--- title: 'Union posters: strikes, May Day and anti-union propaganda, 1888 to 1989' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/labor-union-posters/ description: 'Union posters, strike calls and May Day items, 1888 to 1989: 22 objects from 13 countries, from unions, parties, employers and states.' section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a dossier collage of an evidence wall of pinned propaganda posters, leaflets and printed matter from many eras, with contact sheets and catalog labels.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-collection.jpg) Collection # Union posters: strikes, May Day and anti-union propaganda, 1888 to 1989 Union posters, strike calls and May Day items, 1888 to 1989: 22 objects from 13 countries, from unions, parties, employers and states. 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. Union posters [![Union Labor Party](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/union-labor-party-streeter-cunningham-1888-640.jpg)Union Labor Party](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/union-labor-party-streeter-cunningham-1888/) [![Winnipeg Telegram, Extra, front page, 9 June 1919 (Winnipeg General Strike)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/winnipeg-telegram-police-force-fired-1919-640.jpg)Winnipeg Telegram, Extra, front page, 9 June 1919 (Winnipeg General Strike)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/winnipeg-telegram-police-force-fired-1919/) [![Long Live the First of May: Under the Lenin Banner of the Comintern, Forward!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/deni-long-live-the-first-of-may-1929-640.jpg)Long Live the First of May: Under the Lenin Banner of the Comintern, Forward!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/deni-long-live-the-first-of-may-1929/) [![The President of the United States on May 2, 1943, said](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/presidents-message-coal-miners-1943-640.jpg)The President of the United States on May 2, 1943, said](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/presidents-message-coal-miners-1943/) [![U.S. Labor Day poster, AFL-CIO greeting (Spanish poster distributed in Latin America)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/labor-day-greeting-afl-cio-poster-416-spanish-latin-america-1964-640.jpg)U.S. Labor Day poster, AFL-CIO greeting (Spanish poster distributed in Latin America)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/labor-day-greeting-afl-cio-poster-416-spanish-latin-america-1964/) [!['Generální stávka 27. 11. = první svobodné volby': student-printed strike poster, November 1989](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/generalni-stavka-27-11-poster-1989-640.jpg)'Generální stávka 27. 11. = první svobodné volby': student-printed strike poster, November 1989](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/generalni-stavka-27-11-poster-1989/) > **Content note.** Some items on this page use loaded labels such as "Bolshevism", "traitors" and "spy" for strikers and union members, and one carries a skull. They appear as issued, as evidence of what each issuer said. Showing an item is not endorsing it. [What are union posters and labor propaganda?](https://propagandaarchive.org/labor-union-posters/#what-are-union-posters-and-labor-propaganda) [How did unions and labor parties appeal to members before 1920?](https://propagandaarchive.org/labor-union-posters/#how-did-unions-and-labor-parties-appeal-to-members-before-19) [How did strikers and governments answer each other in 1919 and 1926?](https://propagandaarchive.org/labor-union-posters/#how-did-strikers-and-governments-answer-each-other-in-1919-a) [How did the left use May Day and the strike across the 1920s to 1940s?](https://propagandaarchive.org/labor-union-posters/#how-did-the-left-use-may-day-and-the-strike-across-the-1920s) [How did states mobilise or restrain labor in wartime?](https://propagandaarchive.org/labor-union-posters/#how-did-states-mobilise-or-restrain-labor-in-wartime) [How did unions figure in Cold War propaganda?](https://propagandaarchive.org/labor-union-posters/#how-did-unions-figure-in-cold-war-propaganda) ## What are union posters and labor propaganda? Union posters are printed appeals made by or about trade unions: calls to strike, May Day invitations, party tickets, and the posters, cartoons and newspapers that employers, governments and rival parties issued against them. The collection holds 22 such objects from 1888 to 1989, drawn from 13 countries and tagged by issuer, audience and technique. Explain moreShow less The page applies the working definition used for every country ([how FRAME defines propaganda](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/working-definition/)) and the same technique definitions to every issuer. Related pages: [communist propaganda](https://propagandaarchive.org/communist-propaganda/), [Soviet propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/soviet-propaganda-posters/), [Spanish Civil War posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/spanish-civil-war-propaganda-posters/), [British propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/british-propaganda-posters/), [East German propaganda](https://propagandaarchive.org/east-german-propaganda/) and the case study [labor organizing and anti-union campaigns](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/labor-organizing-and-anti-union-campaigns/). **Gaps, stated plainly.