1789-2015: Propaganda in France.

1. Early days worldwide

2. French revolution

3. World War I

4. Front Populaire

5. World War II

6. Today

1. Early Days Worldwide Nowadays the term “propaganda” has come to have a negative connotation. But in some places, the

word is neutral or even positive. Why this difference? The reasons can be traced through the word’s etymology and the way that this strategy of communication has evolved over the centuries.

The use of propaganda began much earlier than most people would imagine. It can be traced back to Darius (Persia, around 515 BCE). Themistocles or Alexander in Greece, Julius Caesar were considered quite adept at propaganda. But it was the Catholic Church that both formalized the use of propaganda and gave us the word itself. Pope Urban II used propaganda to generate support for the Crusades. Later, propaganda would become a powerful tool for both Catholics and Protestants during the Reformation. Thanks to the printing press, propaganda could be disseminated to a much wider audience.

In 1622, Pope Gregory XV established the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Congregation for Propagating the Faith) for the purpose of promoting the faith in non-Catholic countries. The group’s name was often informally shortened to “propaganda,” and the name stuck. As literacy rates grew in subsequent centuries, propaganda became a more and more useful tool around the world.

Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were both considered adept propagandists during the American Revolution.

1. Early Days Worldwide By the nineteenth century, propaganda had finally emerged in the form we think of it today.

Because most people were literate and had interest in government affairs, politicians found it necessary to sway public opinion. They turned to (sometimes unscrupulous) propaganda to get the job done.

Meanwhile another powerful form of communication was emerging in the nineteenth century: the political cartoon. Though illustrated propaganda had been used in the past, the form of the political cartoon was significantly refined during the second half of the century. Thomas Nast is considered one of the forerunners of this format.

Propaganda is the use of various media to influence public opinion by presenting selective information, or lying by omission. Magazines, television, radio, internet and such things have all become instruments propaganda and political warfare. Though very elusive propaganda can be defined as "the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognition, and direct behaviour to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.

2. French Revolution Modern techniques of propaganda had their beginnings during this period when the French

public was systematically bombarded by the press and various groups to manipulate its opinion and consolidate a new sense of loyalty and national identity. This included forms that would have popular appeal and reach the masses: newspapers, pamphlets, cartoons and caricatures, plays, songs and public monuments.

The Third Estate carrying the burden of the First Estate (the Church) and the Second Estate (the Aristocracy) on his back.

The Tennis Court Oath (Serment du Jeu de Paume) was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789.

2. French Revolution

The leaders of the Revolution needed to unite the masses with a new sense of patriotism. New imagery was used to make the principles of the Republic visible to an illiterate public. The imagery was required for ‘high art’, application on coins, publications and prints. Even playing cards had to be redesigned to eliminate royal imagery.

La Marseillaise, the new national anthem Planting « Liberty Trees »

2. French Revolution As a shrewd strategist and politician – a master of managing appearances to manipulate

opinion – Napoleon realised the potential of great works of art to put in hearts and minds the validity and might of the Empire and his authority to lead. He took the Classical revival of the 1790s, originally used to promote the Republican values of austerity, citizenship, self-sacrifice and duty, and used it to promote his own achievements as Emperor.

Napoléon Bonaparte leading his army at the Pont d’Arcole.

The coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the French took place on Sunday December 2, 1804, at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, has been said to be a "transparently masterminded piece of modern propaganda ». Napoleon's elevation to Emperor was overwhelmingly approved by the French citizens in a referendum. Among Napoleon's motivations for being crowned were to gain prestige and to lay the foundation for a future dynasty.

2.WW 1 By 1918, it had become clear that propaganda

was a fact of modern society. For some it represented the solution to the challenges of the twentieth century; for others, its greatest threat. The sheer volume and intensity of the literature on propaganda published in the interwar period, largely in response to its deployment in the First World War, attests both to its contemporary importance and to its contested status. This literature established a series of assumptions (now largely discredited by scholars) that were difficult to dislodge: propaganda was an unseen, almost mystic, force in society that could manipulate the thoughts and behaviour of the vulnerable masses at will. Its success was undoubted and the repercussions for both liberal democracy and for fledgling European dictatorships considerable.

Le Canard enchaîné ( English: The Chained Duck or The Chained Paper) is a satirical newspaper published weekly since 1915. It was founded to resist militarist propaganda during WWI and fight censorship. It continued to publish and grow in popularity and influence until it was forced to suspend publication during the occupation of France in 1940 and resume publication after WWII. Many of the Canard's early contributors were members of the Communist and Socialist parties, but it shed its alignment with those groups in the 1920s. Its current owners are not tied to any political or economic group. It now avoids any political alignment, and has gained a reputation for publishing incriminating stories and criticizing any political party with no preference. The Canard does not accept any advertisements.

Newspapers were expected to print what the government wanted the reader to read. These were designed to develop and strengthen the current of hatred that was already engendered in France. The same thing was done in every participating country– untrue headlines were tolerated and even encouraged by the authorities.

During World War I, postal censorship was in force, as the authorities thought it necessary to control the public's morale and thus engaged in a sort of psychological warfare. Censorship was current during the war, leading to the creation of Le Canard enchaîné.

4.Popular Front (Front populaire)The Popular Front was the coalition of Communists, Socialists, and other left-wing political parties which emerged in France during the 1930s to achieve political power and social reform in France. It was also in reaction to the threat of Fascism, especially the rise of the Nazis in Germany.

The Popular Front won the elections of 1936, thanks to the Depression, and Léon Blum became France's first socialist prime minister. The Popular Front's economic policy generally failed. They achieved gains for workers such as shorter hours and summer vacations but it was not accompanied by increased productivity. The impact thus was to weaken French industry and production at the same time German labour was prevented from making similar demands and German factories were producing arms and other military equipment at full capacity.

