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Profit Prices

Artist Harry Reade (1927-1998) (Australian, 1927 - 1998)

Datec 1955

Object number00018808

NameCartoon

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 255 x 210 mm, 0.003 kg
Sheet: 255 x 210 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from C & P Millward Studio

Terms

DescriptionCartoon drawing titled 'Profit Prices' by Harry Reade. The image shows a two headed, cigar smoking entity 'Profit Prices' walking ahead of 'Basic Wage', which is represented as an amputee on crutches. There is a text caption in the lower left corner reading: 'Whats[sic] he got to complain about? / It's a three legged race ain't it? / Hes[sic] three legged ain't he?'HistoryHarry Reade had always wanted to be a cartoonist but to use his work to "do something" worthy with them. With his working class background and Communist sympathies, he felt he "could fire cartoons like bullets in the front line. I used to get a kick out of, you know, up in the coal mines they'd get one of my cartoons and cut it out and stick it up." Reade published his work in the Communist Party of Australia’s' (CPA) newspaper, Tribune, using his own experiences as a wharf worker as influence. It is understood that Reade's political work came under investigation by ASIO who compiled a file on him, his cartoons also appearing in the Eureka Youth League's newspaper. Of his political cartoons, Reade made no apologies saying, "If any of them helped to save a miners job, or a steelworker’s eyes and hands, or helped to move people to reject McCarthyism and atomic war, I am well satisfied."