---
title: Beware of the Communists poster (Kachin poster distributed in Rangoon)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/beware-of-the-communists-kachin-rangoon-1954/
description: A Kachin-language anti-Communist poster. A hairy, naked, ape-like seated figure whose arm is lettered with a Kachin phrase holds a small doll marked
section: Collection
---

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3. Beware of the Communists poster (Kachin poster distributed in Rangoon)

[![Beware of the Communists poster, 1954 US poster: A Kachin-language anti-Communist poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/beware-of-the-communists-kachin-rangoon-1954.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/beware-of-the-communists-kachin-rangoon-1954.jpg)

# Beware of the Communists poster (Kachin poster distributed in Rangoon)

A Kachin-language anti-Communist poster. A hairy, naked, ape-like seated figure whose arm is lettered with a Kachin phrase holds a small doll marked 'Jinghpaw' while, beside him, several human figures hang bound over a fire like roasting meat under a lettered banner. The tell is name-calling by dehumanisation, with fear-appeal: the opponent is drawn as a beast that consumes the viewer's people.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)

## Text on the object

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

```
KUNMYUNIT HPE SADI MU

[on the figure's arm:] KUNMYUNIT AH NA SHIN LAI
[on the doll:] JINGHPAW
[on the carcass hung over the fire:] MUNGKAN MASHA NI A AHKANG AYA
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
[Headline, literal reading:] Communists, watch out for / be on guard against [them]. [Other lettering is left untranslated because the reading is uncertain; NARA's title is 'Beware of the Communists'.]
```

Romanised Kachin transcribed as printed; the translation is tentative and rests on NARA's title plus a literal reading of the headline.

[← Born From the Nation poster, item 93 (Khmer, distributed in Phnom Penh)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/born-from-the-nation-poster-93-khmer-1954/) [Cry of Balintawak, August 26, 1896 poster (English, Manila) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cry-of-balintawak-english-1954/)

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- [Miniature of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, Les Passages d'outremer (BnF Fr. 5594, fol. 19r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passages-doutremer-council-of-clermont-colombe-1474/) (France · 1474 · Testimonial, Fear appeal). Content note: Medieval religious imagery and a French text describing alleged killings and captivity of eastern Christians, as used to argue for the First Crusade; the text is shown as written.
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
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- [Proclamation de Sonthonax en créole, Cap-Français (Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonax in Creole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sonthonax-proclamation-creole-1793/) (France · Aug 29, 1793 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Colonial-era proclamation on slavery and emancipation in Saint-Domingue; speaks of slaves, whips and 'Nègues' in period terms.
- [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (United States · Aug 14, 1800 · Name-calling, Fear appeal)
- [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered.
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