** The objects are posters, but also leaflets, newspaper pages, cartoons and photographs, because many strike messages were printed as newspapers or handbills. The collection holds no company or employer-association poster against a union, no British Labour Party poster and no object from Africa, Australia or India, so the employer's side is represented only by newspapers, cartoons and governments. That reflects what has been found and cleared for hosting, not how much any side produced. The sections run in date order. ![Union Labor Party ticket lithograph, Streeter and Cunningham, 1888](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/union-labor-party-streeter-cunningham-1888.jpg) ## How did unions and labor parties appeal to members before 1920? Kurz & Allison of Chicago published this lithograph for the Union Labor ticket in 1888, with portraits of the nominees Alson J. Streeter and Charles E. Cunningham, figures of Liberty and Justice and the banner "The product of labor belongs to the producer". A Lincoln quotation is attached to the ticket, and the entry tags it testimonial and transfer. [Read the technique: testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/). ![IWW hat card reading Bread or revolution, Union Square, New York, 1914](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/iww-bread-or-revolution-1914.jpg) ![Cartoon: Uncle Sam rounds up Spy, Traitor, IWW and German money, 1918](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/now-for-a-round-up-iww-1918.jpg) ![Oltener Aktionskomitee flyer calling the Swiss general strike, 11 November 1918](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/landesstreik-aufruf-oltener-komitee-1918.jpg) Explain moreShow less A Bain News Service photograph of 11 April 1914 shows a man at an Industrial Workers of the World rally for the unemployed wearing a card reading "Bread or revolution". The entry reads the slogan as two outcomes only, relief or upheaval, and tags it fear appeal. [Read the technique: fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/). W. A. Rogers drew this cartoon for the New York Herald on 9 May 1918, on the Sedition Act. Uncle Sam drags a bundle labelled Spy, Traitor, IWW, German money and Sinn Fein. The entry tags name-calling, transfer and guilt by association: the union is filed with spies and traitors. [Read the technique: guilt by association](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/guilt-by-association/). The Olten Action Committee of the Swiss labour organisations issued this flyer on 11 November 1918, calling an indefinite general strike from midnight, with a nine-point programme and separate appeals to workers and soldiers. The entry notes the Federal Council had called up troops and tags the flyer bandwagon and fear appeal. The strike ran 12 to 14 November. [Read the technique: bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/). ![Winnipeg Telegram extra, 9 June 1919: Police force fired](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/winnipeg-telegram-police-force-fired-1919.png) ## How did strikers and governments answer each other in 1919 and 1926? The Winnipeg Telegram, a daily opposed to the strike, printed this extra on 9 June 1919 during the Winnipeg General Strike. A column addressed to the striking soldier says citizens read the strike as sympathy with "Bolshevism" and "traitors". The entry tags name-calling and bandwagon and notes the strike committee answered in its own Western Labor News. [Read the technique: name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/). ![The British Gazette, No. 2, 6 May 1926](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/british-gazette-no-2-general-strike-1926.jpg) ![The British Worker, No. 1, 5 May 1926](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/british-worker-no-1-general-strike-1926.jpg) Explain moreShow less The British Gazette was the government's emergency newspaper during the General Strike of 3 to 12 May 1926, directed by Winston Churchill. Its second issue reports the strike as failing and quotes the Prime Minister calling it "the road