A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
[17th June]
COPY NO: 14
SECRET
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
GENERAL PRODUCTION DIVISION .
“ANGER” CAMPAIGN
CONTENTS
Page No.
-
Introduction 1
-
Preliminary Survey 2
-
Detailed Recommendations and Media 12
-
Conclusion 29
ANGER CAMPAIGN
THE TERMS OF REFERENCE in the preparation of the suggestions which follow were for recommendation for a campaign which will:
heighten the intensity of the personal anger felt by the individual British citizen against the German people and Germany - as a factor in increasing war effort and in preparing the British public for every emergency.
THESE RECOMMENDATIONS are the result of a careful study of this problem in all its aspects and are set out in the following arrangement:
1. PRELIMINARY STUDY of the present state of public anger from which it is suggested that the best way of achieving the objective is intensively to cultivate all the various sources of anger and resentment at present operating in the following two ways:
(a) Hammering at a MAIN THEME for the public as a whole - this theme being “Resentment at the unchanging character of the German as the perpetual Trouble-making BULLY O F THE WORLD”.
(b) Cultivation of this and allied themes applied to individual classes and groups in the community - each calculated to touch “where the shoe pinches most”.
2. DETAILED RECOMMENDATIONS AND MEDIA in which are outlined the principal lines of attack and suggestions for their application through the various channels for the formation of public opinion, these being dealt with one by one.
IMPORTANT
A good deal of the war-anger felt by the British people is not at present directed consciously against the Germans. It is our task to focus all war-anger as directly as possible against the Germans and in such a way that it appears to come quite spontaneously from the people themselves. In other words, we want the people to feel that it is their anger which is growing of its own accord .
It is therefore regarded as essential that the campaign should be planned and run with the greatest degree of secrecy possible. It should open through channels which are apparently entirely unofficial and non-inspired. These range from the treatment of news stories in the press to the most subtle methods of securing the desired public attitude of mind.
It must be remembered all through that in order to stimulate real anger amongst the easy-going British people, the Ministry will have to make full use of all its powers. Everything likely to affect public opinion will have to be influenced but without the public knowing it is influenced. As soon as the public is unconsciously stimulated through apparently non-official channels the more obvious official propaganda methods can effectively be used. On no account should the initial stimulation be attempted by means of a few advertisements, leaflets or posters. Once anger has been stirred the more direct methods will be infinitely more effective. The idea will be already “sold”. The poster, the press advertisement, the leaflet which expresses an idea already held subconsciously by the public is a most potent weapon.
The DETAILED RECOMMENDATIONS therefore include not only themes, media and specific suggestions but recommendations on the special organisation which, in several instances, will have to be set up to make these efforts fully effective.
PRELIMINARY SURVEY
for a suggested propaganda campaign designed to increase the anger felt by the British people towards the Germans and Germany with the purpose of ensuring maximum determination to see this war through to victory and to react with the highest possible morale to every intensification of the enemy's attack.
THE PEOPLE with whom we are primarily concerned are the great MASS of the British people. The ordinary people in town and countryside, the millions of people in the little homes on which fall the full day-after-day strains of this war - the violent disruptions of peaceful lives, the violent shattering of family plans, the sudden changing of jobs, the closing-down of businesses, the problems of evacuation, black-out restrictions, rationing, the calling-up of family bread-winners, husbands and sons, the waiting for news from the front, the anxious scanning of casualty lists, the news of friends and neighbours killed and wounded, the worry over the children, their schooling and safety, the local activities of A.R.P. and A.F.S, the talk of invasion, the increased calls on munitions-workers, the news of air-raids and the discussing of precautions, the hour-by-hour exchanging of speculations, comment and rumours.
THE BRITISH PEOPLE, patient, long-suffering, slow to anger, slower still to hate, slowest of all to be shaken in their deep-seated conviction that, come what may, the British always win. Even to-day, harbouring little sense of real personal animus against the average German man or woman, accepting with amazing phlegm bitter reverses without overmuch recrimination - taking such “let-downs” almost as trials to be expected, but nearing the end of their patience. Determined irrevocably that the war must go on until it is won because NAZISM stands for all they most detest, because it THREATENS:-
Their creed : At heart a deeply religious people but translating their implicit Christian faith in terms of liberty, kindliness, fair-dealing and hatred of oppression.
Their personal freedom and ambitions.
Their sense of the respect due to the individual l and their hatred of cruelty .
Their children's futures .
Their love of their country, their pride of race .
Their belief in “Live and Let Live” as the golden rule of civilised existence .
GENERAL ATTACK AND SPECIALISED ATTACKS
The above are the general characteristics which control the British people's attitude towards this war. To make the suggested campaign fully effective however, we must approach the public not only in the general mass but in SPECIALISED CLASSES. In many cases we can heighten anger most easily from particular and personal sources of anger, which vary somewhat from class to class.
To make this clear there is analysed in the next section SIX SOURCES OF ANGER at present operating. Some of these sources apply to every class in the community. Others appeal more strongly to one class than to another. Before therefore we consider some of the major well-defined groupings of the community in detail, these various sources of anger are worth studying.
MAIN SOURCES OF PRESENT ANGER AGAINST GERMANY
The anger that already exists against Germany is a steady smouldering anger based on these roots:-
1. Anger at the fact that war, with all its stupid senseless waste and its dislocation of peaceful lives and of all that has so carefully been built up is here again forced on us for the second time in our lives - through the Germans ‘ fault .
2. Anger at the inherent insanity of a race that seems never to learn better, never to be happy except when it is plunging the world into turmoil.
3. Anger at the wanton flouting of civilised and Christian ideals that enable the nations to live at peace.
4. Anger at the idea that this evil passion for war is being fostered as a creed - a perverted race created which constitutes a recurring menace to our children and our children's children.
5. Anger at the way the Germans make war, because of (a) its cruelty, (b) its treachery.
6. Anger at the thought of the fate with which this present war directly threatens each individual, our private possessions, our children, our religion and our cherished institutions.
These six separate sources of present anger against Germany are not very likely to be increased in number. But they CAN each be greatly increased in intensity. They can be given a sharper “edge” with corresponding increase in the “fighting temper” of the public. We can make them more potent sources of war enthusiasm by:-
(a) Bringing home more vividly to every member of the public the facts that arouse, justify and intensify anger of each kind.
