propaganda posters 1900s

A Visual History of Presidential Campaign Posters: 200 Years of Election Art from the Library of Congress Archives

By maria popova.

In the preface, NPR’s always-brilliant media pundit Brooke Gladstone writes:

We media consumers are far too jaded by national politics to be influenced by campaign posters, right ? We all know that posters are blatant manipulations, intended not to inform but to enlist. They emphasize faces and catchphrases. They condense complicated issues into jagged little pills. They are blunt instruments. At the same time, the most effective campaign posters of every era leave as much as possible to the voter’s imagination. They are like Japanese manga: the less detailed the image, the more easily we can identify with the candidate, the more space for projecting our dreams. The more specific the image, the greater the risk of creating a feeling of “otherness,” which translates into death at the polls.

What emerges is a quilt-portrait of politics itself, stitched together by a common thread of propaganda techniques and the underlying ideological necessities they bespeak, unchanging across the ages — all the more striking given many of these posters come from an age predating marketing as we know it and what Gladstone calls the “now never-ending research into the psychology of primary colors, the semiotics of sans serif, and the syntactics of the sound bite.”

Gladstone observes:

The ultimate lesson of this collection is how choppy those waters are. Political art is nothing less than an illustration of the skirmishes and stalemates that created and continue to animate the American experiment. As you look at each poster and read about each campaign, it becomes increasingly clear that the tug of war over taxes and trade, the distribution of wealth and power, and the role of government itself, will never end. Every generation renews the battle and fights it again. And every time, political candidates borrow from past campaigns the lexicon of perpetual political war. It reverberates in the slogans and the speeches, the urgent need: for tax relief or social protections, for an active government or a dormant one, for war or peace, to stay the course or to change direction.

At once a time-capsule of history and an invaluable timeline of design evolution, Presidential Campaign Posters offers a rare look at the craftsmanship of political propaganda and the abiding aspects of the human condition that it bespeaks.

— Published June 4, 2012 — https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/06/04/presidential-campaign-posters/ —

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World War I: 100 Years Later

A Smithsonian magazine special report

The Posters That Sold World War I to the American Public

A vehemently isolationist nation needed enticement to join the European war effort. These advertisements were part of the campaign to do just that

Jia-Rui Cook

On July 28, 1914, World War I officially began when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. In Europe and beyond, country after country was drawn into the war by a web of alliances. It took three years, but on April 2, 1917, the U.S. entered the fray when Congress declared war on Germany.

The government didn’t have time to waste while its citizens made up their minds about joining the fight. How could ordinary Americans be convinced to participate in the war “ Over There ,” as one of the most popular songs of the era described it?

Posters—which were so well designed and illustrated that people collected and displayed them in fine art galleries—possessed both visual appeal and ease of reproduction. They could be pasted on the sides of buildings, put in the windows of homes, tacked up in workplaces, and resized to appear above cable car windows and in magazines. And they could easily be reprinted in a variety of languages.

To merge this popular form of advertising with key messages about the war, the U.S. government’s public information committee formed a Division of Pictorial Publicity in 1917. The chairman, George Creel, asked Charles Dana Gibson, one of most famous American illustrators of the period, to be his partner in the effort. Gibson, who was president of the Society of Illustrators, reached out to the country’s best illustrators and encouraged them to volunteer their creativity to the war effort.

These illustrators produced some indelible images, including one of the most iconic American images ever made: James Montgomery Flagg’s stern image of Uncle Sam pointing to the viewer above the words, “I Want You for U.S. Army.” (Flagg’s inspiration came from an image of the British Secretary of State for War , Lord Kitchener, designed by Alfred Leete.) The illustrators used advertising strategies and graphic design to engage the casual passerby and elicit emotional responses. How could you avoid the pointing finger of Uncle Sam or Lady Liberty? How could you stand by and do nothing when you saw starving children and a (fictional) attack on New York City?

“Posters sold the war,” said David H. Mihaly, the curator of graphic arts and social history at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, where 55 of these posters will go on view August 2. “These posters inspired you to enlist, to pick up the flag and support your country. They made you in some cases fear an enemy or created a fear you didn’t know you had. Nations needed to convince their citizens that this war was just, and we needed to participate and not sit and watch.” There were certainly propaganda posters before 1917, but the organization and mass distribution of World War I posters distinguished them from previous printings, Mihaly said.

Despite the passage of 100 years—as well as many wars and disillusionment about them—these posters retain their power to make you stare. Good and evil are clearly delineated. The suffering is hard to ignore. The posters tell you how to help, and the look in the eyes of Uncle Sam makes sure you do.

“ Your Country Calls!: Posters of the First World War ” will be on view at the Huntington from August 2 to November 3, 2014. Jia-Rui Cook wrote this for  Zocalo Public Square .

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Iconic Propaganda posters throughout history

Propaganda posters have long served as powerful tools for shaping public opinion and rallying support for various causes, particularly during times of conflict and political upheaval. These visually striking and emotionally charged artworks blend artistry with persuasive messaging, aiming to influence perceptions, inspire action, and convey ideologies.

From the iconic wartime posters of the early 20th century to contemporary digital campaigns, propaganda posters offer a unique lens into the socio-political climate of their times.

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• Claire Stokoe
• Jun 13, 2010

51 Powerful Propaganda Posters And The People Behind

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War Propaganda Posters are well known. But at its core, it is a mode of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Although propaganda is often used to manipulate human emotions by displaying facts selectively, it can also be very effective at conveying messages and hence can be used in web design, too.

Notice that propaganda uses loaded messages to change the attitude toward the subject in the target audience. When applied to web design, you may experiment with techniques used in propaganda posters and use them creatively to achieve a unique and memorable design.

In this article, we look at various types of propaganda posters and the people behind it , people who are rarely seen next to their work. You will also see how the drive for propaganda shaped many of the modern art movements we see today. Notice that this post is more than an ultimate showcase of propaganda artists. Something or somebody is missing? Please let us know in the comments to this post!

William Orpen: England, 1917

Orpen studied at the Slade School in London alongside the likes of Augustus John and Wyndham Lewis. He produced some of his best work while at the school and became known for his portraits. A friend of Orpen then arranged for him to paint the pictures of senior military officials, such as Lord Derby and Churchill. In 1917, he was recruited by the government’s head of War Propaganda to the Western front to paint images of war-torn France. It was there that Orpen painted his most famous piece, “Dead Germans in a Trench.”

Dimitri Moor: Russia, 1917–1921

Dimitri Moor (or Dmitry Stakhievich Orlov) changed the face of graphic design in Soviet Russia back in 1918. His work dominated both the Bolshevik Era (1917–1921) and the New Economic Policy (1921–1927). The main theme of Moor’s work is the stark contrast between the oppressive evil and the heroic allies. A lot of pressure was put on Russian workers to rise up against imperialism.

A lot of Moor’s artwork was restricted to black and red. Black was generally used for the main part of the poster, and all of the solid colors for the capitalists. Red was used for socialist elements such as flags and workers’ shirts.

This is a lesser known poster by the artist, appealing for help for those staving from the Russian famine in 1920. It features the single word “Pomogi,” meaning help. The drawing is of an old man who is just skin and bone. The last stalks of barley are barely visible in the background.

El Lissitzky: Russia, 1920

El Lissitzky spent his whole career absorbed by the belief that the artist could be an agent for change and good, and his work in a lot of respects shows this. He himself was a huge agent of change in the artistic movements of the time. He was one of the fathers of suprematism, along with Kazimir Malevich; and along with many of his peers, he changed the look of typography, exhibition design, photo montage and book cover design. Most of the modern techniques we see today and that appear in film and modern kinetic typography are the product of Lissitzky’s work.

One of his most famous pieces, shown below, really embodies Lissitzky’s work. It is so avant garde that even a lay person could recognize the style. The abstract geometric shapes and clear color pallet scream of modernist art, and yet the poster has a real message. It describes the Russian revolution that took place in 1917. The white circle represents the royalists from the old regime, and the red triangle represents the communists moving in and changing opinion. It has been described as a stylized battle plan for communist victory.

You might also recognize it from Franz Ferdinand’s album cover:

Then in 1921, El Lissitzky accepted a job as the Russian cultural ambassador to Germany. His work influenced a lot of the iconic designs of the Bauhaus and De Stijl movements. His last poster, seen below, was a return to propaganda, with a poster encouraging the Russian people to help Russia build more tanks to win the war against Nazi Germany.

Strakhov Braslavskij: Russia, 1926

Braslavskij was known for his posters that promoted the emancipation of women. During this time in Russia, the idea of gender equality was growing. Emancipated women were seen to be supporters of the communist agenda, and so they needed to be freed from their so-called duties as wives and mothers.

The emancipation of women and the socialist movement went pretty much hand in hand. In the poster below, we see almost a confluence of the sexes. The woman is drawn somewhat androgynously, wearing masculine clothing that hides her female figure, and a cold hard stare that hides her emotions. Behind her is her place of work, showing that women can do the same hard labor as men, and she carries the red flag of the communist movement.

The curious thing is that the image shows not so much the emancipation of women as it does a way to turn women into men, dressing them in men’s clothing, showing them as working in factories, and hiding their femininity. It seems the real reason to emancipate women was simply to increase the workforce and thus strengthen the communist movement.

Hans Schweitzer: Germany, 1930s

In Germany in the 1930s, propaganda was in full swing and being used by Hitler’s advisers to call the German people to arms and spread lies about the Jews. One of the most famous artists behind Nazi propaganda was Hans Schweitzer, known as “Mjolnir.” This poster by Hans Schweitzer shows the typical pro-Nazi theme of the German army’s strength, depicting an S.A. man standing next to a solider. The text reads, “The guarantee of German military strength!”

This next poster by Mjolnir, titled “Our Last Hope: Hitler” was used in the presidential elections of 1932, when Germany was suffering through its great depression. Nazi propagandists targeted the German people who were unemployed and living on the breadline, and they suggested Hitler as their way out, their savior.

The propaganda then used the scapegoat of the Jews, blaming them for all of Germany’s problems and the war. Many posters were entitled, “He is guilty for the war.” This was the key message of Hitler to start his campaign of terror and for the ethnic cleansing that ensued. Almost the entire campaign from beginning to end was driven by the artist Mjolnir. Just as the media molds public opinion today, Mjolnir most definitely molded the opinion of the German people through his designs. There is no doubts about the immorality and emotional deception of these designs; they are still worth mentioning because they were extremely powerful and effective at the time.

Valentina Kulagina: Russia, 1930

Kulagina was one of the few female poster artists to emerge from the 20th century. Her art was heavily influenced by suprematism, and you can see the similarity between her work and that of El Lissitzky. This poster, called “To Defend USSR” was created by Kulagina in 1930. It takes a cubist perspective in its multi-dimensional shapes, and it shows the Red army as huge almost robotic figures, marching from the factories to fight the war. They are surrounded by the tiny white airplanes of the royalists, which appear to have no effect on them at all and in fact seem to be flying through the figures.

Phillip Zec: England, 1930

Phillip Zec was probably best known for his depictions of Nazis as snakes and vultures. At the time, Nazis were usually drawn as bumbling clowns or buffoons. But Zec brought out the more sinister side of the German regime in his drawings. Hitler reportedly hated Zec so much that he added him to his black list and ordered his arrest following the invasion of Britain. He blamed Zec’s Jewish ancestry for his extreme ideas.

This poster by Zec was a call for women to join the war effort by working in the munitions factories.

This ugly toad is former Prime Minister of France Pierre Laval, who decided to work closely with the Nazi command during World War II.

This illustration is about the French Resistance, telling Hitler that it was very much alive.

Gino Boccasile: Italy, 1930

Gino Boccasile was a supporter of Benito Mussolini and produced a lot of propaganda for him. His posters became increasingly racist and anti-semitic as his support for the German puppet state increased. After the war, Boccasile was sent to prison for collaborating with the fascist regime. The only work he could find after his release from prison was as a pornographic artist and working in advertising for Paglieri cosmetics and Zenith footwear.

He became well known for his advertising and pornography.

Pablo Picasso: Spain, 1937

Picasso painted Guernica in response to the bombing of the town by Germany and Italy, which were following orders from Spanish Nationalist forces, on 26 April 1937. It must be said that it was commissioned to Picasso long before the bombing of the town und was supposed to be a classic painting first; after the bombings, Picasso changed his drawing to respond to the recent bombing. The giant mural shows the tragedy of war, using innocent civilians as the focal point. It became a huge symbol of anti-war, and upon completion it was exhibited worldwide to spread the message. The piece also educated other countries about the horror of the Spanish Civil War, which till then most people had never heard of.

Norman Rockwell: US, 1939

Norman Rockwell is probably one of the best known of the propoganda movement. He admitted that he was just a propaganda stooge for the Saturday Evening Post. The newspaper paid many artists and illustrators to whitewash American news with patriotism and propaganda for around 50 years.

His work has often been dismissed as idealistic or sentimental. His depiction of American life included young boys running away from a “No swimming” sign, and happy-go-lucky US citizens going about their business unaware of the crumbling world around them.

Rockwell’s famous Rosie the Riveter poster is shown below, representing the American women who worked in the munitions and war supplies factories during World War II. This was a call to arms for the women of America to become strong capable females and support the war effort.

J. Howard Miller’s “We Can Do It!,” commonly mistaken to depict Rosie the Riveter, conveyed the same message:

Rockwell was always unhappy with the politics of the Saturday Evening Post, so in his later years, he took up the controversial subject of racism in America. He became respected as a painter for these hard-hitting pieces of American culture, much more so than for his work for the Saturday Evening Post. The piece below is called “The Problem We All Live With.” It is not known whether this painting is based solely on the Ruby Bridges story, because it was also thought that the idea came from John Steinbeck’s book Travels With Charley .

The subject was the integration of black children in American schools. Little Ruby Bridges was filmed making her way into the William Franz School at 8:40 am. At this time, a gigantic crowd of 150 white women and male youth had gathered. They threw tomatoes and shouted vile comments at the tiny girl. It is hard to look at this picture without being affected.

Xu Ling: China, 1950

It is hard to find details on these Chinese artists, but we can focus on what they intended to convey with their artwork. This piece is a caricature of the American commander in Korea at that time, General MacArthur. It shows the US as an abhorrent evil, and Macarthur is shown stabbing a Korean mother and child. Bombs labeled US are being dropped on cities in China in the background as the US invades Korea.

Ye Shanlu (???): China, 1952

Again, little is known of the artist, but we do know this piece told people to get immunized against any epidemics to combat germ warfare. The Chinese were convinced that the US was planning to use bacterial weaponry against them, so they set about organizing massive inoculation drives to protect the Chinese people.

