During the year 1919 revolutionary activity took place throughout Europe, as leftwing and communist parties were galvanised following the Russian Revolution of 1917. Therefore propaganda films warning against a ‘socialist revolution’ were often shown in the cinemas of that time. Today one can find many short supporting films with this propagandist concern in European archives (the US even made a feature-length propagandistic melodrama called Bolshevism on Trial). Waarschuwing tegen de revolutie was screened in cinemas in the Netherlands in May 1919, and consists entirely of written text, which warns the audience of all the worries that come hand-in-hand with a revolution. Waarschuwing tegen de revolutie offers an alternative suggestion: it argues for peaceful reforms and the avoidance of anarchy.

Karl Wratschko