Propaganda and Foreign Policy - Essay Example

Research & Politics Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 15th May, Table of Contents Introduction 3 1.1 Defining and understanding propaganda 3 2 Propaganda and revolutions: The Bolsheviks 3 2.1 The Bolshevik Revolution: The Bolsheviks 3 2.2 The Bolshevik Propaganda Machine 4 2.3 The Effects of Propaganda during a Revolution 5 3 Factors that make propagandas effective 6 3.1 Authoritarian Propaganda: Nazi Germany 6 3.2 Democratic Propaganda: The Gulf War 6 3.3 The factors 7 3.3.1 Emotion over Reason 7 3.3.2 Praising Peace 8 3.3.3 Neutrality vs. Polarization 8 Works Cited 10 1 Introduction 1.1 Defining and understanding propaganda Though modern history, the use of propaganda has been used to achieve leverage and give countries or regimes power over people and resources. During the cold war, for example, the United States, through the United States Information Agency, had the largest propaganda machine in the world that spanned across one hundred and fifty countries and was spread in seventy different languages (Snyder, 1995). The way in which the American government conducted its propaganda campaign, just as it has been used by so many leaders and regimes, can be used to derive the basic definition of what the term propaganda means. It means, in summary, a manner of influencing people in a country or region to believe in or reject an ideology. For it to be successful, the people must be influenced to begin thinking and acting in response to the information being fed to them. The use of propaganda has been widely condemned for nearly a century, with authors such as Van de Water (1938) describing it as an ‘insidious insult upon the intelligence’. 2 Propaganda and revolutions: The Bolsheviks 2.1 The Bolshevik Revolution: The Bolsheviks According to Claire (2003), the Bolshevik revolution succeeded as a result of seven main factors. These were the use of slogans, the weakness of the previous government, German money, the influence of Lenin, the Bolshevik army and most importantly, Pravda. Pravda was a newspaper owned by the Bolsheviks that helped them spread propaganda across Russia. The revolution took place in 1917. The stage was set when the leader at the beginning of the First World War, Czar Nicholas II forced more than ten million peasant Russians to fight in the war. When it ended, most Russians were fed up by the leadership of Czar Nicholas II and he was overthrown. This was known as the February revolution (Bunyan & Fisher, 1934). A provisional government was set up to succeed the Czar’s, and trouble began to brew almost immediately. The provisional government as unable to distribute land effectively and fairly, leading to dissatisfaction among peasants and farmers. The arrival of Lenin from exile contributed significantly to the growth of this unrest. Lenin convinced the Bolshevik party, which he had joined immediately he arrived in the country, to stand up against the provisional government. With the unrest among common Russians at its highest, the Bolshevik party used the momentum to rally against the government. An army, known as Red Guards, started an offensive against the government, taking over communication stations like post and telegraph offices. They also took over the state bank, the railway system and energy (electricity) stations (McNeal, 1975). By late November 1917, the Bolsheviks had officially taken over the Winter Palace and the revolution was complete. 2.2 The Bolshevik Propaganda Machine The propaganda machine of Lenin and the Bolshevik regime started rolling soon after the revolution began. There were several ways in which the machine influenced people. Most of the communication was done via mainstream media and with the use of government machinery, particularly after the Bolsheviks took control of government. A good way to examine how the campaign was conducted is to use a case example. One of the prime examples of how this worked is how the Bolshevik regime conducted itself over Kronstadt. The Kronstadt was described by Leon Trotsky as the “pride and glory of the Russian revolution.” (Avrich, 1991). Once they were in power, the upper leadership of the Bolshevik government had to somehow try and tell the world that the great symbol of freedom and liberation of the Russian people had somehow grown into a force that needed to be stopped (Schaich, 2005). To do this, they had to start a powerful and successful propaganda campaign against them. The first steps were to paint the Kronstadt as a tainted force that had been taken over by foreign powers. Publications and announcements by the government declared that this revolutionary force was under the influence of White Tsarist forces. These groundless accusations took root and soon, would be supporters began to alienate these idealists, whose actual agenda was to simply restore peace and maintain the results of the October revolution. The campaign claimed that the Kronstadt population had changed their original ideals and were now trying to restore capitalism in place of socialism. The truth is that the Bolshevik government felt threatened by this group of revolutionaries, and were trying to justify oppressing them. According to Schaich (2005), there was no accuracy in the myths conceived in the echelons of Bolshevik power. There are, however, those that still cling to the Bolshevik propagandist theories to date. 2.3 The Effects of Propaganda during a Revolution One of the most desired effects of propaganda is to appeal not to reason but to emotion. It often offers slogans and not actual information. Statements like “stop the communist curse” or “smoke the terrorist out” are often heard during propaganda campaigns. There is no concrete source of propagandist information, and it often urges haste. It also tends to appeal more to what is already close and dear to men, like the church, family or government. Most propaganda campaigns also focus quite significantly on peace, praising it and reiterating the need to maintain it at all times. They go around and use this excuse to justify actions against the other group. The Bolshevik government, for example, justified its oppression of the Kronstadt by claiming that they were a threat to peace and they needed to be stopped in order to prevent the Tsarists and other external forces from threatening communism and installing capitalism. In propagandist campaigns, virtues such as bravery, patriotism, honour and protection of the weak are often mentioned, and it is implied thereafter that only in a true soldier of the cause can such values be found. 