Historical Propaganda

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A community for historical propaganda, in image or video form. Subtitled videos and images are allowed.

What is Propaganda?

Propaganda is the deliberate dissemination of information, ideas, or narratives aimed at influencing public opinion or behavior, often to promote a particular political, social, or ideological agenda. It can take many forms, including speeches, media, art, or advertising. While propaganda is commonly associated with manipulation or bias, it can be either good or bad depending on the intent and content. Positive propaganda may be used to raise awareness about important social causes or encourage beneficial public behaviours, while negative propaganda often involves misleading or deceptive tactics to manipulate beliefs for harmful purposes.

Bigotry

While propaganda may contain bigotry, we require that the only reason one posts it here is because of historical interest. Any intent of Bigotry from posters or commenters will be immediately banned!

I want to post here

Check out this post if you are looking for something to post.

Rules

Civility and Bigotry

  1. Be excellent to each other
  2. No discrimination or bigotry. Blahaj.zone is a safe space.
  3. Please report any rulebreaking content and do not engage

Posts

  1. Must adhere to the definition of propaganda provided above
  2. Must be in video (subtitled), or image format (including posters, and newspaper headlines and cartoons, as well as photographs). Audio and Documents may be allowed on a case by case basis but the moderators reserve the right to remove it to avoid low quality posts.
  3. Current events are prohibited. The image/video must be at least five years old. And while it may draw comparisons to current events, it should take primarily historical perspective.
  4. If possible, the source and date should be added. If not possible, mark your post as [unsourced] and/or [undated] in the title.
  5. Analysis and commentary within a post is allowed. This analysis should be properly sourced, or if self-analysis marked with [self-analysis].
  6. This is an english speaking community. Posts must either be in english, or for non-english content (which is very much encouraged) a translation should be provided.

founded 2 months ago
MODERATORS
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It is no secret this community is inspired from reddit’s r/propagandaposters, so reposting from there is allowed.

However it is encouraged to post from archives, where one can provide a proper source and better historical accuracy. Here is a very incomplete archives directory. Please comment if you have suggestions to add and I will add them :).

Archives Directory

Global

Europe

UK

France

  • Gallica (French, some english translations)

Switzerland

North America

US

Mexico

Asia

China

India

Africa

South America

Argentina

Oceania

Australia

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National Archives Identifier: 24376
Local Identifier: 111-EF-6
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/24376

Creator(s): Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief Signal Officer. (9/18/1947 - 3/1/1964) (Most Recent)

From: Series: Educational Films, 1942 - 1947

Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 - 1985

This item was produced or created: 1945

Other Title(s):Educational Film, no. 6

Scope & Content: Dramatizes the destructive effects of racial and religious prejudice. Reel 1 shows a fake wrestling match and "crooked" gambling games. An agitator addresses a street crowd; he almost convinces one man in the audience until the man begins to talk to a Hungarian refugee from Germany. A Nazi speaker harangues a crowd in Germany denouncing Jews, Catholics, and Freemasons. Reel 2, a German unemployed worker joins Hitler's Storm Troops. SS men attack Jewish and Catholic headquarters in Germany, and beat up a Jewish storekeeper. A German teacher explains Nazi racial theories; the teacher is dragged away by German soldiers.

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This image is a satirical lithograph by Honoré Daumier featuring Ratapoil, a recurring character in Daumier's work, who represents the cynical and manipulative supporters of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. The caption reads: "RATAPOIL FESANT DE LA PROPAGANDE" ("Ratapoil making propaganda"). The text below it translates to: "If you love your wife, your house, your field, your heifer [young female cow], and your calf, sign, you don’t have a minute to lose!" In this context, Ratapoil is seen trying to convince a skeptical, working-class man to take political action, likely under false pretenses or through manipulation.

Created in 1848, this lithograph reflects the political turmoil of the time, following the February Revolution, which led to the establishment of the French Second Republic. The character of Ratapoil symbolizes the unscrupulous agents of Bonapartist propaganda, who exploited the fears and concerns of the common people to advance Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte's political ambitions. Ratapoil is portrayed as a smooth-talking figure using exaggerated promises and fearmongering to push his agenda. This caricature is a critique of the manipulative tactics used by political operatives who sought to manipulate the public for personal or political gain during this volatile period in French history.

(Unsourced Analysis and Partially Self-Analysed, although facts have been cross-checked with archives).

Archive Source: Gallica, French National Library

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Provided by the national library of Spain.

Created by Martin, Pascual, 1893-1959

View on Europeana

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DeepL translation of the information:

Advertising film by the German Trade Union Confederation. Under the slogan "Dad is mine on Saturdays", the trade unions call for a 40-hour, 5-day working week from 1956. This is introduced in most sectors of the economy in the 1960s.

The video basically presents the various ways you can spend your free saturday. (The DeepL translation of the transcription is bad because it's like a poem.)

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Source: Imperial War Museums

Image Description:

a battle scene set in a British village street, featuring a dismounted Territorial Army cyclist, in uniform and chin-strapped forage cap, loading his rifle. Behind him stand two more members of the battalion, one firing his rifle, the other placed his bicycle against a wall. In the background, the remainder of the battalion come to join them.

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Sourced from the US National Library of Congress

An impassioned attack on Abraham Lincoln and the human toll of the Union war effort. Columbia, wearing a liberty cap and a skirt made of an American flag, demands, "Mr. Lincoln, give me back my 500,000 sons!!!" At the right, Lincoln, unfazed, sits at a writing desk, his leg thrown over the chair back. A proclamation calling for "500 Thous. More Troops," signed by him, lies at his feet. He replies, "Well the fact is--by the way that reminds me of a Story!!!" The artist refers to the false report published by the "New York World" that Lincoln joked on the battlefield of Antietam. (See "The Commander-in-Chief Conciliating the Soldier's Votes," no. 1864-30.)

Author: Baker, Joseph E., approximately 1837-1914.

Created / Published: [Boston : s.n.], 1864.

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UK National Archive

The Householder’s Handbook explained how to prepare a home for nuclear attack: Whitewash the house, tape windows and create a safe core in one of the rooms. It listed medicines, food, and supplies needed and explained what to do if there was a nuclear attack. Householders would be able to occupy themselves and their families in preparing for the worst.

Even before the 80’s version, Protect and Survive and the CND peace movement’s riposte – Protest and Survive, the handbook seemed remarkably naïve. A 20-megaton bomb detonated 500 feet above St Paul’s Cathedral in central London would have created a blast wave destroying or damaging buildings for up to 17 kilometres and deliver a lethal dose of radiation for nearly five kilometres.

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Three Arrows

A widely publicized election poster of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1932, with the Three Arrows symbol representing resistance against monarchism, Nazism and communism, alongside the slogan "Against Papen, Hitler, Thälmann"

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Related reddit thread

Historical context

Thanks for creating this community!

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It was inspired by a speech by this man: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_E._Stanton

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Drawing

Marienberg/Saxony, 4. April 1943

42x30cm

© German Historical Museum, Berlin

Inv.-No.: Thu 61/144

The hand-drawn and hand-coloured map sketch illustrates Great German fantasies of the “New Europe” under German rule: The “East” supplies the German Empire, enlarged by conquests, with products from industry and agriculture.

(obligatory fuck Nazis)

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