---
title: Let There Not Be a Man or a Woman Among Us Who... (The Prime Minister, May 4th 1915)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-not-idle-prime-minister-1915/
description: A text-only poster carries a statement signed 'The Prime Minister', dated May 4th 1915, asking every man and woman to be able to say after the war 'I was
section: Collection
---

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[![Let There Not Be a Man or a Woman Among Us Who..., 1915 UK poster: A text-only poster carries a statement signed 'The Prime](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-not-idle-prime-minister-1915.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-not-idle-prime-minister-1915.jpg)

# Let There Not Be a Man or a Woman Among Us Who... (The Prime Minister, May 4th 1915)

A text-only poster carries a statement signed 'The Prime Minister', dated May 4th 1915, asking every man and woman to be able to say after the war 'I was not idle'. It frames the war as 'the greatest task' in the 'storied annals' of the country, using elevated virtue language, and asks for no specific action.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

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

## Text on the object

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

```
Let there not be a man
or a woman among us
who, when the war is
over, will not then be
able to say:

"I was not idle.

"I took such part as I
could in the greatest task
which, in all the storied
annals of our country, has
ever fallen to the lot of
Great Britain to achieve".

THE PRIME MINISTER.
May 4th 1915.

PUBLISHED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY RECRUITING COMMITTEE, LONDON.- POSTER Nº 98.
PRINTED BY ROBERTS & LEETE LTD LONDON. W. 2171/439.
```

[← La Libre Belgique, no. 7, front page (clandestine, Brussels, March 1915): "Bulletin de propagande patriotique"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/la-libre-belgique-no-7-bulletin-de-propagande-patriotique-1915/) [The New York Times, daily edition, front page (New York, May 8, 1915) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nyt-lusitania-sunk-1915-05-08/)

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