Introduction

What follows is an exercise in reading propaganda. It runs ideologically, from communist "East" to capitalist "West"; temporally, from the Cold War's start to its finish; and institutionally, from veiled fronts to state organs.

To begin, let's agree that propaganda refers to advertizing sponsored and directed by governments, and designed to gin up support for a given policy or viewpoint among a particular demographic. In most cases, the target audience is domestic. But for the organizations on this site, it was transnational and multingual.

After selecting the target audience, propagndists must next decide on a message and a medium that will reach and persuade them. In many cases, these are simple and blunt, meant to evoke fear of the enemy, say, or love of the leader. Especially effective in this case, as far as media are concerned, is a combination of image and text. Consider, for example, the burning flag at the top of this page, and below. What ideology would you say it conveys? Now epand and watch the short video below.