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Author: John Gardener

Publisher/Date: Polemic, Vol. 1, No. 7, January, 1990

Title: An Introduction to Psychological Warfare and Propaganda

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http://www.geocities.com/cpa_blacktown_02/19990521intropsychowar.htm

The political use and misuse of information has existed for many thousands of years. However, this century -- which has seen the proletariat and working class throw off the chains of capitalist exploitation in many countries throughout the world -- has seen the bourgeoisie, in the remaining capitalist countries, forced into information control on a scale undreamt in the 19th Century. The information control capability contained within the regulated capitalist state has never been greater.

The basis of this information control has, as one of it's essential needs, the requirement that the real machinery of control remains hidden, and out of political sight. Control is only possible when the control machinery remains invisible to the proletariat and the working class, when the political method of dissemination does not represent a political element of the information disseminated. Once this element of the control machinery becomes visible, then the information it disseminates is increasingly questioned, and the social control ability is lost. It is only possible to lie and be believed when the listener is unaware that the speaker is a liar.

Many of the means of information control were not even in existence in the 19th century. The technological development of these means of class domination has in itself been driven by this international clash between classes: the processes of information control have been revolutionised several times, just this century. Cinema, invented only late in the 19th century, was widely superseded by the international growth of radio transmission and ownership of radio receivers; radio was then gradually superseded by television. All of these technological revolutions have -- under Imperialism and finance-capital -- been primarily grasped and used as a method of controlling the proletariat and working classes. They are merely means of indoctrinating their audience with the ideology and in the political interests of Imperialism and finance-capital. The capitalist ownership of the means of information dissemination means that all information is censored to protect the class rule of the exploiting classes. Capitalist control attempts -- at every opportunity -- to prevent the working classes from realising their own interests. However, there are many other elements to the means of bourgeois information control as well, many of which have been in existence for centuries.

The education system, for example: one of the primary goals of the education system -- apart from conditioning and educating the proletariat and working classes for it's role in the capitalist production process -- is the political aim of breaking down class relationships and smashing class interests. Capitalism prepares it's wage-slaves well: it indoctrinates a bourgeois curriculum and ideology designed and engineered to isolate children from their parents, from their class, from their peers and from their own best interests. As much as possible, it attempts to induce a passive consciousness into the new proletarians, by divorcing them from reality and truth, and by separating them from their peers by competitive means: by dividing the potential proletariat, by attempting to dissipate their class consciousness, a passive consciousness is indoctrinated.

As well, there have been marked 'scientific advances' in the use of information as a weapon of war: psychological warfare. It must be acknowledged that the U.S.A. is the current world leader in such military use, and has conducted an enormous amount of research in differing areas of psychological warfare. However, psychological warfare is not specifically limited only to a military application, and much of the research has found use in other areas, in other segments of the capitalist propaganda and social control machinery.

The increasing non-military use of psychological warfare techniques has become commonplace: the barrage of psychological warfare tricks advertising and media corporations use to beguile the naive and the susceptible are only one element. The use of legal and illegal drugs as a method of political control, exhaustively investigated during clinical or military research, (1) is increasing, and there is ample evidence that Imperialist countries directly play a covert or overt role in either their manufacture and distribution. (2 )

The use of many of these control techniques -- some originally intended purely for military application -- essentially means that the proletariat and working classes exist in the modern capitalist State under a constant psychological assault. This state of perennial class warfare is directed, and consciously aimed by those in control of capitalism, at preventing any class opposition to the dictatorship of capital and exploiter relations, both within national boundaries and externally.

What is Psychological Warfare?

Psychological warfare is the use of information as a weapon of war.

It has been used as far back as the time of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Even the Bible contains many historical references. The Book of Joshua in the Old Testament contains an instructive example: Joshua effectively used naive psychological warfare techniques to break down the resistance of the besieged inhabitants of Jericho, many thousands of years ago. He instructed priests equipped with trumpets made from ram's horn to walk around the city for several days, blowing loudly on the trumpets. The ensuing din was apparently enough to wreak havoc on the inhabitants will to resist because, as legend has it, the walls of Jericho were finally smashed by Joshua's army and it consequently slaughtered everything -- every man, woman, child and animal, every living thing -- in the city.

