Propaganda as a History-Changing Tool of Power

One of the most commonly asked questions in relation to propaganda, is what is propaganda and how does it work? Propaganda can essentially be any form of biased or even misleading information that is spread through some form of mass media with the sole intention to promote particular agenda or viewpoint/stance. The magnificent thing about propaganda is it never really obvious, instead it is subliminal. It is rarely objective and for the most part plays a part in a far bigger campaign to sway people’s opinion towards a certain opinion. The how is slightly more complex though, propaganda works by connecting the readers emotion through such things as: images, slogans and a selected use of information along with control and or censorship of the facts at hand, this is to maximise effectiveness when trying to persuade the audience member.

Propaganda came about from the word ‘propagare’, which means to spread or to propagate, which equates to propaganda which means that to be propagated. Propaganda has been around for centuries, but mainly came to prominence along with the new administrative body of the Catholic Church which was created in 1622 which was called the ‘Congregation de Propaganda Fide’ which translates to ‘congregation for propagating the faith). The activity of this congregation was solely to propagate the catholic faith in predominantly non-Catholic areas.

Although, following this the first incident of wide spread propaganda by mass media has been dated to WWI. In the early stages of the war propaganda output was increased dramatically by governments, the main culprits of this being the English and German governments, with the intentions of persuading their people to join the fight against the enemy, and secondly to paint a picture of the opposing country/countries as the enemy. The two largest outputs of propaganda were posters/leaflets and film. Following the outbreak of the war “David Lloyd George was tasked with the scenario of setting up a war propaganda bureau. Otherwise known as the WPB had one of the biggest tasks in Britain’s history ahead. The main points behind the design of this poster which were identified by the WPB were: To keep morale up at home and to encourage people give their time and money towards Great Britain’s war effort. To identify the enemy as the evil that needs to be though by the good (Great Britain). To recruit more soldiers to the British army navy. To affect the enemy troops and their morale. To notify the civilians of the war effort from the governments point of view.

1914 “Lord Kitchener Wants You!” poster

This being one of the most famous pieces of propaganda portrayed throughout not only ww1 but also modern history. This poster had many aims, the main one was to instil in the public a positive outlook, not only that but it also was designed to give the people a real sense of patriotism and confidence. Posters like these were also used for practical reasons as well, the most common of those being encouragement into the British public to help with the war effort, this was done by often comparing the battle in the trenches with the battle at home, something that proved effective in getting the aid of the general public. This poster in particular had a singular reason as to why it was designed though. That reason being, to call upon every British citizen, disregarding age, gender or race to adjust their daily life and make the sacrifices needed to further the current national agenda. Sacrifices included: Rationing, conservation and signing up to the army. The posters were also used for morale improvement and financing their effort into the war. there is a lot more than meets the eye in this poster it had other aims which were done techniques such as subliminal messaging, colour psychology and to form a bias, they done so through the likes of placement, alignment, juxtaposition and colour scheme of text and picture alike. The first thing that jumps out to the reader of this poster are the colours used, and how strong and prominent they are.

Now depending on how the reader views the poster, the first colour that pops out is red, followed by the orange/yellow background. The colour red is firstly the colour that attract human attention more than any other, often due to its association with danger, although it is also associated with the following: Energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination, love, desire and passion. As you may be able to tell all of those traits, characteristics and feelings are valuable to the war effort: Energy for the war effort. To realise the ongoing danger from the enemy. To show off Britain’s mighty strength. The determination in the war by Britain to win. Love, desire and passion all lean towards the patriotism needed by the British public. [BBC, 2014]

Whether you see the background as yellow or orange, both play significant roles. Yellow is the brightest colour of the visible spectrum. The colour relates to happiness along with optimism and is seen as the bright light of colours which brings enthusiasm, hope and high energy, all of these along with the fierce red can form a mighty poster. Whereas orange is the combination of the other two colours mention and is considered the energetic colour, it brings the feeling of excitement and warmth and is often used to draw attention. No matter what colour you see it as there is a deeper meaning, this meaning being that the secondary colour orange/yellow is behind “Lord Kitchener” who was the poster boy for Britain in WW1 and puts all those feelings, traits and characteristics behind him and behind Britain. The finger pointing at the reader sends a stern message on the importance of the message, the choice of all capitals emphasises the urgency of this matter and the way that 'Lord Kitchener's eyes following you round the room like the Mona Lisa'. (Robert Opie, 2014)

