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
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Supply (poster No. 106), printed for HMSO by Haycock Press, London
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Labor, War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- 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 (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
Ministry of Supply (poster No. 106), printed for HMSO by Haycock Press, London. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), World War II Foreign Posters, NAID 44266434.
Text on the object
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
