Catalogue Number
NMLH.2023.68
Object Name
Poster
Title
No weapon can defeat a people decided to be free
Date
1972-1982
Description
The Poster Collective was a collective formed in 1971 at the Slade School of Art,  a group formed to initially produce posters in response to the miners strike and on the wars in both Vietnam and Ireland. It was formed on the basis of developing a coherent visual style, which addressed the political issues of the time. This included the armed struggles against colonialism in Africa, the struggle of women for equal rights and the continuing struggle against racism. The collective was active in the 70's and 80's, producing posters on a wide range of issues, including for educational purposes. The group was not-for-profit and used a variety of hand-printing techniques to create their posters. This is a large purple poster with white text and yellow highlights. Text at the top reads: "NO WEAPON CAN DEFEAT A PEOPLE DECIDED TO BE FREE." Illustration includes the continent of Africa in the center with an image of soldiers posing for a picture superimposed on top of the map and images of
various pepole throughout the Global South across the top and middle of the poster, with an image of a hand holding a rifle at the bottom of the poster. The poster also includes a quote from Lenin: "Capitalism in advanced countries cannot survive without colonies and semi-colonies. It needs the raw materials and markets of these countries. It bolsters up the decadent capitalist system in its home base by extracting super profits from these countries. Thus the national liberation struggles in these countries become an important part in the struggle against capitalism in the advanced countries themselves." and a quote from Lord Carver, the ex-governor of the Bank of England: "I think we have to recognise the extent to which the British standard of living is dependant today, as it has been throughout this century, on our invisible earnings, particularly on our investment income from overseas. The figures speak for themselves. The origin of our overseas investment which served as our
financial mainstay in the two-world wars, and which provided the foreign exchange we need so badly today, lies of course, in our history."
