MOST FREQUENT PROAGANDA THEMES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-04864A000100070006-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 1998
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: July 14, 1948
• Content Type: IR

25X1A2g
Approve u A-RDP78-04864A00010 9911911 1.
SUBJECT Most, Frequent Propaganda The
PLACE Monitored radio broadcasts available
ACQ U L R ? D to FBIB, Washington, D.C.
DATE:
ACQUIRE[) 10-week period, 29 April-7 July 1948
-"-s pcrN~~E~-
C0"`Fi LY1US M?Y MR LY NOT JSU,tIl_
R?(.4ASLE RE 'LE RELIABLE SEL9~oLE~RELIA;'SIF ~i CG4yj
SOURCE Va.xitored radio broadcasts
I. THE TEN MOST PROM
R POI"" NO.
.4`4.1.+7
D, TE 14V July 1948
NO. OF PAGES 9
NO OF ENCLS.
(LI`3S'ED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
~__COLL. (TOR'3 PRELIMINARY ORAtINB OF CONTENT
C~ , iRME D a4Bi:f 1=OS rPROBABLY ~C?tNNOJ
BY GTH R Y N I . RUF OOJF37S UI PROBABLY BE
S O U R C E S r R`SE JUDGED
1. 2
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION FOR THE RESEARCUUSE- OF TRAINED INTE:LLiGENC m ANALYSTS
Broadly speakingt there are on y two themes is Soviet radio proms a: Owe
are supuriorE and they are it 'e ,or." The world cee ie Is contin:ally pictures
as a gigantic strug .e between good wid ?avii., with ar. good on the side of the
wd crt.tic# (Pro- ovtet) forces, id rah.: evil on the side of th,a "anti-? era.tiC4
or 11in pc rri ai i s-e for^as, especially the United States
It is cftuen difficz.::lt to draw sharp linos betwesai the rioos sore' of
and nsv".ip enrich are attributed respectively to the 1-1,3SR &ad its emmlee- If
atteipt is made to eio thi.I, however, a >m ch larger n:.zber of th=.nes be
diatiegLished. The ten which have probably been host f g eat i foreign broadcasts
CLASSIFICATION
GMMKMM~ LAR 11,
TE 7~ NAVY ii VSRB DISTRIBUTION
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COUNT RY uS.SR
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2 -
since 1 January 1948, arranged in an estimated order of freciuency,2/ are as follows.
1. Our enemies are imperialistic.
2. They are undemocratic.
They are untruthful.
4. They are reactionary (opposing social justice).
5. They are uncooperative.
6. They are war-meking.
7. They hurt the economy of other nations.
8. We (the USSR and the "democratic" forces in
every other nation) are peaceful.
9. Our enemies are dismembering Germany.
10. We are democratic.
To represent the full meaning and the actual complexity of these themes, however,
it is necessary to illustrate them in some detail.
1. Our enemies are imAerieliGtic.
(The word "enemies" is to be understood as representing primarily the United States--or
strictly speaking, the "ruling' circles in the United States--and the "ruling" or "re- s
actionary" circles in all other countries except the Soviet Union and the "new democracies"
of eastern Europe. Britain is not singled out for denunciation nearly so oftien as the
United States, though the term "Anglo-American Imperialism" is often used, and the term
"western powers"--usually implying Britain and sometimes France, in addition to the
U.S.--is also frenuent.
In our sample, the U.S. was specifically denounced 220 times; the "western powers" or
"Anglo-American circles," 111 times; "reactionaries" in other countries, 110 timer; and
Britain alone only 25 times. It should also be noted that in this tabulation the non-
Soviet Left in Europe and elsewhere--Bevin, Blum, Schumacher, Saragat--is counted as
"reectionaryy," since in the Soviet ideology it is as reactionary as Wall Street itself,
aand, if possible, even more dangerous.)
The Marshall Plan, like the Truman Doctrine, is a device to enslave Europe.
J?S. monopoly capitalism is insidiously taking control of the economies of all
nations outside the Soviet sphere.
1 The list is based on a statistical study of the themes represented in the introductions
to the sleekly SURVEY OF USSR RADIO BROADCL.STS during the past ten weeks (29 April--7 July).
