---
title: Blight on Labor Day!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-blight-on-labor-day-1957/
description: A seated statue on a pedestal inscribed 'Samuel Gompers, Father of Organized Labor' is splattered at its base by a large black stain across the steps.
section: Collection
---

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3. Blight on Labor Day!

[![Blight on Labor Day!, 1957 US cartoon: A seated statue on a pedestal inscribed 'Samuel Gompers, Father of Organized Labor'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-blight-on-labor-day-1957.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-blight-on-labor-day-1957.jpg)

# Blight on Labor Day!

A seated statue on a pedestal inscribed 'Samuel Gompers, Father of Organized Labor' is splattered at its base by a large black stain across the steps, labelled 'Teamsters Union Scandal'. The cartoon argues that the scandal tarnishes the labour movement's founding figure on Labor Day; the technique is transfer, using the monument's authority and the holiday to carry a judgment onto the present.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
SAMUEL GOMPERS
FATHER
OF
ORGANIZED LABOR
TEAMSTERS UNION SCANDAL
JIM BERRYMAN WASHINGTON STAR
```

[← I wouldn't have believed it possible!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-i-wouldnt-have-believed-it-possible-1957/) [Chitra Katha photo poster No. 19: Pakistani student at Oregon (Bengali, Dacca) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chitra-katha-photo-poster-19-bengali-dacca-1957/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)