Ghengis Khan was -- and has remained -- justifiably quite infamous for his astute political use of psychological warfare. Khan's tactics were elementary but effective: he sent 5th columnists ahead of his advancing troops, who encouraged rumours and spread disinformation amongst the local people, convincing them of the invincibility of his army. The talk and rumours spread by the advance agents normally propagandised that Khan and his troops gave lenient treatment to those who surrendered but killed those who resisted. The tactics were undoubtedly successful, as Khan's armies conquered large areas of the world. (3 )

One historian, in The Psychological War, gave an historical example of the use of such warfare techniques when he noted that '...Plutarch's writings contain this very instructive historical episode. When the news reached Rome that the Etruscan king was harbouring an attack on the Romans, the latter sent a patrician, Mucius Scaevola, to the Etruscans. He tried hard to dissuade the Etruscans from making war on Rome, and promised to bring gifts to the warlike enemy. But the Etruscan king was unmoved: "Rome must fall!" he said over and over again. Thereupon Mucius Scaevola, seeing that he had exhausted all his arguments, stretched out his arm over the bonfire and burned it off in cold blood. The Etruscan king was so astounded by the strength of will of the Roman messenger that his resolve to attack Rome was shaken: he himself had seen how strong of spirit and how courageous were those whom he wanted to attack...' (4)

Many battles between the Athenians and the Hellenes were notable for their use of psychological manipulation; there are surviving manuscripts that adequately describe the use of disinformation and psychological warfare during various wars of their times. (5) Alexander the Great fully understood the use of psychological warfare techniques: he often attempted to kill or capture the enemy king as quickly as possible, and this strategy underlined his military tactics. By quickly capturing or killing the enemy king he weakened the leadership and morale of the enemy troops, and thus shortened the overall length of the campaign. (6 )

Julius Caesar had also fully grasped the principles of psychological warfare. In Civil Wars, a work that was one of the mainstays of the high school Latin curriculum for many years, he gave an interesting example of the use of psychological warfare. He wrote of a disinformation campaign by his political rival, Pompeius, that nearly succeeded in eradicating his political support after a military loss at the battle of Dyrrachium: '...letters...(were)...sent by Pompeius through all the provinces and communities after the battle at Dyrrachium, couched in a more exaggerated and inflated style than the facts warranted, a report had spread abroad that Caesar had been beaten and was in flight with the loss of nearly all his forces. This rumour had made the routes full of danger, and was drawing off some of the communities from their friendship with him...(In one town, Thessaly)...a few months before, the people had voluntarily sent envoys to Caesar bidding him use (of) all their resources, and had asked him for a garrison of troops. But the rumour...about the battle at Dyrrachium, which it had considerably exaggerated, had already outstripped him. And so...(Thessaly preferred)...to share the victory of Pompeius rather than be associated with Caesar in adversity...' (7)

The Catholic Church was also no stranger to the use of disinformation and the suppression of information. Thousands were executed and tortured during the period of the Holy Inquisition, for questioning church proclamations. Many scientists were excommunicated or murdered for attempting to find objective, scientific truth. The Church's control over information was very, very thorough; so thorough, in fact, that it impeded human development and progress -- in some areas of political, medical and scientific research -- for centuries. This was almost entirely due to the effects of disinformation and thought control, which in some countries was controlled or influenced -- almost exclusively -- by the Church. Engels wrote of the period that '...the clergy was the only educated class. It was therefore natural that Church dogma was the starting point and basis of all thought. Jurisprudence, natural science, philosophy, everything was dealt with according to whether it's content agreed or disagreed with the doctrine of the Church...' (8 )

However, it must be noted that Catholicism was not alone in it's attempts to politically control information. Oliver Cromwell was certainly no stranger to information control and psychological warfare techniques, as he quite ably demonstrated during England's forced expropriation of Ireland. Neither, for that matter, were Calvin nor Luther.

Psychological Warfare and Propaganda during the First World War

During the First World War, capitalist propaganda and psychological warfare techniques were honed to a fine edge. Propaganda was needed to continue the enlistment of machine-gun fodder into the armed services, while psychological warfare was needed to sap the fighting will of the opposite side.

In England, several weeks after the start of the war, State propaganda organisations were already in existence and churning out anti-German newspaper articles, photographs, cartoons and interviews. Many of the horrific tales of the atrocities committed by German soldiers and their inherent barbarism were completely fabricated, or were actual events that had been falsified completely beyond recognition. (9 ) The working classes and the proletariat in England, as in most countries, were initially susceptible to much of the horrific propaganda, as they had not previously been exposed to propaganda of such magnitude.

However, this innocence was gradually dispelled as proletarians became aware of the horrific conditions under which trench warfare was being waged. In England, despite the extraordinary State propaganda campaign, falling enlistment figures forced the State to act: compulsory military service was introduced in 1916. However, it is very clear that the skilful propaganda was successful for several years in condemning millions to death so that British Imperialism could increase the size of it's foreign markets.