to anarchy and ruin". The entry tags fear appeal, glittering generalities and bandwagon. [Read the technique: glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/). The Trades Union Congress General Council issued the British Worker as its answer. Its first issue reports "Wonderful response to the call" and asks strikers for "quiet dignity". Both papers claim public support in the same week; the entry tags the British Worker bandwagon and glittering generalities. ![Viktor Deni, Long Live the First of May, Gosizdat, 1929](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/deni-long-live-the-first-of-may-1929.jpg) ## How did the left use May Day and the strike across the 1920s to 1940s? Viktor Deni's 1929 May Day poster for the State Publishing House shows a worker on a chained globe holding a flag with Lenin's profile and the Comintern line. The entry tags it transfer: Lenin's name lends authority to the call. The issuer was the Soviet state, where unions operated under the ruling party ([Soviet Union](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/soviet-union/)). ![l'Unità, January 1928: Scioperate](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/l-unita-sciopero-salari-1928.jpg) ![CNT collectivised mattress industry poster, Barcelona, 1937](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/cnt-textil-colchoneria-collectivised-industry-poster-1937.jpg) ![Chinese Worker, May Day special, Yan'an, 1940](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/chinese-worker-may-day-contents-yanan-1940.jpg) Explain moreShow less The banned Italian Communist Party produced l'Unità underground in January 1928, calling strikes against wage cuts in the workers' own idiom and mocking the regime's gold standard. The entry tags plain folks and name-calling. [Read the technique: plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/). The CNT's textile union in Barcelona issued this 1937 colour poster for collectivised mattress manufacture. A product is tied to symbols of pain, welfare and war, so buying from the collective becomes a political act. The entry tags it transfer and records that its US copyright status has not been cleared. [Read the technique: transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/). The Chinese Workers Society in Yan'an published this May Day 1940 issue with the Border Region General Labour Union as contributor. The entry tags glittering generalities: headlines call the Soviet worker's life happy and prosperous without evidence. **Content note:** Skull-and-railway-track poster from the German occupation of the Netherlands warning strikers of misery. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) ![Dutch Staking poster with skull, 1944](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/staking-brengt-alleen-ellende-1944.jpg) ## How did states mobilise or restrain labor in wartime? A 1944 poster catalogued as issued by German occupation authorities shows railway track under the word STAKING (strike) and a skull, with the line that a strike "brings only misery upon your own people". The Dutch railway strike began on 17 September 1944. The entry tags fear appeal. ![OWI cartoon: Labor Day 1942, Free Labor Will Win](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-owi-alston-labor-day-1942.jpg) ![President's message to coal miners, 1943](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/presidents-message-coal-miners-1943.jpg) Explain moreShow less Charles Alston drew this Labor Day 1942 cartoon for the Office of War Information: a white and a Black worker carry a shield, "Free Labor Will Win", toward a tower marked Axis. The entry tags glittering generalities and fear appeal ([Roosevelt administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/roosevelt-administration/)). A government printing office sheet quotes President Roosevelt's statement of 2 May 1943, in the coal-fields dispute when the mines were under federal operation. It pairs a pledge to protect union rights with a call to march "shoulder to shoulder with their armed forces". The entry tags testimonial and glittering generalities. [Read the technique: testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/). ![GDR May Day board, East Berlin, 1952](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gdr-may-day-board-berlin-1952.jpg) ## How did unions figure in Cold War propaganda? At the East Berlin May Day rally of 1 May 1952 a board read "Kampftag für Friedensvertrag, gegen Generalkriegsvertrag". The entry notes the Western side rejected the peace-treaty offer as insufficient without free elections, and tags name-calling and transfer. ![Berryman cartoon: Beck and Hoffa on the Teamster bench, 1957](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/beck-hoffa-teamster-bench-berryman-1957.jpg) ![USIA