#61 - Irrational

The man is dressed in Polish national clothing, particularly his hat. He mistakes a plus sign for a cross and kneels to it instead of working out the equation and seeing the error. Polish nationalism is heavily tied up with Catholicism. Raczkowski makes a clear point about the ability of mental fixation, especially of the national and religious varieties,  to blind us to obvious falsehoods. The reference to Orwell implies that the end result of this can be totalitarianism.

UPDATE: According to [an article that was either moved or deleted from the site] the above cartoon is referring to a controversy over the installation of a cross in front of the Presidential Palace. Once again we see Raczkowski's great skill in drawing a wider, almost universally applicable point from a local and contemporary event.

UPDATE 19 Mar 2015: Replaced image with larger version I found.

#60 - Superstition

A dig at the persistence of superstition in the face of all evidence to the contrary.

#59 - The needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many

The tyranny of the minority, a well known problem of democratic organisation. The image of a triangle stabbing a circle recalls El Lissitzky's famous "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge" poster from the Russian Civil War. Even though Raczkowski's wedge is blue, the reference is likely deliberate and concerns some recent event in Polish politics, perhaps some agitation by ex-Communists.

#58 - Seasonal.

Spring seems to have been mugging some parts of the world with snow, though I think Raczkowski is more likely expressing the Polish bleakness that I've mentioned before. Hell could be better, and Spring could be your enemy.

#57 - English Protest

It's finally here: the first English version of the famous "Kurwa mać!" Thanks a million to M@ who handled the image manipulation. 

#56 - Junior executive

This is one of the first cartoons of R's I ever saw and it struck and still strikes me as deeply funny for reasons I don't fully understand. I particularly like the little boy's outburst in panel five, with its "sześć! sześć lat tato! jestem maluchem, szkrabem, malym chlopczykiem" - I've tried to get across the funny (to me) sound of szkrabem with tyke.

I don't know if the cartoon is a reference to contemporary events or just another riff on Raczkowski's theme of children encountering an adult world that is insane.

#55 - Group dynamics

Illustrating Freud's observation that "It is always possible to bind together a considerable number of people in love, so long as there are other people left over to receive manifestations of their aggressiveness."

The "you" is plural, which is marked in Polish grammar but not in English.

#54 - Gift means poison in German

I won't say anything about this except to point out the similarity with another cartoon combining toys and violence.

Merry Chrimbo.

Audience participation special

So it's long past time that Raczkowski's famous "Kurwa mać!" cartoon got an international treatment. However I can't decide what to put on the banner. Motherfucker? Fuck that? Damn it? Better to put up a blank one and let everyone make their own.

#53 - His master's voice

I don't know if Raczkowski is making a deeper point here beyond his usual theme of authority figures betraying the trust placed in them, but it doesn't matter. This is just flat out funny.

Language nerds may be interested to know that the man is literally saying "Wait here politely. Master will return shortly." That sounds odd in English so I changed it up. I wonder if any studies have been done on national differences in language used when speaking to animals.

#52 - please call with any information. any.

LOST                     FOUND

#51 - Election special

The original offers a choice between the Polish political parties PiS and Platforma. I've taken liberties with the translation to make the gag a little funnier for Anglophone readers who might be following the US election.

The original says, on the left, "The president is a cloddish rural unsophisticate" (there's no precise equivalent in English of the Polish word cham) and on the right "I love the president!" I believe it refers to a recent Polish president who was thought of as crude and boorish. I've attempted to give a version that works in English.

For other political Racz cartoons that can be read as comments on the US, or indeed almost any, election, see here and especially here.