Each of these introductions summarizes in 5-6 pages the content of Soviet radio propaganda
during a given week. The order thus obtained was then slightly corrected on the basis of
an impressionistic judgment of shifts of emphasis between the period January-April and the
period May-July.
'ince this sample wz.s relatively small and by no means fully representative, the data
should be taken as the best ava11able estimate, rather than as completely accurate. (It
has not yet been feasible to obtain a scientifically adequate sample of Soviet broadcasts,
or to carry on statistical analysis of Soviet broadcasts as a regu:iar procedure. It is
hoped that this "Pill be possible in the near future.)
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Anglo-America=n "oil imperialism" in the Middle East is the key to the problem
of Palestine.
The U.G. has actively intervened in Greece and China. The "monarcho-fascist"
Greek government is a mere puppet of Its American masters.
Great Britain and France, especially the latter, have been reduced to the
status of satellites.
"Reactionary" ruling groups everywhere are "subservient" to American Interests.
They are "betraying" the independence and sovereignty of their own nations.
American and Roman Catholic "interference" determined the outcome of the
Italian election.
Pro-U.S. majorities in the U.N. are bought or dominated by the U.S.
The "unanimity principle" in the Security Council is essential, to protect the
rights of smell nations against U.S.-controlled majorities in the U.N.
The U.S. supports French, Dutch, and British imperialism in Indochina, Indo-
nesia, and Malaya.
(With the exception of Indonesia and Indochina--which are given very little
stress except in broadcasts beamed to Asia--the type of "imperialism" which is
attacked is rather different from the old colonial form of imperialism. Scarcely
any attention, for instance, is given to French possessions in Africa; and the
official withdrawal of Europeans and Americans from the Philippines, Cuba., India,
Burma, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Palestine is unimportant and irrelevant from the
standpoint of current Soviet ideology, because it is superficial and represents
no withdrawal of actual control. The current Soviet ideology pictures present-day
Anglo-American imperialism as something less open and official, more insidious, and--
necessarily--more difficult to disprove. It presumably operates partly by direct
or indirect ownership of economic enterprises, newspapers, etc., and partly by
economic and military support to "reactionary" governments against their own "people."
Its existence is "proved" especially by such things as the support given by a
majority of U.N. delegates to the "flagrant" American intervention in Greece.)
They are undemocratic
The word "democratic," in the current Soviet ideology, has class connotations which are
scarcely distinguishable from those of the word "progressive." It implies social justice
far more than it implies parliamentary majorities or civil liberties. Its opposite is
"reactionary"; "the forces of reaction" are often said to be opposing "the forces of
democracy." In other words, the presumed interests of the working class are, by
definition, "democratic." And, since this is true, the meaning of this major theme is
closely allied to the meaning of the fourth major theme: "Our enemies are reactionary;
they oppose social justice." It should therefore be noted that if the frequencies of the
two themes are combined, they constitute a composite which is much more frequ.nt than even
the "imperialism" theme which has been placed at the head of the list.
The "people" everywhere--even in the United States--oppose Anglo-American
imperialism and the "reactionary" governments which support it.
The "people" lost the election in Italy, though they "held their ground" against
the forces of reaction.
The U.S. everywhere allies itself with "reactionary" or "fascist" elements:
Nazis, German monopolists and industrialists, Franco, Salazar, Greek "monarcho-
fascists," the Kuomintang, the Zaibatsu, Syngman Rhee, etc.
Elections in Italy, Korea, and elsewhere, and even in the U.S. itself, are not
free from coercion and intimidation.
In many countries there is persecution of "democratic elements" (i.e., Communists
and their allies). .This reached a climax in the "mass executions" in Greece.
Negroes are denied their rights in the U.S.
The Mundt-Nixon bill is fascistic.
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3. They are untruth'u '..
The ? shsll Plan; like the Truman Doctrine, is e deceitful d:.r_' :-,e to en.-ln-;e
Furope.
Lrneric .n claims to be dernocrr.tic rre sheer hypocrisy.
imerican cl?.irn' to be nea.ce--loving are sheer h;yxiocrlTj. U.F. armaments for
"defence" ? re a.ctupll for Y uri?orer of ?'. f'c? sion
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