In Australia, the initial period of the State and Capital's combined propaganda campaign -- to increase the number of proletarians and workers enlisting in the army -- was very successful. Much of the propaganda used in Australia arrived in relatively completed form from the Propaganda Bureau, situated in London. Other propaganda measures were also needed: State censorship of all newspapers and news services was commenced relatively early, with socialist and proletarian newspapers being targetted and especially vulnerable; the censorship attempted to constrain and minimise any public criticism of the 'war effort'. (10 )

State censorship of mail was also needed, to prevent any private criticism: the mail of both servicemen and a large number of civilians was censored. (11) However, as war casualties mounted, anti-war and proletarian consciousness grew correspondingly and the State measures were increasingly ineffective at maintaining the necessary number of recruits and the necessary level of war hysteria: by 1916 enlistment figures were only a percentage of the comparative late 1914-early 1915 figures.

State attempts to introduce conscription were beaten twice, due to effective socialist and proletarian agitation and the rise in proletarian consciousness: this was despite Billy Hughes using all the political means of propaganda and censorship at his disposal to minimise the No vote. (12) Hughes even suppressed the publication of referendum results of soldiers fighting in France: in the first of the conscription referenda, around 45% of soldiers had voted No. (13)

Between Wars

Immediately after the First World War and following the October Revolution, Australian capital had a ready use to put the propaganda experience it had gained during the war years. The capitalist media -- it's aims and interests identical with those interests threatened by Marxist-Leninism -- quickly rushed to fill the void: the techniques of anti-German propaganda it had learnt were quickly transferred to Lenin, the USSR and Australian socialists and communists.

During the Soviet Intervention, in the capitalist media Soviet communists were often portrayed as thieves and murderers; Humphrey McQueen quotes an article from the period that describes Trotsky as 'Dirty, unkempt, with coal-black nails, a ragged collar, and hair which suggested that it had not been combed for a year'. (14 )

Lenin, of course, was scathing in his criticism of anti-Soviet propaganda, which was similar in tone in practically every capitalist country. One acerbic, astute comment he made of the anti-Soviet propaganda of the time: '...one chorus, one orchestra. It is true that such orchestras are not conducted by one man with a score. International capital uses less conspicuous means than a conductor's baton, but that it is one orchestra should be clear...' (15 ) is as true today as it was then.

In other parts of the capitalist world, capitalist propaganda organisations were built to combat the increase in trade unionism and the growing proletarian aspirations for freedom. In the USA in the early 1920s, a large corporate propaganda organisation was devoted to protecting the interests of huge corporations 'against the threat of increased public regulation or ownership'. The organisation targetted kindergartens, schools, farmers' organisations and women's clubs with pro-corporate propaganda designed with the relevant groups in mind. (16 ) The prime instigator behind the campaign was himself -- as could be expected -- the owner of a corporate empire, and he had simply adopted and used lock, stock and barrel the State propaganda techniques developed and used during the first war years. (17 )

Between the wars, capitalist propaganda concentrated on it's new enemy: communism and the USSR. The anti-communist propaganda was disseminated from every possible area: newspapers, films, the pulpit and, of course, radio -- naturally, once it began widespread transmission. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the USSR and Joseph Stalin are the two most maligned subjects in history this century. Much of the anti-Soviet propaganda that was splattered around like diarrhoea during the 1920s and 1930s is not worth quoting or repeating, for the simple reason that few people today would believe that people could write or believe such palpable nonsense: some of it must have strained the credulity of even the most gullible reader or listener. There were actually reports during the 1930s -- unbelievable as it sounds today -- claiming that everyone over the age of 75 was being put to death in the USSR!

However, the anti-Soviet propaganda barrage served capital in two primary ways: it not only acted as anti-communist and anti-Soviet propaganda, it also attacked proletarian living standards and increased the exploitation rate.

The Second World War

The Second World War saw the use of propaganda and psychological warfare on a scale unimaginable in the previous world conflict. Britain and the US -- as did the Nazis prior to and during the war -- erected huge propaganda and psychological warfare organisations, and also redirected the political aims of existing capitalist propaganda institutions. The war propaganda tactics also varied from that of the first world war, with increased and more effective use of cinema as a war propaganda medium and also the use of radio, which had not been in use during the first war.