Ning Hao: China, 1954

Along the lines of Rosie the Riveter, this Ning Hao piece reflects women being asked to work in the factories alongside men, partially to support their emancipation, but mostly to increase the labor force in China.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Ireland, 1968

Jim Fitzpatrick was a well-known Irish Celtic artist of his time, but he is probably best known for his Che Guevara poster in 1968. It is said that Fitzpatrick took the death of the revolutionary personally. He had once met him when Guevara flew into Ireland in 1963 and checked into the Marine Hotel pub in Kilkee. Fitzpatrick was only a teenager at the time and had been working there over the summer. The poster became a global icon during the anti-Vietnam war protests and is now the symbol of F.A.R.C. in Columbia, a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization, which is involved in the ongoing Colombian armed conflict. Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN), a revolutionary group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico, uses this symbol as well.

The image was also used during the violent Paris student riots in 1968. Across the rest of the West, the Marxist Che Guevara image is overused by any kid suffering from teenage angst.

Huynh Van Thuan: Vietnam, 1972

I could not find any information about Huynh Van Thuan, but I found this piece reminiscent of 1960s movie posters about the Vietnam war and so decided to include it.

Micah Ian Wright: US, 2003

After Micah Wright graduated, he worked a while for Nickelodeon and wrote for The Angry Beavers cartoon. Then in 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, Micah published his anti-war protest book. The book was filled with satires of old war propaganda posters that Micah had reprinted with modern war messages.

Brian Lane Winfield Moore: US, 2009

Brain Moore is a modern propaganda artist who exhibits his work on his blog . He lives in Brooklyn and is probably best known for his promotion of net neutrality and his work during the 2009 Iranian election protests. The posters are based on old WWII propaganda posters but updated in their message to match today’s technology and Web culture.

This poster was a comment on the 2009 Iran election protests. He borrowed the old “loose lips” refrain and replaced it with tweets.

This next one was about the proposed Internet regulation that would supposedly curb illegal activities on the ‘net and help fight the “war on terror.”

Unknown artist: UK, 2010

I could not identify the artist behind this one but had to include it for its clever use of old Tory values and the play on the Scooby Doo gang’s unveiling of the monster. The Tory party now occupies 10 Downing Street, and David Cameron is now Prime Minister of United Kingdom. This poster shows the lack of faith in Cameron’s promise to be a force for change and not just another Thatcher.

Nick Griffin is not an artist, he is the chairman of the British National Party (BNP). Just as most other national parties across the globe, BNP is a good example of propaganda techniques being used to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. BNP has used them to build their hate-filled ranks for years. BNP is extremely good at speaking to people in plain, emotional language and affecting those who experience personal problems and want to find someone who can be blamed for these problems.

Just like many other national parties, BNP is blaming foreigners for these problems and uses strong religious metaphors to deliver the message. Very powerful, yet extremely unethical. This is an example of propaganda being used to manipulate people in a very deceptive, unfair manner.

Further Reading

• The Legacy Of Polish Poster Design
• 35 Beautiful Vintage and Retro Photoshop Tutorials
• Retro Futurism At Its Best: Designs and Tutorials
• Learning From The Past: Design Legacies & Arts

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Propaganda posters from the campaign against women's suffrage, 1900-1913

A Suffragette’s Home. 1910.

The woman suffrage movement actually began in 1848, when a women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. The Seneca Falls meeting was not the first in support of women’s rights, but suffragists later viewed it as the meeting that launched the suffrage movement.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton found themselves increasingly at odds with many of their former reform allies. Many reformers wanted to focus on winning rights — including the right to vote — for newly emancipated African-American men.

Their efforts led to the passing of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. Anthony and Stanton were against these amendments because they included the word “male.” They believed that with the word “male” written in these amendments, it would be even harder for women to obtain the right to vote for women.

Girls I Didn’t Marry. 1911.

At the turn of the century, women reformers in the club movement and in the settlement house movement wanted to pass reform legislation. However, many politicians were unwilling to listen to a disenfranchised group.

Thus, over time women began to realize that in order to achieve reform, they needed to win the right to vote. For these reasons, at the turn of the century, the woman suffrage movement became a mass movement.

Women’s suffrage was cast by opponents as a threat to the very fabric of society, the integrity of the family, and the security of masculinity itself. In 1920, due to the combined efforts of the NAWSA and the NWP, the 19th Amendment, enfranchising women, was finally ratified.

This victory is considered the most significant achievement of women in the Progressive Era. It was the single largest extension of democratic voting rights in America’s history, and it was achieved peacefully, through democratic processes.

An anti-suffrage sign posted by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in London. 1913.

A satirical suffrage-themed songbook. 1910.

My wife joined the Suffrage Movement. 1900.

Mummy’s a Suffragette. 1900.

I want to vote but my wife wont let me. 1909.

A cartoon from Puck magazine depicts suffragettes as Jekyll and Hyde figures. 1913.

Votes for Women. 1912.

(Photo credit: CDM Universal History Archive).

Updated on: March 16, 2022

Any factual error or typo?  Let us know.

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History of American Propaganda Posters: American Social Issues through Propaganda

Leaders throughout history have been able to use propaganda to their own needs and desires. By stirring an individual’s imagination and emotions whether it is for better or worse, figures in power who create campaigns of propaganda imagery can drive a population towards their end wants. Propaganda became a common term around America during World War I when posters and films were leveraged against enemies to rally troop enlistment and garner the public opinion. Propaganda became a modern political tool engendering good will across wide demographics and gaining favor of the country.

The following infographic takes a closer look at American Social Issues expressed through Propaganda imagery.

Text: History of American Propaganda Posters

What is propaganda.

Propaganda can be described as thoughts, ideas, allegations or facts, spread deliberately to further one’s own cause or with the intention of causing damage to an opposing cause. Propaganda is commonly understood to involve any medium that strikes an illicit emotional reaction to one’s thoughts or views. It is a form of biased communication that is expressed through forms of art that do not always depict one set of thoughts in a clear way. A way to clearly stir the emotions of a populace and drive a one-sided opinion, propaganda has been a tool for the powerful to convince and push the less powerful towards a purpose.  

The History of Propaganda

Although the term propaganda became common place in the United States during period of World War I, the concept has been used long since then. Some of the first to use propaganda for their own accords were the Greeks. Though the Greeks did not use propaganda as we know it now in print or movie depictions, they still used art to project their thoughts onto groups. Greeks could influence large groups of citizens and country men to their ways of thought through games, theater, assemblies, courts, and religious festivals.

After the invention of the printing press, leaders could now spread their ideas to the masses much more quickly. Philip II of Spain and Queen Elizabeth of England both used printed and written materials to organize their subjects during the Spanish Armada in the 16th century. To convince each individual nation that the other was at the aggressor, the leaders each participated in their own propaganda campaigns to distribute widespread dissent.

Newspapers during the Mexican American War sometimes took it upon themselves to influence articles and create articles that called for annexation of all Mexico by the United States. In some populations areas that were still controlled by Mexico, some U.S. writers would write or edit papers with the purpose of convincing the residents that the U.S. terms for peace should be accepted and that it was their best choice.  

American Social and Political Issues Depicted Through Propaganda

America has been using propaganda in art for over a hundred years to drive the population towards a common thought. Often the premise dispensed by the government is centered toward an idea of Americanism or pride for the country over others. However, opposition for anyone in power had the same opportunity to use these same tactics through the wide distribution of newspapers and printing machines.

The Pyramid of the Capitalist System Created in 1911, The Pyramid of the Capitalist System, this cartoon directly criticized the worst parts of capitalism. As an American cartoon published, distributed and seen by many of those who were not on the top of the hierarchical capitalistic food chain, it brought to light a social issue that many were afraid to express before.

Liberty Loan Drive Promoting the purchase of war bonds during World War I was very important for the U.S. to keep the war machine driving forward and funded. The Liberty bond driving needing a boast and public attention used an ad that inspired people to purchase bonds. The ad was successful in driving funding and raised more than $17 billion.

Help Keep Your School All-American While the United States has bene a mixing pot, the issue of racism has been difficult to address. The poster, Help Keep Your School All-American, featuring Superman, one of the most popular figures with school children at the time of the ad spoke to changing a prevalently racist outlook of America at the time.

Women in the War This poster meant to drive women into the armed service. By featuring a woman working directly with a wartime device, it helped to inspire a feeling of comfortability with women serving at home and abroad.

We Can Do It Nearly everyone is familiar with “Rosie the Riverter”, but probably not everyone is familiar with her as a propaganda peace to inspire the U.S. wartime workforce. The posters produced of her were pivotal in swinging public opinion that a woman could work in a factory and outside the house to drive the wartime machine production. From 1940 to 1945 the percentage of female U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to 37 percent.

Daisy Girl Political campaign propaganda took a strong foothold during the middle of the 19th century. At a time when nearly everyone feared nuclear warfare, Lyndon B. Johnson played off this fear and created campaigns against his opposition’s controversial comments. Though the political ad, Daisy Girl, only aired once it was still instrumental in playing on the fears of the people to swing their opinion.

Go Tell Mama! I’m For Obama Even in present day terms, America is using propaganda to stir emotion and convince others of our thinking. Artist Ray Noland emphasized the idea of community in his Go Tell Mama! I’m For Obama, playing on the ideas and sentiments of a largely community organization that needed grassroots marketing to spread advertising.  

Norwich University is an important part of American history. Established in 1819, Norwich is a nationally recognized institution of higher education, the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and the first private military college in the United States.

With Norwich University’s online Master of Arts in History , you can enhance your awareness of differing historical viewpoints while developing and refining your research, writing, analysis and presentation skills. The program offers two tracks—American history and world history—allowing you to tailor your studies to your interests and goals.  

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Propaganda posters

Propaganda is a form of communication that promotes a particular perspective or agenda by using text and images to provoke an emotional response and influence behaviour.

Can you think of some modern examples of propaganda?

1. During the First World War, propaganda was used around the world for fundraising, to build hatred of the enemy, and to encourage enlistment. Posters were an ideal method of communicating this propaganda, as they could be printed and distributed quickly in large quantities.

Here are two examples of Australian propaganda posters, which aimed to encourage enlistment by promoting a sense of comradery and duty:

Accession Number: ARTV05616

Sportsmens’ Recruiting Committee, Troedel and Cooper Pty. Ltd, Enlist in the Sportsmens’ 1000 , 1917, chromolithograph on paper, 98.7 x 73.2 cm

Accession Number: ARTV00141

David Souter, Win the War League, William Brooks and Co. Ltd, It is nice in the surf, but what about the men in the trenches? , 1915, lithograph printed in colour on paper, 76.2 x 51.4 cm

a. What messages are the posters presenting?

b. Who are those posters targeting? Who are they not targeting, and why?

c.What do these posters tell us about how the typical Australian man was percieved during the early 1900s?

d. Do you think these posters would have influenced people like Augusta Enberg , the Christensen family , or Peter Rados ? Why or why not?

2. The following propaganda posters also encouraged enlistment, but did this by building fear of the enemy.

Accession Number: ARTV00078

Norman Lindsay, Commonwealth Government of Australia Syd. Day, The Printer Ltd, ?, 1918, chromolithograph on paper, 99 x 74.4 cm

Accession Number: ARTV06030

B.E. Pike, VAP Service, Must it come to this? , 1914 – 1918, chromolithograph on paper, 57.7 x 46 cm

Accession Number: ARTV00079

Norman Lindsay, Commonwealth Government of Australia, W.E. Smith Ltd, Will you fight now or wait for this? , 1918, chromolithograph on paper, 98.3 x 74.6 cm

a. How is the enemy depicted, and what message is being presented?

b. How does the artist use text and images to convey this message?

c. What mood is being created?

d. What design elements (colour, typography, shape, space, and scale) have contributed to the mood of this poster?

e. Do you think the artist has been successful in getting their messages across? Why or why not?

f. How do you think these posters might have made Australians with German heritage feel?

3. Below are German propaganda posters that also focus on the notion of the enemy.

Accession Number: ARTV10343

Claus Berthold, Das Duetsche Scharfe Schwert [The German sharp sword], 1917, lithograph on paper, 90.8 x 58 cm

Accession Number: ARTV10346

Leopold von Kalckreuth, Hurrah, Alle Neune [Hurrah, all nine!], 1918, lithograph printed in colour, 75.4 x 57 cm

Accession Number: ARTV05099

Egon Tschirch Was England Will! [What England will do!...], 1918, lithograph printed in colour, 93 x 67cm

a. Translate the text on these posters using Google Translate . You can also find out more about the posters by searching with the image number (such as ARTV10346) at www.awm.gov.au

b. Compare and contrast these three German posters, to the three Australian posters that also focus on the enemy. Identify similarities and differences relating to message, tone, and the representation of the opposing side. Which posters do you think have the greatest impact? Why?

4. Design your own First World War propaganda poster. You might like to consider:

a. Will you use an Australian, British, German, French or other perspective?

b. What are you trying to get the viewer to think or feel?

c. Will your message be positive or negative?

d. What colours, font, size, and style will you use to get your message across?

For more images and activities relating to propaganda posters from the First and Second World Wars, view the Hearts and Minds education kit.

Last updated: 19 January 2021

200 Years of Stunning and Strange Presidential Campaign Posters

A new book offers a brief visual history of political propaganda design.

The intersection of propaganda and creative culture has always been a centerpiece of political communication, from the branding of totalitarian regimes to the design legacy of the Works Progress Administration to Soviet animated propaganda . Now, from The Library of Congress —America's most centralized collective memory—and Quirk Books comes Presidential Campaign Posters: Two Hundred Years of Election Art . It's a magnificent, large-format volume of 100 tear-out, ready-to-frame political campaign posters from the Library of Congress archives, each contextualized by a short historical essay on the respective election, alongside its final electoral and popular vote statistics.

In the preface, NPR's always-brilliant media pundit Brooke Gladstone writes:

We media consumers are far too jaded by national politics to be influenced by campaign posters, right ? We all know that posters are blatant manipulations, intended not to inform but to enlist. They emphasize faces and catchphrases. They condense complicated issues into jagged little pills. They are blunt instruments. At the same time, the most effective campaign posters of every era leave as much as possible to the voter's imagination. They are like Japanese manga: the less detailed the image, the more easily we can identify with the candidate, the more space for projecting our dreams. The more specific the image, the greater the risk of creating a feeling of "otherness," which translates into death at the polls.

What emerges is a quilt portrait of politics itself, stitched together by a common thread of propaganda techniques and the underlying ideological necessities they bespeak, unchanging across the ages—all the more striking given many of these posters come from an age predating marketing as we know it and what Gladstone calls the "now never-ending research into the psychology of primary colors, the semiotics of sans serif, and the syntactics of the sound bite."

