Werkgevers en de achturige werkdag 1900 - 1935

Patricq Kroon created this cartoon, "Employers and the Eight-Hour Workday," using pen and ink. This work likely comes from the Netherlands and is an example of political art, where the artist is making a direct statement about power and social class. It depicts an industrialist, identified by the text on his coat, smashing a window labeled "8-hour workday". The artist clearly positions himself against the industrialist class. The cartoon is designed to provoke anger towards industrialists and sympathy for the working class. To understand this artwork better, we might research the history of labor movements and class conflict in the Netherlands, focusing on the debates around the eight-hour workday. The meaning of this cartoon is contingent on its social and institutional context. By studying its history we see it as more than just an image but as part of a larger conversation about the role of labor in Dutch society.