In the US, following Pearl Harbour, 'Hollywood went to war'. During the period of American involvement in the war, over 550 feature films were made with actors appearing in uniform, or having the war as a featured element of the plot; the actors Clarke Gable, Tyrone Power, Jimmy Stewart and Ronald Reagan, among many, many others, appeared in propaganda films or were photographed in uniform for propaganda purposes.

The American music industry also churned out a constant stream of pro-war propaganda. (18) It must be noted, though, that until the attack on Peal Harbour, the American corporate propaganda machine had remained relatively anti-war, and a great many propaganda films had been tempered with vicious anti-communism. (19) The American music and film industry was also the most influential in the world at that time, and American corporate propaganda was regularly seen and heard in practically every corner of the world.

In Britain at the start of the second war, the Ministry of Information (MOI) was established, which oversaw censorship of all newspapers and radio broadcasts and supervised propaganda. One of it's early propaganda posters, however, was an abysmal failure: the poster, which read 'Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution, Will Bring Us Victory' (sic) was interpreted rather differently by it's proletarian readers than State propaganda writers had intended. (20 ) Many well known British actors, artists, and authors were actively engaged in war propaganda work: Laurence Olivier and George Orwell were two prominent examples. (21)

Some have argued that George Orwell based Nineteen Eighty-Four on his experiences as a State propagandist at the BBC during the war years, with the Ministry of Information thinly disguised as the Ministry of Truth and Brendan Bracken (BB) the then Minister of Information being depicted in the novel as Big Brother. (22 )

The BBC and it's world-wide audience became an instrument of British military and foreign policy, under the direct control of the MOI. One wartime member of the British political warfare units later remembered the close links between the BBC and the warfare units; he wrote '...Each day I assiduously read the intelligence reports on Nazi Germany...(and then)...I walked two floors down from our office in Bush House to join in the work of the BBC's broadcasts to Nazi Germany...' (23 )

The 'V' campaign where BBC broadcasts encouraged European listeners to write the letter 'V' on walls, factories, schools etc -- was started under the guidance of the political warfare units, and caused BBC bureaucrats to announce radio as a 'new weapon of war'. (24) One writer noted that '...When the British government gives the word, the BBC will cause riots and demonstrations in every city in Europe...The above gives a quite inadequate description of what can be done with this unique weapon if it is properly developed...' (25) However, the campaign was unsuccessful: on the date designated for civil disturbances to occur in Nazi-occupied Europe, nothing happened, and the '...whole thing collapsed like a pricked balloon...' (26) as one psychological warfare expert later remembered.

The British Political Warfare units had arisen from similar units existing within British military and intelligence organisations, although the 'enemy' had changed somewhat: before 1938-39, most of these organisations had been waging psychological warfare on Marxist-Leninism and the USSR.

The political warfare units were supplemented with people from other organisations as well: some members were recruited from a crypto-fascist group, Section D, which was an '...entirely private organisation of many years standing...(that was)... a group of men and women dedicated to fighting Communism...' (27) The experience in disinformation and deception which organisations like these had learnt from years of attempting to destroy Marxist-Leninism and the USSR was well used in the political warfare units. The psychological warfare units were riddled with former Nazi and fascist sympathisers.

Many later prominent people were introduced to psychological warfare in the British political warfare units: for example, Richard Crossman -- later to become a minister in Harold Wilson's government; Patrick Gordon-Walker -- another who became a Labour government minister; Alexander McKendrick -- later a prominent British film director; Tosco Fyvel -- later a well-known British journalist, editor and broadcaster. (28) Hugh Greene, later to become Director General of the BBC, also worked in the political warfare units and liaised with the BBC: before being made Director General, however, he had been prominent in psychological warfare operations against communists in the long Malaysian insurrection! (29) The disinformation skills these people learnt during their period in the psychological warfare units were well used after the war ended, when capital's enemy reverted once again to Marxist-Leninism and when capitalism required the destruction of the proletariat's aspirations of freedom from capitalist slavery.

One member of the units later wrote: '...As the war came to an end many of those who had been responsible for launching the Big Lie...returned to civilian life. Some went back to Fleet Street and it's counterparts in New York, Washington and Chicago. Some went into Parliament, others back to the Temple or the Foreign Office. Some stayed with the BBC services and are still with them today...' (30)

The Nazi Propaganda and Psychological Warfare Machine

The Nazis built one of the largest propaganda machines in the capitalist world after they came to power in the early 1930s; both Hitler and Goebbels had fully realised the political importance of propaganda in fulfilling their psychopathic ambitions. After dissolving parliament by way of the 'Enabling Act' and declaring Hitler an unchallenged dictator for four years, Goebbels was made 'Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda'. Hitler and the Nazis then completed the task of erecting an extraordinary propaganda machine, that was highly centralised and under complete political control. Goebbels, a failed author, later came to consider himself '...one of the greatest propagandists of all time...' (31)