1856: James Buchanan (Democrat) v. James Fremont (Republican) v. Millard Fillmore (American)

1860: Abraham Lincoln (Republican) v. Stephen Douglas (Democrat) v. John C. Breckinridge (Southern Democrat) v. John Bell (Constitutional Union)

1860: Abraham Lincoln (Republican) v. George B. McClellan (Democrat)

1872: Ulysses S. Grant (Republican) v. Horace Greeley (Liberal Republican)

Gladstone observes:

The ultimate lesson of this collection is how choppy those waters are. Political art is nothing less than an illustration of the skirmishes and stalemates that created and continue to animate the American experiment. As you look at each poster and read about each campaign, it becomes increasingly clear that the tug of war over taxes and trade, the distribution of wealth and power, and the role of government itself, will never end. Every generation renews the battle and fights it again. And every time, political candidates borrow from past campaigns the lexicon of perpetual political war. It reverberates in the slogans and the speeches, the urgent need: for tax relief or social protections, for an active government or a dormant one, for war or peace, to stay the course or to change direction.

1908: William H. Taft (Republican) v. William J. Bryan (Democrat) v. Eugene V. Debs (Socialist)

1924: Calvin Coolidge (Republican) v. John Davis (Democrat) v. Robert La Follette (Progressive)

1928: Herbert Hoover (Republican) v. Al Smith (Democrat)

1948: Harry S. Truman (Democrat) v. Thomas E. Dewey (Republic) v. J. Strom Thurmond (States' Rights Democrat) v. Henry A. Wallace (Progressive)

1968: Richard M. Nixon (Republican) v. Hubert Humphrey (Democrat) v. George Wallace (Independent)

1972: Richard M. Nixon (Republican) v. George McGovern (Democrat)

1980: Ronald Reagan (Republican) v. Jimmy Carter (Democrat) v. John Anderson (Independent)

1988: George H. W. Bush (Republican) v. Michael Dukakis (Democrat)

2008: Barack Obama (Democrat) v. John McCain (Republican)

At once a time-capsule of history and an invaluable timeline of design evolution, Presidential Campaign Posters offers a rare look at the craftsmanship of political propaganda and the abiding aspects of the human condition that it bespeaks.

This post also appears on Brain Pickings , an Atlantic partner site.

Famous propaganda posters from the last 100 years

Propaganda is defined as thoughts, ideas, or facts that are disseminated in order to further a cause or movement—or hinder an opposing one. The history of propaganda is rich, dating all the way back to the 15th century. However, it didn't become mainstream, at least in the U.S., until 1914 at the start of World War I.

A couple of propaganda posters that have really stuck to the wall include the image of the woman commonly mistaken for Rosie the Riveter, which came out in the 40s but later took on a feminist connotation, and the iconic image of Che Guevara that has been associated with so many famous protests. These posters have stood the test of time and remain woven into our society, some of them more than 100 years after their initial creation.

Stacker highlighted 50 famous propaganda posters associated with major wars and political movements throughout history, including those from different countries and time periods. Read on to see the origins of Uncle Sam, and where the phrase "loose lips sink ships" came from.

You may also like: D efining historical moments from the year you were born

I Want You for US Army

This American poster is widely regarded as the most famous poster in the world , although it was inspired by a British poster bearing a similar slogan. It made its debut on the cover of the publication Leslie’s Weekly in 1916, depicting “Uncle Sam” urging Americans to enlist in the army as America entered World War I. 

Rosie the Riveter

On the heels of a cultural phenomenon (including a popular song of the same name ), Norman Rockwell created this image of “Rosie the Riveter” in 1943 to represent American women working in munitions factories during World War II.

This poster of former President Obama is largely associated with his 2008 election campaign, and also exists in different versions with words like “Change” and “Progress” beneath the same image. It has been the subject of legal controversy when it was revealed that its creator, Shepard Fairey, was accused of usurping the image of Obama from a former Associated Press photographer. Nonetheless, the poster is entwined with Obama’s campaign message at the time.

We Can Do It

This iconic poster from 1943—often confused with the original Rosie the Riveter—made quite a splash in the U.S., but not necessarily during World War II. Though widely associated with the feminist movement, its original intention was to improve morale for the female employees of Westinghouse Electric . It resurfaced in the early '80s, at which point it gained popularity and acquired its woman-power connotation.

Destroy this Mad Brute, Enlist

Printed in 1918, this WWI-era image depicts German militarism embodied by a ferocious gorilla standing on the ground (labeled “America”) carrying a bloodied club as well as a young woman. The poster served as another call for American men to fight in the war.

"Guerillero Heroico"

Alberto Korda took this iconic photo-turned poster of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in 1960. The image gained substantial cultural traction by the end of the '60s when Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick used it to create a poster. It first appeared in the U.S. in 1968 on New York City billboards and has come to symbolize rebellion on a large scale. The image title means “Heroic Guerilla Fighter.”

Handicapped

One of the most popular symbols of the British Suffragette Movement , this poster depicts a woman struggling to get by in a rowboat, while a man sails smoothly in his sailboat—symbolizing women’s struggle to achieve the right to vote.

Britons Wants You: Join Your Country's Army

This poster featuring British war minister Lord Kitchener —pointing for the sake of military recruitment—served as the inspiration for the American version, which reads “I want you for the U.S. Army.” It was first printed for the cover of the London Opinion magazine in 1914, but came out as a poster shortly after. However, there isn’t much photographic evidence of it having been hung up in public.

Daddy, What did You do in the Great War?

Britain’s army was relatively small at the start of WWI because there was no mandatory enlistment, so the Parliamentary Recruitment Committee was in charge of recruiting the general public to join the army. This was one of their more famous posters, created around 1914 to 1915. The obligation for men to earn money to support their families dissuaded many of them from volunteering, but the PRC used that angle to suggest that children would think that their father’s duty in the army was a more noble calling.

Kultur-Terror

It was not uncommon for Nazi propaganda posters to incorporate the likeness of the monster , which typically symbolized nationalities and philosophical beliefs that deviated from Nazi ideology. This particular poster depicts a monster that represents different aspects of American culture as a whole through its different body parts—one arm holds a money bag, symbolizing greed, and a KKK hood on its head represents nationalism and extremism.

Kep Calm and Carry On

This now-ubiquitous poster originated as a slogan printed by the British government in 1939 to increase morale among the British people at the onset of WWII. It was one of three similar posters with the same design scheme and different wording, all of which incorporated the Tudor Crown. Though it wasn’t necessarily popular in its time, it resurfaced about 15 years ago free of its previous connotation; its slogan was reproduced and parodied on posters, notebooks, and other commodities.

Stamp out the Axis

Dating to 1941, this image of a giant stamp hovering over a Nazi swastika quite literally conveys the U.S. military’s intention of wiping out the Germans in WWII.

Workers of the World Unite!

This Dimitri Moor poster from around 1920 calls for Russian workers to unite against imperialism, juxtaposing the enemy against the bold protagonist. Moor’s classic red and black palette pervades the poster.

Women of Britain Come into the Factories

The U.K. saw many posters encouraging women to take on factory jobs during both World Wars. This 1941 poster calls for women to join the workforce during World War II, in consideration of the men serving in the army who had left their jobs available.

Emancipation of Russian Women

Women appeared prominently on Soviet socialist posters in the early 20th century. Promoting women’s liberation through the lense of socialism, this 1926 poster reads “Emancipated woman—build up socialism.” These words imply that communism cannot thrive without equality among men and women—the woman’s masculinized appearance further symbolizes gender equality.

Become a Nurse: Your Country Needs You

The need for military nurses was high during wartime, so women were widely encouraged to take up the profession. This 1942 image of a young American woman receiving a nursing cap intended to beckon all American women to serve their country by helping wounded soldiers.

Loose Lips Might Sink Ships

The American War Advertising Council created this phrase during WWII, which took the form of a 1945 poster designed to discourage American citizens from talking about sensitive information that could be leaked to war enemies. The image of the sinking ship was the most common pictorial accompaniment to the phrase, which was initially produced for the Seagram Distillers Corporation as an aid to the war effort.

'Kick out the Americans the Unite the Fatherland'

This Korean War-era poster depicts a North Korean soldier literally punching away American soldiers, urging them to pull out of his country.

Help Keep Your School All-American

This Superman-centric poster was distributed in the ‘50s by a version of the Anti-Defamation League for the purpose of advocating for racial and religious tolerance. The poster is dated 1956, but a 2008 auction listing on the Hakes Americana & Collectibles website indicated the copyright is from 1949. It had a small resurgence in the American news a few years ago when Muslims and other minorities were experiencing fairly widespread racism among politicians, corporations and the general public.

It's Our Flag: Fight for it, Work for it

The British Parliamentary Recruiting Committee produced this poster in 1915. The message is pretty clear—it’s a call for men to join the British army at the start of WWI, using patriotic language in conjunction with the Union Jack.

Mao Zedong Cultural Revolution poster

This pro-Mao Zedong poster from the Chinese Cultural Revolution translates to “Long live! Long live Chairman Mao, the reddest and the reddest sun in our hearts!”

Let's Catch Him with his Panzers Down

Dating back to around 1942 , this WWII-era poster depicts a cartoonish version of Hitler in his swastika-print boxers, a literal interpretation of the poster’s slogan. Needless to say, it seeks to inform the American public that the U.S. intends to defeat Germany in the war.

'Did You Volunteer'

This 1920 poster from the Russian Revolution calls for Russian citizens to volunteer for the Red Army , as Lenin had not yet installed a formal military. It is based on the British poster calling for enlistment in the army during WWI. The artist, Dimitri Moor, incorporated a lot of black and red into his work, and typically used red to connote socialist images like flags.

He's Watching You

This 1942 American poster was created to let the public know that the Nazis were watching them. However, some of the public misinterpreted the poster , thinking that the soldier’s helmet symbolized the Liberty Bell. Some factory workers thought that the “he” of the poster represented to be “the boss.”

Step into Your Place

The British Parliamentary Recruiting Committee certainly generated a lot of propaganda posters during both world wars. This one from 1915 communicates a clear message—men are strongly encouraged to join the army to serve their country.

This poster came out in Ireland in 2004 in response to George W. Bush’s move to invade Iraq. It called for a protest attended by Mary Black, Christy Moore, and Damien Rice.

I Want You for the Navy

  Just like men, women were needed to serve in the military during the major wars. This WWI poster calls for women to enlist in the U.S. Navy .

Don't Let that Shadow Touch Them, Buy War Bonds

During World War II, war bonds and war savings stamps provided a source of income for the U.S. government, and Americans were encouraged to purchase them. Buying war bonds also boosted morale among the public. This 1942 poster was particularly emotionally powerful because it depicts children playing in the path of the Nazi swastika. One of the young boys holds a miniature American flag and the other holds an American fighter plane, further symbols of patriotism.  

Save the Wheat and Help the Fleet

During WWI, the British public was encouraged to seek out white bread substitutes so the wheat crop could be used to make bread for the soldiers. In America and Britain, much of the public resorted to bread with wheat substitutes, like corn or barley. This was taken so seriously that eating white flour was likened to helping the enemy.

'To Defend USSR'

Valentina Kulagina was one of few female propaganda artists of the 20th century. Translating to “ To defend USSR ,” this 1930 cubism-esque design depicts the larger-than-life Red Army leaving the factories to fight in the war. The white royalist airplanes flying around them seem not to deter them at all.

For Your Country's Sake Today, for Your Own Sake Tomorrow

Throughout WWII, American women were strongly encouraged to become involved in the war effort. This poster from the early to mid 1940s shows four women dressed in uniforms of the four armed forces units in which they were able to serve: the Women’s Army Corps, the Navy Women’s Reserve, the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, and the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve.

Women of Britain Say—Go

This 1914 poster advocated for British women to contribute to the overall war effort. Women’s traditional roles became blurred during wartime, as they started to work in munitions factories or in various roles at the front.

We the People are Greater Than Fear

Shepard Fairey, who created the iconic posters for Obama’s 2008 campaign, also created a set of three posters to coincide with Donald Trump’s 2017 presidential inauguration. This image of a Muslim-American woman wearing a hijab printed with the American flag, in conjunction with the text, represents a powerful message that “We the people” includes individuals of all races and religions. The other two posters in the set feature Latina and African American women with similarly inspiring phrases.

Together We Win

James Montgomery Flagg designed about 46 posters for the U.S. government during WWI. Here’s one from 1917 aimed at instilling patriotism and positivity in the American public. His posters encouraged men to enlist in the Army, women to join the Red Cross, and members of the general public to make sacrifices for the sake of the war effort.

All Power to the People

Douglas Emory, who helped with the layout of the Black Panther newspaper , created this 1970 poster. The party frequently used the slogan “All power to the people.” This phrase also famously accompanied images of the raised fist, which has mainly symbolized African American rights.

Women in the War: We Can't Win Without Them

Another poster geared toward American women during WWII , this piece dates back to 1942. It bears the image of a female worker riveting a weapon, and calls for women to take up jobs in munitions factories during the war.

Recycle Nixon

This anti-Nixon poster from the Vietnam War era was made as part of Berkeley’s Political Poster Workshop between 1968 and 1973.

Dig on for victory

Dating back to 1941, this poster was created by the British Ministry of Agriculture , whose “Dig on for Victory” campaign encouraged citizens to grow their own crops during wartime rationing. Many public spaces, like parks and public gardens, were allotted as vegetable patches during that time.

'Your Father Is in Danger: Register!'

This German poster from WWI translates to “Your father is in danger, register,” and came out shortly after the war ended. It calls for German citizens to join the Garde-Kavallerie-Schutzen-Division, or Horse Guards Rifle Division , one of the post-defeat units that offered military stability after soldiers returned from the war. 

Free Labor Will Win

Printed in 1942, this poster of a welder standing in front of an American flag promotes free labor in the U.S.—as opposed to the slave labor used by its fascist enemies.

Girls Say Yes to Boys Who Say No

Folk singer Joan Baez and her sisters Paulien and Mimi are at the heart of this anti-draft poster from 1968. Baez was very active politically in the '60s, and openly encouraged men to avoid the draft at her shows. Larry Gates created the poster to debunk the notion that resisting the draft was unmanly, and to raise money for the Draft Resistance Movement.

If the Cap Fits, Wear It

Like so many other World War propaganda posters, this one from WWII calls for citizens to join the  Canadian Army .

Of Course I Can! I'm patriotic as can be—and ration points don't worry me!

During WWII, the U.S. government initiated rationing of food to ensure soldiers had enough supplies (and that civilians had equal access to scant resources). This 1944 poster serves to remind Americans not to waste food during the war.

American Red Cross: Our boys need sox, knit your bit

This American Red Cross poster from around 1918 calls for citizens to donate knitted items to U.S. soldiers for when they entered France. Knitters eagerly responded to this call, though they had to adhere to knitting patterns that followed Army and Navy regulations.

