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BEN SHAHN (1898-1969)
211
●
FOR ALL THESE RIGHTSWE’VE JUST BEGUNTO FIGHT / REGISTER - VOTE. 1946.
28
3
/
4
x38
1
/
2
inches, 73x97
3
/
4
cm. L.I.P. & B.A., New York.
Condition A-: expertly-repaired tears and creases along vertical and horizontal folds; minor restored loss in image.
In 1943, the Council of Industrial Organizations created the Political Action Committee in order to
“protect the political rights of the working man, the returning service man, the farmer, and the small-
business man” (Prescott p. 124). In 1944, the PAC worked towards registering union voters with an
eye to the national elections of that year. In his posters, Shahn primarily appealed to farmers and
factory workers, playing to their fears of hunger, unemployment, inflation and war. According to
Shahn’s wife Bernarda, the title of this poster was taken from a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and
here “this demonstration of union activity . . . is coupled with the exhortative message REGISTER -
VOTE, which is repeated on all the CIO posters of this series” (Prescott p. 131). Prescott 155, Images
of an Era 4, Takashimaya 235.
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