---
title: To Build the Nation photo poster (Lao poster distributed in Asia)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/to-build-the-nation-photo-poster-lao-1959/
description: 'A Lao-language photo poster headed ''To build the nation'', with a short text and six captioned black-and-white photographs: dam construction.'
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. To Build the Nation photo poster (Lao poster distributed in Asia)

[![To Build the Nation photo poster, 1959 US poster: A Lao-language photo poster headed 'To build the nation', with a short text](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/to-build-the-nation-photo-poster-lao-1959.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/to-build-the-nation-photo-poster-lao-1959.jpg)

# To Build the Nation photo poster (Lao poster distributed in Asia)

A Lao-language photo poster headed 'To build the nation', with a short text and six captioned black-and-white photographs: dam construction, a school frame going up, soldiers marching, relief supplies being unloaded, rice planting and road building. The text says a strong nation needs the labour of many and calls on every reader to take part. The tell is glittering generalities, with unity and sacrifice asserted as virtues, and a bandwagon appeal that everyone is joining in.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/)

## Text on the object

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

```
ເພື່ອຈະສ້າງປະເທດຊາດ

[body text, five short paragraphs in decorative Lao script: [illegible] in detail at available resolution]

[photo captions:] ການກໍ່ສ້າງຝາຍ / ການກໍ່ສ້າງໂຮງຮຽນ / ການປ້ອງກັນປະເທດຊາດ / [illegible] / ການປູກເຂົ້າ / ການສ້າງຖະໜົນຫົນທາງ

9-8899
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
To build the nation. [Body, gist: to build the nation strong and complete, the labour of many people is needed; nation-building cannot be done by government alone, since developed countries were built by sincere cooperation between government and the whole people; loyalty, sacrifice and steady work are duties no one can avoid; every reader should share in building the nation to prosper.] [Captions:] Building a dam / Building a school / Defence of the nation / [illegible] / Planting rice / Building roads.
```

Body text is rendered in a decorative Lao typeface and is not reliably legible; the translation of it is a gist, flagged as such, not a literal rendering.

[← Exhibits poster, USIS Presents (Korean poster distributed in Seoul)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exhibits-poster-usis-presents-korean-seoul-1959/) ["Ran an den Speck, jagt die Militaristen weg!": pledge boot for the 10th anniversary of the GDR, Neubrandenburg district →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-ran-an-den-speck-boot-neubrandenburg-1959/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [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)
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Royal Museums Greenwich version), oil on panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i-greenwich-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)