Catalogue Number
NMLH.1995.39.9
Object Name
Poster
Title
NO MORE DOLE QUEUES SO IT'S LABOUR FOR SECURITY.VOTE LABOUR FOR SELF-RESPECTING JOBS. LABOUR X
People
Attlee, Clement; Churchill, Winston; Member of Parliament
Events
General Election & 1945; War & World War II
Date
1945
Creator(s)Zec
Description
A white poster featuring an illustration of a grinning man. Orange text reads "LABOUR FOR SECURITY" Whlst black text reads "No more dole queues... so it's [Labour for security] / vote Labour for self-respecting jobs." This poster was produced prior to the election of 1945.
The General Election of 1945 took place before World War II (1939-1945) was fully over, as the Allied forces had yet to defeat Japan. Britain was in urgent need of reconstruction. On the Home Front thousands of houses needed to be built. Also, returning servicemen had no wish to return to the high unemployment, the dole queues, of the 1930s. The Labour Party's aim of securing high employment was one of the reasons why, led by Clement Attlee, they won the General Election. Prime minister Winston Churchill, leader of the Conservative Party, had been a great and inspiring national leader during the war. However his over-emphasis on international security following Germany's defeat was less of a winner with the British electorate and one of the reasons why Churchill lost.
This poster was designed for the Labour Party's 1945 general election campaign by Philip Zec (1909 - 1983). Zec was a well known left wing cartoonist, who had been a war artist for the Daily Mirror newspaper. He refused payment for the commission, seeing it as his contribution to the election campaign.
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