Is This Tomorrow? America under Communism

This design serves as the cover of a 1947 comic book written to teach the public about communism’s inflammatory nature. The text on the opening page reads, “Is this Tomorrow is published for one purpose—to make you think! To make you more alert to the menace of Communism.”

Free All Political Prisoners

This famous image depicting the raised fist with a loose chain is another product of the Political Poster Workshop at Berkeley. It clearly opposes the unjust imprisonment of civil rights activists and other American political martyrs. 

Save Bones for Aircraft Production

Similar to posters urging citizens not to waste food, this WWII poster encourages the British public to save bones and scraps , which could be used in the production of military planes and ammunition.

Andre the Giant Has a Posse

Here’s another iconic design by Shepard Fairey, who created the Andre the Giant has a Posse sticker campaign somewhat haphazardly in 1989. It later transformed into simply “Obey the Giant.” While neither design has any inherent meaning, Shepard intended them to be a study in phenomenology, inspiring people to react and question the world around them. Both images have been widely disseminated throughout the world.

'Freedom for Angela Davis'

Angela Davis was a prominent voice in the late 1960s and early '70s protest movement in America, having actively participated in the Black Panther and Communist parties . This famous poster sprang up when Davis was wanted by the FBI for a crime she did not commit. After her arrest, grassroots organizations started popping up both in America and abroad to fight for her release.

United We Stand Divided We Fall

This famous phrase has roots with the ancient Greeks, but it appeared on this U.S. WWII propaganda poster in 1942. Fundamentally, the phrase denotes the idea that if members of a group with cohesive beliefs work individually instead of as a team, they are destined for failure. This concept certainly applies to the American army’s fight to defeat the Nazis during the war.

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/these-soviet-propaganda-posters-meant-to-evoke-heroism-pride

These Soviet propaganda posters once evoked heroism, pride and anxiety

Propaganda during Soviet times came in poster form. Some messages stirred patriotism in the fight against Adolf Hitler’s invading forces, while others slammed illiteracy and laziness.

They also bashed the greed associated with capitalism:

Soviet propaganda poster depicts capitalism in 1923. Photo by Photo12/UIG via Getty Images

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution in 1917, which overturned the tsars and led to the Soviet Union. Posters at the time showed positive images of workers and the promise of a new future.

“Let us bring in a rich harvest of new territory!” says a Soviet propaganda poster by Oleg Mikhailovich Sawostjuk in 1927. Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images

The posters also shamed the lazy worker:

“We smite the lazy workers,” says a 1931 propaganda poster that was found in the collection of the Russian State Library in Moscow. Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

And urged support for the Red Army and socialism:

A Soviet recruitment poster from the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917 says, “You! Have you signed up with the volunteers?” Photo by Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images

After the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks instituted a literacy campaign:

A propaganda poster from 1920 by A. Radakov says, “The illiterate is like a blind man.” Photo by Photo12/UIG via Getty Images

Another inspirational poster promoted healthy exercise:

Propaganda poster from 1930 by Alexandre Deineka says, “Kolkhosians, let’s do some exercise!” Photo by Photo12/UIG via Getty Images

During World War II, as German forces battled to take control of Moscow, posters depicted Soviet forces putting the squeeze on Hitler:

Propaganda poster by Koukrynisky says, “Napoleon was wiped out, Hitler will be wiped out” in 1941 during World War II. Photo by Photo12/UIG via Getty Images

“The Motherland Is Calling,” says a World War II Soviet military recruitment poster by Irakly Toidze featuring Mother Russia holding out the Red Army Oath of Allegiance in 1941. Photo by Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

As the Space Race raged between the USSR and United States in the 1950s and 1960s, images showed high-flying patriotism:

The Space Race was a 20th century competition between two Cold War rivals, the Soviet Union and the United States. Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images

The Soviet Union was the first to launch a satellite, Sputnik 1, and a human into space, Yuri Gagarin. With Apollo 11, the U.S. landed the first humans on the moon in 1969. Crews from the two countries now work together aboard the International Space Station.

Editor’s Note: The PBS NewsHour is airing a series this week called  Inside Putin’s Russia . Tuesday’s installment describes how propaganda is used in Russia today .

Larisa Epatko produced multimedia web features and broadcast reports with a focus on foreign affairs for the PBS NewsHour. She has reported in places such as Jordan , Pakistan , Iraq , Haiti , Sudan , Western Sahara , Guantanamo Bay , China , Vietnam , South Korea , Turkey , Germany and Ireland .

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MIKHAIL BALJASNIJ

"Communism means soviets [popular councils], plus the electrification of the whole country. Let us transform the USSR through socialist industrialization"

29¼ x 27¾

In the captions artists' titles are in italics, descriptive titles are in roman, and inscriptions taken from the artwork are in quotation marks.

Dimensions are in inches.

BRIGADE KGK3

(VIKTOR KORETSKY, VERA GITSEVICH, and BORIS KNOBLOK)

Ukrainian 1909-1998, Russian 1897-1976, and Unknown, respectively

"Long live International Women's Day"

36¾ x 23

NIKOLAI CHOMOV and IURII MERKULOV

Ukrainian 1903-1974, and Unknown, respectively

"Fulfill the five-year plan not in five years, but in four"

21¾ x 13½

VIKTOR DENI

Russian, 1893-1946

"Death to capital — or death under the heel of capital!"

28¼ x 42

"The final hour"

28 x 21¼

"International Red Day — The day to mobilize the proletariat of the world against the armies of imperialism"

20½ x 26¾

NIKOLAI DOLGORUKOV

Russian, 1902-1980

"Workers of the world, unite! For a worldwide October!"

56½ x 39

"Long live the great, unconquerable banner of Marx, Engels and Lenin!"

68¾ x 20¼

NIKOLAI DOLGORUKOV and BORIS EFIMOV

Russian: 1902-1980 and 1900-, respectively

"Death to the Nazi occupiers!"

33½ x 23¼

BORIS EFIMOV

Russian, 1900-

"Forces of peace with Soviet Union at their head are invincible!"

VLADIMIR GALB

"The Lion's Share"

19 x 26½

Ukrainian, 1898-1973

The Ship of Capitalism

39¾ x 23½

FRANTIŠEK GROSS and KAREL LUDWIG

Czech: 1909-1985 and Unknown, respectively

"Greetings to the Red Army"

37½ x 24¾

Czech, 1901-1983

"Do not trust him! The kulak is the most hardened enemy of socialism"

33 x 21¼

"There: elections are directed by monopolistic American agents; Here: free elections such as never before during the bourgeois regime"

20 x 32¾

Tito joins the West

21¼ x 16¾

NAUM KARPOVSKY

"Glory to the great October leaders!"

21¼ x 29¾

J. KERŠIN

"'The Rights of Man,' American style"

17¼ x 26½

BORIS KLINČ

"Fire hard at the class enemy!"

30¾ x 20½

GUSTAV KLUTSIS

Latvian, 1895-1938

"A system of Party Enlightenment — without revolutionary theory — cannot exist"

42¼ x 28½

"Under the banner of Lenin for socialist construction"

"We will repay the country's coal debt"

41 x 28¾

"The USSR is the Stakhanovite brigade of the world's proletariat"

57¼ x 41

"Passionate greetings from the inventor of proletarian literature"

36½ x 23½

"The victory of socialism in our country is guaranteed"

81½ x 56¾

"Long live the world October"

63¼ x 40¾

"Raise Higher the Banner of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin!"

20 x 37¼

"The goal of the alliance is to destroy bourgeois domination of the proletariat and to create the new"

59¼ x 40½

"Long live the USSR, model of brotherhood among the workers of world nationalities"

24¾ x 35¼

"Cadres decide everything"

77½ x 28¾

BORIS KNOBLOK

"We'll engage hundreds of thousands of working women in socialist production in collective farms, state farms and machine tractor stations"

39¼ x 27½

ALEXEI KOKOREKIN

Russian, 1906-1959

"Thus it will be with the Fascist monster!"

30½ x 20

VIKTOR KORETSKY

Ukrainian, 1909-1998

"Be a Hero!"

34½ x 23½

"Red Army soldier, save us!"

14 x 9¼

"The motherland will never forget the heroic deeds of its sons!"

"In socialism, there is no place for unemployment! In capitalism, there are millions of unemployed!"

23¼ x 33½

"We demand peace!"

46½ x 31½

"You will not strangle the freedom of the Arab peoples!"

22 x 33¾

Collective farm workers urge competition

26¼ x 40½

"Lenin, always with us!"

41½ x 80¼

"If this is freedom, then what is prison?"

"The shame of America"

39¾ x 27¼

American Politics at home and abroad

22¾ x 33

"Their 'democracy'"

36¼ x 25½

"On the Leninist course towards communism!"

THE KUKRYNIKSY

(MIKHAIL KUPRIANOV, PORFIRY KRYLOV, and NIKOLAI SOKOLOV)

Russian: 1903-1991, 1902-1990, and 1903-, respectively

"In Moscow, searchlights reveal the fascist snakes..."

35¼ x 22½

"This evil enemy won't get out of the knot we've got him in! Treaty of solidarity between the Soviet Union, England, and the United States"

23 x 32½

VALENTINA KULAGINA

Russian, 1902-1987

"1905: The Road to October"

41¼ x 29¼

"International Working Women's Day is the day of judging of socialist competition"

43¼ x 28½

"For socialist industry we will produce 8 million tons of alloy in 1931"

28½ x 20½

"Women shock-workers! Strengthen shock-brigades, master the machinery, join the proletarian specialists' personnel"

39½ x 28¼

FRANTIŠEK KUPKA

Czech, 1871-1957

"The master of the world is capital, the golden idol"

20 x 13¾

LĚTKAR

Russian/Ukranian

"Prepare to resist the growing reaction! Long live the international solidarity of the proletariat!"

27¾ x 21

EL LISSITZKY

Russian, 1890-1941

"Everything for the front! Everything for victory!"

35¼ x 23¼

VLADIMIR LUPPIAN

"The Third [Communist] International"

DMITRI MOOR

Russian, 1883-1946

"People's Court"

12½ x 19¼

"October 1917 - October 1920. Long Live the Worldwide Red October!"

27½ x 42

"Before: One with the plough, seven with a spoon. Now: He who does not work shall not eat"

"Cossack! They forced you into a terrible deed against working people. Cossack! Turn your horse and confront the real enemy — the parasite"

27 x 19½

The Bloody Path of Struggle is Over

13½ x 41½

"Freedom to the prisoners of Scottsboro!"

40½ x 28¾

"Comrade! [We want] YOU! Have you signed on to strengthen our motherland?"

40¾ x 26¾

VADIM NEVSKY

1884-around 1938

"Peasant! Look who you're paying under the Tsar and Kolchak. Peasant! Know that with your tax you are feeding hungry workers and peasants"

13¾ x 22½

ANTONÍN PELC

Czech, 1895-1967

"Peace! Away with the shameful Paris Agreements! Away with the remilitarization of Western Germany!"

16¾ x 11¾

NATALJA PINUS

Czech, 1901-1986

"Women in the collective farms are a great force"

31½ x 63½

ARTIST UNKNOWN

ROSTA Window series #160

"1. and a plow"

Hand-cut stencils with watercolor pigment

approx. 22¼ x 17

"2. and a locomotive"

"3. and a steamship"

"4. and our [collective] home"

"5. the worker creates collective labor"

"6. and if there is neither a 'you' nor a 'me' it means we have achieved collective production"

VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY

Russian, 1893-1930

ROSTA Window series #42

Sowing Campaign: Let's fulfill the decree! "1. Everyone fulfilled the Soviet plan"

February 1921

15¾ x 16¼ to 17 x 16¾ each

Sowing Campaign: Let's fulfill the decree! "2. I wasted no time and worked with dedication"

Sowing Campaign: Let's fulfill the decree! "3. For this I was immediately rewarded"

Sowing Campaign: Let's fulfill the decree! "4. With a prize and a decoration!"

VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY and MIKHAIL CHEREMNYKH

Russian: 1893-1930 and 1890-1962, respectively

ROSTA Window series #81

All for Farming Equipment Repair Week! "1. Those are the weapons our factories used to produce"

20½ x 13½ to 21¼ x 14¼ each

All for Farming Equipment Repair Week! "2. Now we have a new kind of weapon to use"

All for Farming Equipment Repair Week! "3. For Spring's arrival we must prepare —"

All for Farming Equipment Repair Week! "4. Get the plough and harrow in full repair"

All for Farming Equipment Repair Week! "5. Worker! A new front has opened"

All for Farming Equipment Repair Week! "6. Quickly, go fix the farming equipment!"

N. Š.

"The power of the bourgeoisie is the power of violence and death"

21½ x 31

WOLFGANG SCHLOSSER

Czech, 1913-1984

"Firm Foundation: Fy Adenauer, formerly Adolf Hitler & Co."

23¼ x 16½

SERGEI SENKIN

Russian, 1894-1963

"Under the banner of Lenin for the second five-year plan!"

55 x 39½

BOHUMIL ŠTĚPÁN

Czech, 1913-1985

"Yesterday a collaborator/Today an alarmist"

49¼ x 36¼

IRAKLII TOIDZE

Russian, 1902-1985

"Under the banner of Lenin, with the leadership of Stalin, forward to the victory of Communism"

47¼ x 33

V. VLASOV, T. POVZNĚR, and T. ŠIŠMAREVA

"Death to fascism"

24½ x 36¼

"Fulfill the five year plan for coal in three years"

41¼ x 27¼

ALEXANDER ZHITOMIRSKY

Russian, 1907-1993

"Get him out of Vietnam!"

34¼ x 23

"Retribution"

34¾ x 24½

"All-Russian Central Alliance of Cooperatives. Women, enter the cooperatives!"

20¾ x 28¼

The bourgeoisie of the Entente succumbs to the new alliance of workers and peasants

19¾ x 35½

"The Constituent Assembly"

The Bedfellows of Capitalism

37½ x 27½

"Stalinists! Broaden the front of shock-workers"

39½ x 28

"Give your raw materials to socialist industry"

37 x 26¼

"Protect the harvest from fire and you will secure bread for the nation"

38¾ x 26

"Parrot talk" (silly nonsense)

19½ x 27½

The allied forces destroy the swastika

20 x 23¾

"Vote list 1 for the communists"

"The nations of the world do not want to repeat the horror of war again"

23½ x 33

"V. I. Lenin died on 21 January 1924"

33 x 23¼

Austrian Posters

Beiträge zur geschichte der visuellen kommunikation.