3 Factors that make propagandas effective 3.1 Authoritarian Propaganda: Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler is perhaps the greatest student of use of propaganda in government. In his book Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler admits that he discovered the power of using propaganda during the Great War. He mostly admired how the British used it to undermine the war efforts of the Germans. Hitler often stated that an effective propaganda campaign had to confine itself to a few points that were repeated over and over (Waddington, 2007). Hitler effectively used propaganda to influence the thought patterns against the Bolsheviks and the Jews. A prominent campaign was led against the Soviet Union, where he considered the home of “Jewish Bolshevism”. This ideology lay in his core plan to completely eliminate the existence of the USSR. These campaigns were primarily used, of course, to promote Nazi ideology not only in Germany, but abroad as well (Waddington, 2007). Hitler used his authority to establish a government and regime that used propaganda to oppress and maintain complete control of power. 3.2 Democratic Propaganda: The Gulf War Unlike Hitlers approach, the George Bush Sr. used the gulf war to influence policies and to rally Americans against the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein. Predictably, not many Americans believe that a propaganda campaign was waged against them during the months before American marched in to Iraq. This is because the propaganda achieved its goals. It worked on them. Looking at Van de Water’s psychological analysis of the effects of propaganda, the campaign by the Bush administration1 against Iraq has the four main elements. First, the reasons appealed more to emotion than to reason. Secondly, it praised peace and the need for war in order to maintain peace and democracy in the free world. Third, it was difficult to be neutral about the situation. It influenced the whole world to rally against Saddam and his totalitarian regime. Finally, it effectively utilized the mass media to spread its message. Pro-democracy and anti-terrorist messages were often seen on TV and heard on radio before the first and second Gulf wars. 3.3 The factors Whether used in a ‘democratic’ or authoritarian context, the effects of propaganda are quite similar. It is only how these effects are applied that differs. In order to best understand how these factors became so effective, the three key effects of propaganda2 on the psychology of those it is exposed to will be examined, with references made to the authoritarian campaign of Hitler and the Democratic campaign of Bush. 3.3.1 Emotion over Reason Propaganda assaults the intelligence of those exposed to it. In order for a campaign to be successful, it is not meant to appeal to reason but to arouse emotion. Instead of using fact and allowing people to use their own reasoning, it instead uses innuendo, insinuation, indirection and suggestion. Hitler used his influence to push people towards believing that Jews were a ‘dirty’ and dishonest race. During Nazi Germany, Jews were persecuted simply for being Jewish. The Nazi propaganda vehicle drove Germans against all that was not pure according to Hitler. At first, it was the Jews and other so-called inferior races that were subjected to the persecution and intolerance. However, as time went on, the persecution spread to sympathizers and those against the ideology too. The same applies to Bush’s campaign to invade Iraq. He did not appeal to Americans to see how the war was necessary, the campaigns targeted how Americans felt. Saddam Hussein was painted to be a terrorist and anti-democracy leader who was a threat to the livelihood and freedom of the American people. 3.3.2 Praising Peace Hitler stated over and over that if Germany was to continue in its path to world domination, it had to live in a society that was pure. Any races that were not worthy of living in German society were a threat to being German. In order for peace to prevail, war had to be waged against these races. The same applies to the gulf war. George Bush was able to convince the American people that peace was not possible with Saddam Hussein in power. During the height of the propaganda campaign, it was not uncommon to hear phases like how Hussein had enough nuclear weaponry to turn the entire world into a smouldering waste. 3.3.3 Neutrality vs. Polarization In normal circumstances, neutrality is often the chosen path in all circumstances. However, whenever there is a crisis, it somehow becomes impossible to maintain neutrality. Propaganda is very effective in swaying the opinion of the masses for or against a certain situation or ideology (Van der Water, 1938). As the propagandist campaign went on in Germany under Hitler, even the neutrals began to perceive Jews and other races as somehow inferior not worthy to exist in German society. The same can be seen with both gulf wars. America’s attitude towards the Arab states is not as neutral as it was in the sixties and seventies. With increase in terror activity and propaganda by the Bush administrations, things went from slightly bad to critical. Works Cited Avrich, P., 1991. Kronstadt 1921. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Bunyan, J. & Fisher, H.H., 1934. The Bolshevik Revolution. Stanford University: Stanford University Press. Claire, D., 2003. Bolshevik Revolution, November 1917. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.johndclare.net/Russ5.htm" http://www.johndclare.net/Russ5.htm [Accessed 15 May 2012]. McNeal, R.H., 1975. The Bolshevik Tradition. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.. Schaich, D., 2005. Kronstadt 1921: An analysis of Bolshevik propaganda - David Schaich. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://libcom.org/library/kronstadt-bolshevik-propaganda" http://libcom.org/library/kronstadt-bolshevik-propaganda [Accessed 15 May 2012]. Snyder, A., 1995. Preface. In Warriors of Disinformation. 1st ed. New York: Arcade Publishing Inc. p.xi. Waddington, L.L., 2007. The Anti-Komintern and Nazi Anti-Bolshevik Propaganda of the 1930s. Journal of Contemporary History, 42(7), pp.573-94. Water, M.V.d., 1938. Propaganda. Science Newsletter, 34(15), pp.234-35. Read More