Fast and Steady Speeds My Lathe So Hitler Gets a Closer Shave!
A grinning machinist in work clothes runs a lathe whose workpiece is a caricatured Hitler face, shaved by the cutting tool. The rhyme turns the enemy leader into the object being machined, and the line 'Brave men shall not die because I faltered' ties the worker's speed and care personally to soldiers' survival.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1940
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Department of Munitions and Supply for Canada; artist signature illegible (possibly Bush)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- Canada
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Mackenzie King Government
- Leader
- William Lyon Mackenzie King
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Labor, War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (Canadian Crown copyright, expired; Canadian government department imprint)
Department of Munitions and Supply for Canada, c. 1940-1945. National Archives and Records Administration, NAID 44267603 (WWII Foreign Posters).
Text on the object
Fast and steady speeds my lathe So Hitler gets a closer shave! BRAVE MEN SHALL NOT DIE BECAUSE I FALTERED This message is issued by the Department of Munitions and Supply for Canada