• 18. Mai 2024 | “Verliebte Plakate” – Posters in love
• 3. Mai 2024 | Arthur Stadler – Zeichnen gegen Krieg und Faschismus
• 19. April 2024 | Der Beginn der modernen Konsumkultur
• 13. April 2024 | Karl Kraus: Die Welt der Plakate
• 30. März 2024 | Gustav Klimt Interiors

War posters and their influence on the visual culture of the political propaganda in the First Austrian Republic

Von: Bernhard Denscher

In Austria, political posters were in existence before the First World War, but they were essentially just filled with text. It was a different story in Hungary: here, the graphic designer Mihály Biró was particularly notable as he created spectacular illustrated posters for Hungary’s Social Democratic Party from 1910 and would later become critically significant for Austria as well. In particular, his poster with the red man for the newspaper “Népszava” from the year 1912 became a model of visual political propaganda whose influence extended far beyond the Hungarian borders. [1]

In Austria, on the other hand, the situation was not as advanced: even when the First World War broke out, the use of illustrated posters for political purposes still developed rather hesitantly. Patriotic propaganda arrived on billboards via an indirect path. Pictures of cheering soldiers and phrases such as “Back home for Christmas” serve as evidence of the uninterrupted euphoria at the beginning of the war. Advertising in the year 1914 also reflects this fatal underestimation of the danger involved: the topic of war was still firmly in the hands of the entertainment industry. The extent to which media perception was so distanced from the cruel reality is shown especially clearly in an announcement by Vienna’s Apollo Variety Theatre that advertised a show in which costumed dogs presented “comical scenes” from military life. However, the industry also made serious attempts at patriotic statements. For instance, the poster for a performance in the famous Musikvereinssaal in Vienna showed the brotherhood in arms being sworn between Germans and Austrians, in the form of a declamatory handshake between a German and an Austrian soldier.

Left: Anonymous, 1914 / Right: Fritz Gareis, 1914

Right from the start of the war, it was clear that the authorities in Austria did not embrace visual propaganda to the same extent as other warring powers. The Emperor told “his peoples” (“An meine Völker!) what to do using condescending expressions, and it seems to have been below his imperial dignity to ask for their commitment. Patriotism was an obligation of all citizens, and there was the belief that reassurance was not really necessary. Although there was the “war press bureau”, where a number of writers and creative artists were able to fulfil their “military obligation” in a cosy and safe environment, this focused primarily on press work and a kind of “artistic idealisation” of war. Actual poster propaganda developed indirectly and was driven by various institutions, such as charitable associations. For example, one of the first propagandist war posters in Austria was an advertisement for an art exhibition whose sole motif was Emperor Franz Joseph. During the initial months of the war, the picture of the Emperor was a common image. It was supposed to represent the meaningful commonalities between the many different peoples of the monarchy. After war had been declared, huge pictures of the Emperor were carried through the streets of Vienna in the various public rallies, together with the monarchy’s black-and-yellow flags. [2]

Left: Adolf Karpellus, 1914 / Right: postcard, ca. 1914

Thousands of postcards, stamps and calendars with the portrait of the Emperor were published – frequently together with the picture of the German Emperor, Wilhelm.

Although the monarch’s portrait was an everyday item at this time, it also became increasingly taboo. His picture seemed to be only authorised for use in official and ceremonial settings. It appears that posters that exposed his likeness to the harsh life of the streets were seen as a medium that did not befit the rank of a monarch. For example, this poster only shows a sculpture of Franz Joseph, and not the Emperor in person. From those years, hardly any posters have survived that display the Emperor’s actual picture, such as on the many postcards. Indeed, the official public authorities were very reticent when it came to street advertising with its broad impact; war propaganda was primarily organised by private entities.

Left: Emil Ranzenhofer, 1915 / Right: Anonymous, 1914

Besides the event scene, it was predominantly commercial advertising that was responsible for such propaganda, such as this poster for cigarette paper that advertises the brand “Helden”, meaning heroes, and evokes the Austrians’ military ties with Germany and Hungary in its illustrations. Another poster for cigarette paper shows that extremely brutal images were used in an attempt to win customers. The affiche blatantly highlights the economic component of the war, because the actual opponent here is not so much France, but the French rival product.

Both posters: Adolf Karpellus (Left: 1916 / Right: 1917)

Propagandists who were close to the state were far more reticent; the most conspicuous among the advertising media were the posters that advertised sales of war bonds. Illustrated posters were only used from the second bond issue in May 1915 onwards. At first individual banks were responsible for that, but as of the third bond issue in the autumn of 1915, such affiches were also produced by official state institutions. Prestigious artists were entrusted with this responsibility, and they developed various image strategies in order to develop positive visualisations for the war and therefore for the product on sale, the “issue of wartime bonds”. One common method used in Austria was downplaying the terrible reality of the war by shifting events back into earlier centuries. Heralds with flying colours and knights on horseback cavort around, while in the reality of war thousands of soldiers were dying in artillery fire and in machine gun attacks.

Left: Maximilian Lenz, 1917 / Right: Poster published by the Parliamentary Recruiting Commitee, June 1915

There are repeated references to Christian Medieval iconography, and war is visually presented as a battle between knights and dragons. The two British writers David Bownes and Robert Fleming observe: “The use of medieval knights to represent national virtues was especially popular in Germany and Austria, where such images drew on a rich tradition of folklore and historical fact.” [3]

An interesting example shows that there were obviously also influences that extended beyond the front lines. In 1915, for example, a recruitment poster was used in the UK that showed St. George fighting the dragon – the victory of good over evil. Two years later, the Austrian graphic designer Maximilian Lenz took up this motif in a very similar style. It is difficult to believe that Lenz had not come across the British poster, as the visual structure of his poster is so similar to the British one. And it is an astonishing fact that examples of enemy visual propaganda were actually on view during the war at exhibitions in Vienna, such as in early 1917 in the “Exhibition of wartime graphics” at the Museum of Applied Arts. [4]

Left: Alfred Roller, 1917 / Right: Paul Suján, 1917

Besides the trivialising historical images, there were also occasional posters that displayed realistic representations of the war. In Austria these were seldom borne by martial pathos, however – their proximity to reality rather appealed to the sympathy of observers. The sobering feeling among the population, to which the initial enthusiasm for war had soon given way, is documented by posters such as for the 7th war bond issue which poses the question “Und Ihr?” (And You?). Advertising for social areas occasionally adopted an even blunter approach, as can be seen in the poster for a wartime benevolence exhibition in Bratislava. In the context of totalitarian National Socialist propaganda during the Second World War, such pictures would have been absolutely inconceivable.

Left: Ernst Ludwig Franke, 1918 / Right: Kurt Libesny, 1918

It is understandable that the reality of the war brought increasing war fatigue amongst the population. The posters for war bond issues that appeared at a later stage addressed this longing for peace very clearly, with frequent new images. For example, a farmer shows how you can sow peace with money for the war bond, or two Austrian soldiers open a heavy steel door leading to peace. Another picture shows soldiers and families reuniting against the skyline of Vienna, addressing the eagerly anticipated desire of millions of people during this difficult period. Compared to the poster propaganda of the Allies, the Austrian advertising was astonishingly reticent. This becomes particularly clear if you take a look at the accelerated propagandist attacks by the US on its opponent Germany, for example.

So what was the source of the acrimony in the political visual imagery of Austrian election campaigns after the First World War? The primary influence of the posters during the First World War on developments in the post-war era was not its aggressive visual language, but the fact itself that visualisation of political content was now practised as well. Another important aspect in the development of media was the abolition of any kind of censorship in a resolution by the Austrian National Assembly on the 30th of October, 1918. This measure freed the media from the constraints of wartime censorship, but it also enabled unrestrained propagandist disputes that occasionally led to the extreme disparagement of political opponents, even going as far as anti-Semitic rabble-rousing.

Both: George Karau, 1919

On the 16th of February, 1919 the first free democratic elections took place in Austria in which women were entitled to vote. One spectacular new development in these elections was the mass use of illustrated posters. An article in the “Neue Freie Presse” with the title “Die Bildergalerie der Straße” (The street picture gallery) writes: “The illustrated election poster attaches its signature to the election week. The text merely supplements the image, though. The picture dominates, striving to achieve a sole and independent effect. It reckons on the psychological fact that cinema has gained higher priority over theatre. This has prompted a contest among poster designers to see who can deliver the briefest and most sparing comment.” [5] And a few days later, “Das interessante Blatt” comments: “A good era for poster designers. There are certain truths to be found in the political thought behind the images. It is high time for collectors to embark on a collection of election posters because they will disappear again after the elections.” [6]

The affiches of the Social Democrats focused not so much on their political rivals, but rather on attempts to come to terms with the recent past. Their main rivals, the Christian Social Party, borrowed from the visual aesthetics of the First World War with its poster of the soldier returning home, although it portrayed its left-wing opponent as a bomb-throwing pyromaniac and red terrorist.

Left: Franz Griessler, 1919 / Right: Fritz Schönpflug, 1919

The posters of the “Bürgerlich Demokratische Partei” were one particular phenomenon in this propagandist dispute. This small group of liberals were committed to becoming a critical third force in Austria. In order to achieve this, they spent by far the most on materials for their election campaign compared to any of the other parties, and the group also had the largest number of illustrated posters, for which they hired graphic designers who were accomplished in advertising. The supposed perilous nature of the two major parties was repeatedly illustrated in new visualisations. Here, for example, the red devil is leading the people into the abyss together with the Catholic priest. Despite this huge expenditure, the election result was more than disappointing for this party of liberals.

Theo Matejko, 1919

A year later, in 1920, Austria had more national elections: graphic designers at the time received key stimulus from Mihály Biró’s work for the Social Democratic Party. For these elections he resurrected his red man from before the war, and drew him in various conflict situations. The repeated theme was the fight of the workers against a united front of reactionaries, who were portrayed as a clergyman, imperial general, capitalist and major landowner. At one point they attempt to refuse him entry to parliament, then they want to prevent him from ridding the country of the refuse of the monarchy.

Left: Mihály Biró, 1912 / Right: Mihály Biró, 1920

The aggression in the visual rhetoric of these post-war years stems – as already mentioned – not so much from the visual imagery of the Austrian posters in the First World War: it is due to the general aggression in the political dispute of that era. Role models were found in political cartoons and above all on international posters. For instance, the “red giant” created by Mihály Biró played a significant role in the general elections of 1920, as is shown in three examples from different parties. The Christian Social Party’s giant protects the people from the capitalists, who want to lead them into the abyss together with a socialist, recognisable by his “liberty cap”. Portrayals of the bourgeoisie confirmed – in line with that party’s ideology at the time – to anti-Semitic caricature templates.

Left: Hanns Zehetmayr, 1920 / Below: Alois Mitschek, 1920 / Right: Mihály Biró, 1920

The Communist Party poster looks like a pamphlet from the political right wing in its fight against the leftists. Holding a flaming torch in one hand, the “red giant” crushes the parliament building on the way to proletariat dictatorship, while the Social Democrat “Superman” attempts to gain entry to Parliament against resistance from the reactionaries. Using the same symbolic figure, these examples highlight the different ideological positions of the parties. They also show that at times posters are able to document the atmosphere and mentalities of an epoch more clearly than any other source.

[1] Horn, Emil, Mihály Biró, Hanover 1996 (=Reihe internationale Plakatkünstler). [2] Fremden-Blatt, 28 January 1914, p. 11. [3] Bownes, David – Robert Fleming, Posters of the First World War, Oxford 2014, p. 90. [4] Denscher, Bernhard, Gold gab ich für Eisen. Kriegsplakate 1914–1918, Vienna 1987, p. 81; Kunstchronik und Kunstmarkt, 6 April 1917, p. 284; Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 9 March 1917, p. 8. [5] Neue Freie Presse, 15 February 1919, p. 13. [6] Das interessante Blatt, 20 February 1919, p. 9.

Translation: Rosemary Bridger-Lippe Lecture at the international conference „Visualizing Cataclysm and Renewal. Visual Culture and War Representations in Central and Eastern Europe in World War One and its Aftermath (1914–1920)”, May 29­ – 31,2019, Budapest.

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The Red Menace: A Striking Gallery of Anti-Communist Posters, Ads, Comic Books, Magazines & Films

in Art , History , Politics | November 18th, 2014 17 Comments

By its very nature, pro­pa­gan­da dis­torts the truth or tells out­right lies. It tar­gets our basest impulses—fear and anger, flight or fight. While works of pure pro­pa­gan­da may pre­tend to make log­i­cal argu­ments, they elim­i­nate nuance and over­sim­pli­fy com­pli­cat­ed issues to the point of car­i­ca­ture. These gen­er­al ten­den­cies hold true in every case, but nowhere, per­haps, is this gross exag­ger­a­tion and fear mon­ger­ing more evi­dent than in times of war.

And while we’ve all seen our share of wartime pro­pa­gan­da, we may be less famil­iar with the decades-long pro­pa­gan­da war the U.S. and West­ern Europe waged against social­ism and Com­mu­nism, even decades before the Cold War era. It may sur­prise you to learn that this offen­sive began even before the start of World War One, as you can see above in a British Con­ser­v­a­tive Par­ty poster from 1909.

Rep­re­sent­ing social­ism as an ape-like demon stran­gling some sort of god­dess of “pros­per­i­ty,” this strik­ing piece of poster art sets the tone for almost all of the anti-Com­mu­nist pro­pa­gan­da to come in the wake of the Russ­ian Rev­o­lu­tion. At least since this ear­ly graph­ic sal­vo, Com­mu­nists and social­ists have gen­er­al­ly been depict­ed as ter­ri­fy­ing mon­sters. See, for exam­ple, an ear­ly, post-WWI exam­ple of Russ­ian anti-Com­mu­nist pro­pa­gan­da above, por­tray­ing the Com­mu­nist threat as an apoc­a­lyp­tic horse­man of death.

As the per­ceived threat increased, so too did the scale of the mon­strous car­i­ca­tures. In the post-WWI era Ger­man and Nor­we­gian posters above, Godzil­la-sized Com­mu­nists lay waste to entire cities. Below, in “Bol­she­vism Unmasked,” an exam­ple from the Sec­ond World War, the skele­tal Com­mu­nist destroy­er strad­dles the entire globe.

Occa­sion­al­ly the racial dimen­sions of these depic­tions were explic­it. More often, they were strong­ly implied. But a 1953 Cold War exam­ple below is par­tic­u­lar­ly unsub­tle. Show­ing a scene lit­er­al­ly right out of a schlocky Para­mount hor­ror film, fea­tur­ing actress Janet Logan, the text tells us, “In case the Com­mu­nists should con­quer, our women would be help­less beneath the boots of the Asi­at­ic Rus­sians.” At the top of this rather lurid piece of agit-prop, we’re also told that “many Amer­i­can men would be ster­il­ized” should Rus­sia win the “next world war.”

