SECRET
P. C. Paper No. 33

Memorandum on British Counter-Propaganda.

Compiled by Professor and Mrs. Gilbert Highet, of New York. Sent to the Minister by Sir Cyril Norwood.

Circulated for comment.

1. Certain marked trends in foreign opinion, and certain significant developments in British feeling (such as that evidenced by the “peace vote” of the Co-operative Party) on March 23rd, make it apparent that British propaganda is falling very far behind that used by the Germans, both in efficiency and in volume. Since Hitler himself has repeatedly said that his strongest weapon is propaganda, since he has proved it first by his remarkable victory over strong opposition feeling within Germany, and secondly, by his increasing prestige in what, for him, has been a bloodless war, it is necessary for the British to devote very much more time, money, and attention to combating the propaganda of the Germans.

2. A united front at home in Britain is the first necessity. To achieve this, the public must all be made to understand that the war is not an “imperialist” war - since a fairly large body of opinion in Britain cares little for the continued existence of the empire - but that it is a conflict vitally affecting their own interests. They must be shown that the German regime would be inescapably imposed on them, sooner, in the case of a defeat, or later, in the case of a peace which would leave Germany victorious; that it would (a) vitally change the education of their children, (b) destroy everything that the working class has achieved both through its own struggles and through the co-operation of the Conservative party (c) reduce the standard of living in Britain to an inconceivably low level, and (d) attack and ultimately destroy the Christian religion. All these results can be easily and inevitably demonstrated, both from German documents and from German practice. But they must be stated again and again, without argument or qualification, until, by the very repetition, the whole British public comes to believe them and to act upon them. At present, the danger of Britain from Germany is nearly as great as the danger which once threatened her from Napoleon: it was only the unrelenting hatred of large masses of the common people for the French, and of a compact body of aristocrats for the French leaders, which created the national spirit in Britain that led to Napoleon's defeat. That spirit must now be re-created. Methods of doing this are suggested in paragraph 4.

3. The establishment of a united front in Britain will enormously assist the Allied cause abroad. At present, British military inaction is doubtless a necessary strategic disposition; but the neutral states should not be allowed to conclude from it. 111 - 2 -that Britain and France are inactive because they are impotent. Many British people have had a distrust of the French because of their political instability. That type of distrust is now being extended to Britain by many thoughtful neutrals. Therefore, it is necessary that British propaganda should be greatly increased in[illegible] all neutral countries. The constant repetition, by the dictatorships, of specious ideas - that democracies are powerless while authoritarian states are energetic, or that mature nations are effete and decrepit while newly formed nations are young and strong - is beginning to colour, not only political discussions, but even educational and philosophical thought in the United States and in South America. It would be easy, and it is necessary, to devise counter-propaganda in the form of other, truer, leading notions; and to issue a far greater quantity of news showing the power and the benefits of the British Empire, and of the Anglo-French alliance. The long-standing British tradition of doing a job in silence is obsolete, at least for the duration of this war, and probably for a long time after it. The spread of literacy both in the neutral countries and in the Empire, and the astonishing increase in the means of communication to a degree without any historical parallel, make it necessary for Britain to explain and justify her own activities, constantly, fluently, and persuasively. If not, these activities will either be neglected and then despised, or be deliberately misrepresented by her enemies. It is imperative to bring into being an Imperial Propaganda Service, whose sole duty will be to explain to the subjects of the Empire exactly what Britain means to them, what the Empire is doing for them, and what they can do to help. Meanwhile, the literate classes in many native populations are subjected to no propaganda but that emanating from the Communists, and, in some cases, from the Germans. It is not enough to attempt to stop this: it must be answered and counteracted by an active flow of positive pro-British ideas. The same, in a much more tactful but not less persistent way, should be the duty of the foreign propaganda service, at present poorly represented by such organisations as the British Library of Information in New York. Methods to be employed will be suggested in paragraph 5.

