Table Of ContentORGANISING THE PROPAGANDA INSTRUMENT:
THE BRITISH EXPERIENCE
JOHN B. BLACK
ORGANISING
THE PROPAGANDA INSTRUMENT:
THE BRITISH EXPERIENCE
MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE / 1975
To Elizabeth
© I975 by Martinus Nijhofl, The Hague, Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate 01' to
reproduce this book 01' parts thereof in any form
ISBN-13: 978-90-247-1694-4 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-010-1640-7
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-010-1640-7
CONTENTS
Preface IX
1. THE ROOTS OF PEACETIME PROPAGANDA I
II. THE OFFICIAL INFORMATION SERVICES 12
III. THE CENTRAL OFFICE OF INFORMATION 42
IV. THE BRITISH COUNCIL 50
V. THE BBC EXTERNAL SERVICES 59
VI. SUPERVISION OF BRITISH PROPAGANDA PROGRAMMES 69
VII. COMPARING APPROACHES: THE UNITED KINGDOM AND
THE UNITED STATES 81
Appendix. Estimated Cost of Overseas Information Services
1973-74 104
Selected Bibliography 105
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is based on the author's thesis submitted for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy at the University of London in I969. My thanks
to Professor F. S. Northedge of the London School of Economics for
his encouragement and advice during the preparation of the thesis and
in the years to follow. lowe him a debt that mere acknowledgment
far from repays.
To the many members of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
cor,
BBC, British Council and USIA who gave freely of their time for
the interviews which were invaluable for this research, your assistance
is gratefully acknowledged.
I also wish to acknowledge a debt to the staff of the University of
Guelph Library for their forebearance during the preparation of this
book. Two members of this staff deserve special thanks: Mr. Bernard
Katz for his careful reading of the manuscript and Mrs. Gisele Novosad
for her assistance and patience in the preparation of the final manu
script.
Thanks must also go to the Canada Council for the award of a Re
search Grant which enabled me to visit London for the further inter
views and research necessary to complete this study in its present form.
My thanks also to the publishers and authors who gave their per
mission for the use of excerpts from previously published works.
PREFACE
The systematic use of propaganda is very much a phenomenon of the
20th century. Through the years, kings, political leaders, and statesmen
have often made use of what might now be called "propaganda tech
niques" but it is only within the present century that the use of pro
paganda has been developed as a systematic instrument of national
and foreign policy. Nonetheless, since World War II propaganda has
become a regular peacetime instrument of foreign policy for most states,
be they large or small.
While some considerable attention has been given to the propaganda
organisations and activities of the United States and certain Com
munist nations, especially the U.S.S.R., relatively little has been done
on the British approach to propaganda. The present study attempts to
at least partially fill that vacuum. A history of the overseas Informa
tion Services is not undertaken and I will leave that important task
to future scholars. Instead I have examined the British approach to
the organisation of propaganda and the mechanics they have developed
to utilize this instrument of foreign policy.
There are probably as many definitions of propaganda as there are
writers on the subject, but in general terms I view propaganda as being
a conscious, organised attempt to influence attitudes, beliefs or actions
primarily through the mass media of communications. Any study of
this type thus faces the major problem of having to limit its scope
to reasonable proportions. A broad viewpoint would necessitate con
sideration of a vast number of organisations and activities thus ren
dering useful examination of the central questions extremely difficult.
An indication of this problem can be seen in the data presented by a
U.S. Congressional study in the mid-1960's which found twenty
three departments or agencies to some extent involved in activities
broadly considered to be part of the United States "overseas informa-
x PREFACE
tion" programme. A similar British list would no doubt be shorter,
but would include a multiplicity of entries. The focus has therefore
been on overt official propaganda activities of the United Kingdom.
Cultural and educational exchange programmes and related areas have
been considered relatively briefly. Covert propaganda and subversion
activities have not been included. No attempt is made to provide a
detailed examination of the current content and techniques of British
propaganda.
While British wartime propaganda experience is undoubtedly very
interesting in its own right and provides many insights into their ap
proach to propaganda, it is not of direct concern in this examination
of present-day governmental practice. For the most part, the wartime
organisations were developed quickly, on a rather pragmatic and ad
hoc basis, to deal with a particular crisis situation. They were not the
result of systematic consideration of the use of this instrument of
foreign policy. Obviously, wartime propaganda experience did have some
effects on the men and organisations involved which have held implica
tions for the development of these activities in the years to follow. But
the problems faced, the options open and the actions taken in wartime
are so vastly different from those which exist in peace-time, or even
in the "cold war," as to reduce greatly the relevance of this experience
in the context of this study.
In the half century since World War I the United Kingdom has be
come extensively, albeit hesitantly, involved in propaganda activities
around the world. A large and very successful domestic and international
propaganda operation during World War I was disbanded immediately
upon the cessation of hostilities and British activity in this area was
limited during the inter-war period. It was only as the likelihood of
another war became increasingly apparent that extensive considera
tion was given to developing British propaganda apparatus to counter
the vast propaganda machine being operated by the German and Italian
governments. From the massive propaganda operations of World War
II and the organisation of the Ministry of Information emerged a much
curtailed peacetime programme. With the conclusion of wartime ac
tivities propaganda operations were greatly reduced but the necessity
for their continuation during the past quarter century of international
tension was evident.