In the 50s and 60s, pop cul­ture media like film and com­ic books lent them­selves par­tic­u­lar­ly well to anti-Com­mu­nist pro­pa­gan­da, and they were exploit­ed relent­less­ly by gov­ern­ment agen­cies, pro­duc­tion com­pa­nies, and cor­po­ra­tions. Films like I Mar­ried a Com­mu­nist (below) and The Red Men­ace  (top), both from 1949, offered sen­sa­tion­al­ized pulpy takes on the red scare.

In these peak Cold War decades, anti-Com­mu­nist sen­ti­ment flour­ished as the U.S.’s for­mer ally the Sovi­et Union became its pri­ma­ry ene­my. Com­ic books pro­vid­ed the per­fect plat­form for the broad strokes of anti-Com­mu­nist pro­pa­gan­da. As psy­chi­a­trist Fredric Wertham waged war against the cor­rupt­ing influ­ence of com­ic books, adver­tis­ers and the gov­ern­ment found them increas­ing­ly effec­tive at spread­ing mes­sages. “If there was any enti­ty that believed in the pow­er of com­ic books to indoc­tri­nate and instruct as Wertham did,” writes Greg Beato at Rea­son , “it was the U.S. gov­ern­ment.”

But pri­vate enti­ties did their share in the com­ic book war against Com­mu­nism as well. Wit­ness a par­tic­u­lar­ly wild exam­ple, Is This Tomor­row? , above. Pub­lished by the “Cat­e­chet­i­cal Guild Edu­ca­tion­al Soci­ety” in St. Paul, MN, this 1947 com­ic impli­cates gov­ern­ment reg­u­la­tion of busi­ness, social wel­fare pro­grams, anti-reli­gious sen­ti­ment, and “peo­ple giv­ing up their sil­ly ideas about ‘sacred­ness’ of life” in a fiendish­ly orches­trat­ed plot to take over Amer­i­ca. Work­ers who embrace Com­mu­nist doc­trine are lit­tle more than dupes and pawns. You can read the whole fever­ish sce­nario here .

These car­toon scare tac­tics may seem out­landish, but of course we know that red scare pro­pa­gan­da had real effects on the lives and liveli­hoods of real Amer­i­cans, par­tic­u­lar­ly those in the arts and acad­e­mia. Free­think­ing, left-lean­ing cre­ative types and intel­lec­tu­als have long been tar­gets of anti-Com­mu­nist para­noia. The Amer­i­can Legion Mag­a­zine cov­er above illus­trates the fear—one still very preva­lent now—that col­lege pro­fes­sors were bent on cor­rupt­ing young, mal­leable minds. “Par­ents,” the mag­a­zine states, “can rid cam­pus­es of com­mu­nists who cloak them­selves in ‘aca­d­e­m­ic free­dom.’” At the height of the red scare, many col­lege pro­fes­sors, like Stan­ley Moore at Reed Col­lege, were dragged before the House Un-Amer­i­can Activ­i­ties Com­mit­tee and sum­mar­i­ly fired.

More con­fi­dent, it seems, than the pro­pa­gan­da of pre­vi­ous decades, the Cold War vari­ety shrunk the Com­mu­nist threat back to human dimen­sions. But Com­mu­nists were no less mon­strous than before—only more insid­i­ous. They looked like your neigh­bors, your co-work­ers, and your chil­dren’s teacher. Instead of pur­vey­ors of brute force, they were depict­ed as devi­ous manip­u­la­tors who used ide­o­log­i­cal machi­na­tions to per­vert democ­ra­cy and crip­ple cap­i­tal­ism. As in the Amer­i­can Legion col­lege pro­fes­sor cov­er sto­ry, edu­ca­tion was often posed as the cul­tur­al bat­tle­field on which—as the heat­ed Canadair ad above states—“Communism could take the citadel from with­in” by spread­ing “doubts about the old ways” and insin­u­at­ing “ideas of athe­ism, reg­i­men­ta­tion and false ide­al­ism.”

Post-WWII, of course, the great­est threat was not a full-scale invasion—it was total nuclear anni­hi­la­tion. It was a grim possibility—as Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove satir­i­cal­ly point­ed out—in which no one would win. Web Urban­ist points us toward one par­tic­u­lar­ly chill­ing and dis­hon­est piece of pro­pa­gan­da dis­trib­uted by the gov­ern­ment. In the poster above, we are assured that “After total war can come total liv­ing.” Unless the hap­py cou­ple is gaz­ing out over a man­i­cured sub­urb in the after­life, this scene of “total liv­ing” post-nuclear war is absurd giv­en the strat­e­gy of Mutu­al­ly Assured Destruc­tion. Nev­er­the­less, what the poster depicts is an ana­logue of the Sovi­ets’ total­i­tar­i­an ethos—it’s a future of total ide­o­log­i­cal puri­ty, in which the Earth has been cleansed of the hulk­ing mon­strous hordes of Com­mu­nism, as well as, pre­sum­ably, the cryp­to-Com­mu­nist teach­ers, artists, intel­lec­tu­als, and bureau­crats who threat­en from with­in.

via  Web Urban­ist / io9 / Kuriosi­tas

Relat­ed Con­tent:

How to Spot a Com­mu­nist Using Lit­er­ary Crit­i­cism: A 1955 Man­u­al from the U.S. Mil­i­tary

Sovi­et Artists Envi­sion a Com­mu­nist Utopia in Out­er Space

The Curi­ous Sto­ry of How Boot­legged Hol­ly­wood Movies Helped Defeat Com­mu­nism in Roma­nia

Josh Jones  is a writer and musi­cian based in Durham, NC. Fol­low him at  @jdmagness

by Josh Jones | Permalink | Comments (17) |

Related posts:

Comments (17), 17 comments so far.

Yeah how could any­one have made such pro­pa­gan­da I mean clear­ly his­to­ry shows how benev­o­lent Com­mu­nism was and is. And left­ist cre­atives and intel­lec­tu­als were under attack? The hor­ror.

In the 50s, there were also Red Men­ace bub­blegum cards, which pic­tured such things as Chica­go under poi­son gas attack. Col­lect ’em all!

So I gath­er, judg­ing from the dele­tions, that any com­ments remote­ly crit­i­cal of Com­mu­nism are not allowed? Dis­ap­point­ing. At least the sar­casm in the first com­ment went over some­body’s head.

Some­one point­ed out to me that in this mod­ern age, the next thing to be seen — and fol­low­ing the Red Men­ace trend — will be an anti-Islam­ic ter­ror­ism series.

My guess is that the mil­lions sent to the gulags would find the ref­er­enced pro­pa­gan­da to be fair­ly accu­rate.

This arti­cle ignores radio dra­mas such as “I was a com­mu­nist for the FBI” — pow­er­ful then, and strange now!

I find the Canadair image to be more appro­pri­ate today than when it was print­ed.

The mil­lions killed by Stal­in, through the Five Year Plans and col­lec­tiviza­tion and forced star­va­tion and eth­nic cleans­ing and total war, did not feel the san­guine tinge of roman­ti­cism that Amer­i­ca’s clue­less intel­li­gentsia does before they were stripped of human iden­ti­ty and life itself.

Haha. I agree! Com­mu­nism is so safe and ben­e­fi­cial. That’s why every­one in North Amer­i­ca is mov­ing to Venezuela and North Korea today, just like they all want­ed to go live in Stal­in’s Sovi­et Union. Utopia!! (Note: sar­casm is implied for you snowflakes)

Who in their right mind could think that com­mu­nists are mon­sters? In the “Is this Tomor­row” com­ic book, it is even sug­gest­ed that they use Hol­ly­wood to attack our morals…and that school teach­ers would push athe­ism on the stu­dents. How ridicu­lous! And then it claims that they would incite race and class war­fare. As if our Amer­i­can press and media would ever do such things. That book was so pre­pos­ter­ous that I must sug­gest that every­one steer clear of it!

The rul­ing class was ter­ri­fied of com­mu­nism then and now. They are right to be ter­ri­fied as the vic­to­ry of the work­ers will spell their doom. Despite the recent set­backs the work­ers’ move­ment will be once again be reignit­ed as it’s fires are born out of the very con­tra­dic­tions of cap­i­tal­ism. These con­tra­dic­tions are unsolv­able, to “solve” them you have to break them and to break them you have to break cap­i­tal­ism. This is what must hap­pen and will hap­pen if human­i­ty is not to per­ish.

True, the Red Scare stuff was heavy-hand­ed, but the Amer­i­can Legion and Canadair pieces on “edu­ca­tors” has a cer­tain con­tem­po­rary ring to it in view of the “Woke” social jus­tice profs cur­rent­ly re-writ­ing his­to­ry to pro­tect their snowflake stu­dents from “micro-aggres­sions”. Thank God these young inno­cents can snug­gle with their blankies in their safe spaces. Ban­ning speak­ers from cam­pus­es and stu­dent shout-downs are just as bad as the Red baiters of the 1950s.

The US has been flood­ed with com­mu­nist that have learned the doc­trine of fas­cism and tak­en over the acad­e­mia, social media and polit­i­cal left wing par­ty while claim­ing self right­eous­ness.

Well said, Tim. Thank you for your insight

I think, dplace, what you meant to say is acad­e­mia and the polit­i­cal “left wing” has been purged of Com­mu­nists and replaced with Fas­cists and Anar­chists. They call them­selves Com­mu­nists. I haven’t read a whole lot of Lenin and Stal­in, but what lit­tle I’ve read has all been them crit­i­ciz­ing these kinds of fuck­wits. It’s hilar­i­ous actu­al­ly both these dudes are just exas­per­at­ed as hell by the same idio­cy you’re exas­per­at­ed by. High­ly rec­om­mend read­ing.

Decades lat­er and still any­one to left of hitler is a com­mie. 😂

I thnik com­mu­nis­tism is so cool. Stal­in is my idole.

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Newly Digitized Posters Trace 70 Years of Soviet Propaganda

Like Poster No. 8 below, this image is from the 1977 series "Capitalism Unmasked”; it blames the West’s fuel shortages of the time on “robbery by monopolies” rather than crises in the Middle East. Part of the Davis Center Library’s newly digitized poster collection.

The online collection, including about 200 prints from the Davis Center Library, vastly expands opportunities to study a legacy of state-backed messaging and disinformation that reverberates worldwide today.

Editor’s note: It’s been more than a century since the Soviet project tore forth from imperial Russia, bloody and screaming. And it holds our attention still. Scholars keep writing new books on Soviet Communism, from its birth to its  long-lasting impacts ; writers and filmmakers draw on  the Soviet past for  their work ; the  legacy of Soviet militarism  echoes through Russia’s war against Ukraine, sometimes  in unexpected ways .

The Davis Center Library has recently digitized close to 200  Soviet propaganda posters in its collection. Together they form a visual history of official efforts to influence the USSR’s people throughout the country’s 70-year lifespan — from militant  appeals against capitalism to the iconic “ Motherland calls! ” of World War II to little known gems supporting Mikhail Gorbachev’s  perestroika efforts .

In our age of misinformation by meme, as history is again manipulated to justify violence and soft power still matters to Moscow, this poster collection sheds new light on the means and ends of propaganda — and the present digitization vastly expands access. The posters can now be  browsed in Harvard Library’s  digital image catalog . The images are accompanied by text in the original Russian and in English translation, making them keyword-searchable in both languages. 

The following selection of 10 posters, ordered chronologically, with illuminating commentary by Davis Center alum and Harvard Slavic department Ph.D. student  James Browning , gives a taste of the collection’s breadth. 

The links in the poster titles lead to full-size images and additional information .

James Browning

Ph.D. Candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures

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Old “Yellow Peril” Anti-Chinese Propaganda

In the late 1800s, male Chinese immigrants were brought to the U.S. to work on the railroads and as agricultural labor on the West Coast; many also specialized in laundry services. Some came willingly, others were basically kidnapped and brought forcibly.

After the transcontinental railroad was completed, it occurred to white Americans that Chinese workers no longer had jobs. They worried that the Chinese  might compete with them for work. In response, a wave of anti-Chinese (and, eventually, anti-Japanese) sentiment swept the U.S.

Chinese men were stereotyped as degenerate heroin addicts whose presence encouraged prostitution, gambling, and other immoral activities.  A number of cities on the West Coast experienced riots in which Whites attacked Asians and destroyed Chinese sections of town. Riots in Seattle in 1886 resulted in practically the entire Chinese population being rounded up and forcibly sent to San Francisco . Similar situations in other towns encouraged Chinese workers scattered throughout the West to relocate, leading to the growth of Chinatowns in a few larger cities on the West Coast.

The anti-Asian movement led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the  Gentlemen’s Agreement (with Japan) of 1907, both of which severely limited immigration from Asia.  Support was bolstered with propaganda.

Here is a vintage “Yellow Peril” poster . The white female victim at his feet references the fact that most Chinese in the U.S. were male–women were generally not allowed to immigrate–and this poster poses them as a threat to white women and white men’s entitlement to them:

“Why they can live on 40 cents a day…and they can’t,” this poster  says, referring to the fact that white men can’t possibly compete with Chinese workers because they need to support their moral families.  The Chinese, of course, usually didn’t have families because there were almost no Chinese women in the U.S. and white women generally would not marry a Chinese man.

The following images were found at the The History Project at the University of California-Davis.

This is the cover for the song sheet “The Heathen Chinese”:

According to the History Project, this next image was accompanied by the following text:

A judge says to Miss Columbia, “You allowed that boy to come into your school, it would be inhuman to throw him out now — it will be sufficient in the future to keep his brothers out.” Note the ironing board and opium pipe carried by the Chinese. An Irish American holds up a slate with the slogan “Kick the Heathen Out; He’s Got No Vote.”

The following counter-propaganda pointed out how immigrants from other countries were now working to keep Chinese immigrants out. The bricks they’re carrying say things like “fear,” “competition,” “jealousy,” and “non-reciprocity.”

During World War II, attitudes toward the Chinese shifted as they became the “good” Asians as opposed to the “bad” Japanese. However, it wasn’t until the drastic change in immigration policy that occurred in 1965, with the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act , that Asia (and particularly China) re-became a major sending region for immigrants to the U.S.

This post originally appeared in 2008.

Comments 67

Elena — july 8, 2008.

"During World War II, attitudes toward the Chinese shifted as they became the “good” Asians as opposed to the “bad” Japanese."

Milton Caniff was commissioned to do a quick guide for telling Chinese and Japanese people apart ... not that the Chinese are in any way an homogeneous population!

mike — July 8, 2008

Closer inspection on the image for "The Heathen Chinese" actually shows it says "The Heathen Chinee". Charming.

73man — July 9, 2008

One of the finest caricatures of an Irish immigrant I have seen. And look! the little fella is carrying a block named 'prejudice'. Oh how times have changed.

