Graphics have, since early times, spoken with some eloquence in most political discourses, not least in Malta.
Images which shower at best ridicule, at worst contempt, on ideological opponents have, throughout the centuries, played their part in the dissemination of political propaganda.
An anonymous political postcard celebrating the crushing defeat of Gerald Strickland’s Constitutional Party in 1932. All images from the author's collection
They fall under two main categories: promotion − see how wonderful I am; or satire − see how contemptible my adversary is. This feature deals with the second grouping: parody drawings in political postcards.
Pre-World War II, cartoons ridiculing power wielders one disapproved of circulated anonymously and unofficially, mostly as real photos, printed in postcard size and often on postcard-backed cards, though I have never seen one postally used. Like all political ephemera, they enjoyed short shelf lives and mostly ended binned. That would explain their great rarity today.
Anonymous, amateur artists produced many of these pre-war propaganda cards. But professional, highly skilled cartoonists also chipped in.
The anti-colonial side could rely...
