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published in SOE Syllabus, Public Record Office, Richmond, Surrey, 2001, ISBN 1-903365-18X |
C-1
April, 1943.
There are two kinds of propaganda.
“The art of persuasion with a view to producing, merely, a frame of mind.”
E.g. Goebbels persuaded German people to adopt a mental attitude vis-a-vis the concept “Lebensraum” before he called on them to anything about it.
“The art of persuasion with a view to producing action.”
E.g. To-day it is useless for our propaganda merely to persuade Frenchmen that the Boche is a swine. It must also instruct Frenchmen how to kick the Boche out of France.
Our propaganda to enemy and occupied countries is now mainly operational; and, as such, should always contain the joint elements of persuasion and action.
These lectures deal only with underground operational propaganda — i.e. with propaganda as one weapon in the whole armoury of underground warfare. Passive resistance, sabotage, guerrilla warfare and internal revolution are other weapons which, with propaganda, must be knitted into a whole.
Thus propaganda, calling in its action element for passive resistance, may lead to passive resistance; passive resistance plus propaganda may lead to sabotage; passive resistance and sabotage plus propaganda to guerrilla warfare etc. (Cf. oil in a machine.)
Therefore propaganda, though an important weapon, is never an independent one. It must be co-ordinated with the other weapons at our disposal. (Cf. Goebbels’ “Fourth Arm” .)
If ever you are called on to become an organiser, propaganda will be one of the weapons at your disposal. It is therefore right that you should know its scope, its power and its relation to the conduct of underground warfare.
We shall best perceive these things if we follow, in some detail, the career of a propaganda-agent from the moment when, in this country, he is told to undertake propaganda work to the moment when, in his own country, he has distributed his first leaflet among his people.
The propagandist finds his raw material in the facts of the political situation. A thorough knowledge of such facts as they affect his field of operations is essential for successful work.
The propagandist’s approach to politics should be governed by two main considerations:
a) Politics, which in our grandfathers’ day were relatively static, have now become fluid. (Cf. British Right and Left Wing rapprochement since Russia’s entry into the war.)
The clear picture of the political scene, which an agent should initially work out in his area, should not be like a chart, map or photograph with its details fixed and rigid, but like a moving film at a cinema — where the frame remains fixed but contents are mobile.
b) Politics, to the propagandist, are not merely Party Politics; but a detailed examination of every factor affecting the self-interest of each group, class and organisation that exists within his field of operation.
It is one of the early duties of a propagandist, even before leaving this country, to ascertain what groups exist in his area. This gives rise to two questions:
Having ascertained a particular political fact that affects his area, the propagandist may easily find that each group of people has a different attitude to the same political fact.
Therefore it follows that our propaganda relative to that one fact must differ vis-a-vis each group.
E.g. Propaganda against agricultural plunder by the Boche will have to be distinct, if addressed to country-folk who see the plunder happening, from that addressed to townsfolk who, perhaps, only know that their bellies are empty.
By addressing our propaganda to a relatively small specific group rather than to a large amorphous mass, we ensure that we shall appeal more directly to the self-interest of that group and therefore incite it the more easily to the action required.
This is, in fact, one of the main reasons why we send a propaganda-agent to work inside a country since his leaflets, alone of all our propaganda media, can be addressed to and distributed among a specific group. B.B.C. broadcasts and R.A.F. leaflets cannot be thus addressed and distributed with certainty of success.
It is possible to group any given population under eight main headings:
— Party Political. (Conservative, Liberal, Socialist etc.)
— Vocational. (Miner, lawyer, journalist etc.)
— Regional. (Town, country, coast etc.)
— Religious. (Catholic, Protestant, agnostic etc.)
— Age. (Students, Youth Movements, Sports Clubs, Pensioners, ex-Servicemen etc.)
— Sex. (Workers’ wives, feminist movements etc.)
— Economic. (Employers, workers, Trades Unions etc.)
— National. (Racial minorities.)
From the many groups at his disposal, our propagandist must choose the few groups that he can most profitably attack.
E.g. One might ignore extreme loyalists (already sufficiently active) and extreme pro-Nazis (already beyond conversion) in order to concentrate more effectively on the “attentiste” element of a population.
Once a specific group is chosen, the propagandist must determine (very broadly) which of the eight factors listed above is that particular group’s predominant factor.
E.g. Socialists: predominantly a Party Political group. Students: predominantly an age group.
He must now ascertain whether the impact of the other seven factors on his chosen group is of sufficient importance to warrant splitting that group into smaller sub-groups.
E.g.
Q. “Does the fact that there are old, young and middle-aged socialists warrant my further splitting the main group?”
A. “Probably no.”
Q. “Does the fact that there are rich socialists (theoreticians) and poor socialists (practicians) warrant my further splitting the main group?”
A. “Probably yes.”
With his population grouped and a specific group chosen as target, the first preparational stage of our propagandist’s work is complete.
Two further preparational steps remain to be taken:
a) The ascertainment of the chosen group’s opinion on a given political fact or facts.
b) The receipt from a superior authority of a propaganda line or policy.
These two steps form the subjects of ensuing lectures.
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