Sociological Images » Stereotyping Scots as Cheap — July 4, 2009

[...] stereotypes of European ethnic groups, see our post on images of the Irish. We also have some old anti-Chinese posters. tags: change, history, race/ethnicity| Permalink| Happy Birthday, Robert Merton [...]

Collective Action And The Frito Bandito » Sociological Images — August 10, 2009

[...] more racial and ethnic stereotypes in marketing and in these posts: the Chinese (here, here, and here), American Indians (here and here), Black Americans (here and here), and the Irish. [...]

What We’ve Been Up To Behind Your Back (August 2009) » Sociological Images — September 1, 2009

[...] found a rodent control ad comparing the Chinese to rats and added it to our long list of anti-Chinese propaganda circa 1900.  We also added an image of lemon ice cream marketed with a caricatured Asian image to a prior [...]

Traffic Lights Featuring Female Figures » Sociological Images — September 3, 2009

[...] And Astrid linked to some examples from Germany. [...]

Most Overexaggerated Occurance in History? - Page 15 - Historum - History Forums — May 2, 2011

[...] [...]

James Preller’s Blog » Blog Archive » James Preller Interviews . . . Lewis Buzbee, Author of “Bridge of Time” — January 10, 2012

[...] write powerfully about the discrimination experienced by the Chinese residents in San Francisco during the 19th century. The so-called “Chinese Menace” or “Yellow Peril.” For Joan [...]

Vicious Racism of US Capitalist Class Behind Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Korea, Vietnam – and China-bashing « Independent Workers Party – Chicago — August 8, 2012

[...] degree that they were extended to cover all non-white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant peoples, from the Chinese  to the Irish.  Thus the white-skinned population of the United States has been propagandized to [...]

Where “Old” and “New” World Color Meet in Multiracial Asian America :: racismreview.com — November 18, 2013

[…] So what happens when huge numbers of Asian immigrants (430,000 in 2010) and students (6 in 10 international students are from Asia) start arriving Stateside and their colorist/class values meet US racism which has aggressively devalued and violently oppressed dark-skinned people for hundreds of years? What happens when White Perfect (above) meets Jim Crow? “Less yellowish” meets Yellow Peril? […]

Where “Old” and “New” World Color Meet in Multiracial Asian America :: racismreview.com | InnerStanding Isness — November 19, 2013

[…] So what happens when huge numbers of Asian immigrants (430,000 in 2010) and students (6 in 10 international students are from Asia) start arriving Stateside and their colorist/class values meet US racism which has aggressively devalued and violently oppressed dark-skinned people for hundreds of years? What happens when White Perfect (above) meets Jim Crow? “Less yellowish” meets Yellow Peril? […]

May 6, 1882: Race and immigration policy collide | Millard Fillmore's Bathtub — May 6, 2014

[…] Old “yellow peril” anti-Chinese posters, at The Society Pages; also, Cartooning the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act […]

Bill R — June 21, 2014

Today's social critics can have a field day exploring 19th century America. The Chinese labor issue almost pales in comparison to slavery and the resultant civil war and the "relocation" of large numbers of Indians west of the Mississippi. And of course women were of lower stature than men. They couldn't vote and in most places couldn't own real property.

We are not perfect today but in a relatively short period of time we've come a very long way.

Schools in Revolt — September 10, 2014

[…] […]

Is Willa Cather’s “The Affair at Grover Station” a Work of Occult Detection? | timprasil — October 12, 2014

[…] at Grover Station” also has a prime suspect who makes this story very much a part of the Yellow Peril movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s. That suspect is a man named Freymark. Cather is far […]

t | veganracism — October 12, 2014

[…] http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2014/06/20/old-yellow-peril-anti-chinese-posters/ […]

New Movie Spider-Man Should be Peter Park | thenerdsofcolor — February 13, 2015

[…] anyone acquainted with the Yellow Peril propaganda that historically plagued the Asian American community will find the yellow journalism of the Daily […]

For Tues 2/17 | Asian Pacific American Media — February 13, 2015

[…] On Tues 2/17 we will start our new unit. You can prepare by reading Ono and Pham, ch. 2, which I handed out in class on Tues 2/10. Also check out this blog post, Old “Yellow Peril” Anti-Chinese Propaganda. […]

Not Popping: Mis(sed)representations of Asian Men in Western Media - seoulbeats | seoulbeats — March 17, 2015

[…] images presenting the “Yellow Peril” led to greater anti-Asian legislation, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Anti-Japanese propaganda in the early 1900s dehumanized the group — in turn serving as persuasive pieces to strip […]

Stereotypes | Breaking Hollywood's "Bamboo Ceiling" — May 4, 2015

[…] misguided Asian stereotypes have been a problem in the media, running the gamut from “Yellow Peril” archetypes, overly sexualized females, emasculated males, the perpetual foreigner and the model […]

[生活美語] 美國影集: 菜鳥移民 | Eric's English Lounge — June 25, 2015

[…] http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2014/06/20/old-yellow-peril-anti-chinese-posters/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-h-wu/the-case-against-vincent_b_5237359.html […]

Quora — August 20, 2015

I find the term "Asian" incredibly inaccurate since Indians, Israeli, Iranians, and Russians are also in Asia. Why is it that some people get called white or black, but the word yellow for people from East Asia is considered racist? Is there any ot…

Because in English and in matters of psychosociology the color yellow is associated with cowardice and treachery. This line of reasoning is similar to how the word negro as a Spanish word for the color black may be acceptable as in the case of its use…

Winter Quarter Blog #2: Friend or Foe? – A Take on War — January 16, 2016

[…] was a time period in U.S. history where people feared Asian immigrants called the “Yellow Peril“. It started in the late 1800s when the Chinese were brought over as cheap labor. Many feared […]

Map imagining Japanese attack of the West Coast of the United States, four years before Pearl Harbor. – Slinking Toward Retirement — April 12, 2016

[…] anti-Japanese throughout the early 20th century; “Hearst didn’t coin the phrase ‘yellow peril,’ but he used it early, often and […]

Asian Masculinity Is Not A Contradiction – vergeofeverything — April 15, 2016

[…] of the fear of yellow peril and the movies made about the character. Fu Manchu is the embodiment of yellow peril – the fear that Asians and Asian Americans are somehow plotting to infiltrate America through […]

Obama Signs Bill Removing 'Oriental' and 'Negro' From Federal Laws – Silver-Legacy — May 23, 2016

[…] The word evokes anti-Asian sentiment from the nation’s history, including racist “Yellow Peril” stereotyping; the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; and the Oriental […]

Obama Signs Bill Removing 'Oriental' and 'Negro' From Federal Laws - LiberalVoiceLiberalVoice — Your source for everything about liberals and progressives! — News and tweets about everything liberals and progressives — May 23, 2016

[…] The word evokes anti-Asian sentiment from the nation’s history, including racist “Yellow Peril” stereotyping; the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; and the Oriental Exclusion Act of […]

Obama Signs Bill Removing 'Oriental' and 'Negro' From Federal Laws « CauseHub — May 23, 2016

Obama signs bill removing ‘oriental’ and ‘negro’ from federal laws — may 23, 2016, obama signs bill removing ‘oriental’ and ‘negro’ from federal laws | blogfactory — may 24, 2016, venturuso - hispanic venture capital news — may 25, 2016, why americans condemn chinese for eating 15,000 dogs before july 4th – gan ma — july 5, 2016.

[…] Old Yellow Peril propaganda, caption reads, “Why they can live on 40 cents a day. And they can’t” via thesocietypages […]

4 Racist Stereotypes White Patriarchy Invented to 'Protect' White Womanhood — Everyday Feminism — July 10, 2016

[…] was widespread to perpetuate these stereotypes. Chinese men were portrayed as men who strategically stole white men’s jobs and tricked white women; Japanese men were […]

Remembering the Chinese Exclusion Act – Anagnorisis and Peripeteia — September 5, 2016

[…] “The Yellow Terror in All His Glory” (1899) Find original image and other propaganda pictures here. […]

Paul Muschamp — October 14, 2016

'''''''''' Immigration''''''''''

Immigration reminds me of that movie with dyane johnson

bimantara bimo — November 12, 2016

does anyone know who have a source 'bout yellow peril theory??

San Diego Asian Film Festival brings Taiwan Showcase to UCSD | THE TRITON — December 6, 2016

[…] at UC San Diego, bringing the festival to the students for free. With America’s past of the Yellow Peril Movement and the continued history of yellow face, the SDAFF is central to the future of East Asian […]

Dear Adoptive Parents of Overseas Adoptees: Wake Up! — February 2, 2017

[…] Just yesterday, CNBC published an article with the headline, “US-China war increasingly a ‘reality,’ Chinese army official says” (Steve Bannon has also said that he thinks it will happen in the next 5-10 years. Listen to how much contempt he has. It’s the new yellow peril.) […]

Why Asian Americans Don’t Vote: A Theoretical Perspective – Berkeley Political Review — November 18, 2017

[…] had expired. The CEA had come around a time in the 1800s where thousands of Chinese laborers had completed the Transcontinental Railroad, and white Americans were now worried that their jobs would be lost given a number of laborers that […]

From the Peril – Inequalitywho — November 19, 2017

[…] https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2014/06/20/old-yellow-peril-anti-chinese-posters/ […]

Political Cartoons – Various Authors – Conflicts & Conversations: A Postbellum Activist Anthology — May 17, 2019

[…] Sharp, Gwen. “The Yellow Terror in All His Glory.” site title: Sociological Images: Old “Yellow Peril” Anti-Chinese Propaganda. 20 June 2014. April 2019. https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2014/06/20/old-yellow-peril-anti-chinese-posters/ […]

Calator Roman — December 2, 2019

Hello, this weekend is nice designed for me, because this time i am reading this impressive informative paragraph here at my home.- calator.tel

After 170 Years, the 'Sideways Asian Vagina' Myth Still Won't Go Away — January 15, 2020

[…] working-class white laborers by working harder for lower pay. But while Chinese men were reduced to dirty and criminal rat-tailed fiends, the women were viewed as undesirable prostitutes with unorthodox sex organs. And […]

MaKaylei Vasquez — January 24, 2020

The Yellow Perial is a racist color metaphor that the people of East Asia are a danger to the Western world. Asian men couldnt have white women.

The return of the Yellow Peril: Why coverage of COVID-19 is reviving a culture of discrimination against East Asians – Roar News — March 9, 2020

[…] that we lived off of eating vermin to provide cheap labour in order to compete with white workers. The propaganda was widely distributed and state-sanctioned in the US and the UK. However, a lot of the Chinese immigrants who had these claims directed towards them only came to […]

The Saker: "The AngloZionists are launching a strategic PSYOP against China" — April 23, 2020

[…] Anti-Chinese propaganda has a long history in the USA and it was really easy to re-kindle it. […]

The AngloZionists are launching a strategic PSYOP against China | SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM - سلام القدس عليكم — April 23, 2020

[…] Anti-Chinese propaganda has a long history in the US and it was really easy to re-kindle it. […]

The AngloZionists Are Launching a Strategic PSYOP Against China – The Mad Truther | A Sweet Dose of Reality — April 23, 2020

[…] Anti-Chinese propaganda has a long history in the US and it was really easy to re-kindle it. […]

The AngloZionists are Launching a Strategic PSYOP against China - The Falling Darkness — April 23, 2020

The anglozionists are launching a strategic psyop against china – the greanville post — april 23, 2020.

[…] Anti-Chinese propaganda has a long history in the USA and it was really easy to re-kindle it. […]

Anglo-sionistas lançam Operação Psicológica contra a China  - Notícias da Bahia — April 25, 2020

[…] A propaganda anti-chineses tem longa história nos EUA e foi realmente fácil reacendê-la. […]

Los anglosionistas están lanzando una PSYOP estratégica contra China | √ HO1 – Holistic Overview #1 - The #1 AIO* Holistic View to understand several topics better ! — April 25, 2020

[…] La propaganda anti-china tiene una larga historia en los Estados Unidos y fue muy fácil reavivarla.2.- La mayoría de los estadounidenses tienen una […]

Anglo-sionistas lançam Operação Psicológica contra a China | √ HO1 – Holistic Overview #1 - The #1 AIO* Holistic View to understand several topics better ! — April 25, 2020

[…] 1.      A propaganda anti-chineses tem longa história nos EUA e foi realmente fácil reacendê-la.2.     Muitos norte-americanos têm reação completamente irracional à palavras “comunista”, de tal modo que é realmente fácil para qualquer panfleto de propaganda pró-EUA mencionar o Partido Comunista da China e a palavra “mentiras” na mesma frase e soar crível, não importa o que que digam frase e panfleto (do tipo, digamos, de prova factual).3.     A plutocracia dos EUA está apavorada com o poder econômico e industrial dos chineses, daí a vilificação de empresas como Huawei ou DJI que são declaradas ameaça à segurança nacional dos EUA. Jogue todas as culpas sobre os chineses, e os oligarcas norte-americanos amarão!4.     China e Rússia estão num relacionamento que é até muito mais profundo que uma aliança. Chamo de “simbiose”; os chineses falam de “parceria estratégica ampla de coordenação para a nova era”; os russos falam de uma “aliança crucial”. Os termos realmente pouco importam aqui; o que interessa é que Rússia e China estão lado a lado (é o que dizem com a palavra “coordenação”) contra o Império e que as tentativas (admitidamente poucas e canhestras) dos EUA para quebrar aquela aliança falharam completamente. […]

The AngloZionists Are Launching a Strategic PSYOP Against China – Emma Olive — April 28, 2020

[…] Anti-Chinese propaganda has a long history in the US https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2014/06/20/old-yellow-peril-anti-chinese-posters/ and it was really easy to re-kindle […]

RASSEGNA STAMPA DETTI E SCRITTI 4 MAGGIO 2020 - Detti e Scritti — May 4, 2020

[…] Negli Stati Uniti la propaganda anti-cinese ha una lunga storia [in inglese] ed era davvero facile ravvivarla. […]

Les Anglo-Sionistes lancent une PSYOP stratégique contre la Chine. par The Saker. – COLLECTIF NOVEMBRE POUR LE SOCIALISME — November 7, 2020

[…] 1- La propagande anti-chinoise a une longue histoire aux États-Unis et il a été très facile de la relancer. […]

Les Anglo-Sionistes lancent une PSYOP stratégique contre la Chine. par The Saker. – Ecole populaire de philosophie et de sciences sociales — November 13, 2020

Implicit vs explicit racism | eliminato — june 28, 2021, san diego asian film festival brings taiwan showcase to ucsd - the triton — september 7, 2021, dear adoptive parents of overseas adoptees: wake up – my sky list — november 2, 2021, the anglozionists are launching a strategic psyop against china | the vineyard of the saker — february 17, 2023, leave a reply cancel reply.