4. Methods to be used in Britain. The first principle is that, for Britain, both at home and abroad, propaganda is truth. Falsehoods must not be told or implied. The second principle is that propaganda is positive. Where it is necessary to refute a German lie (as in the case of the Athenia sinking), positive statements should always be added which will remain in the reader's mind. The third principle is that propaganda is memorable. Therefore easily recalled symbols (such as the word Axis) must where possible be invented; where this is not possible, constant repetition of a few leading ideas, from which many different deductions can be made, and to which all statements of fact can be related, is absolutely essential.

The material of propaganda to be used in Britain is, therefore, first the truth about Germany, to be taken, chapter and verse, from the works and acts of the Germans themselves. An excellent example was the White Paper on the treatment of German nationals in Germany.- although much of its effect was wasted by its uninteresting format and unexciting distribution. Judicious selections from Hitler's own autobiography, from the works, of his associates, and from the files of German periodicals, must be made in order to prove the real danger of Germany's present aims For example: - (a) Ewald Banse‘s book, translated into English under the title of “Germany, prepare for war;”, states the true aims of German military policy: its author was rewarded by appointment as Professor of Tactics in Brunswick, and the German Government made serious efforts to have its circulation abroad entirely suppressed, actually banning it in Germany and attempting to bribe the English publisher - 112 - 3 -nevertheless Banse is still a leading figure in Nazi councils, and is obviously approved. The chapter on the invasion of England, with maps, and the prophecies of complete domination and decimation of England and France by Germany, should be widely known throughout Britain. His prophecies of the destruction of Czechoslovakia and [illegible]England have already been accomplished. (b) The history of the German Trade Unions since the rise of the Nazi party should be widely disseminated and explained. (c) The German labour laws, with their provision against strikes, their acceptance of conscripted labour, and their virtual establishment of serfdom in many industries, should be explained. (d) All reports in reliable neutral newspapers about the German treatment of occupied countries should be reprinted in full, if possible with historical background (comparisons with 1914, 1917 in Eastern Europe, and even 1870 and earlier). (e) The Nazi attitude to the Churches should be explained and documented - for instance, it is not generally known that the worst abused class in concentration-camps is very often not the Jews but the Earnest Bible Students, a pacifist groups resembling the Quakers. (f) The Nazi attitude to liberal thinkers and pacifists (who are usually shot) should be expounded and illustrated. (g) Finally, the astonishing Nazi theory of education should be fully exposed - an article on this in the American “Reader's Digest” last year was much more striking than anything which has yet appeared from British sources.

The pro-British propaganda which is a necessary complement to this must consist of (a) a constant flood of news tending to show the brilliance and solidity of British achievement. For instance, the British completion of the railway to Baghdad, which was issued as a small news item, ought to have been made a detailed and magnificent account of a great victory. Statistics are easily obtainable to prove the diminution in mortality, the rise in literacy, and the increase in wealth throughout every section of the British Empire. These should be worked into articles and news items, accompanied by good, relevant, and otherwise exclusive photographs. (b) The laconic French communiqués should not be imitated in other fields of the war. The British propaganda service must produce encouraging stories about every phase of the war except the purely military one: the improvement in the health of both soldiers and evacuated children the increasing efficiency of the armed forces now under training, the devotion and cleverness of experts (such as the man who dissected the magnetic mine), and the unanimity of the Empire - all these topics must be constantly explained, proved by statistics which can be checked, and made attractive by well-selected photographs. If the public is constantly told, for example, that the young men under arms are becoming fitter than they ever were, that idea will drive out other less worthy ideas from their minds. (c) the positive benefits of life in Britain must be stressed. Here the American technique might well be borrowed: it is impossible to read a copy of the great photograph-magazine LIFE without being interested and pleased by the spectacle of America, provided that one is an American. Stories and photographic sequences and films demonstrating the beauties of British education, of British achievements in slum clearance and public health, of the magnificent record of British law, and of large enterprises like afforestation and electrification, would make the ideal of Britain a real and positive one for many who have never thought about it.