The strikes of 1936 affected the Government's image as did the non intervention in the Spanish Civil War. The Popular Front was not just a political movement, but rather a social and cultural movement as well. The movement's goal was to break down the traditional barriers that separated the highly compartmentalised society of France in the 1930s.

As such, the Popular Front was reviled by traditional and right-wing elements in French society. The phrase, "Better Hitler than Blum" began to be heard. After the Germany victory in 1940, Blum and the Popular Front were blamed by Vichy politicians rather than the French military planners.

While the Popular Front failed in many of its goals and failed to prepare France to resist the Germans , the myth of the Popular Front has achieved legendary status in modern France.

4.Popular Front (Front populaire)

Two propaganda posters dealing with the same issue from different perspectives: shorter working hours are seen as a threat for the employers (right) vs an opportunity for the workers (left).

4.Popular Front (Front populaire)

In 1936, in sympathy with the social movements of the French Popular Front, Jean Renoir (famous director) directed the communist propaganda film La Vie est à Nous ( The People of France).

Lenin Marx Stalin

4.Popular Front (Front populaire)Right wing posters targeting Jews and freemasons

Right wing posters targeting the Popular Front as USSR agents

5.WW2The French propaganda was very diverse during World War II. Before the outbreak of WWII, the French government published a large number of posters, many with anti-German slogans and motives because of the aggressive politics of Nazi Germany. After the fall of France in 1940, pro-German posters were produced both by the German occupying forces as well as the Vichy regime.

After the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the French Communist Party (PCF) was outlawed and many of its leaders were arrested and imprisoned or forced to go underground. The PCF adopted an antiwar position on orders from Moscow, reflecting the September 1939 nonaggression pact between Germany and the USSR. It was only when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 that French communists actively began to organize a resistance effort.

Towards the end of the occupation the PCF reached the height of its influence, controlling large areas of France through the Résistance units under its command. Some in the PCF wanted to launch a revolution as the Germans withdrew from the country, but the leadership, acting on Stalin's instructions, opposed this and adopted a policy of cooperating with the Allied powers and advocating a new Popular Front government.

The non communist French resistance also produced posters during the occupation. Above all, FFL (Free French Forces), created a number of posters which were put up in all allied fields to raise the morale of the French soldiers who fled the war, now fighting from allied soil.

5.WW2

Vichy’s posters blaming England for the war (up and left)

Vichy’s posters targeting workers urging them to go to work in Germany (right).

5.WW2

FFI (Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur) posters targeting people urging them to join or support the resistance (Up and right) or workers urging them not to go to Germany to work (left).

6.TodayFrom the early days until the invention of the radio, the means of disseminating propaganda remained much the same. Monuments, public speeches, coins, and the growing use of the printed word were all common forms of propaganda.

With the rapid technological change of the twentieth century, propaganda similarly underwent a massive change. The development of the radio – which Lenin called “a newspaper without paper… and without boundaries” – and the moving image, first in cinemas, and then via televisions that ensured moving pictures could be brought into the home, gave propaganda even greater reach.

Today, propaganda is used by many people and organizations, including special interest groups (such as anti-smoking groups and safe-driving campaigns), businesses, political groups, government organizations, political candidates and so on. These groups communicate propaganda through a variety of mediums, including posters, television and radio broadcasts, and brochures. The Internet has also made it much easier for special interest groups to get their messages out to the masses on a worldwide scale.

6.TodayThe growth of the internet has transformed propaganda beyond anything those tasked with its production and spread in earlier generations could have imagined. The internet is a wilderness of information that is, unlike previous methods of disseminating propaganda, near impossible to regulate or officiate. What’s more, with the extent that we engage with this medium, and use it to share, spread and promote information, we have all become propagandists!

Due to the explosion of social media, the information-generating process has been democratised. Whenever we post an opinion on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media site, we are issuing propaganda, a piece of information designed to make those who read it think about an issue or behave in a certain way.

Corporations have realised this, which is why they have such an active social media presence. Branding and advertising has become a major aspect of social media for all businesses, with a far greater personalisation to match the needs of consumers.

6.TodaySuch a tool has weaknesses:

Disinformation regularly occurs, with fake pictures being used.

Social media has the potential to spread information rapidly around the world. Due to the sheer nature of information being generated on social media sites, reactions are often instantaneous, without any deep analysis being given. People are often unwilling propagandists, deceived by the speed at which information is generated that asks for an instantaneous response.

Social media carries potential anonymity, and there have been several cases where accounts have been exposed as fake, or designed for political purposes. Such accounts operate very much in the black propaganda mould that was seen throughout the First and Second World Wars, deceptive propaganda that was issued under one name but emanated from another source. This direct parallel demonstrates just how important social media is in the ongoing information war.

6.TodayBecause of this, it means that we should never instantly believe everything we read, and that the same rules of scepticism and analysis need to be applied to digital propaganda as to any other, namely:

Who is producing the propaganda? What are they saying? Who is the propaganda directed at? Who are the intended audience? Why? With what effect?

By doing so, a critical engagement with information can be maintained.

Propaganda has always evolved along with communications technology. As new ways develop to spread information, so too will they be used to spread propaganda. That what propaganda is!

• https://www.ilab.org/eng/documentation/1301-a_brief_history_of_propaganda.html• http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/napoleon/art-and-design/propaganda• http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/cou/fra/pol/fp-pf.html• http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/socialscience/2013/08/the-internet-social-media-and-propaganda-the-

final-frontier.html

Work by T. Euro and 1.Euro students. Supervised and edited by Patrick Raty