---
title: Electrical Work is War Work
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/electrical-work-is-war-work-1939/
description: Three panels list electrical goods (batteries, searchlights, radio equipment, motors, switchgear and others) under the headings 'Fighting men need'.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Electrical Work is War Work

[![Electrical Work is War Work, 1939 UK poster: Three panels list electrical goods](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/electrical-work-is-war-work-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/electrical-work-is-war-work-1939.jpg)

# Electrical Work is War Work

Three panels list electrical goods (batteries, searchlights, radio equipment, motors, switchgear and others) under the headings 'Fighting men need', 'Tanks, planes, ships need' and 'War factories need', with pictures of a signaller, a searchlight crew, a tank, an aircraft, a warship and a factory. The headline 'Electrical Work is War Work' carries the prestige of the front line over a trade, which is the transfer tell.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

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

## Text on the object

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

```
ELECTRICAL WORK is WAR WORK

FIGHTING MEN NEED
BATTERIES
ELECTRO-MEDICAL STORES
GENERATORS
LAMPS
MINE DETECTORS
MOTORS
PREDICTORS
RADIO EQUIPMENT
RADIOLOCATION
SEARCHLIGHTS
SOUND LOCATORS
TELEPHONES
TORCHES

TANKS, PLANES, SHIPS NEED
BATTERIES
CABLES
CARBON BRUSHES
CONDENSERS
GENERATORS
INSTRUMENTS
INSULATORS
LAMPS
MAGNETOS
PLUGS
SWITCHES
TELEPHONES
TERMINALS
WIRE
RADIO EQUIPMENT

WAR FACTORIES NEED
CABLES
CONDENSERS
CARBON BRUSHES
GENERATORS
INSULATORS
LAMPS
MOTORS
MOTOR CONTROL GEAR
SWITCHGEAR
TELEPHONES
TRANSFORMERS

MINISTRY OF SUPPLY No. 106
PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY HAYCOCK PRESS, LONDON. 51-4038
```

[← Eat Greens for Health - Feed Right to Feel Right](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eat-greens-feed-right-to-feel-right-1939/) [Every Rivet a Bullet - Speed the Ships →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/every-rivet-a-bullet-speed-the-ships-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)
