 1910s {{Comic-strip-stub

Comic strip

Eponymous song

References

Further reading

External links