The different types of propaganda

Up until World War 2, propaganda was mainly just propaganda. Plain and simple. “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies”. — Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during World War II. Although propaganda still came in many different forms it was all just classified under “propaganda”. However, with everything in life there are different shapes, sizes and perceptions, and propaganda became no exception when WW2 unfolded. Within propaganda there are 3 different categories, these coming under a colour spectrum of: Black, Grey and White. Each of these three propaganda types have different meanings and are used for completely different reasons/scenarios. Similar to the actual colour spectrum black, grey and white are all completely different colours but share some similarities. At one end of this spectrum is White propaganda, white propagandas main use would be to provide the truth and often appears on national television with a clear message and very little biased. Out of the three different types of propaganda white tends to be the most truthful. The most obvious way to tell if a piece of propaganda is “white propaganda’s” intent is usually visually clear and won’t be mistaken.

As you can see in this figure that the message and intention of the poster is very clear. It is asking the public to take books to the public library so that they can be sent to the soldiers in camps, as simple as that. No play on words, no subliminal messaging just a poster clearly depicting a request from the public, but not demanding which black propaganda would have. Along with this it aims to boost morale and it does so by putting a smile on the face of the solider carrying the books. Although out of the three types of propaganda white is closest to the truth it is not always 100% genuine, but it is the closest the listener/viewer will get to the truth, it is done in a way that the sender is often made to look like the good guy with the best of considerations at heart and realistic yet appealing theologies and ideologies.

Whilst white is on the better side of the spectrum when it comes to propaganda, black however is not. It is mainly attributed to an incorrect source, it is seen as hateful and used to convey a hatefulness towards a particular cause. Where white propaganda Is supposed to be legitimate often heart lifting, black propaganda skews that perception and tries to play with emotions and provoke a response.

By analysing this poster, at first you may think it’s a piece of white propaganda due to it having a message like that of the books poster but the way its worded is to try and guilt trip the reader into joining the army. The message being put across sounds factual when in reality it is an opinion. There is no source, nor reference backing up the fact that it is better to face the bullets to be killed at home by a bomb. This message is put across by making the man who stays at home seem like a coward. Its main objective is to get men to join the army, it does so by playing with their emotions.

To sum up black propaganda, it is a fabrication of the truth, used to spread lies and deceit and will more than likely always be referenced to an unreliable or fake source, the main intention is to influence through manipulation. “Propaganda in the broadest sense is the technique of influencing human action by the manipulation of representations.” - Harold D. Lasswell, “Propaganda”

This leaves us with Grey propaganda, or as I like to call it Malcolm in the middle. It is neither black nor white propaganda but maintains similar attributes to both. Its intent is often clear, the source may be quoted correctly or may be misquoted, and the overall accuracy of the information is questionable. The sources or lack thereof are worrying and often make it seem like grey propaganda is black propaganda. The idea behind grey propaganda, “is to advance viewpoints that are in the interest of the originator but that would be more acceptable to target audiences than official statements”. (Kenneth Osgood, 2002). A prime example of grey propaganda being used is during war time when one side will try to gain influence by dropping certain posters. By this I mean, during World war 2 as part of the agenda being pushed by the British governments propaganda sector otherwise known as the PWE/ Political warfare executive, a German newspaper was commissioned. “Nachrichten fur die Truppen” was used so that sponsors/sources could voice their political opinions, which they couldn’t do in an actual British source. (What-When-How, Gray Propaganda)

The Troubles

The troubles were a 30-year period in Ireland/Northern Irelands history where the country under the tyranny of England/Great Britain endured street warfare every day, like nothing the United Kingdom had ever witnessed before. Similar to most notable wars in history there were two different sides. Side 1, Unionists/Loyalists: The unionists were predominantly protestant and their intentions were for Northern Ireland to stay apart of the United Kingdom Side 2, Republicans/Nationalists: Nationalists were mainly catholic, and their goal was to restore what once was, a united Ireland. Something that England had ended and refused to allow to happen again.

Since the creation of Northern Ireland in 1921 Unionists had dominated the population making it harder for Nationalists to gain jobs, housing and education, they also faced discrimination and bigotry on many other fronts. It was in 1968 that the troubles first began when Catholic Irish nationalists, favouring unification with the Irish Republic to the south, began a violent campaign against Britain and the Loyalist Protestant paramilitaries who supported continued British rule. (Joshua Hammer, 2009)

Each side had their own way of spreading their message and provoking the opposition, it was only after the bloody Sunday massacre in 1972 that the republicans had a harder time promoting their beliefs. The reason it became harder was down to the fact that the British governments response to the massacre they committed was to impose direct rule over Northern Ireland from London, this meant more troops based in Northern Ireland, harder sanctions and overall a harder life for Catholics.

