---
title: The Lives of These Men Depend on Your Work
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-lives-of-these-men-depend-on-your-work-1939/
description: A machinist works at a lathe beneath RAF-marked fighters and a burning aircraft with a swastika on its tail, tying the lathe to the aircraft overhead.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. The Lives of These Men Depend on Your Work

[![The Lives of These Men Depend on Your Work, 1939 Canada poster: A machinist works at a lathe beneath RAF-marked fighters](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-lives-of-these-men-depend-on-your-work-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-lives-of-these-men-depend-on-your-work-1939.jpg)

# The Lives of These Men Depend on Your Work

A machinist works at a lathe beneath RAF-marked fighters and a burning aircraft with a swastika on its tail, tying the lathe to the aircraft overhead. The tell is the headline 'The lives of these men depend on your work', which transfers the pilots' risk onto the worker's output.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)

## Text on the object

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

```
THE LIVES OF THESE MEN
DEPEND ON Your WORK

PRINTED IN CANADA
Published and distributed under the authority and
direction of the Director General of Aircraft Production
Donated to Canada's War Effort by Canadian Car and Foundry Company Limited
```

[← Le 'Centre Nerveux' de la Guerre \[The 'Nerve Centre' of the War\] (Canadian poster in French)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-le-centre-nerveux-de-la-guerre-french-1939/) [Our Answer: All-Out Production →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-our-answer-all-out-production-1939/)

## 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)