(b) By tackling the people class by class and concentrating on the points which appeal most strongly to each class.
(c) By countering and crushing the German-inspired ideas, still being spread in this country, which seek to smother these well-springs of anger with specious and misleading arguments.
This last point is mentioned particularly because it is still being done wholesale, often by well-meaning but mistaken people. As it is a separate but very important part of a campaign such as is here contemplated, it is treated in greater detail in another part of this report.
Summing up the above analysis of the various sources of anger it is clear that material is provided for:-
(a) the main theme of the campaign as a whole: i.e. addressed to the public in general.
(b) specific appeals to sectional classes of the community.
(c) subsidiary and supporting ideas that arise out of the main campaign.
THE MAIN THEME OF THE CAMPAIGN
Anger In Action
The Germans are by race and nature a nation of bullies . They are and have always been the gangsters of Europe . Always they have been the same, treacherous swaggering race - overbearing in triumph, whining when defeated. Five wars they have caused in a few score years, and this shall be their last!
The only way to deal with a bully is to face up to him and fight him, This German bully who much prefers beating-up helpless little nations now has to tackle us . But we have smashed him before by standing up to him and we will smash him again in the same way .
Nothing else is possible. This treacherous cowardly bully will not leave one single country or one single generation to live in peace. Our lives, our children's lives will not be worth living whilst Nazi Germany stands.
British men and women! Life shall be clean and bright again for you and yours and for all the world. Steel your hearts - nerve your sinews - keep your chins up - and together we shall hit this Nazi beast so hard that it will never rise again.
That, it is suggested, is the principal line round which the campaign should be built. It is based primarily on the second of the six sources of anger examined. - anger at the insensate bullying nature of the German character.
It may be defined as “Anger in Action” since it associates healthy anger against a bully with the instinctive urge to hit him hard.
THE RELATION OF ANGER TO FEAR - SPECIAL NOTE
This raises a very important point. One of the biggest difficulties that any general morale campaign has to face is the difficulty between fostering undue fear of the Germans on the one hand and of underestimating them and of engendering over-confidence on the other.
This is the reason for the insistence on
GERMANY - THE TREACHEROUS BULLY
A bully angers everyone. The moment it is felt that there is any chance that the bully is not really as confident as he seems someone will take the plunge and stand up to him. A bully who has to descend to treachery - and moreover one who has been licked before - is worth tackling if the alternative is sufficiently grim.
This therefore means handling the “bully” part of the story carefully and adjectives such as “ferocious” “ruthless” “barbaric” must be deliberately avoided. In general it should be said that :-
At no time should evidence of the German bully's strength or savagery be put forward without putting forward alongside it evidence of the bully's vulnerability: i.e. if we show a picture of a bombed village we should show alongside it pictures of a smashed German bomber .
This gives a clear line as to the handling of atrocity material. It is too valuable not to use but it should never be used where its outstanding effect will be to leave the reader with too live a respect for German ruthlessness.
In handling atrocity material care should be taken to see that the incidents do not strike too near home (i.e. show sea atrocities to landsmen etc.) unless immediate evidence can be presented either of the triumphant courage of the victims (such as the woman in Bruges in 1914 who slaughtered two Germans who had killed her little son) or of immediate retribution.
On the other hand it will be noted that the suggested main theme does not make the mistake of overestimating the ease with which the bully can be stopped. It simply recalls that he has always proved a whining coward in defeat and has been defeated when apparently just as cocksure of victory as now. Also it suggests that the alternative of submission is the most awful fate of all.
Once the main theme is agreed upon it is easy to see the lines that must be followed to build it up. These are dealt with in detail under “Detailed Material and Media”.
THE CLASS-BY-CLASS APPEAL
It is also immediately apparent that whilst the Main Theme is based largely on the second and probably most universal of the six sources of anger, i.e. anger at the unchanging German character, expressed in various ways to suit the various social classes all the other points can be grouped round this theme in general propaganda whilst in class-by-class propaganda some of these other points become of exceptional interest.
The following list is not intended to be comprehensive but indicative:-
WOMEN
Probably the most important single classification because of its size (approximately 20 millions) and because of the potent influence every woman exerts in her family circle. The Main Theme is effective here but so also will be Source No.1 - The Irritations of the War which is Germany's Fault. Women are most nearly concerned 189 - 6 -with the annoying details of war restrictions on food prices, etc. and if the war is seen clearly as Germany's fault their exasperation finds its proper goal. To women, stories of German cruelty are important but need handling carefully for fear of arousing fear. Less obvious forms of cruelty, such as refugee babies left without food are no less effective in rousing women's indignation and have not the same reaction of physical fear.
TRADE UNIONISTS
Fear of the loss of hard-won liberties will equal the Main Theme in importance. The fate of the working- classes in German-conquered territory needs to be emphasised. They must be reminded of the liberties - too often taken for granted - that they are in danger of losing.
PROFESSIONAL CLASSES
Anger at the war in the sense of the interruption to civilised progress means a lot here. They can be made more angry by being reminded what fine progress was being made in building, in the arts, education etc. The threat to their savings and personal liberty is hardly believed in as yet and needs making more real. Very large numbers of this class have been badly hit and they need reminding that this war is Germany's fault. They are also concerned about the postwar future.
Note : In our propaganda so far it is felt that undue reliance has been placed on appeals to this class confined only to the moral or social argument - the outraging of civilised ideas. This almost inevitably wears thin under the impact of one invasion after another. Its effectiveness is greatest amongst the idealist and religious groups.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS
See above. Also especially susceptible to religious persecution material. The proof of Germany's guilt needs endless reiteration here.
FREEMASONS, ROTARIANS AND OTHER LODGE ORGANISATIONS
These total an enormous number, mostly professional men. The idealistic factors ( loss of liberties , future freedom) count a great deal. The same applies on a different social level to Oddfellows, Foresters.
EX-SERVICE MEN
The fullest use should be made of Ex-Service Men's organisations. These are men who know the German character and the idea that “They do not change” is the strongest appeal here.
