---
title: We Have Not Died in Vain!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-we-have-not-died-in-vain-1943/
description: Four standing Ethiopian figures, one holding a rifle and one a child, appear beside a grave and a cross inscribed 'In memory of Ethiopians killed
section: Collection
---

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3. We Have Not Died in Vain!

[![We Have Not Died in Vain!, 1943 US cartoon: Four standing Ethiopian figures, one holding a rifle and one a child, appear](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/owi-alston-we-have-not-died-in-vain-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/owi-alston-we-have-not-died-in-vain-1943.jpg)

# We Have Not Died in Vain!

Four standing Ethiopian figures, one holding a rifle and one a child, appear beside a grave and a cross inscribed 'In memory of Ethiopians killed by Mussolini'. A news item below reads 'Unrest sweeps Italy as Mussolini flees'. The tell is transfer: the memory of the dead is attached to current news of the Axis collapse to frame it as vindication.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

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

## Text on the object

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

```
IN MEMORY OF ETHIOPIANS KILLED BY MUSSOLINI
"UNREST" SWEEPS ITALY AS MUSSOLINI FLEES."
NEWS ITEM
Alston OWI
"WE HAVE NOT DIED IN VAIN!"
```

[← "Watch your local newspaper!!!"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-watch-your-local-newspaper-1943/) ["A well fed nation is a fighting nation" →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-well-fed-nation-fighting-nation-1943/)

## 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)