Chapter V
Communist Propaganda
Propaganda, thanks to a better understanding of mass psychology, has become in the past few years almost an exact science as well as an art In the hands of the Communists it is a powerful weapon, so subtle that, as in shadow boxing, one cannot judge the exact position of the enemy. With wily cleverness, it has perverted the meanings of cherished words, so that great national masses of people are no longer aware of their rightful connotations.
We, in the United States, for instance, think of Democracy as the dictionary defines it: “Government in which the supreme power is retained by the people.” The Communists have distorted this by adopting the term “New Democracy,” to represent a Communist controlled state, that is, a dictatorship.
Freedom, a beautiful word, has also been distorted. In a Western democracy, it means “liberation from slavery,” that is, the opportunity to work, live and play where, when and how one chooses, in open competition. In a Communist State, none of these things is possible. There can be no freedom where full regimentation is required. The Soviet’s claim of freeing the peasants from onerous landlords and the workers from grasping capitalists is only a blind. Any poor Chinese on the street soon sadly learns that these are being replaced by more oppressive masters, the Soviet Commissars.
Security is another wonderful word, and the Communists have been quick to realize its universal appeal. However, they use it in a purely economic sense, deliberately ignoring any but material values. Their type of security can be promised only at the price of personal freedom. It is already in operation in all penitentiaries, where the life-term convict is fed, clothed, cared for when ill, sheltered, entertained and protected from the harsh conditions of economic competition. He need not worry about any of these things. Yet it is a generally accepted fact that he would gladly and immediately trade all of the benefits he receives from his prison incarceration for the one little matter of Freedom.
The Chinese Commissar, in the footsteps of his Russian counterpart, reads to his military unit the daily propaganda bulletin.
Communist Propaganda Poster captions: Happy Are Those Who Work for the People!
Draw Water Against the Drought! Another propaganda poster.
Non-Communists looking at bulletin reporting expected visit of General Marshall to Yenan. Bulletin is put out by Communist Cultural Committee for Mass Education.
Communist propaganda poster: Produce for the People!
Communist propaganda picture showing how to Rescue the Wounded!
Besides twisting the meaning of words, the Communists have subtly changed long accepted human values and relationships. By distortion of Truth, and constant repetition of the Party Line, they gradually paralyze all individual thinking and destroy the will to resist. Russian propaganda is far more effective than was the German, and their Chinese henchmen have had to modify it slightly to adapt it for use in their country. By false promises, intimidation and persuasion, the Communists lulled the weakened opposition and made the conquest of China easier. When necessary, they never hesitated to use terror and brutality. By these two means they have established a vast web of control over the entire land of nearly five hundred million people.
The Chinese Communists have found it expedient to have two types of propaganda: one which is directed at foreigners and follows strictly the Moscow line; the other maintained for domestic consumption. The home propaganda concentrates on Chinese affairs and plays down the foreign and international angles. Slogans, or catch phrases, are evident everywhere, on billboards, in handbills, on posters, in the press and on the air channels. In this way, the slogans are repeated over and over again, until everyone becomes thoroughly familiar with them. Throughout China are heard the shouts of the victors—SERVE THE PEOPLE! PRODUCE FOR THE PEOPLE! RESCUE THE WOUNDED! BEAR SONS FOR THE PEOPLE! The latter is one of the most surprising in a land that has an annual death rate of a million from starvation and is presently suffering from the worst famine in years!
The slogans are often illustrated and used as picture posters. Gay and colorful, they frequently show a prosperous looking group standing or sitting before an enormous basket overflowing with luscious fruits and vegetables. The caption: HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO WORK FOR THE PEOPLE! Billboards and handbills in villages and towns are, of necessity, simple and elementary, while in Shanghai and other large cities they are more elaborate and sometimes quite sophisticated.
As in Germany before the war, and in Russia today, the Chinese concentrate on the children. These are often separated from their families when they are very young and sent to special schools away from their homes. The Chinese Communists, like the Soviets, are making every effort to destroy family life and ties, since family loyalty competes with their training program. The first and only loyalty must be to the State. In some schools, youngsters have been given new textbooks which begin with the verse:
“I do not love my Mama. I do not love my Papa. I love only my Country and Mao Tse-tung.” Other books show pictures of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and other Nationalist leaders and characterize them as enemies of the State who are “to be killed on sight.”
Children, otherwise well brought up and, prior to the new schooling, devoted to their families, return to their homes and face their parents with: “We don’t love you any more. We are leaving home and will fight the Nationalists ourselves, wherever we find them!”
Some of the propaganda is directed against foreigners, especially Americans. The children are taught to repeat little songs in which Americans are called “greedy and vicious capitalists,” and they are shown cartoons depicting Americans as two-headed pigs being kicked out of China.