MEN AND WOMEN IN HOME DEFENCE FORCES
It is particularly important to develop the right view point here because these people can act as a disciplined “lacing” of the public as a whole. They must be shown that the German although a tough nut is not invincible .
MEN AWAITING THEIR CALL-UP
The same applies with great force to those and some way might be found of addressing a special series of messages to them.
SOLDIERS, SAILORS AND AIRMEN
Doubtless outside the scope of this scheme, except to suggest that the Services should provide material in line with that issued to the civil population.
BUSINESS CLASSES
Very influential and extremely concerned about what they have got to lose - savings, businesses, etc.
TEACHERS are a very influential group - particularly concerned at the moral issue and the future of the children.
WAR WORKERS can well receive special attention - they will react best to practical details of loss of liberties etc. under Nazi rule.
THE DETAILED APPEAL PLAN: From the foregoing it is clear that the total intensity of anger against the Germans can be increased not only by general propaganda but by localised and specialised efforts. The following is a table of the dozen examples considered above and the points that can most effectively be used (numbered in order of importance).
It is obvious that this list of classifications could be greatly extended and these groups further subdivided, as Women into Mothers, Service Men's Wives, etc.
Enough has, however, been said to show the possible ramifications of a campaign really designed to “get under people's skins” and make them fighting mad against the Germans.
THE APPEAL TO PRIDE
Very closely allied to anger that “la patrie est en danger” is ingrained pride of race. A Britisher believes in his heart of hearts that he can lick anyone if he is really put to it. But just as anger needs to be kept hot so does this slumbering pride of race - this innate belief in his power to win against all odds - need to be ROUSED. This is borne in mind in the detailed recommendations that follow. These two influences are the most powerful forces that can fuse in the human mind to produce individual fearlessness in a civilian population and the real fighting temper that it is the purpose of this campaign to heighten.
Concluding Notes
THE “TOTAL” ATTACK
In case there is any likelihood of the foregoing being regarded as too detailed an attack upon the problem it may not be amiss to point out here that it is exactly upon these intensive lines that propaganda has succeeded in creating the militant Germany of today from a battered, hopeless nation. It works because it does not leave a single stone unturned. It talks to every individual in the community in terms’ of enemy threats to his self-interest and, at the same time it raises pride of race to a point where the individual - between anger and pride - overcomes fear. Today, of course, in Germany it has the further advantage of utterly controlling every means of expression but it succeeded before this was the case. Nor does it have to be based on untruths except when, as in the Nazis’ case, the truth is unusable. It is the modern art of total propaganda - all-pervasive, subtle, and persistent. It is the only way in which a problem of the magnitude of the one here presented can be successfully approached.
It follows from this that a complete outline of the hundreds of channels and the dozens of different detailed themes that would be employed can hardly be set down in full in an outline such as the one that follows. What is intended however is to show the general plan of attack. We are, after all, trying to change the attitude of the most stolid and unvengeful people in the world. Short of a world-shocking atrocity of the first magnitude it is not likely to be changed by one lightning campaign but only by a relentless detailed drive from every angle.
THE USE OF HITLER
It cannot be too strongly emphasised that Hitler's success is engendering a legend of infallibility which is immensely powerful. Even over here one hears constantly - “You've got to hand it to him” etc. THIS LEGEND MUST BE DEFEATED. It must be made clear that the little countries Hitler has invaded were lying defenceless at Germany's door for generations. Even in France he is only making headway 192 - 9 -“by sheer weight of metal”. Hitler is personally fallible, despicable, cowardly. His behaviour at the Ludendorff putsch, his shooting of Roehm etc., his hysterical outbursts, proclaim him anything but an invincible genius. He is a sleepwalker and it is time we made him wake up. He is important only as the embodiment of the German lust for power in the most evil guise it has yet taken.
THE NEED FOR ACTION
Anger is very difficult to maintain “in suspense”. It demands an outlet. Moreover anger allied to discipline is effective and less likely to become fear.
Therefore the more the anger campaign is rounded off with definite instructions on what to DO the better.
Everyone has a part to play. We should, therefore, wherever possible harness the anger campaign to Home Defence, Savings, Speeding-up Munitions, etc.
This will he particularly essential if, as the campaign develops, the time arrives to use PRESS ADVERTISING. A press campaign designed to do nothing but make people angry will not ring true. But if it is applied ostensibly to rouse enthusiasm, for example, for the Ironsides, A.R.P. Home Protection, A.F.S. or Dig for Victory, etc. it can still put over material calculated to create a general heightening of anger throughout the community in a most effective way.
This idea of using anger-arousing material in the course of securing specific action for the various patriotic activities is dealt with more fully in the Detailed Recommendations that follow.
SPECIAL NOTES
In all the recommendations that follow these general points are of universal importance!
THE NEED FOR SIMPLE FORCEFUL SLOGAN-TAGS TO BRAND THE ENEMY
In the last war enormously effective use was made of the technique of never talking about the enemy except with a term of anger or contempt.
“THE HUN” “THE UNSPEAKABLE HUN”
“THE BOCHE” “SALLE BOCHE”
“THE MAD DOG OF EUROPE”
“THE ALL-HIGHEST” “THE WAR LORD”
“APOSTLES OP FRIGHTFULNESS”
“THE BABY-KILLERS”
We should endeavour to get the same “edge” on our references to the Germans, those good-humoured tags like “Fritz” and “Jerry” should not be used.
These names cannot be imposed - they have to catch on spontaneously and it is hard to get one which is not either too frightening or too good-natured. Every effort should, however, be made to popularise any that emerge and meantime “Nazis” is the best word to date.
Likewise we should always label the German leaders “Hitler the Arch-Gangster”, “Bully Goering”, “Jew-Baiter Streicher”, “Lie-Minister Goebbels”, “Gestapo-Chief Himmler”, “The Rogues Gallery of the Reich” etc. It is surely high time the B.B.C. ceased to refer to the dictators as Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini. The war should be referred to as “The War against German Aggression” or “The Second German War of Aggression” and on public notices this practice should also be followed.
