---
title: Let's Go to Work, Brother!!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-alston-lets-go-to-work-brother-1943/
description: Two large figures labelled 'Paul Bunyan' and 'John Henry', one white and one Black, stand on a globe looking down at small, agitated figures at its edge.
section: Collection
---

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3. Let's Go to Work, Brother!!

[![Let's Go to Work, Brother!!, 1943 US cartoon: Two large figures labelled 'Paul Bunyan' and 'John Henry', one white and one](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-owi-alston-lets-go-to-work-brother-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-owi-alston-lets-go-to-work-brother-1943.jpg)

# Let's Go to Work, Brother!!

Two large figures labelled 'Paul Bunyan' and 'John Henry', one white and one Black, stand on a globe looking down at small, agitated figures at its edge. The tell is transfer: two American folk heroes of labour are paired as equal partners to lend legendary strength to the call to war work.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

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

## Text on the object

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

```
"LET'S GO TO WORK, BROTHER!!"
[On belts:] PAUL BUNYAN; JOHN HENRY
[Signed:] Alston
```

[← "Let him have that right, and we can take him this round!!"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-alston-let-him-have-that-right-1943/) [Lieut. Willa Brown - Aviatrix, Maker of Pilots →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-alston-lieut-willa-brown-aviatrix-1943/)

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- [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)