The attitude to the enemy and to his subject peoples is belligerent; the attitude to friendly and still independant peoples is persuasive. One is disruptive behind the lines of the enemy; the other is concilliatory in the councils of our freinds. One requires the mentality and techniques of subversion; the other, in open relationship, means frankness and information. The one seeks to destroy the confidence of the enemy; the other seeks to win the confidence of friends.
(vii) To clarify this distinction, it is necessary to define (a) Publicity, (b) Propaganda, (c) Political Warfare.
(a) Publicity- Publicity is the straightforward projection of a case; it is the build-up of a picture in the mind of the audience which will win their confidence and support. It is information which we want them to have, but also information they they want to have. It seeks to create the right impression and to remove the wrond impression. Its object is mutual goodwill. It is the presentation of the evidence, leaving the judgement to the audience. It is succinctly, as the Americans expressed it in their original information organisation; "Facts" and "Figures".
(b) Propaganda- Propaganda on the other hand, is the deliberate direction, or even manipulation of information to secure a definate objective. It is an attempt to direct the thinking of the recipient, without his conscious collaboration, into predetermined channels. It is the conditioning of the recipient by devious methods with an ulterior motive. Propaganda emphasises those facts which best serve its purpose. It creates the atmosphere in which the audience is most susceptible to suggestion. By power of suggestion, which in favourable circumstances becomes instruction, it secures positive action.
(c) Political Warfare- Political Warfare employs both publicity and propaganda. That is to say, it can and must be as objective as possible in its projection of the British or Allied case. It, too, has to seek the goodwill of those in the enemy and enemy-occupied countries who are already sympathetics to that case. It has to demonstarte and not merely claim the certainty of victory. It has to show by force of example that we have something better to offer than the Nazis.
[...]
Political Warfare could be described as "Propaganda in Battledress" in the sense that it has to convert propaganda into a striking force and to ensure that, at the right moment and under proper discipline, ideas and emotions are translated into action. It must, psychologically, disarm the enemy. It must instil in the hidden armies behind the Axis lines not only the spirit of resistance to the enemy, but the will to strike down that enemy. (pp.3-5)
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