Not only did the bloody Sunday massacre inspire the IRA to take up arms more than ever before, it also encouraged them to push onwards with their propaganda effort. Although the IRA often had murals depicting their impressive arsenal, they also had other ways of illustrating their agenda. One of the most famous being a physical human form of propaganda, Bobby Sands. In 1976 Sands connection with a furniture store bombing and a gun fight landed him 14 years in prison. Already famous on the outside for being a pivotal character in the IRA his popularity amongst nationalists only rose whilst in prison. He pushed hard for prison reforms, and was often given solidarity confinements for his outbreaks, the reason for his outbreaks were because he believed himself and other prisoners like him should have been treated as prisoners of war and not criminals as the British government labelled them.

His demands were for himself and others to not wear prison uniforms during visits, not to do prison work, to receive one letter, one parcel and one visit per week, to be able to communicate with other prisoners and to organise recreational and educational activities along with the complete restoration of remission that would have been lost through protest.

After 66 days of his demands not being met and not having ate Sands entered a coma and later died. Although an unusual form of propaganda and extreme at that Bobby sands’ message did work. Several months later the British government recognised the prisoners still on strike as prisoners of war and many were released under the 1988 Good Friday agreement (A&E Television Networks, 2016)

The significance of the hunger strike was the prisoners' aim of being considered political prisoners as opposed to criminals. Not long before Sands’ death, The Washington Post reported that the primary aim of the hunger strike was to generate international publicity

As we can see by this poster the IRA have created an extremely controversial concept. To use a prisoner of war who tried to reason with nonviolence and have his quote aligned along the side of a masked man with an assault rifle. The main point the poster is trying to get across is to take the war into your own hands and join the movement. Using a word like removed is aggressive and insinuates that the task will have to be done by force. Looking into it further the poster was produced by the republican movement/the IRA, a predominantly catholic group. In the poster there are 3 main colours, each of which have symbolic meanings in Catholicism.

Black is said to denote death, fear and ignorance. Along with eternity. It is also the liturgical colour of Good Friday. Red signifies action, fire and even spiritual awakening and white symbolises innocence and purity. The quote being white and from an “innocent man”. The soldier holding the gun in black a sign of death and fear. Lastly the red background being behind the soldier and text signifies the action that is going to be taken and the fire burning for Bobby Sands. (Henderson Charles, 2004)

On the other side of it was the British/ Unionist propaganda. Although the British had essentially mastered mass propaganda during ww2, dropping leaflets onto the streets when they were fighting freedom fighters wouldn’t have had the same effect. “British military intelligence agents in Northern Ireland used fears about demonic possessions, black masses and witchcraft as part of a psychological war against emerging armed groups in the Troubles in the 1970s. (Henry McDonald, 2014). Other than this it was mainly the unionists who done the propaganda for the British government.

In this poster there is a lot more to analyse than the previous example. Again, colours come into play with Green representing thee Catholics and Orange representing the Protestants. The text at the bottom also being in orange, and the word unionist engulfing the Irish word for Ireland. The way the Irishman walking away speaks is that of an unintelligent manner by shortening the words. Along with this the sun is orange, the light above is orange where as the man who has left Great Britain is about to fall into the cesspool of waste below. The border being high and safe protecting from the evil Ireland and along with that the woman at the border holding the shield solidifying a safe look for her people.

Even though to this day it has been 20 years since the troubles ended, signs of its bloodshed still live on in the form of propaganda. One of the main examples of this being the “Peace Walls” in Belfast. Staggering at 25 feet there are still over 100 left today. Littered with concrete, fencing and murals they truly are one large physical piece of propaganda, with the intent to intimidate and to also keep the peace, and at this point now they are part of the small city that is Belfast. “The Berlin Wall had to come down for Berlin to be normalised. We have normalised Belfast without taking down the walls”. (Jonny Byrne, 2015)

Conclusion

To conclude, Propaganda is a powerful tool, one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. It can be the difference between an ally or an enemy. One thing to keep in mind is that there is always a motive/agenda. Propaganda has shaped the world we see it over the last few centuries but none more so than the century we currently live in. A world where making posters etc., is not for the favoured few. It is for anyone who feels they want to make a change. As harmless as it may appear it can have dire consequences and in the example of Bobby Sands, can often lead to death. At the end of the day propaganda is how you view it. With the right mindset you can change the world for better with positive propaganda, with the incorrect mindset you could potentially alter history for the worst.