1945 Philip Zec LABOUR FOR PROSPERITY

And Now - Win the Peace (1945)

advertisement at the time was ‘Your Britain: Fight for it Now’ [№ 002] by Abram Games, illustrating wartorn scenes rejuvenated by futuristic redevelopments; The 1945 General Election is a seminal time in like Finsbury Health Centre. This series was seen as British History, set against the backdrop of the end 12 ‘Obituary: aggressively socialist by Winston Churchill,12 of World War Two, as victory had been achieved in Abraham Games’, The Independent, closer to Labour propaganda than Government Europe, and the war was ending in Eastern Asia. The 1996 <http://www. independent.co.uk/ messaging. people were sent to vote for the first time in 10 years. news/people/obituaryabraham-games-1311967. The Conservative Party went into the election buoyed html> [accessed 28 March 2020]. From the outset of the General Election being by Winston Churchill’s large scale personal popularity. called and in the strategizing of their position they set However, Labour came out victorious with 47.7% of the the tone of the debate as to the positive re-imagination vote and a 145 seat majority over the Conservatives, As of a society, rebuilt amid War, and within the media Laura Beers writes, it was an unexpected result by the that the party actively commissioned the message was parties and commentators alike.11 11 Laura Beers, simple, create a better and ‘new’ society. That can be ‘Labour’s Britain, Fight for It Now!’, seen clearly in John Armstrong’s ‘AND NOW- WIN THE It would be simplistic to put this victory The Historical Journal, 52.3 (2009), PEACE’. [№ 005] A looming ‘V’ for Victory which had down to a poster, but it’s the influence of 667–95 (p. 667). become synonymous with the war effort, reimagined media that so often shifts the balance of an election, as a symbol for peace and to a heralding of a new age. and in this campaign that perspective of the media To further solidify this idea of renewal and rebuilding, was particularly unique. No party had been actively the ‘V’ is to be found sitting amongst a picturesque campaigning for the duration of the war and had scene of homes, one can assume a newly built estate, been collaborating in a Government of National Unity, as we move out to the foreground a silhouette of while in this coalition it was the Labour party that modern flats, emblematic of Labours manifesto effectively utilised the tools of the media and their promise to build modern and new housing.13 The serene position in Government to their advantage. During 13 ‘1945 Labour Party nature of the poster is fascinating if you then their time in office, they set the scene for the radical Manifesto’ <https:// web.archive.org/ align this with the copy ‘and now – the piece’ policies that they aimed to enact if given the chance in web/20130315015558/ http://www.labour- there is a real effort to encourage a new start, power. As a party they sculpted their platform closely party.org.uk/ manifestos/1945/1945- it speaks a language of new beginnings, ‘peace’ around the Government commissioned Beveridge labour-manifesto. shtml> [accessed 23 and harmony, and further reiterates the ideas Plan, which recommended the large scale reforms March 2020]. that were presented by the government within that created the Welfare state as we know it today, Abram Games’ work. introducing the National Health Service, enacting Pension Reform and Rent Controls. As participants Alongside Armstrong’s poster, there were a further of Government they careful constructed the message 14 designed by Daily Mirror Cartoonist and Labour of wide-ranging reforms and redevelopments of supporter Philip Zec, these pieces further went to society, one of the most famous pieces of Government encourage the notion of renewal and aspiration. Zec’s