The ‘Blood Vote’ was probably the single most influential piece of campaign material produced by the anti-conscription campaign. It encouraged women to vote according to their own identity as mothers.

This cartoon was famous as soon as it was produced, and has been ever since. Ted Holloway, who at the time was Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall, later said that it was “the most effective single piece of propaganda for our side, which decided the votes of perhaps tens of thousands of women”.

The handbill was based on a poem written by William Robert Winspear, Secretary of the Australian Socialist Party, and was drawn by radical Sydney artist Claude Marquet. It was authorised by John Curtin in his role as Secretary of the Anti-Conscription Campaign.

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The Blood Vote

Why is your face so white, mother?
Why do you choke for breath?
O I have dreamt in the night, my son
That I doomed a man to death

Why do you hide your hand, mother?
And crouch above it in dread?
It beareth a dreadful branch, my son
With the dead man's blood 'tis red

I hear his widow cry in the night
I hear his children weep
And always within my sight, O God!
The dead man's blood doth leap

They put the dagger into my grasp.
It seemed but a pencil then
I did not know it was a fiend a gasp
For the priceless blood of men

They gave me the ballot paper.
The grim death-warrant of doom,
And I smugly sentenced the man to death
In that dreadful little room.

I put it inside the Box of Blood
Nor thought of the man I'd slain
Till at midnight came like a whelming flood
God's word and Brand of Cain

O little son! O my little son!
Pray God for your Mother's soul
That the scarlet stain may be white again
In God's great Judgement Roll

The ‘Would to God Brigade’ was a series of cartoons highlighting the hypocrisy of politicians, business leaders, mainstream Protestant religious leaders and others who urged young men to go to war without themselves being subject to conscription.

The series was drawn by Victorian artist Osbert Garland, and authorised by John Curtin in his role as Secretary of the Anti-Conscription Campaign. While not as famous as the ‘Blood Vote’, this series of cartoons was nonetheless influential at the time.

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The Charge of the "Would-to-God" Brigade

'One of the most stirring episodes of the Great War of a century ago was the dashing charge of the famous ''Would to Godders.' Foaming at the mouth and shouting their cries—'Would to God I was ten years younger'—'Would to God I was a man'—'Would to God I was not lame, halt, or blind'—'Would to God I could be spared from the fold'—they dashed out of the trenches of imagination waving their umbrellas and walking-sticks, throwing verbal bombs at the enemy and their own people who refused to fight, and struck terror into the hearts of the phantom army.
— Extract from the Gazabo Guardian, 6 August 2016'

Some of the campaign material produced by the trade unions’ campaign would not be considered acceptable today. However, as was common in the labour movement at the time, a fear of new immigrants undercutting labour conditions led to racist messages.

This handbill reflected a concern that a labour shortage created by conscription would lead to foreign workers who would work for lower wages coming to Australia. The focus on potential Maltese migrants was a feature of the latter stages of the first referendum campaign, even though it had no realistic foundation. This handbill was also authorised by John Curtin, and reflects an argument that Frank Anstey had made previously.

Not all members of the labour movement agreed with these messages. Anstey, in particular, was criticised at the time by other socialists for employing racist imagery.

Further Information:

Slave Conspiracy
Astounding Revelation. More Maltese
The following letter speaks for itself:—
Australian Military Forces—3rd Military District
From Censor, Melbourne
To the Editor
Confidential and Not for Publication
I am directed to inform you that no reference whatever is to be made in the press to the arrival or expected arrival of a batch of Maltese Immigrants.
Robt. J De Courcy Talbot,
Lieut. Colonel.—For Censor
Remember the statement of Staughton, Conscriptionist and Shareholder in the Austral Hat Mills, that the way to defeat Australian Unionism was to import Cheap and Colored Labor.
Vote No and Save Australia
Authorised by J. Curtin, Secretary National Executive