The Nazis task of creating a national system of propaganda newspapers and magazines was relatively easily achieved given the legislative and dictatorial powers that the Nazis then possessed. The Nazis publishing company, Eher Verlag, was normally the only bidder for any newspapers that the Nazis had suppressed, and most suppressed newspapers were purchased for next to nothing. The Nazis thus picked up a huge printed propaganda organisation for a tiny sum. By the early-1940s, Eher Verlag controlled almost 70% of the German press. (32) However, even given a virtual monopoly on newspapers was not enough: the Nazis propaganda line was enforced by a strict system of censorship acting on any remaining 'independent' newspapers as well. (33)

The control of radio broadcasting was made easier for the Nazis, by virtue of all radio in Germany already being a State-owned monopoly. The Nazis automatically gained control of the State-owned radio when they had seized power. However, the general interests and purposes to which it was aimed were altered once the Nazis gained control: it was extensively used as an instrument of Nazi propaganda. Goebbels, in 1933, noted that the radio offered the Nazis extensive propaganda opportunities when he said '...What the press was for the nineteenth century, the radio will be for the twentieth...' (34) Some bourgeois academics have argued that '...There can be no doubt that broadcasting played the decisive role in the success of the National Socialist campaign...' (35)

The Nazis had introduced a relatively inexpensive radio the Volksempfanger which was widely owned. (36) By 1939, it was estimated that 70% of German households owned a radio. (37) The widespread ownership of these radios gave the Nazis a direct propaganda line into many German homes. However, as the war progressed, some elements of the Nazis radio propaganda backfired, and were counter-productive.

For example, following the Soviet victory at Stalingrad, most Nazi radio commentators were expected to 'downplay' it's significance: the fighting at Stalingrad ceased to be propagandised, and Stalingrad, after a short period, was rarely mentioned. Those Germans who were interested in the events at Stalingrad -- those who had friends, sons, fathers or husbands fighting there -- had to turn elsewhere for their information.

The Soviet radio, as it had before and throughout the war, truthfully reported the news, and broadcast both Soviet victories and defeats: many, many Germans tuned in to Soviet radio to hear of the real conditions under which their soldiers were actually fighting. Goebbels wrote in his diary that '...There are reports...that many people are listening to foreign radio broadcasts. The reason for this...is our totally obscure news policy which which no longer gives any insight into the war situation. Also, our reticence regarding Stalingrad and the fate of our missing soldiers there naturally leads the families to listen to Bolshevik radio stations, as these always broadcast the names of German soldiers reported as prisoners...' (38)

The number of Germans listening to foreign radio stations Soviet, British or Swiss became a serious problem for the Nazis very early: in 1939, Hitler enacted an ordinance outlawing unauthorised listening to foreign radio broadcasts. However, in practice, the law was virtually impossible to police effectively. The illegal listening was widespread: some have argued that spare parts for broken radio receivers were withheld in areas where the Nazis suspected many broke the foreign radio laws. (39) Some have argued that the British propaganda stations were exceptionally effective in creating social unrest, especially amongst Nazi U-boat crews, who often listened to British propaganda stations out of preference. (40)

The British propaganda stations also developed the technique of cutting in on the same wavelength as German radio stations during bombing operations: the Nazi stations had to stop broadcasting when bombers were in the vicinity to prevent their radio signals being used as direction finding beacons by British or American aircraft. The British propaganda stations were able to create great unrest, with German listeners often completely unable to tell whether they were listening to legitimate broadcasts: the British propagandists would countermand previous instructions and create other deceptions and diversions, that in some cases created absolute chaos. (41)

Film was also extensively used as a means of Nazi indoctrination. The German cinema underwent a boom period from the time Hitler came to power until the early 1940s, when war damage and production took it's toll on film stock, equipment and technical staff.

Goebbels was instrumental in establishing the 'Reich Film Chamber' very early in his role of propaganda minister, and he remained in control until the end of the war. Goebbels took an extensive interest in film production, and one of his homes was equipped with it's own cinema, on which he used to view -- before it's public release -- almost every film produced in Germany at the time. He even dictated lines to be scripted into certain films. After the outbreak of war, no film was made in Germany until the script had been approved by the propaganda division and the film office censors. He was also in complete control of the film censorship board, which examined every film released in Germany. (42) Most of the themes contained in films from this period reflected Nazi ideology and political aims.

