Workers: Lend Your Strength to the Red Triangle (Y.M.C.A.)
A muscular worker in an undershirt strains against a block marked with the YMCA red triangle, while an older man in a YMCA-badged uniform watches and a soldier with fixed bayonet advances in the smoke behind. The slogan 'Help the Y help the fighters fight' presents a donation as the home worker's share of the front-line effort. The tell is the equation of manual labour with fighting, which invites the donor to see himself inside the war effort.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- Young Men's Christian Association (United War Work Campaign)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- NGO
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Fundraise
- Themes
- War and the military, Labor, Home front
- Event
- World War I
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 4 (U.S. Food Administration), World War I Posters (NAID 512439), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
Young Men's Christian Association (United War Work Campaign). National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-249.
Text on the object
WORKERS YMCA LEND YOUR STRENGTH TO THE RED TRIANGLE HELP THE "Y" HELP THE FIGHTERS FIGHT UNITED WAR WORK CAMPAIGN-NOVEMBER 11 to 18 Gil Spear
The first letters of 'WORKERS' are partly overlapped by the figure's cap; the word is read as printed. 'Gil Spear' is the artist's signature.