THE VULNERABILITY OF THE GERMAN BULLY
We should avoid perpetuating in news, articles or pictures, the legend of German ruthless efficiency. Like all bullies and gangsters - a coward at heart - the blustering murderer of the weak will crumple if tackled resolutely. He is only brave when he has the bigger gun. He is not 100% invincible. Refer constantly to German scuttlings and German fear of Allied airmen.
We should play up, to their utmost, stories of individual heroism causing the tables to be turned on the Germans - especially by brave civilians. These are immensely encouraging.
“Man for man, we are better than the Germans, more courageous, more adaptable, more enduring”.
“Inside the impressive great-coat and big helmet of the Nazi there is often a not-very-bright adult who can be out-manoeuvred or a surprisingly young and weedy specimen against whom you stand a good chance if you tackle him with all your might”.
Such quotations as these would be heartening to civilians.
Few People Will Stand Up To A Bully If They Believe That The Odds Are Absolutely Hopeless. They Must Feel That They Have A Glimmer Of A Chance, Every Evidence Of German Vulnerability Is Therefore Vital
RE-COVERING THE GROUND
In the actual examples of subjects for articles etc. and mentioned in these recommendations it is realised that many have, in the nature of things, already been used during the nine months of war. But in this campaign they properly find a place and would be given new point by the emphasis on the aspects calculated to produce anger and contempt for the German character.
DETAILED RECOMMENDATIONS AND MEDIA
It is obvious that a very large number of the detail themes which are used in such a campaign as this will be the same in a wide variety of media (i.e. channels of communications). The same theme suitably adapted will in many cases be usable in newspaper stories, films, radio broadcasts, booklets, leaflets etc.
The Main Theme of the campaign, as suggested in the Preliminary Survey section, is repeated here
ANGER IN ACTION
The Germans are by race and nature a nation of bullies. They are and have always been the gangsters of Europe. Always they have been the same, treacherous swaggering race - overbearing in triumph, whining when defeated. Five wars they have caused in a few score years, and this shall be their last!
The only way to deal with a bully is to face up to him and fight him. This German bully who much prefers beating-up helpless little nations now has to tackle us. But we have smashed him before by standing up to him and we will smash him again in the same way .
Nothing else is possible. This treacherous cowardly bully will not leave one single country or one single generation to live in peace. Our lives, our children's lives will not be worth living whilst Nazi Germany stands.
British men and women! Life shall be clean and bright again for you and yours and for all the world. Steel your hearts - nerve your sinews - keep your chins up - and together we shall hit this Nazi beast so hard that it will never rise again.
In the following pages is a synopsis of ideas for carrying out through various channels this Main Theme and the associated ideas adapted to the needs of the media and of the type of public to be reached.
PRESS ARTICLES AND FEATURES
The mainstay of the campaign is unquestionably the Press. Foremost in the plan as a whole must be:-
A ceaseless stream of carefully-worded feature articles by the country's most popular writers written on lines arrived at in consultation with a small committee of trained publicity experts appointed from the staff of the Ministry.
This is a plan of enormous propaganda possibilities and although never yet done on the lines envisaged, presents no problems which good sense and an appreciation of the national importance of the scheme cannot easily surmount.
It is an attempt to take full advantage for the first time of the remarkable fact that in this country of forty-five million people an enormous amount of the power of influencing opinion rests in the hands of twenty or thirty famous journalists who between them command a readership of over twenty million a week. They are the famous press writers such as:
Lord Castlerosse
A.G. Gardiner
Godfrey Winn
Edward Hulton
Beverley Baxter
Lord Donegall
“Scrutator”
“Cassandra”
Hannen Swaffer
Peter Howard
William Hickey
William Barkley
to whom may be added regular press contributors such as:
J.B. Priestley
Pamela Frankau
S.P.B. Mais
A.P. Herbert
John Hilton
Ellen Wilkinson
This would not be, in the slightest degree, an attempt to “dictate” what these writers should say. It would call for no sacrifice of independence from them - only willingness to lend their powerful pens - as and when they conscientiously felt able - in the most important mobilisation of public opinion ever undertaken. Very close liaison between the Ministry's small expert publicity committee and these writers, on such points as the balanced treatment of anger in relation to fear, for example, would be essential. Most of these influential writers, whose patriotism and enthusiasm is beyond all question, would welcome eagerly the opportunity to put their pens to constructive national work and the knowledge that the voluntary timing and co-ordination of their work in line with the Government's own policy was helping to win the war.
It might well be that preliminary conferences with Press Proprietors should first be held and also that Editors-in-Chief should be invited to co-operate in the same way as above. In some cases the approach would best be made through the professional Associations, once the Ministry has a clear-cut plan of action on which to call for “volunteers”. It should be perfectly possible to draw up for discussion a detailed programme of suggested subjects for two or three hundred signed and unsigned Press Articles (syndicated wherever possible) covering a period of three or four months in national papers appealing to readers of every social class.
The following suggestions are intended simply as examples. In each case there must be a broad “mass” or emotional appeal 197 - 14 -for popular consumption (A), reinforced by more restrained and factual evidence for the sophisticated or educated classes (B). The groups cover the main sources of war-anger already discussed.
The German Character
(A) EUROPE'S GANGSTERS RAMPANT
THE RECURRING MADNESS OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE
HUNS, GOTHS AND VANDALS.
GERMAN LUST FOR WORLD-DOMINATION
1870 - 1914 - 1939.
“THEY DO NOT CHANGE”
BLOWS ARE ALL THEY UNDERSTAND.
FREDERICK - BISMARCK -WILHELM - HITLER
THEY SHALL NOT PASS.
WHY THE KAISER CALLED THEM “HUNS”
THE ROUT OF THE GERMANS IN 1918.
THE GERMAN IS NOT INVINCIBLE.
THESE BULLIES CAN BE BEATEN
THE LESSON OF THE AIR FORCES.
INFERIORITY COMPLEX - THE ROOT OF GERMAN AGGRESSION.
(B) The fundamental “rotten-ness” of the German character - historical analysis.
German writers on the German bully complex - Nietzsche, Treitschke, etc.
Detailed instances where Germans have crumpled up.
German underlying weaknesses.
Germany's “Case” torn to shreds - refutation of Versailles Treaty attacks etc.
Events since the war have utterly confuted the weak-kneed apologists for Hitler. His “lebensraum” is the whole world. His “culture” the death of every other race.