The effect of such systematic mind-poisoning is shown in an incident that happened in North China just before the Communists took over. An American on a business trip watched a Chinese woman, carrying a baby and a large bundle, attempt to cross a narrow bridge over a little river. A tiny girl, barely old enough to walk, clung to the mother’s skirts. The planking of the bridge was wobbly and narrow. Realizing they could not all cross at once, the woman loosened the child’s hands and told her: “Wait there and I’ll come back for you.” Then, with the bundle and baby, she crossed the poorly constructed span. The American, trying to be a good Samaritan, went toward the stranded little girl to offer to take her across. At his approach she screamed in terror and ran from him. Catching up with her, he talked to her in a quiet voice for some minutes. Soon the youngster dried her tears, accepted the man’s arms, and was carried to safety. The mother turning to go back for the child, cried out in alarm at seeing her in the arms of the American. With the realization that the man meant no harm, she appeared amazed at his courtesy.
Among the near illiterate, speeches are the most effective means of propaganda, and the Chinese Red Armies have large doses of these inflicted upon them. The soldiers, following the example of their Russian comrades, are briefed on when to clap and when to cheer. Like any college football crowd, they dutifully follow the cheer leaders.
The Communists are especially proud of their so-called “Educational Program” for soldiers, and they claim that thirty per cent of the time allotted to military training is devoted to “cultural” and political work. As a result of attendance at daily classes, over eighty per cent of the troops are reported able to read elementary Chinese characters, giving them enough background to understand simplified Communist newspapers. These “newspapers” are filled with news strictly censored by the leaders, and the characters learned in school are those that enable them to read only what the posters and textbooks say. No effort is wasted on superfluous, non-political knowledge.
Bestowing tides as a reward is another Moscow-inspired incentive for the soldiers, as well as for the illiterate populace. This device is also used to encourage labor production and to throw a smoke screen over exploitation. Labor “Heroes” and “Heroines” are greatly admired in all Red-blighted areas, and any Communist who studies and works hard has a chance to be thus honored and to obtain the coveted material reward or special privilege that accompanies the title.
Russian propaganda, when modified for the Chinese, is slanted so that it may not offend them too greatly while they are still being taken over, that is, during the transition period of persuasion and deception. Shortly after the capture of Tientsin, an enormous picture of Stalin appeared beside that of Mao Tse-tung in Min Yuan Park. The people milling around in great throngs stared up at it, some in wonderment. One of them finally remarked, “Who is that other man? He is not Chinese, he is a foreigner.” In order to keep the surface smooth at first and to cause no undue alarm or suspicion among the people, the next day Mao hung alone.
The capture of Tientsin and Peking was accomplished with comparatively little fighting except on the outskirts of both cities. The plans for taking Peking had been well thought out. Secret agents, for years, had been “persuading” the people and softening up the Nationalist troops. The actual capture was cunningly timed. The Chinese New Year was chosen, with due respect to superstition, by the incoming lords of the land. They allowed the people to spend three days making their customary friendly calls upon each other, in the ancient manner, and settling up their bills and accounts. Farmers poured into the cities with supplies of meat and vegetables, and the Communists bided their time while the citizenry, ate, drank and made merry. In the Chinese calendar 1949 was the Year of the Rat, and 1950 ushered in the Year of the Cow. Time-honored superstition has it that when, in the passage of years, the tail of the Rat touches the horn of the Cow, times will be good, luck will change and the future will be successful. The Chinese were all congratulating themselves over their coming good year when the Communists, after waiting for the psychological moment, marched their armies in and took over the ancient capital.
The new masters gave the populace various choices of “surrender” terms, although they did not use the expression “surrendering.” First, the vanquished were politely invited to “Come out and join us, for we are all brothers now.” This invitation was called the “Peking way.” When anyone showed reluctance to accept, the “Tientsin way” was tried. This method involved pressure, first psychological, then if that failed, material, and finally if there was still any hesitation, physical, in the form of more or less severe beatings. In other words, the same old formula was at work—persuasion and then force.
The Chinese Communists, after the fall of the entire country, copied from their Soviet comrades the trick of inviting all the industrialists, financiers and scientists who had fled to Canton, Hong Kong and elsewhere to return to their Northern homes, where they could continue to operate their businesses as before. So in 1946 Stalin invited all the White Russians living in China to return to the USSR. The old birdie in the cage trick! Persuaded that they were going to receive fair treatment, many of the expatriate Russians gladly gave up their jobs and homes in Shanghai and Tientsin and spent their last dollars on passage to Siberia. No word was ever heard from many of them, but gradually a few letters appeared, smuggled in through Chinese friends, which told of great suffering. A few of the hardiest escaped and returned, all with the same story—Siberia, the salt mines, death. What happened to their Chinese counterparts who heeded the siren song of the victors of Peking we do not know, but we can guess.
Communist propaganda is apparent in practically every aspect of Chinese life. Only the Opera and the Russian Ballet appear to have remained relatively free from taint. The Reds are tremendously proud of both of these world renowned examples of creative art and make a great show of claiming that they are always performed in the “original.” However, when put on before strictly indoctrinated audiences, propaganda appears in the shape of Party line interpretations of dances, songs and long curtain speeches. The audience is never allowed to forget for a moment that it is there to be instructed as well as entertained.
