Russian First World War Propaganda Literature through Its Anthologies. Some Observations on Russian Soldier-Literature and Journalistic Reporting

In the Soviet era, Russian involvement in WWI long represented an ostracised and even forgotten event. This very attitude is reflected by Soviet literary criticism of WWI war literature. Taking into account both the studies which re-examined this part of Russian literature in a less ideologically biased manner and the stances that major writers of that period took towards the war, the aim of this paper is to investigate Russian Soldier-literature as presented in anthologies published in the wake of the First World War. The publishing of short stories, journalistic reporting and poems actually (or allegedly) composed by soldiers themselves can be interpreted as a symptomatic expression of a broader cultural discourse that was common at that time, and of which state propaganda publications often availed themselves.

Forget what you hear: Careless Talk, espionage and ways of listening in on the British secret state

As the covert and clandestine practices of states multiplied in the twentieth century, so did these practices’ footprint in public life. This footprint is not just visual and material but sonic and aural, sounding the ‘secret state’ into being and suggesting ways of ‘listening in’ on it. Using multisensory methodology, this article examines Careless Talk Costs Lives, a UK Second World War propaganda campaign instructing citizens on how to practice discreet speech and listening in defence against ‘fifth columnist’ spies. This campaign reproduced the British secret state in the everyday: it represented sensitive operations as weaving in and out of citizens’ lives through imprudent chatter about ‘hush-hush’ activities and sounds you shouldn't overhear. The paradox at the campaign's heart – of revealing to people the kind of things they shouldn't say or listen to – made the secret state and its international operations a public phenomenon. Secret sounds therefore became entangled within productions of social difference, from class inequalities to German racialisation. Sound and listening, however, are unwieldy phenomena. This sonic life of the secret state risked undermining political legitimacy, while turning public space and idyllic environments into deceptive soundscapes – for international espionage, it seemed, sounded like ordinary life.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE WAR PROPAGANDA AND ART

The art using of propaganda is the easiest way to direct the societies to the desired goals and to shape the attitudes and behaviors of the people, in the face of events or around an ideology is to use the art of propaganda. The simplicity of this method in reaching public at large and states uses propaganda tools throughout wars. Realizing, the power of propaganda, many states entered into fierce propaganda races with posters, which they prepared during the First and Second World Wars. The posters were used both to speed up the gathering of soldiers and to gain public support. The state administrators, who carried out propaganda activities, wanted to make the people believe that the war was necessary for freedom, by creating the perception of having an enemy. In this sense, this research focuses on analyzing the connection between the trio of war-politics-propaganda and a use of posters during war for propaganda. Keywords: Art, Politics, Propaganda

A study about the advertisements and pictorial posters of WWI and WWII

In this paper, we have tried to evoke the propaganda episode in the First and the Second World Wars (WWI and WWII). It is a small part of our study including only research about images, characters, messages and words (title and text) used to create a mobilising movement of the people during these wars. The purpose was to select elements from the advertisements and pictorial posters and to comment upon the impact of the graphic messages included. During our work, we have identified many interesting things which had the target to mobilise one person against another using graphics and words with a strong patriotic message. This paper presents the interpretation for only a few posters and advertisements (about 48), but relevant for war propaganda. Keywords: WWI, WWII, propaganda, war, symbols, image, words

Propaganda, masculinity, and the French interwar novel

My dissertation centers on literary representations of non-normative gender performances, the struggle around new gender norms, and the lived realities of gender in pre- and post-World War I- (WWI) era France. The novels discussed in this study, L'Immoraliste (André Gide, 1902), Chéri and La Fin de Chéri (Colette, 1920 and 1926, repectively), and Voyage au bout de la nuit (Céline, 1932) all depict how WWI significantly disrupted French life and troubled gender roles in nearly all environments. The novels that I analyze reveal, in particular, how French manhood became a source of nationalist anxiety in this era, as masculinity was seen as weakened by prior French military defeats and the so-called "excesses" of the belle époque. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the dissertation puts WWI-era novels in dialogue with the visual culture of war propaganda found in French government-sponsored propaganda posters. As I show, propaganda posters heavily promoted heteronormative standards of French masculinity, disseminated images of the ideal French male as physically powerful, courageous, and ready to defend family and nation, and reminded young French men that they carried the weight of defending not only the nation, but the future of French masculinity and the health of the population more broadly. As my study argues, novels by Colette, Gide, Celine, and others call into question WWI propagandized gender norms by imagining alternative gender performances and creating spaces for self-determined gender performances. My dissertation thus argues that novels by Gide, Colette, Céline, and others demonstrate that the normative standards encountered in WWI propaganda were, in fact, fictions that belied the lived realities of gender.

Post-war Civil War Propaganda Techniques and Media Spins in Nigeria and Journalism Practice

In public relations and political communication, a spin is a form of propaganda achieved through knowingly presenting a biased interpretation of an event or issues. It is also the act of presenting narratives to influence public opinion about events, people or and ideas. In war time, various forms of spins are employed by antagonists to wear out the opponents and push their brigades to victory. During the Nigerian civil war, quite a number of these spins were dominant – for example GOWON (Go On With One Nigeria); “On Aburi We Stand”, “O Le Ku Ija Ore”. Post-war years presented different spins and fifty years after the war, different spins continue to push emerging narratives (e.g. “marginalization”, “restructuring”). This paper investigates and analyzes the different propaganda techniques and spins in the narratives of the Nigerian civil in the past five years through a content analysis of three national newspapers: The Nigerian Tribune, Daily Trust and Sun Newspapers. Findings confirm that propaganda and spins are not limited to war time, but are actively deployed in peace time. This development places additional challenge on journalists to uphold the canons of balance, truth and fairness in reporting sensitive national issues. The authors extend postulations that propaganda techniques, generally considered to be limited to war situations, are increasingly being used in post-war situations. Specifically, they highlight that journalists are becoming more susceptible to propaganda spins and this could affect the level of their compliance to the ethics of journalism.