What they threaten
(A) DON'T BELIEVE “IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE”. IT WILL UNLESS---
HOW HITLER WOULD RUN BRITAIN.
REPRINTS OF GERMAN PLANS AND BOASTS ABOUT THE SUBJUGATION OF BRITAIN.
“DESTROY THE ENGLISH” - GOEBBELS.
YOURSELF A SLAVE - YOUR CHILDREN LITTLE NAZIS
YOUR FUTURE IF GERMANY WINS (SERIES)
THE CHURCH AND NAZISM
(B) The German Destruction of Social Life, Education, etc.
The German Slave State.
The End of Civilisation.
Annoyance with War Strains
(A) THIS WAR IS ENTIRELY GERMANY'S FAULT.
EVERY INCONVENIENCE YOU SUFFER YOU OWE TO HITLER AND HIS HUNS.
GERMAN APOLOGISTS ARE TRAITORS AND SABOTEURS
(B) Social Progress - “better houses, schools, etc. - interrupted by German aggression.
Cruelty and Treachery
(A) GERMAN CRUELTY CALLS FOR VENGEANCE.
“FOR WHAT YE HAVE DONE UNTO THE LEAST OF THESE-”
THEY DID IT ALL BEFORE.
THE BRYCE REPORT ON ATROCITIES, 1918.
LOUVAIN, BRUGES, ETC.
SUBMISSION IS NO SAFEGUARD.
TREATMENT OF POLAND, NORWAY, CZECHOSLOVAKIA.
REPORTS OF CONCENTRATION CAMPS, SLAVERY ETC.
THE GERMAN BULLIES CAN'T “TAKE” IT.
MACHINE-GUNNING CIVILIANS ONE MINUTE - RUNNING AWAY FROM OUR FIGHTERS THE NEXT - PICTURES, STORIES.
STORIES OF INDIVIDUAL ALLIED HEROISM IN LONELY FARM-HOUSES, ETC.
“THE SNAKE IS YELLOW” CONTEMPTIBLE GERMAN TREACHERY IS MEASURE OF THEIR REAL COURAGE.
GERMAN FRENZY BASED ON FEAR.
KEEP COOL AND “SHOOT IT OUT” - MESSAGE.
“KAMERAD” - THEY'RE SAYING IT AGAIN.
(B) German Prisoners’ Confessions.
Germany's Bluff in Norway, etc.
Outraging of Ideals
(A) WORLD CHAOS WITHOUT END UNLESS THE ALLIES WIN.
“GIVE, FIGHT, WORK - THE ALTERNATIVE IS WORSE THAN DEATH.”
(B) Every ideal of Christianity and decency utterly doomed if.......
The Future
(A) “THIS TIME WE FINISH IT”
“OUR CHILDREN SHALL NOT SUFFER THIS AGAIN.
(B) Examination of the practicability of stopping future German aggression (but no declaration of war aims yet)
Other Subjects
(A) HITLER - LIKE MASTER LIKE MAN.
THE MURDER OF STRESSER AND ROHM.
HITLER'S “SUCCESSES” EXAMINED: STREICHER -GOEBBELS - HIMMLER.
(B) Hitler - a pathological study.
The Nazi Reign of Terror
How individualism is crushed.
Perversion of Youth - the Nazis’ Greatest Crime,
(A) LET'S LOOK AT THIS BOGEY - THE NAZI BULLY EXPOSED.
(B) The Nazi Psychology of Fear Examined.
Free men will always beat Slaves, etc.
(A) HOW THE GERMANS HATE US: “WE FLY AGAINST ENGLAND” THE NEW HYMNS OF HATE.
(B) German misreading of British Character.
German ideas of British Decadence, etc.
A complementary theme to stimulate the British amour propre. We are the heart of the greatest Empire the world has seen, built by our own hands; our ancestors were Nelson and Drake, Wellington and Marlborough; we have dealt with gangsters before, we can deal with them now.
In developing these themes the whole message should be interlaced with a rising note of confidence, enthusiasm and action.
SECTIONAL AND CLASS PAPERS
These should he given special attention since they provide the opportunity to address individual classes in terms of their own particular problems. For example:-
Papers in mining and agricultural, districts should show what the miners and agricultural workers of Germany have to suffer - forced labour, forced removal from their homes, etc.
(There is too much loose talk about the working classes having little or nothing to lose. They will soon know what they have to lose if Hitler wins)
Papers read by middle-class men and women . The humiliation and subjection of the middle classes - the disappearance of their incomes, their culture, their homes - when German soldiers are in occupation can be made clear from real-life experiences. Many of these people are still not mentally at war. It is just a bore. They need instantly shaking out of their complacency by reading of what has happened to their class elsewhere and the straits to which the hitherto “comfortably-off” classes have been brought.
Professional papers read, by lawyers, doctors, solicitors, etc. can learn what Nazi rule would mean to them. These people, highly educated, well-read, possibly travelled, should be appealed to in such a manner as to make them furiously angry, not only at the Germans’ inhumanity but especially so at the savage manner in which they have trampled on all that clergy, doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. have striven to build up since the birth of civilisation.
The anger campaign should make great capital of the German wrecking of established legal systems, of the wrecking of schools and universities, and the vicious impoverishment of men of learning. Stories should be told by refugee professional men of how they have been hounded and put to menial tasks - like washing dishes, and cleaning lavatories. Doctors who have escaped from occupied countries could be used as a means of spreading stories about the way in which the German brute, drunk with power, has stripped medical men of their professional status, prevented them from attending sick and injured women and children in their own districts and have even refused to allow them to be ministered to at all by banning all supplies of medicine and drugs to any other than Germans.
Women's papers in General should be provided with endless factual material dealing with:-
The inferior status of women in the Nazi slave state.
The State control of children and the poisoning of young minds almost from the cradle by the Hitler Youth etc.
The deification of war in Germany.
The responsibility of Germany for this war with all its hardships.
Papers read by Shopkeepers. Business-men. Black-coated Workers, and Industrial Workers should disabuse every reader's mind or the idea that “Things might go on much the same under Hitler”.