The basic purpose of Communist propaganda, of course, is to make conquest as easy as possible. The Party line is fed to the people like opium, and it dulls their senses and makes them docile. When persuasion proves inadequate, threats and brutality are resorted to, for in a Totalitarian State no one can remain on the fence. Only through complete unity, voluntary or forced, can such a state survive. It is impossible for anyone to remain non-political.
Should both persuasion and force fail, the Communists then resort to a method which represents an all time low in evil—the use of poisonous drugs to draw out false confessions from their victims. This is called the “biodynamic” treatment. The drugs, “actedon” and “mescaline” are used to paralyze the brain, then to cause its disintegration. The doses are administered in coffee, and the victim, with nothing else to eat or drink, consumes large quantities, which are generously supplied, unaware of the effect being produced on his mind and body. When the personality has been sufficiently disintegrated or “split” by these drugs—when the sufferer has been driven crazy—a skilled psychiatrist can put the pieces together at his will and gradually evolve a completely new personality. In other words, when the physical breakdown of the individual has been accomplished, his mental collapse is brought about by the use of these fiendish drugs.
The Communists say, “The average person can be made to give in through brutality and fear, but in complicated cases the combination of neurology, or brain study, chemistry and psychiatry must be used.” Preparing the victim valuable enough for this process often takes as long as three or four months, during which time he is jailed and kept in solitary confinement. Frequently dozens of doctors, scientists, and assistants are worn out in the process of treatment. It is so diabolical that the Communists say they use it only in exceptional cases where they feel that the results warrant a demonstration to the public at large of their complete mastery over man.
The world now knows that this was the treatment administered in 1949 to Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty, Primate of the Catholic church, Budapest; to Michael Shipkov, Bulgarian Translator for the U. S. Legation in Sofia; and again in 1950 to Robert A. Vogeler, American business executive in Hungary. This same heinous method has been repeated in Rumania, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Eastern Germany and undoubtedly elsewhere throughout the world, though actual reports of every case have not, as yet, come into print.
The use of hypnotism as a propaganda weapon and as a device for manipulating victims also has not been overlooked by the Communists. Dr. G. H. Estabrooks, Chairman of the Department of Psychology at Colgate University, who has pioneered in developing hypnotism’s wartime uses, says:
“With the Twentieth Century’s revived interest in psychology, hypnotism has been brought to the status of a full-fledged science.”
“A person,” continues Estabrooks, “can be hypnotized against his will or without his knowledge.”
“A foreign agent working in a hospital or a doctor in his own office could,” he avers, “over a period of time, place thousands of people under his power by means of fake physical examinations.”
For instance, he explains how in wartime this masked manoeuver could enable a junior medical officer to take over the reins of the U. S. Army and lead it into total defeat.
Hypnotism, we now know, was used in addition to drugs by the Nazis to obtain a “confession” from Van der Lubbe at the Reichstag Trial and also by the Soviet Union to demoralize Cardinal Mindszenty, Robert Vogeler and others.
Mao Tse-tung, like all Moscow-trained speakers and others of their ilk, is fully aware of the power of hypnosis over large audiences. In the early days of victory, he spellbound his listeners not alone by words but also by the strength of his mesmeric will.
“Make up your minds! We abhor fence straddlers. There is no middle of the road! Not in all China, not in all the universe,” he continued. “One must be either on the side of Imperialism or on the side of Communism!”
In a speech commemorating the 28th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao, addressing a mass meeting early in 1950, said:
“Internationally, China belongs to the anti-imperialist front. To Russia we proudly look for genuine, friendly aid, and to no other country. The second world war, with the Soviet Union as the principle fighting force, defeated the great Imperialist powers, Germany and Japan. It weakened England and France, and left only one Imperialist country in the world—the United States of America! Even she suffered great losses. Her economy was smashed and her domestic crisis is acute! There is great unrest in the country, and the people have no leader. They are fighting among themselves. And yet she thinks she can enslave the world! She is nothing but a weakling! By aiding Chiang Kai-shek, she is responsible for the slaughter of millions of Chinese!”
An outburst of applause and cries of “Ding How!” (Good! Good!) greeted his words.
Mao continued, waving his arms: “In China, some Imperialism still exists in our ‘New Democracy,’ but we will work steadfastly for a complete Communist Society. Our tools are the People’s Army, Police and Communist Court. Under the leadership of the working class, we will unite to form our own dictatorship over the lackeys of foreign Imperialism. We will drive them out like dogs, howling through the streets! Let us establish a People’s Dictatorship over the reactionaries, to be known throughout the world as the People’s Democratic Dictatorship. Let us raise China from an agricultural country by eliminating all classes, and realizing the state of universal fraternity!”
Another storm of applause from the duped audience followed these closing words, along with shrill cries of “Long live our People’s Dictatorship! Long live our Chairman Mao! Long live our Comrade Stalin!”