To arms!
Posted by John, April 25th, 2016 - under Industrial Workers of the World, War, World War I.
Tom Barker from the Industrial Workers of the World was jailed for hindering recruitment for this poster. On appeal he argued (with a straight face evidently) he was actually encouraging recruitment and was found not guilty and freed. (Can budding historians confirm?)
The poster, and the growth of the IWW, highlight part of the hidden history of World War I. Not only was it an imperialist slaughter but working class opposition to it grew rapidly; so much so that the 1916 and 1917 referenda on conscription were both defeated. In 1917 there was a general strike in New South Wales.