They must be made to realise that their shops, jobs, banks, savings, City Councils, Building Societies, Insurance Policies, Rotary Clubs, Members of Parliament, Trade Unions (and funds), Co-operatives, would all vanish and be replaced by the tyranny of a ruthless Nazi slave “protectorate” run by German gauleiters for German exploitation.
Only detailed facts of actual happenings to their own kind will bring these truths home and turn the querulous anger of the grumblers and disaffected “intellectuals” into healthy anger against the common enemy.
NEWS
Unquestionably a Nurse Cavell or Captain Fryatt episode which could he made in world topic would help enormously. No opportunity must be lost of finding one.
But German retaliation must be borne in mind.
Meantime, anniversaries of the above, and every other way of reminding people that Germany in spite of all her past brutality was beaten before, should be capitalised.
Special arrangements should be made to see that every item of “anger-making” news that has a special application is splashed instantly in that direction, If Germans kill a Catholic priest in France there should be special arrangements to see that the Catholic Press knows it instantly and in full detail - apart from the general distribution.
By contrast with the cowardice and treachery of the Germans we could well play up our own heroes a great deal more. There have undoubtedly been remarkably brave exploits by numbers of all the fighting services, nurses, civilians, etc., and these should be far more emphasised giving the utmost detail possible, stressing the point that they are all very ordinary people who when faced with a call have not been found wanting.
A recent example of amazing self-sacrifice was when three Norwegian bus drivers, ordered to convey 180 Germans, drove their lorries deliberately over a precipice. This got remarkably little space in the London Press.
What causes the greatest anger is unquestionably the graphic “human” detail that makes a story of war suffering real to every reader, “180,000 men lost” leaves a less marked impression than the story of the 80-year old French grandmother cowering in the hedge with her little grandson who is machine-gunned in her arms. If the airmen who did it is five minutes later sent blazing to earth by a British fighter the story is complete.
But it is also realised that the degree to which “horrifying” material can be used depends on the urgency with which it might be necessary to use it later, since it quickly palls and needs to be issued sparingly.
It would certainly be wrong to take up an arbitrary stand against the use of atrocity material either on the grounds that it is not believed or not effective since neither statement is true. Nor does enemy retaliation matter on the home front. The principal objection is that it arouses as much fear as anger unless done very carefully. Nevertheless it is the “strong meat” of anger provocation material and the effect of the Bryce Report in the last war should never be forgotten.
If such data is ever to be used however, it should be done before a German landing here is certain. It would be dangerous afterwards except in the direst extremity.
There are, however, meantime, many kinds of anger-arousing stories - such as insults to Britain and threats about the future, etc, - and the small expert committee should seize instantly on them and get them played up strongly.
CENSORSHIP “ADVISORY. SERVICE” SUGGESTION
So important is the whole question of achieving “balance” in every form of printed material,
(a) in order that anger shall not be overweighed by fear
(b) so as not to water down anger by the publication of specious German-inspired material (such as photos of nice-looking German soldiers and German news about peaceful “domestic” activities)
that the following recommendation is made:-
There should be means by which, without exceeding its present powers, the censorship - in conjunction with the expert propaganda control group suggested - could ADVISE as well as simply “pass” or “stop” material.
This might be done most easily by holding a series of informal conferences with publishers (on features, pictures, books etc. ) and then printing extracts of points of agreement. These, in the form of RECOMMENDATION SLIPS might then be attached by the Censors to appropriate material.
Thus a picture of a ruined village, while not technically a “stop” might nevertheless be sent back with a Recommendation Slip referring to the desirability of not printing such material without pictures of a “compensating nature”.
At present all the Censorship's careful judgment is summed up in a monosyllabic “Yes” or “No”. Why not make it more effective by introducing “Yes - but in the national interest you might bear in mind that....
Much of this is of course already done more or less informally but it would perhaps be developed so as to stop the bad “balance” still too evident in many directions.
Simple people cannot be furious at an enemy and filled with a sneaking admiration for him at the same time. He must be wholly detestable if their anger is not to evaporate in fear or treason.
The foolishly tolerant British tendency to “give old Hitler his due” can bring a terrible retribution. It is being carried much too far. We did not make this mistake last time.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Much of the foregoing applies with particular force to photographs since the mental visual impression is so much stronger. Here again it is very essential that a “balance” effect should be the constant objective.
There are far too many pictures of bombed houses in Allied towns going into the papers without compensating pictures of smashed-up German ‘planes, tanks, etc.
There are also far too many pictures indicating German military power and efficiency (most of them German propaganda pictures) in the British press. Pictures should be “matched” as much as possible - a shattered French village and a ditched German tank etc.
A Conference of Picture Editors or a liaison with them on the lines of preceding suggestions should do a great deal to help retrieve the proper balance.
The Need for Greater Co-operation on Photos from the Services is well-known and needs no dilating on here except to point out that in the matter of arousing anger one photo is worth more than the proverbial million words.
Greater use of “Actual” Photos . Working on the above lines much use could be made of “real” photos, i.e. photographic enlargements (in exhibitions, shop windows, etc.). They carry more conviction with the general public than any reproduction.
POSTERS AND CARTOONS
Where are the great cartoons of this war - not simply humorous or satiric but heroic and inspiring - in the great 1914-18 traditions of Raemakers, Partridge, Brangwyn, Pryde, Nicholson, Bone and Pennel - men who thrilled the nations to arms through four years of desperate war?
This Ministry must find the up-to-date counterparts of these men - here and abroad - and USE them, quickly!
As quickly as humanly possible, for example, there should be a great inspiring drawing on every hoarding
“THE INDOMITABLE SPIRIT OF FRANCE”
There has been far too much tendency to shy away from the “heroic” tradition. In time of real emergency the mainsprings of human reactions are found to be fundamentally unchanged.
We must arouse PATRIOTISM, frank and unashamed. We must use the dramatic power of great artists to show the beastliness of the thing that threatens us and the flaming courage that alone will smash it down.
THE EMOTIONAL POWER OF GREAT DRAWINGS must be used. Time-wasting delay through obstacles such as the private monopoly of the work of the best artists by publishers and newspapers should be over-ridden. The work of the best men should be reproduced everywhere. Given Ministerial backing to approach important newspaper interests, this Division can fix equitable terms.
