Posters for peace
Ian Kirk-Smith considers the role and themes of Quaker peace posters from the archives
The poster has been used as an instrument of radical protest for hundreds of years: pasted on walls, carried in processions and held up in demonstrations, it has been a cheap, portable, and visually striking way of speaking ‘truth to power’.
Peace posters are part of the Quaker tradition and have been produced and nationally distributed from 1905 through every decade of the twentieth century. The library of the Religious Society of Friends, at Friends House in London, has one of the finest collections of ‘peace posters’ in the world.
While these posters did not sell a product as such, they often used techniques borrowed from commercial advertising: eye-catching slogans that told people they would be happier, and more at ease with themselves and their consciences, if they ‘followed the message’. A desire to promote peace by encouraging the good in people, and not by engendering fear, has been a distinctive characteristic of Quaker peace posters and, although profoundly inspired by faith, most have never had a strong religious content.
The themes in Quaker peace posters tended to be those of addressing the causes of war and of trying to encourage changes in the general attitude of people towards others. These themes reinforce the fact that all humans were of one family, that nonviolent resolution of conflict was possible and that change started with oneself.
A comprehensive research study of peace posters has been produced by Margaret Glover. She writes: ‘Appeals to personal conscience were made and reminders that individuals have a choice. Quaker peace posters questioned rather than demanded, attempted to educate rather than exhort, and, occasionally, displayed a gentle humour.
‘They tended to frame a message positively, rather than negatively, offering a way forward in a spirit of optimism. Education was an important theme, especially on the causes of war. A continual theme in posters was the increase in national expenditure on armaments and the suggestion that this money could be put to much more productive social uses.’ The Quaker archive, held in the safe hands of staff at the library in Friends House, is a powerful, and fascinating, witness for peace.
Quaker Peace & Social Witness and Quaker Life have reproduced some original ‘peace posters’. For further information contact the Quaker Centre Bookshop on 020 7663 1030.
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