poster: AFL-CIO Labor Day greeting to Latin America, 1964](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/labor-day-greeting-afl-cio-poster-416-spanish-latin-america-1964.jpg) ![CDE poster: the strength of labour, right to strike, Portugal](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/cde-forca-do-trabalho-poster-1969.jpg) ![Progressive Labor Party poster: Meany in Miami Beach with our union dues, 1971](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/plp-meany-miami-beach-union-dues-1971.jpg) Explain moreShow less Jim Berryman of the Washington Evening Star drew Teamsters leaders Dave Beck and Jimmy Hoffa on a bench "reserved for former Teamster big shots", on 29 September 1957. The entry says the cartoon is opinion and the allegations are not assessed here; it tags name-calling. The U.S. Information Agency distributed this Spanish-language poster in 1964: a steelworker beside an AFL-CIO crane hook greeting Latin American workers, under "inter-American trade union solidarity". The entry tags plain folks and glittering generalities. A government agency, not a union, issued it. The opposition Comissão Democrática Eleitoral printed this Portuguese poster under the Estado Novo ([Estado Novo](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/estado-novo/)), showing workers beneath "right to strike, right to struggle". The Biblioteca Nacional dates it 1969 or 1973. The entry tags glittering generalities and bandwagon. The Progressive Labor Party printed this 1971 poster criticising AFL-CIO president George Meany's use of dues, and urging rank-and-file caucuses. The entry notes no figure or document is offered and tags card stacking. [Read the technique: card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/). ![PZPR May Day invitation, Poznan, 1981](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/poland-pzpr-may-day-invitation-poznan-1981.jpg) ## How did unions appear in the last decade of the Soviet bloc? The ruling party's works committee at Adam Mickiewicz University invited staff and students to a "May Day demonstration of the unity of working people". The year is an inference; the entry tags glittering generalities and transfer. ![Solidarity banners at Jasna Gora, 1985](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/poland-solidarity-banners-jasna-gora-1985.jpg) ![Czechoslovak poster: General strike 27 Nov 1989](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/generalni-stavka-27-11-poster-1989.jpg) Explain moreShow less Fortepan photographed hand-painted banners at Jasna Góra in 1985, naming Solidarity workplaces beside the Pope's name. The union had been dissolved by statute in 1982. The entry tags transfer: the union's name sits beside a religious figure. A Prague graphic arts school printed this poster for the two-hour general strike of 27 November 1989, equating it with "the first free elections". The entry tags glittering generalities. [Read the technique: glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/). ## What do these objects show when read together? Every side used the same small set of techniques: loaded labels, claims of majority support, and borrowed authority. They differed in scale and means. Governments in 1926, 1944 and 1957 had state or press resources, while the strike bulletins and underground sheets in 1928 and 1985 had few; the record here does not support treating these as equal. Read them with the [analysis guide](https://propagandaarchive.org/how-to-analyse-propaganda/). ## Union, strike and May Day objects in the collection Showing 22 of 22 objects. [Filter the whole collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/). - [Union Labor Party](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/union-labor-party-streeter-cunningham-1888/) (United States · Aug 31, 1888 · Testimonial, Transfer) - [I.W.W. Hat Card](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/iww-bread-or-revolution-1914/) (United States · Apr 11, 1914 · Fear appeal) - [Now for a round-up](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/now-for-a-round-up-iww-1918/) (United States · May 9, 1918 · Name-calling, Transfer, Guilt by association) - [An das arbeitende Volk der Schweiz! Aufruf zum Landesstreik (To the working people of Switzerland! Call for the general strike), 11 November 1918](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/landesstreik-aufruf-oltener-komitee-1918/) (Switzerland · Nov 11, 1918 · Bandwagon, Fear appeal) - [Winnipeg Telegram, Extra, front page, 9 June 1919 (Winnipeg General Strike)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/winnipeg-telegram-police-force-fired-1919/) (Canada · Jun 9, 1919 · Name-calling, Bandwagon). Content note: Anti-strike newspaper front page of 1919 calling strike leaders 'traitors' and linking the strike to 'Bolshevism'; also an 'Alien Act' headline. - [The British Worker, No. 1, front page (London, 5 May 1926): TUC official strike news bulletin](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/british-worker-no-1-general-strike-1926/) (United Kingdom · May 5, 1926 · Bandwagon, Glittering generalities) - [The British Gazette, No. 2, 6 May 1926 (government strike newspaper)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/british-gazette-no-2-general-strike-1926/) (United Kingdom · May 6, 1926 · Fear appeal, Glittering generalities, Bandwagon) - [l'Unità, Anno VII, N. 1, front page (January 1928): "Resistere alla seconda ondata di riduzione dei salari! SCIOPERATE!"