For example, the film, Jud Suss ( The Jew Suss), which was directed by and featured some of the best known names then working in German cinema, is rated by some as the most extreme piece of racist propaganda ever made. (43) This film and Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew), were two of the films that politically prepared it's audience for the 'Jewish-Bolshevik' final solution that was to follow.

The propaganda methods the Nazis used followed closely in the propaganda tactics devised by Hitler, who had written in Mein Kampf that '...The success of any advertisement, whether in business or politics, is due to the continuity and consistency with which it is employed...' (44) This tactical consideration ran throughout all elements of Nazi propaganda: if you tell a lie loudly and often enough, eventually it becomes accepted as truth.

The initial period of Nazi propaganda saw the Nazis repeating and politically emphasising not only rabid anti-semitism and anti-communism but also the 'socialism' contained in their 'doctrine' of 'national socialism'. This, as could be expected, was an attempt to brutally divert political support from German social-democratic and communist parties, and arguing for some socialist policies did eventually gain the Nazis a tiny degree of support from extremely gullible sections of the German proletariat. During 1927-28, for example, they emphasised the Nazis' newspapers as the 'voice of the persecuted'. (45)

Of course, the talk of socialism was merely a particularly blatant lie designed to fool the naive and the uneducated: the fledgeling Nazi Party had received both financial and logistical support from members of the German military, of whom Hitler had been a member. (46)

Before his criminal rise to dictator began, he had been employed within the Political Department of the German Army's Press and News Bureau, and was actually acting on official orders when he attended his first meeting of the German Worker's Party, later to become the Nazis: he was on the army's pay-roll as a political agent. (47) The Nazis financial support from the wealthiest strata of German and international finance capitalists also began fairly early; the rich saw the Nazis as a bulwark against communism, and their support in capitalist newspapers and the media paved the way for Hitler's eventual takeover. (48)

Naturally, the 'socialist' propaganda period abruptly ended once the Nazis had attained dictatorship: it must be remembered that in the final election held in pre-Nazi Germany, the Nazis only held around 44.5% of Reichstag seats; 55.5% of German politicians weren't members of the Nazi party.

Another propaganda theme then emerged: alongside Hitler and the Nazis' brutal anti-communist and anti-Jewish diatribes, this new theme emphasised the 'peaceful aims' of the Nazis, obviously intending to persuade the international bourgeoisie that the Nazis weapons were only aimed at the USSR and the proletariat. This, naturally, was nothing more than a another particularly blatant hoax, that was continually repeated from the time Hitler gained the Chancellry, throughout the expansionism of the 1930s until the invasion of the USSR. (49) The Nazis propaganda organs and diplomatic organisations continually repeated the basic propaganda line that 'Hitler is a man of peace'.

This empty lie was believed by many sections of the criminally insane international bourgeoisie: for example, King Edward VIII, one of Hitler's best known political supporters, was forced to abdicate the British throne by sections of the British bourgeoisie because of his pro-Nazi and anti-proletariat views; (50) even R.G.Menzies was known to publicly comment quite favourably on the state of Hitler's Germany. (51) However, the Nazis propaganda wasn't swallowed by many proletarians internationally, especially after the Spanish Civil War when the Nazis and the international bourgeoisie rallied to the aid of Franco's murderous fascists.

This period also saw the emergence of a large Nazi organisation specialising in one area of propaganda, devoted exclusively to 'fighting' Marxist-Leninism, both in the USSR and elsewhere. This organisation, the Antikomintern, the Union of German Anti-Communist Societies, began in 1933, a brainchild of Goebbels. (52) This organisation differed in it's role from most of the Nazi propaganda organisations, as '...it was intended to generate propaganda about the Soviet Union, not to it...' (53)

The Antikomintern included a very large research department, studying in close detail Soviet society, the Comintern and Marxist-Leninism. However, the organisation was little more than a thinly disguised arm of the Nazi Party, at one stage during the Spanish civil war even propagandising a situation that had no relation to reality, arguing that '...Franco...had not attempted a Fascist coup against the legal government: the Soviet Union had invaded the country...'! (54) In 1936, the Nazis launched a propaganda assault on other capitalist countries in Europe, that was based, essentially, on the 'threat of communism', and was designed to '...create an anti-Communist psychosis in Europe in the same way it had created one inside Germany in the years 1932 and 1933...' (55)

The third period of Nazi propaganda emerged after these years: this was psychological warfare aimed at destroying the will to resist Nazi aggression, and to create internal dissension and unrest.