Methods . (a) Articles in the daily Press, embodying extracts from the German books, laws, or diplomatic exchanges, and explaining them at length. The importance of such a book as Banse's can scarcely be overestimated, and it would lend itself admirably to a short series of exposes, fully documented with maps and photographs.

(b) Wide and easy distribution of translations of Nazi books: and of pamphlets exposing the achievements of British rule at home and abroad. Facts, figures, and sources must be clearly given. The format used by the Stationery Office is much too official: the Government must envisage something much more like the Penguin Books.

(c) The importance of the radio has been proved by Germany. Interviews with distinguished soldiers, sailors, and politicians; connected series of talks explaining the true dangers of the Nazi point of view, with chapter and verse for every assertion; immediate answer to the Hamburg station, taking up and refuting every point made by the German announcer, and then deriding German philosophies and German achievements in the tone employed by him against us (this should be done as often as he addresses Britain); dramatisation of incidents in the war, such as the Altmark incident, done tactfully and humorously, but sincerely; news analyses done by skilful commentators without B.B.C. accents (in New York alone it is possible to hear no less than thirty regular nightly or tri-weekly commentators on the news, all listened to with avidity).

(d) Vigorous speakers touring the country, carefully selected for their lack of affectation and popular appeal: these men must hold meetings in towns, using factories, theatres, churches, and other gathering-places; they must have facts and figures at their finger-tips and be trained in argument and answer as well as the average socialist speaker is trained; their accents should be selected to suit the parts of the country to which they are detailed and they must Not all be conservatives.

(e) Existing organisations such as the Workers’ Educational Association should be used to provide discussion groups, which can be fed with pamphlets, topics, and trained discussion-leaders. The technique to be followed here, and improved upon, is that developed by the Labour party.

(f) Documentary films, like Grierson's Post Office film, Night Mail: showing British countryside, industries, social services, schools, etc.

5. Methods to be used abroad . The materials for foreign consumption are virtually the same as those described in 4. The necessity of articulateness cannot be overstated. For instance, the appearance of a cheap journalistic book exposing the semi barbarous practices of many Hindus (“Mother India”) had a huge. effect in increasing American sympathy for Britain's Indian policy, by demonstrating the difficulties which she had to face. That kind of book need not be imitated; but it shows how eager uninformed opinion is for facts. A great deal of leeway remains to be made up, and it must be done quickly. If the average neutral is asked about the British in India, he will tend to give a reply which is ultimately either German or Communist in origin. Therefore a regular flow of informed interesting statements about the Empire and about Britain herself is urgently necessary. The daily press will accept only (1) news stories, or (2) official British analyses of German statements. But the weekly and monthly periodicals will take articles and stories. Films are always welcome; they need not be blatantly bellicose, although “The Lion has Wings” has had considerably popularity here. “South Riding”, with its pure statement of some of the finest British ideals, was very valuable indeed. Photographs, both of the peaceful Britain and Britain's armed forces, are always welcome; the German releases of photographs taken while flying over the British fleet created an 114 - 5 -enormous impression of Nazi power and efficiency, and ought at once to have been countered by similar photographs, prepared for instant reproduction in all neutral newspapers. Speeches cannot be used, in America at least. But apparently dispassionate analyses of books like Banse's will be accepted and widely reprinted; the aim of British propaganda should be to create for Germany a “bad press” throughout the world, comparable to the bad press which Russia had for at least seven years after the revolution, and at the same time to produce such a flood of information about Britain that much of it will be reproduced and its very quantity will tend to squeeze out the anti-British propaganda emanating from other countries.

6. These considerations may be summed up in one sentence. British propaganda must be issued quickly to be relevant; it must be large in quantity to be always available; and it must be unified and coherent to be memorable.

Helen Highet.

26. 3.40.