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/l-unita-sciopero-salari-1928/) (Fascist Italy · Jan 1928 · Plain folks, Name-calling). Content note: Clandestine Communist front page whose strike slogan uses a vulgar word ('A salario di merda, lavoro di merda!'), shown as printed. - [Long Live the First of May: Under the Lenin Banner of the Comintern, Forward!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/deni-long-live-the-first-of-may-1929/) (Soviet Union · 1929 · Transfer) - [Industria Obrera Colectivizada de Colchonería (CNT Sindicato Único, Barcelona)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cnt-textil-colchoneria-collectivised-industry-poster-1937/) (Spain · May 13, 1937 · Transfer) - [中國工人 (Chinese Worker) no. 4, May Day special: contents page and Yan'an colophon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chinese-worker-may-day-contents-yanan-1940/) (China · May 1, 1940 · Glittering generalities) - [Labor Day 1942](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-alston-labor-day-1942/) (United States · 1942 · Glittering generalities, Fear appeal) - [The President of the United States on May 2, 1943, said](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/presidents-message-coal-miners-1943/) (United States · 1943 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities) - [Staking brengt alleen ellende over uw eigen volk (Strike brings only misery upon your own people)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/staking-brengt-alleen-ellende-1944/) (Nazi Germany · 1944 · Fear appeal) - ["Kampftag für Friedensvertrag gegen Generalkriegsvertrag": May Day 1952 rally board, East Berlin](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-may-day-board-berlin-1952/) (East Germany · May 1, 1952 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [Can you make room for two...in a pinch](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/beck-hoffa-teamster-bench-berryman-1957/) (United States · Sep 29, 1957 · Name-calling). Content note: A caricatured cartoon of two named labour union leaders, one seated on a bench holding a money bag, as published in the Washington Evening Star. - [U.S. Labor Day poster, AFL-CIO greeting (Spanish poster distributed in Latin America)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/labor-day-greeting-afl-cio-poster-416-spanish-latin-america-1964/) (United States · Aug 11, 1964 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities) - [C.D.E. - a força do trabalho: direito à greve, direito à luta (C.D.E., the strength of labour: right to strike, right to struggle)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cde-forca-do-trabalho-poster-1969/) (Portugal · 1969 · Glittering generalities, Bandwagon) - [Meany in Miami Beach with our union dues](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/plp-meany-miami-beach-union-dues-1971/) (United States · 1971 · Card stacking) - ["1 Maja": PZPR works-committee invitation to the May Day march, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/poland-pzpr-may-day-invitation-poznan-1981/) (Poland · 1981 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [Banned union's banners on the fence at Jasna Góra, Częstochowa: "Zło dobrem zwyciężaj"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/poland-solidarity-banners-jasna-gora-1985/) (Poland · 1985 · Transfer) - ['Generální stávka 27. 11. = první svobodné volby': student-printed strike poster, November 1989](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/generalni-stavka-27-11-poster-1989/) (Czechoslovakia · Nov 1989 · Glittering generalities) ## Related guides and pages - [Propaganda stamps: postage, poster stamps and forgeries, 1904 to 2022](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-stamps/) - [Propaganda coins and banknotes from AD 37 to 2015](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-coins-and-banknotes/) - [Propaganda for children: alphabets, school stationery and youth groups](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-for-children/) - [All guides](https://propagandaarchive.org/guides/)