Nazi radio broadcasts played a special, tactical role during the phoney war and the invasion of France, when the Nazis were aided in their task by many pro-Nazi sympathisers present in French government, business and military circles. The Nazis had several radio transmitters in France operating, attempting to start rumours and create internal unrest. (56) One radio broadcast that the advancing Nazis were confiscating all the cash they could find, and the result of this was a run on banks in several pro-fascist areas where many people listened in to the Nazi propaganda stations: the announcements created economic chaos for several days. (57) Following the invasion of France where many fascist politicians and military officers acted in collusion with the Nazis the Nazis then turned to psychological warfare against Britain, in an attempt to lull it's real military target, the USSR, into a state of false security.

The English blackshirt William Joyce, known as Lord Haw-Haw, was recruited and delivered a stream of anti-Churchill propaganda across the English Channel from a transmitter located in France. Joyce, and a group of British prisoners of war released from POW camps for the purpose, maintained a constant stream of pro-Nazi propaganda. However, there were other radio broadcasts as well. (58)

Writing of the period, George Orwell noted that the Nazi radio broadcasts aimed at Britain during the war consisted of propaganda that was selectively bracketed at different political groups: '...What is interesting is that every section of anti-war opinion has one section of German radio propaganda...assigned to it. Since the outbreak of war the Germans have done hardly any direct propaganda in England otherwise than by wireless. The best known of their broadcasts...are by William Joyce...But in addition the Germans maintain four spurious 'freedom' stations, actually operating on the continent but pretending to be operating illegally in England. The best known of these is the New British Broadcasting Station...The general line of these broadcasts is 'uncensored news' or 'what the Government is hiding from you'. They affect a pessimistic, well informed manner, as of someone who is on the inside of the inside, and go in for enormous figures of shipping losses...More interesting...is the Workers' Challenge Station. This goes in for a line of red-hot revolutionary talks under such titles as 'Kick Churchill Out', delivered by an authentic British working man who uses plenty of unprintable words. We are to overthrow the corrupt capitalist government which is selling us to the enemy, and set up a real Socialist government which will come to the rescue of our heroic comrades of the Red Army and give us victory over fascism. (The German station does not hesitate to talk about 'the menace of Nazism', 'the horrors of the Gestapo' etc.)...The other two 'freedom' stations are the Christian Peace Movement (pacifism) and Radio Caledonia (Scottish Nationalism)...' (59)

The Nazis' propaganda was designed to create internal dissension, and attempted to do so in a particularly subtle way. It attempted to realign those interests hostile to British Imperialism, and firmly place them in the service of the Nazis' own political and military ends. This was a standard Nazi psychological warfare tactic: by emphasising the conflicting interests of some political groups, the Nazis attempted to split any united opposition.

Closely following the invasion of the USSR, the Nazis began radio transmissions into Soviet territory. This and other subversive propaganda was delivered by specialist psychological warfare units, and again attempted to foster internal dissent. The methods it used were interesting.

One bourgeois historian noted that the Nazis propagandists had '...two broad choices before them. They could identify the Soviet regime with the peoples over which it ruled, and declare a ruthless fight on them. They could work, on the other hand, for the creation of a system of selective alliances with certain social groups and nationalities, and devote their energies to driving a wedge between Stalin...and the people of Russia...' (60) The Nazis decided on the second path.

The actual method was quite simple: '...Goebbels set up a secret station that specialised in broadcasting to Russia. It was run by Albrecht, a Russian of German extraction who was a Soviet Vice-Commissar...before fleeing to Germany...' (61) The station aimed it's propaganda at three separate political groups, and attempted to create loose alliances with them: '...One of them was based on a general opposition programme, another expounded a Trotskyist line, and another...conducted a 'national Bolshevik' policy. It maintained that Stalin, the slave of the capitalists, had sold the socialist fatherland to the plutocrats...' (62)

Radio Australia in the Second World War and after

In Australia, propaganda preparations were fairly quickly begun, almost immediately following the outbreak of war. The Department of Information, based loosely on the British Ministry of Information, came into being on the 4th September, 1939. (63)

One of it's first official acts was to begin preparations to commence official State shortwave propaganda broadcasts throughout the South Pacific region: this was only done, though, after requests from British Imperialism. The Australian propaganda station was meant to blend with and counter-point standard BBC propaganda, to assist the propaganda broadcasts of British Imperialism by acting as an alternate voice.

