Overt & Covert Propaganda

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Underground Propaganda against Nazi Germany:

Formerly, the word 'propaganda' carried less negative connotations than today. The word originated in the 17th century Catholic Church when Pope Gregory the 15th established a congregation for the propagation of the faith. A comparatively neutral word, 'propaganda' initially denoted the process of encouraging people to accept certain beliefs or ideas, to convert them to a particular way of thinking. 

During WW1, Britain formed a branch of Military Intelligence, known as MI7b, to undertake what was freely called “propaganda” and to drop “aerial propaganda leaflets” from aircraft over German frontlines.

During the latter 1930’s the meaning of 'propaganda' became more tainted, with its association with the Third Reich’s insidious Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment administered by Dr. Goebbels.

During WW2, the word was in common currency to describe Allied information and influence activities but new euphemisms did appear including “political warfare” and the Americanism, “psychological warfare”.

Britain conducted two types of propaganda during WW2. Overt propaganda was labelled as 'White'; covert, clandestine or underground propaganda as 'Black'. A third term, grey propaganda was also developed. Lying in the middle, grey propaganda is either unattributed or has weak attribution. 

White propaganda was the voice of the British Government. With the reputation of His Majesty’s Government and Britain to uphold, white propaganda was truthful. Although not necessarily the whole truth, it did not intentionally lie. Overt propaganda included the BBC’s foreign language broadcasts to Europe and the millions of leaflets dropped by Royal Air Force aircraft over enemy and enemy occupied countries. Both the broadcasts and leaflets stated clearly who they were from and their purpose was obvious. Mostly the white propaganda consisted of reliable war news, statements and talks on our war aims and the speeches of Allied leaders. Throughout the war it built up a formidable reputation for trustworthiness and accuracy. However, human nature dictates that individuals are loath to accept the propaganda of their enemy, no matter how good an international reputation it might enjoy.

Black propaganda was viewed as a means to overcome the stigma of being of enemy origin. Thus, black propaganda appeared to be anything other than the voice of Britain. It was clandestine and falsely attributed and so was disavowable. It deliberately presented itself, or led the audience to deduce it to be something it was not, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. One definition described it this way:

The difference between white and black is the difference between a soldier fighting in the uniform of his country and an underground saboteur fighting the enemy from within the ranks of the enemy.

Black propaganda had no need to protect its reputation; it was free to deceive and lie. Not all black propaganda was false. On the contrary, just as the best white propaganda is based on the truth, so the same applies for black. It is the truth, or partial truth, in a more palatable form.

The Ministry of Information was the best-known source of overt propaganda. Tasked with presenting the Government’s point of view to the British public, its mandate was to inform and advise. The MoI influenced news reporting through control of information and press censorship. It was also responsible for pro-British and anti-Axis propaganda to Allied and neutral nations.

Propaganda directed at the enemy emanated from an organisation known as Electra House, headed by the Canadian Sir Campbell Stuart. Electra House received political intelligence from and liaised closely with the Foreign Office’s Political Intelligence Department. Stuart had previously been the Deputy Director of propaganda to enemy countries in WW1 under Lord Northcliffe. Later he acted as managing director of The Times newspaper and as war approached Chairman of Cable and Wireless. Cable and Wireless were headquartered in Electra House, at the Temple on the Victoria Embankment. 

Section D of the Secret Intelligence Service also generated covert propaganda. Section D planned and conducted sabotage, and produced underground propaganda. Before the outbreak of war, they worked with anti-Nazi groups to spread leaflets inside Germany. They also controlled a Joint Broadcasting Committee, which arranged for pre-recorded radio features—made available to broadcasters in central and eastern Europe. Section D also owned a small news agency in which to supply reports to foreign newspapers.

The new Government established under Churchill as Prime Minister, sacked Campbell Stuart and formed the Special Operations Executive. SOE was split into two sections; SO1 was responsible for propaganda and was staffed from both Electra House and the Political Intelligence Department. Reginald Rex Leeper, a PID man, became SO1’s head.

SO2 was responsible for sabotage and subversion. It was created from Section D and a War Office section, MI(R), which had been working along similar lines to it. SOE was under the direct control of the Minister of Economic Warfare.

As far as propaganda was concerned this arrangement did not satisfy either the Foreign Secretary or the Minister of Information. SO1 and SO2 did not work happily together and never became fully integrated. Another reorganisation was undertaken in the summer of 1941 with SO1 being split from SOE into yet another new secret organisation called the Political Warfare Executive (PWE).

PWE was given responsibility for propaganda to enemy and now enemy-occupied countries. The committee controlling PWE consisted of the Foreign Secretary, Minister of Economic Warfare and the Minister of Information. The day-to-day running was through the Director-General Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart.

https://www.psywar.org/content/undergroundPropaganda .

https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/ww2/secret-war .

Free Speech vs Censorship ⇻

Third Wave - Propaganda & Obedience →