With a free hand to use the best British and French talent available this Ministry could hearten and inspire the public as in no other way.
Nor must quibbles about the preferential use of the hoardings be allowed to stand in the way. Our job is to gird up the public temper and we cannot do it without tools.
The number of really great artists for this class of work is not as large as it was in the last war and those that exist are mostly “locked up” on the above lines. But they are to be found - men like JEAN CARLU in France and JAGGER in this country. What is therefore recommended is -
AN INSPIRING SERIES OF AT LEAST TWELVE PICTORIAL POSTERS (INCLUDING PHOTOGRAPHIC ONES) KEYNOTE: BRITISH AND FRENCH COURAGE WILL TRIUMPH OVER THE HUN.
BROADCASTING
The radio is already doing an enormous amount. One of the main considerations should be not to blunt it by over-use, particularly by issuing too much of the less incisive kinds of anger-rousing material - sermons, lectures etc. Dramatic episodes like “The Fall of Warsaw” are so much more graphic - as long as the fear-anger “mixture” is watched very carefully. It is felt that there is in otherwise excellent material a tendency to overdo the mass suggestion of German ruthlessness - reiteration of “Sieg Heil Sieg Heil” and screaming of victims etc.
It is therefore realised that much of the following is already being done.
A series of talks, dialogues, interviews, plays directed at (a) the general public, (b) an audience mainly of women and (perhaps) (c) the schools. The following are suggested typical items:
B.E.F. man describes before the microphone what he saw happen to refugees (theme: German cruelty, the gangster).
Review books of German plans for carving up England.
The French woman who lost her home in 1914 tells how it is all happening again. (To women, theme: Il faut en finir).
Life in Poland. Played as if happening. Poles pushed off pavements by Germans, reading proclamations etc.
The revival of suitable plays dealing with German methods, such as Maeterlinck's Burgomaster of Stilemonde (theme: same old German, written large).
Instances of civilian courage (reconstructions).
German aggression in history (theme: Same old German).
The Kaiser talks to Hitler.
I Hate this Man Hitler: a dialogue between two ordinary people on their broken careers (theme: The Germans are smashing our lives for no reason).
“We shall repay” - incidents of the war.
I lived in Louvain: a Belgian describes how the city has twice been destroyed (Il faut en finir).
Dinner hour talks to workers.
A refugee child from Germany is questioned before the microphone on what he was taught at school (theme: The barbarian).
Hitler's victims come to haunt him. Flash-backs of speeches with interpolated comment “Where are our children etc.”.
Cross and Swastika.(Sunday talks by Churches of all denominations).
German Race Theories as evidence of insanity.
Britain speaking: a feature programme describing the greatness of the British past (Why should we let these gangsters get away with it?).
FILMS
Here again much is already being done and “balance” is the main point to watch.
Certain existing films might be revived, if possible with subsidies so that cinemas may be induced to show them by the specially low charge. The films suggested here express the themes of German trickery and cruelty:
Confessions of a Nazi spy
Nurse Cavell
Professor Mamlock
Pastor Hall
Also revivals of films which represent heroic achievements against Germany in the British past, such as:
For Ever England
Mons
Cavalcade
Encouragement of feature films dealing with the German character. A scenario “The Gestapo in England” has already been prepared along these lines.
Special three-minute shorts made by documentary companies out of news reels for free distribution. Example:
Hitler Speaks (Hitler's speeches - the voice dubbed in English - cut in with news shots to show the broken promises, the trickery and the barbarity).
The Same Old German (shots of the last war cut in with the present war),
Reproduction of Proclamations by Germans in conquered territories with “dissolves” giving English translations.
LEAFLETS, BOOKLETS, BOOKS, LECTURES, SPEECHES.
Practically all the themes indicated in preceding pages are capable of effective treatment in leaflets and booklets for general or sectional distribution.
These can best take the form of
“NON-OFFICIAL” BOOKLETS, PAMPHLETS AND BOOKS which the Ministry can inspire and co-operate with private publishers in producing.
The most effective use for such productions is (a) for the detailed treatment of a specific topic or aspect of the war (b) for appealing to a particular group.
Where they are sold they will naturally tend chiefly to reach only the middle-classes and are thus particularly suited to dealing with the problems of that class - resisting pro-Germanism. defeatism, rousing indignation about the German treatment of women and children etc.
Where they are distributed free through the Regional Organisation and through Voluntary Helper Organisations they are best kept as short as possible. The tempo of the war is getting too fast for overmuch argument except in dealing with the “arguing” classes.
If leaflet distribution is used, however - and it is only justifiable when no other satisfactory means exists, - it should be done on a really big scale. 50,000 or 100,000 leaflets on a general topic are no use. It should go out in millions. But 50,000 or 100,000 leaflets - railway workers about German railway workers’ conditions is a very different matter.
PAMPHLETS
1) A series of six “popular” pamphlets, illustrated in gravure, for wide sale at 3d., are already in preparation. The subjects are the Nazi cruelty and oppression in Czechoslovakia and Poland, the suppression of workers’ rights, of family life, and of freedom of expression. An attempt is made to translate these evil things into terms of everyday English life, (with maps of London with Pall Mall shown as Hitlerstrasse, etc).
Authors are:
Herbert Morrison.
E.M.Delafield.
Vernon Bartlett.
H. V. Morton.
Howard Spring.
Negley Farson.
2) A second “popular” series at 3d. explains and dramatises our fundamental liberties in terms of the fight through history to win them. The men of our own flesh and blood who won these grim and glorious battles in the past must not be betrayed.
3) A third series, also at 3d., states the same themes to the cultivated mind.
Authors already writing are:
The Dean of Chichester.
Mgr. Ronald Knox.
Dr. C.E.M. Joad.
Rebecca West.
E.M.Forster.
A.P.Herbert.
Julian Huxley.
Harold J. Laski.
J. R. Clynes.
LEAFLETS . Illustrated leaflets on similar themes designed to reach particular publics through various methods of distribution. In general, one leaflet to make one point only. Examples are:
1. Selected statements of Hitler and Goebbels (from “Mein Kampf” and “Hitler Speaks”) for general distribution.
2. German enslavement of the worker by trickery and violence; what “no unemployment in Germany” really means (to industrial organisations).