The only major overseas shortwave broadcasts had been experimental overseas transmissions by AWA, starting around 1927, which could be received in Europe, North and South America and the Asian and Pacific regions. Their 'laughing Kookaburra' station call-sign was quite well known in many parts of the world among shortwave listeners. Apart from the ABC broadcasts to Papua-New Guinea and a few other Pacific areas -- which were primarily in English with very limited 'native language' broadcasts -- there had been no State foreign-language propaganda broadcasts.

W. MacMahon Ball, then a well known bourgeois academic, was made the head of the new shortwave propaganda section: he was also well known for his regular news commentaries broadcast on the ABC during the 1930s. (64) He was influential in establishing the original aims and propaganda norms of the station: the station attempted to transmit propaganda on an academic, scholarly level as could be expected, with an emphasis on 'truth'. Ball maintained that credible propaganda explored different points of view, to '...enhance the station's credibility in the eyes of the enemy...' (65)

These views were in line with his pronounced bourgeois-liberalism: he had been involved with anti-censorship activities in the 1930s, and extensively lobbied Menzies to remove the political bans on the importation of books by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. He had also been involved in the creation of the first independent news gathering service for the ABC, which had previously been forced to rely on the 'news-gathering capabilities' of the capitalist newspapers: ABC newsreaders normally read extracts and articles from capitalist newspapers over the air. This gave selected finance-capitalists direct propaganda control over much of the propaganda broadcast on the ABC! (66)

By early 1940, the shortwave propaganda station was broadcasting in several languages French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Afrikaans to different areas of the world the Philippines, Europe, North and South America, India, South Africa and Indonesia. (67) However, the station was seriously undercapitalised, and was in need of larger transmitters, as some of the propaganda could only be picked up in some areas under selected atmospheric conditions. (68 )

Ball, at that stage, had virtually complete control of the station. He arranged, within the Shortwave Department, the creation of a listening post section, designed to monitor all overseas shortwave transmissions: this was to give the station the capability of countering German and Japanese propaganda broadcasts. However, the listening post had some other serious problems, apart from it's transmission strength, as well: there were only a handful of people in the entire country whose Japanese language skills were up to the task of monitoring and translating Japanese radio broadcasts into English or broadcasting in Japanese. (69) The shortage was so acute that some Japanese-speaking soldiers were later transferred from the US Army, to work in the listening post or as broadcasters. (70)

The Shortwave Division was transferred to the ABC in early 1942. More Asian languages were added to it's transmissions -- Malay, and Chinese -- and broadcasts increased to these countries. (71) Also, Japanese transmissions were included, for the first time. However, with Caldwell's ministerial ascension to the Department of Information in 1943, the station reverted to the control of the department, giving Caldwell enormous control over the station that he maintained until the ALP lost office, when Menzies transferred it back to the ABC. The transmission strength was increased by 1944, and it improved it's signal reception in the Pacific region.

After the war ended, the shortwave service was used in it's propaganda role for Australian and American Imperialism. It received it's post-war baptism of fire during the Indonesian struggle for independence.

The station supported the Indonesian nationalists -- Sukarno, Hatta, et al. -- against Dutch rule, which attempted to maintain the colonialist control it had before the 2nd war. The shortwave station, it's signal audible throughout much of Indonesia, was conspicuously critical of the Dutch colonial administration, and supportive of the nationalist rebels. This, naturally, was an attempt by Australian and US Imperialism to rid themselves of a trade competitor: Australian and American Imperialist involvement gradually increased in Indonesia after this time.

However, the station's propaganda stance was publicly censured by some bourgeois politicians, who assessed that Australian support for the Dutch was necessary; (72)

but most bourgeois-liberals including Chifley supported either publicly or privately the nationalists, who realised the political gains that were to be had from an end to Dutch rule. However, the station's propaganda stance was criticised by many conservatives, although the voices raised against the station were quickly silenced once Menzies gained office.

The station was returned to the ABC after Menzies abolished the entire Department of Information. (73) P.C.Spender, a minister in charge of the station during the early years of the Menzies government, realised the propaganda potential that Radio Australia represented for Australian capital. He placed Radio Australia under increased State control by increasing links between the station and the Department of External Affairs. (74)

Radio Australia's propaganda line toward Indonesia gradually reversed 180 degrees between the early post-war years and 1964-66, in line with Australia's requirements that Indonesia didn't 'fall to the communists' and lose Australian capitalists a growing market, naturally. Some of the station's long-term propaganda tactics were similar to those used by many other imperialists. From the early 1960s, the station transmitted English language lessons for Indonesians: accompanying booklets were distributed by the Australian embassy in Djakarta. (75)