Festival for peace

The Vietnam Moratorium Campaigns were a result of a conference held in Canberra in November 1969 to plan a series of protests based on the American Moratorium model. There were three Moratorium campaigns in Australia in 1970 and 1971. The Moratorium was the first truly mass movement of the protest against the Vietnam War. Until 1969 the protest had been uncoordinated in a national sense and rallies had been reasonably small in size, whereas the Moratorium mobilised the support of hundreds of thousands. It also succeeded in gaining more publicity in its first six months than had been achieved by the protest movement between 1965 and 1969. The aims of the first campaign were the immediate withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam and repeal of the National Service Act. The Moratorium stated that all actions taken by its members and supporters should be of a non-violent nature and this philosophy was extended throughout Australia through various state committees and others.

In this poster, the goddess of peace, with an olive branch, dove, crowned with a wreath and communist star, rises over a wolf 'evil' authority which cowers before her. The Moratorium symbol as the sun emerges between the woman and the wolf. This poster is very reminiscent of First World War posters in its use of classical allegorical figures to express the artist's intention. Here, peace, backed by the 'light' of the Moratorium as embodied by its emblem prevails over the evil that is embodied by the wolf. Stylistically, the use of the banderole and even the font of the text also reflect the style of First World War posters. This stylistic homage to the First World War is perhaps a reference to the two occasions when conscription was put to a plebiscite and failed on both occasions.

The poster's text advertises a festival of events by folk singers, poets, actors and film makers at the Wayside Theatre, Kings Cross, Sydney.