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.