Out now!

This poster was created by the Vietnam Moratorium Campaign (VMC) to promote the second national Vietnam Moratorium protest. This poster is simple, yet powerful. It features the phrase "OUT NOW!" right at the top in bright red. Straight away it points to the aims of the Vietnam Moratorium protests: to get Australian soldiers "out now" from Vietnam. Within the dot of the exclamation point is the Vietnam Moratorium 'starburst' symbol. Below "out now" is a more general "bring the troops home," removing any ambiguity in the interpretation of the poster, and a note advertising the September moratorium.

The majority of the poster contains an image of ranks of young Australian conscripts marching in rows with a red silhouette of a skull superimposed over this photograph. This skull unambiguosly connects these young soldiers to death, as represented by the skull.

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.