“The Scum of the Earth I Believe” …. “The Bloody Assassin of the Workers I Presume” ……..David Low

I have been looking back to two collections of political cartoons, by David Low.

"The Jews hitherto persecuted were now held to ransom or disposed"

The first was published by Penguin in 1940 and the second early in the 1950s.

David Low was one of our most prolific and powerful cartoonists, who worked for the London Evening Standard, the Daily Herald and the Manchester Guardian.

I first came cross him in the 1960s when his cartoons of the worsening international situation during the 1930s, were reproduced in textbooks I used.

"The refugees of Central Europe become a world problem"

And many people will be familiar with his biting comment on the Non-Aggression Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

It shows Hitler and Stalin standing over a body with the German dictator doffing his hat and saying, “The Scum of the Earth I Believe”.  In response, Stalin also doffs his hat and replies, “The Bloody Assassin of the Workers I Presume”.

I was always brought up to believe that the Soviet Union had been forced into such an agreement, having given up on the western democracies to deal with Hitler.

"The Nazi screw began on adjacent states"

But alas the ruthless partition of Poland later in the year, reflects the reality that both countries were more interested in expansion.

The cartoon called Rendezvous appeared on September 20th, 1939 and is the last in the Penguin collection of Mr. Low’s work, which runs from 1920 through to 1939.

In all there are 93 cartoons, and here are three of my favourites, all of which have a modern resonance.

Pictures; from the book Europe Since Versailles, by David Low, Penguin Books, 1940