The Future Belongs to the Workers

A man has been murdered for protesting. He has collapsed at the left, red blood staining his blue shirt, his hand resting limply on his picket sign. His funeral takes place in the center of the painting. At the right, workers are galvanized to action beneath a Communist flag. These three scenes map out a story of victimization, martyrdom, and empowerment. Born into a working-class mining family in Michigan, Walter Quirt was one of the leading artists in the 1930s who became an outspoken supporter of workers’ rights. The painting’s title would have been recognized as a common slogan for the Communist Party in the United States. The depiction of mixed-race groups as unified by their working class, instead of divided by race, was a central motif for progressive artists like Quirt.