3. Indiscriminate sea warfare (to merchant seamen).
4. Security Lost if Germany Wins (to Civil Service).
5. Moral perversion of the children: 16 year old barbarians in uniform (Women's Institutes).
ANTI SUBVERSIVE ACTION In connection with anger, leaflets are particularly valuable to concentrate counter-attack on points where subversive agents are active - in works suspected of disaffection through communist activity etc.
BOOKS that give documentary facts arousing anger must be given utmost publicity. (Ministry recommendations to editors to review etc). Really serious atrocity material is best done this way q. v. Bryce Report and “Murder Most Foul” - last war. Foreign comment to be traced and reproduced as evidence of world indignation.
LECTURES Those already organised by R.A.D. could assist the anger campaign (special notes and facts for speakers) particularly at women’s institutes etc.
SPEECHES The day for mere denunciation is gone but Ministerial and other speeches which provide usable tags (“The Unspeakable Hun”) are very valuable. Only Ministers capable of handling emotional speeches (as distinct from merely factual ones) such as the Prime Minister and the Minister should be broadcast for this purpose.
EXHIBITIONS, WINDOW DISPLAYS, ETC.
Apart from the display of actual photographs every effort should be made to arrange with suitable STORES, GALLERIES, etc. to
DISPLAY “TROPHIES” OF THE WAR illustrating the Germans’ inhuman and treacherous methods. Proclamations, Weapons and Articles brought from captured areas.
HOW A REFUGEE ARRIVED - “This pitiful little bundle all that a doctor's wife was able to bring from her ruined home in Rotterdam”.
FULL-SIZE MODELS showing German Parachute Soldiers dressed first as Nuns and then in fighting kit with Thompson gun, etc.
Such ideas can easily be multiplied. They would bring crowds to the stores and collection could be made for Red-Cross etc.
OPEN AIR DISPLAYS in parks etc., with captured German ‘planes etc. might later be arranged. This recalls the colossal success of the “Kiddies in the Ruins” scene in Trafalgar Square last time as part of the historic “Feed the Guns” Campaign. Trafalgar Square became a three-dimensional model of a shelled French village. (Actual ruins of Trafalgar Square would of course render such an idea superfluous!)
PRESS ADVERTISING
As explained in the Preliminary Survey, it is felt strongly that the use of advertising space should not he applied to an Anger Campaign except in so far as it can logically he used in advertisements appealing for specific action.
A great deal of the “copy” and illustration ideas that would he used for an “Anger” campaign are such as can be harnessed to appeals for War Loan, A.F.S., Dig for Victory, etc.
The agencies handling the various Government appeals could therefore be asked to stress this Anger note (some are already doing so) without in any way weakening the effect of the announcements for the specific end desired.
Individual advertisers to be encouraged to issue similar appeals at their own cost.
OTHER SUGGESTIONS
Shops and stores to be encouraged to make clear in all notices about black-out hours, increased prices, etc. that these are due to “the war that the Nazis have let loose on Europe”. We should try to see that “owing to the Nazis” becomes a catch-word for every kind of inconvenience caused by the war.
A famous descriptive writer like Priestley to produce a short wall-text essay which could be issued in millions, something like this:-
The Secret Beast
In the middle of a great civilised continent, far from the sea which brings a breath of the outer world to freshen men's minds, a secret people dwell.
Ever and again they become crazed with a spell of hero-worship. A leader arises among them who tells them that they are greater than the other peoples of the world. Knowing nothing of the world's vastness and of the seas which link land to land, they believe - and march out to slaughter and destroy.
The secret people of the Germanys are worse than fools in their folly. When their madness comes upon them, out leaps a primitive, barbarian beastlike instinct, They kill without pity, rejoicing in blood, as animals kill. They know no law, as animals know no law.
They are Europe's secret beasts, roused to senseless fury. It is all Europe's mission to cow them and cage them today as all Europe has had to do before.
The Hun is at the gate. He will rage and destroy. He will slaughter the women and children. But in the end, he will run from the men as he has always run in the past.
Out then, and kill . . . the extermination of the wild animal let loose on Europe is the plain business of Europe's citizens.
Slips in workers’ pay-envelopes - particularly armament firms-linking up anger at Nazi methods with the need for increased war production.
Some good rousing popular songs.
Publication of Official List of War Criminals who will be held responsible.
A voluntary national Anti-Haw-Haw League - people who will not allow the voice of the enemy in their home.(Adapted from Daily Mirror scheme now running). Ostracise people who repeat enemy broadcasts.
A few death sentences on traitors would have a great effect in heightening the public temper against the enemy.
Contact and offer to help all firms and organisations who are issuing printed material of any kind and suggest designs that will remind the public of German aggression - stamp designs, box tops, etc. (“French Hero” matches, etc.)
Stamps or medals commemorating Athenia, the destruction of churches, etc.
Pictures of nurses killed on duty to be issued to all hospitals for display in connection with fund appeals.
Flag Days for Air Raid victims, etc. , etc.
CONCLUSION
The foregoing do not by any means exhaust the methods that can be used to heighten public anger against Germany.
They indicate, however, the comprehensiveness of the possible attack.
The success of such a campaign depends on the day by day control by a small group of expert propagandists, within the Ministry, who would be in a position to tap and colour and guide every source of public expression.
Expressed in terms of ordinary paid-for publicity such a group given adequate powers could secure propaganda that would normally cost millions of pounds.
Without such guidance and control of the “hidden” types of propaganda the obvious methods of official pronouncement - posters, radio, advertisements, leaflets - will be infinitely less effective.
No attempt has been made at this stage either to submit definite suggestions for wording or designs or to indicate a time-table for the operation of the campaign.
That is the next stage if the general plan of attack outlined here is approved.
Finally, it may be said that this campaign, termed an Anger Campaign, is felt to be an integral part of a still larger scheme of public influence - i.e. War Morale as a whole. In this, other factors beside the heightening of anger would also play a part and would be handled on similarly comprehensive or “total propaganda” lines. Everything in the present campaign would be a logical part of such a complete Morale Campaign, the importance of which, to meet the stern time ahead, is very strongly stressed.