British foreign propaganda activities today consist of three sectors:
(r) the official overseas Information Services operating through In
formation Officers and libraries abroad, (2) the External Services of
PREFACE XI
the British Broadcasting Corporation, and (3) the British Council.
These agencies have developed over the years in a rather haphazard
manner without any central plan for the creation of a comprehensive
British propaganda organisation. There has been very little systematic
consideration of the nature of this instrument and the ways it might
best be utilized to advance British foreign policy objectives. Those
people in Britain who have advocated the use of propaganda abroad
in support of foreign policy objectives have always met with consider
able opposition from some segments of the press and public although
the grounds for this opposition have often been somewhat vague. Even
when it has been recognized that some efforts in the field were impera
tive, any suggestions that there should be a "Minister of Information"
in peacetime have been rejected out of hand and moves which indicated
steps in that direction have met with national antipathy. As Sir Harold
Nicolson has commented on this British aversion to national pUblicity,
It pleases us to imagine that we are bad at self-advertisement and even at
self-explanation ... Until the twentieth century, the British, having been
trained to regard as obnoxious all forms of self-display, were arrogantly reticent.
If foreigners failed to appreciate, or even to notice, our gifts of invention or our
splendid adaptability, then there was nothing that we could or should do to
mitigate their obtuseness. The genius of England, unlike that of lesser countries,
spoke for itself)
Unfortunately, life is not that simple as the United Kingdom and
most other states have discovered. Many ideas and ideologies are com
peting for the attention of the people of this globe. Successful imple
mentation of a single nation's foreign policy requires close attention
to many factors, not least of which is the effect of public opinion on
the formation and execution of foreign policy. The organisation of the
British response to the challenge of effectively putting its policies for
ward and making its presence clear to the world is the subject at hand.
Guelph, Canada
June 1974
1 Sir Harold Nicolson, "The British Council 1934-1955," in the Twenty-first Anniversary
Report of the British Council, London, The British Council, 1955, p. 4.
CHAPTER I
THE ROOTS OF PEACETIME PROPAGANDA
Provision for the systematic use of propaganda as an integral part of
the implementation a nation's foreign policy has largely come about
in the past half century. Revolutionary developments in mass com
munications and the broadening of the basis of political interest and
participation have increased the importance of the ability to influence
public opnion abroad.
Although the United Kingdom had engaged actively in international
propaganda campaigns during World War 1,1 His Majesty's Govern
ment of that time did not consider propaganda a suitable or essential
instrument of peacetime foreign policy. With the ending of hostilities
the propaganda organisation which had been built up during the war
was quickly disbanded. In the years to follow, there was little support
for the idea that Britain should engage in international propaganda
activities even when it became apparent that some other nations were
launching extensive propaganda programmes.
Consciousness of the need for propaganda in peacetime grew slowly
in pre-World War II Britain, but gradually limited moves in an effort
to meet these needs were made on an ad hoc basis. In the 1920'S, Press
Attaches were appointed by the Foreign Office at a few of the more
important embassies abroad and the British Library of Information
was established in New York. The latter was to develop into the British
Information Services in the United States while the former were the
precursors of the Information Officers in Her Majesty's Missions over
seas today. The Press Attaches were not active propagandists but were
responsible for advising their ambassadors of the currents of press and
public opinion in the country, and to a lesser extent advising them on
matters of public relations. They also acted as liaison officers with the
1 See bibliography for accounts of British Propaganda activities in World War I.
2 THE ROOTS OF PEACETIME PROPAGANDA
local press and foreign correspondents in the country to which they
were posted.
In addition, the News Department of the Foreign Office provided
links with domestic and foreign press correspondents in London and
produced the "British Official Wireless" for transmission abroad. This
service of non-copyright material was transmitted by radio and could
be picked up directly by news agencies and newspapers who were then
free to use it as they desired. The "British Official Wireless" was
designed to correct misleading reports being circulated by other agen
cies abroad and to provide at least a basic file of news from a British
perspective. As an "official service" it was of necessity limited to British
news and was somewhat restrained in its commentary. Nonetheless, it
was a valued service which was used extensively by news outlets in
various parts of the world, and formed the basis for the London Press
Service still being operated by the Central Office of Information.
Establishment 01 the British Council
At the conclusion of the 1914-1918 war, the Lords Commissioners of
His Majesty's Treasury placed a general rule upon the News Depart
ment of the Foreign Office prohibiting it from becoming involved in
any form of cultural propaganda. The Commissioners felt that "a
general desire to spread British culture throughout the world" would
be dangerous, and that it would not "be possible to defend in Parlia
ment or in its Committees expenditure on such a purpose."2 As a
Foreign Office memorandum written in 1935 states, "During the fol
lowing ten years this rule was rigidly adhered to, although numerous
requests were made by His Majesty's representatives abroad and others
interested in establishing and strengthening existing cultural contracts
between foreign nationals and organisations in this country."3
Some very limited "cultural propaganda" activities were undertaken
in the early 1930'S, but official expenditures in this area amounted to
only a few hundred pounds per annum. At the same time, however,
attempts were being made to fully utilize all the available resources
and voluntary organisations. With the active support and encourage
ment of the Foreign Office, particularly Rex Leeper of the News De
partment, a group of business men and educationalists met in London
in November 1934 to consider means of furthering the teaching of
a Quoted in the "Introductory Memorandum" to Correspondence and Relative Papers re
specting Cultural Propaganda, Foreign Office, 1935, FO 431/1, p. I.
S Ibid.