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Second World War propaganda posters

During the Second World War, the Ministry of Information produced propaganda posters to influence the British public on the home front. These posters promoted a range of government campaigns to encourage domestic food production, salvage and military recruitment.

'Squander bug' poster discouraging wasteful spending

Catalogue reference: View the record NSC 5/624 in the catalogue

During the Second World War, the British government encouraged people to save their money and invest in the war effort, rather than personal spending. The National Savings Committee produced publicity material to promote the purchase of national savings certificates and to discourage unnecessary spending.

They employed a humorous cartoon character named 'the squander bug', created by artist Phillip Boydell. The character is depicted covered in swastikas, in an attempt to associate wasteful spending with the Nazi enemy. ‘The squander bug’ appeared in many posters, pamphlets and films during wartime.

'Keep mum she's not so dumb!' anti-gossip poster

Catalogue reference: View the record INF 3/229 in the catalogue

This poster, designed by Harold Forster, was produced in 1941 by the Ministry of Information. It was part of a publicity campaign to alert people to the threat of enemy spies and the danger of gossiping and unintentionally passing information to the enemy.

This poster features a woman in evening dress in the centre, gazing directly toward the viewer, surrounded by men in service uniforms. It was designed to warn service personnel against revealing sensitive military information around unknown civilians, particularly in this case attractive women. This poster was one of several using the slogan 'Keep Mum' and it offers an intriguing insight into cultural conceptions of the roles of women during the Second World War.

'Comrades in Arms' exhibition advertising poster

Catalogue reference: View the record EXT 1/48 in the catalogue

From 1941, the USSR was a vital ally to Britain and the Ministry of Information had the task of promoting its war work to the British people. At the same time, the British government were anxious to avoid celebrating its leadership or communist doctrine.

In 1942, the Ministry of Information created an exhibition called Comrades in Arms: Pictures of the Soviets at War. The exhibition displayed Soviet propaganda posters which had been gifted to the Minister of Supply.

This promotional poster for the exhibition shows Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin united side by side, although with the British prime minister facing away from Stalin's gaze.

Design for salvage appeal poster

Date: 1939–1945

Catalogue reference: View the record INF 3/220 in the catalogue

Britain relied on shipping to supply its raw materials during the Second World War, and supply lines were in constant threat from U-boat attacks. It was therefore vital to conserve raw materials at home and the Ministry of Information worked on publicity campaigns to encourage salvage and recycling.

This drawing is a rough design for a poster, in ink and watercolour, by Cyril Kenneth Bird, known by his pen name Fougasse. It was designed to associate salvaging metal, bones and paper with the production of new guns and tanks for the war effort.

Poster for 'Dig for victory' campaign

Catalogue reference: View the record INF 13/140 in the catalogue

Public health and food production was a key concern for the British government during the Second World War. At the outbreak of war, Britain imported 70% of its food from overseas, relying on shipping routes vulnerable to U-Boat attack. Food rationing was introduced in 1940 and more attention turned to fruit and vegetables, which were never rationed. This poster was part of a publicity campaign, initiated by the Ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries with the Ministry of Information, and designed to encourage domestic food production. The campaign was a great success and by 1943 more than a million tons of fruit and vegetables were being grown in gardens and allotments around the country.

‘Women of Britain, come into the factories' recruitment poster

Catalogue reference: View the record INF 3/403 in the catalogue

This 1941 poster declaring ‘Women of Britain come into the factories’ was designed by artist and cartoonist Philip Zec. It was part of a recruitment campaign to encourage women to contribute to the war effort by working in factories making munitions and other vital supplies. The design exhibits stylistic elements drawn from Soviet poster art.

‘Make-do and mend’ campaign poster featuring Mrs Sew-and-Sew

Catalogue reference: View the record INF 13/144 in the catalogue

In June 1941, clothes rationing was introduced in Britain. The Board of Trade initiated a campaign to assist the public with this new restriction, under the slogan ‘Make-do and mend’. The campaign encompassed pamphlets, posters, exhibitions and events, showing people how to make and mend their clothes while being efficient with materials and fashionable at the same time.

A new character was created, Mrs Sew-and-sew, to help promote the campaign. This poster features the character prominently and the blank space at the bottom was intended to allow organisers to display information about local events.

‘Let us go forward together' poster depicting Winston Churchill

Catalogue reference: View the record INF 13/213 in the catalogue

This poster was produced by the Ministry of Information to strengthen morale and promote unity after Winston Churchill became Prime Minister in May 1940. It superimposes a photograph of Churchill over images of planes and tanks with a quotation from his inaugural speech, where he spoke of ‘Blood, toil, tears and sweat’.

'Back them up!' campaign poster

Catalogue reference: View the record INF 13/123 in the catalogue

This poster is one of a series using the slogan 'Back them up!' alongside artwork depicting the British armed forced engaged in fighting. The posters were produced by the Ministry of Information to catch the eye and encourage commitment to war production on the part of civilians on the home front. The illustration in this example is captioned 'R.A.F. day raiders over Berlin's official quarter'.

Poster depicting 'V' for victory in allied flags

Date: 1942–1945

This poster was produced by the Ministry of Information to communicate how important Britain's allies were on the path to victory in the Second World War. It depicts a 'V' for victory, in the form of allied flags. The countries represented are the UK, the USA, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Poland, China and the USSR.

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How to Navigate London’s Wondrous (and Very Big) V&A Museum

Paintings, ceramics, photography, fashion, furniture and more: The Victoria and Albert Museum is a treasure trove of art and design. Here’s one besotted visitor’s plan for taking it all in.

By Andrew Ferren

Andrew Ferren, a frequent contributor to the Travel section, has visited the V&A dozens of times and looks forward to exploring the new satellite buildings when they open in East London in 2025.

Even for someone who loves getting lost in museums — especially “everything museums” like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York — London’s Victoria and Albert Museum might have been my Waterloo. The statistics are daunting: 5,000 years of artistic production with more than 60,000 works on view (from a collection of some 2.8 million) in about 150 galleries beneath 21 acres of roof.

The V&A typically draws around 3 million annual visitors, but even on the busiest days, the museum has the space and setup to largely avoid the sense of competing with the crowds. Since visiting the permanent collection is free (some exhibitions cost up to 20 pounds, or about $25), once you’re in the door you can just start wandering. Step right for medieval mosaics and Renaissance tapestries or go deep for 1940s Paris fashion, Baroque sculpture and, beyond that, Buddhist art.

It’s easy to spend an entire day in the V&A. Here’s a plan for making the most of your visit. But first a bit of background.

An eclectic treasure trove

If the British Museum is known as Britain’s attic — an abundance of artistic and cultural relics from the realm and around the globe — then the V&A is the country’s classroom. It, too, is a trove of exemplary works, from exquisite Raphael drawings to groovy 1970s plastic radios; Coptic tunics to Alexander McQueen couture gowns; vividly hued Islamic tiles to a bunch of grand English beds. These objects were displayed not just to delight connoisseurs, but to provide great art and ideas to educate British designers, manufacturers and workers in good taste and technical prowess.

The museum was the pet project of Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria, who had seen firsthand that British manufactured goods were not always top of the class. By displaying applied arts (textiles, ceramics, glass and other manufactured objects) alongside fine arts (architecture, painting and sculpture), the new museum would democratize aesthetic appreciation and inspire better designs for better products.

Originally known as the South Kensington Museum, the V&A opened in 1857 in temporary structures while new buildings were constructed. Incorporated into the new museum were libraries and schools for science and art, including one for women. The leading artists of the time, such as Frederic Leighton and William Morris, contributed to its décor. Such was its embrace of modernity, that the world’s first museum exhibition of photography (the medium was “invented’ only in the 1820s) was held here in 1858.

Though Prince Albert died in 1861, the museum continued to expand. In 1899, Queen Victoria laid the cornerstone of a grand new entrance wing along Cromwell Road and renamed the complex the Victoria and Albert Museum.

If that sounds fusty, it’s not. More than 165 years after its opening, the V&A’s pioneering spirit hasn’t faded. Its fashion blockbusters, like “Naomi: In Fashion,” celebrating the model Naomi Campbell (opening June 22), are must-see shows. And its outreach programs, studio classes and parties engage the public as few museums do. Recently, the V&A’s reach has been growing, with offshoots such as the Scottish V&A Dundee , a kid-centric Young V&A and two new museum buildings — one featuring nearly 250,000 works — opening in East London in 2025.

Many contemporary artists and designers claim the V&A as among their favorite museums, and one to which they return again and again. Though neither artist nor designer, I, too, claim the V&A as a favorite museum and have visited dozens of times, often for less than an hour just to wow my young kids with the monumental plaster casts of European monuments or even just to get out of the rain.

But I knew there were still sections I’d never visited. So, after an absence of three years, I spent a day there and came up with a game plan for others to navigate those vast halls.

Get there at 10 a.m., when the doors open, so you can breeze through the ground-floor galleries while they are still virtually empty and then head to more remote parts.

Since fabrics are fragile and fade, the fashion exhibits are changed regularly and there’s always something fresh and engaging to see. From there, wind past the entrance through the arts of Asia, from the elegantly simple furniture of Ming China to the intricately carved lacquerware of Japan, to the eye-poppingly vivid blue tile reliefs and stunning silk carpets such as the 16th-century Ardibil carpet from Persia.

Then into the Cast Courts, three huge galleries packed with full-size reproductions — plaster and metal casts — of sculptures and building fragments from around Europe. Exact copies of medieval tombs line the floor while masterpieces like Michelangelo’s David, Trajan’s Column and Renaissance church facades rise toward the ceiling. One can easily get stuck here, awed by the scale and charmed by the concept of corralling massive replicas from across the centuries into a playground for architecture buffs.

From there it’s an easy slide into the adjacent medieval and Renaissance galleries, which cover Europe from 300 to 1600, and where the colorful fourth- and fifth-century tapestry fragments on view or the radiant gold-backed mosaics from Ravenna, Italy, reveal that the Dark Ages were not entirely devoid of light and color.

The later galleries reveal just how connected and sophisticated many parts of Europe were in the Renaissance. Exquisite regional products — metalwork and armor from Germany, shimmering lusterware ceramics from Spain, tapestries from Brussels — became sought after on an international marketplace.

Carving your own path

In such a sprawling museum, there is no single logical or even chronological path to follow. For many, that’s part of the V&A’s appeal: the quirky juxtapositions one encounters roaming its six floors (the ground floor is numbered zero, so the “fourth floor” is actually the fifth level; the V&A also has a -1 basement level).

So on my visit, once the galleries started filling up at midday, I took the elevator to the remote fourth-floor ceramics galleries and then made my way to the lower floors.

On the fourth floor, it feels as if virtually everything ever made of clay or porcelain — Ming, majolica, Meissen, you name it — is displayed in floor-to-ceiling cases, including stacks of Chinese bowls salvaged from a ship that sank in 1400 off the Malay Peninsula.

Just when you think one can’t stretch the clay any further, you get to a display about Josiah Wedgwood and his innovative Jasperware that became the rage around the world in the 18th century. (The V&A also has an outpost in Stoke-on-Trent dedicated entirely to Wedgwood). The remaining fourth-floor galleries showcase furniture from the last 600 years.

The third floor offers a similar range of media and epochs — from international glass in all its facets to architectural models. One might expect Venetian Murano glass to reign supreme, but the quirky and colorful 18th-century German enameled glass, as well as green-hued glasses and goblets adorned with blobs of glass steal the show.

On the second floor, a network of long galleries offers deep dives into religious stained glass, small-scale bronze sculptures, English paintings and drawings, as well as tapestries. Nearby, gorgeous murals by Frederic Leighton push the V&A propaganda in themes like “The Arts Applied to War” and “The Arts Applied to Peace.”

Also on the second floor, the Photography Center recently expanded its galleries to become Britain’s largest photography exhibition center. Part of a display called “Design: 1900-Now,” features a recent acquisition: a store-bought snorkeling mask that had been adapted by an Italian designer into a functioning oxygen mask during the darkest days of the Covid crisis in 2020.

In a country famous for its crown jewels, the V&A’s spot-lit jewelry gallery packs in everything from fifth-century Byzantine bracelets to jaunty 1970s body jewelry. Standouts include the Townshend jewels — a virtual encyclopedia of gemstones, from colored diamonds to opals, each set in individual rings and displayed in swirls of brilliant color.

And finally, stretching almost across the entire second floor is a display of every imaginable type of ironwork. Seeing these works, such as the monumental 19th-century Gothic Revival choir screen from Salisbury Cathedral, calls to mind the Goethe quote that “architecture is frozen music.”

Take a break then keep going

Even if you’re not hungry, head to the ground level to the Refreshment Rooms, the world’s first museum cafe, which opened in 1868. Designed by the leading talents of the day — James Gamble, William Morris, Philip Webb, Edward Burne-Jones and Edward J. Poynter — the original decoration remains largely intact, a snapshot of Victorian modernity. Back in the day, each room had a different menu and proposed clientele, but today, for about £10, visitors can choose from a buffet of hot English fare, quiches, sandwiches, beer, wine or soft drinks, and take their meal into whichever room they find most pleasing.

Back in the galleries, I had saved what I considered the best for last: some two dozen British galleries (spread between levels 1 and 3) that tell the country’s history from the Tudors to the Victorians through paintings, furniture, clothing, musical instruments, textiles and truly fabulous beds, including the Great Bed of Ware, a massive four-poster built in 1590 for an inn. It measures nearly 11 feet on each side, supposedly able to accommodate four couples. Centuries-old graffiti covers practically every plank, and its fame merited a mention in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”: “… as many lies as will lie in thy sheet of paper, although the sheet were big enough for the bed of Ware.”

And then finally, the most extraordinary works in the museum, shown in a cathedral-like space: the famous Rafael cartoons for the tapestries that were created to adorn the Sistine Chapel in 1515-16. Commissioned by Pope Leo X, Raphael painted the designs on paper, which would have been used as the guide for the weavers to follow. Now owned by King Charles III and considered among the greatest works of Renaissance art, they were created as part of a manufacturing process, so it seems wholly appropriate they are on loan to the V&A, where fine art and manufacturing go hand in hand.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

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Considering a trip, or just some armchair traveling here are some ideas..

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The Alaska Highway:  On an epic road trip, a family plots a course from Alaska to the Lower 48, passing through some of Canada’s most spectacular scenery .

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Japan:  A new high-speed train stop unlocks Kaga, a destination for hot springs, nourishing food and traditional crafts , as an easy-to-reach getaway from Tokyo.

London:  The Victoria and Albert Museum is a treasure trove of art and design. Here’s one besotted visitor’s plan for taking it all in .