Documentary News Letter (1942-1943)

CO NT I. N I S WAR OF NERVES? NOTES OF THE MON I II FEATURE FILM PROPAGANDA '" I HE. IIAKVISI SHA1 I < ' 'Mi FEATURE FILM OF THE MONTH NEW DOCUMENTARY FILMS NEWS LETTER THE WORLD IN ACTION M.O.I. ROSTER SCIENTIFIC FILM SOCII I II S THE WAR — A PEOPLE'S REVOLUT by Henry A. Wallace VOL 3 NO 5 PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY FILM CENTRE 34 SOHO SQUARE LONDON Wl WAR OF NERVES? the most important propaganda event for many months was the •rime Minister's broadcast of May 10th. Mr. Churchill's insistence m our greatly increased striking power seemed to foreshadow a lew military phase in the war and this possibility deeply stirred the vhole country. For the first time since the outbreak of war we vere threatening the enemy, not in a spirit of defiant defence, but n the mood of a strong man who sees a bully cringing before him. . Churchill tormented the Nazis with the irony of their increasing 'ulnerability to the very weapons they themselves had chosen. 4e jeered at their blunders with all the assurance of a man who :ould look to the future not only with faith but with complete onfidence. This, said his listeners, must be the turning point of the var. For the Prime Minister had said : "The British, and presently the American, bombing offensive against Germany will be one of the principal features in this year's world war. "Now is the time to use our increasingly superior air strength to strike hard and continually at the home front in Germany from which so much evil has leaped out on the world and which is the foundation of the whole enormous invasion of Russia. . . . "... We have a long list of German cities in which the vital industries of the German war machine are established. All these it will be our stern duty to deal with, as we have already dealt with Liibeck, with Rostock, and half a dozen important places. "The civil population of Germany have, however, an easy way of escape from these severities. All they have to do is to leave the cities where munition work is being carried on, abandon their work and go out into the fields and watch the home fires burning from a distance." Public feeling was undoubtedly well satisfied with the policy of itting Germany hard from the air. The British people wanted to go id finish the war in the only place where it could be finished — in 'ermany. The relentless quality of the speech was good propaganda id — at the same time — a pretty accurate reflection of the public lood. The Prime Minister was articulating and integrating public eling and giving it direction. To add to the expectations he had •oused of a new military policy he spoke as follows of the crowds hich had recently gathered in Trafalgar Square to call for a cond front : "Is it not far better that demonstrations of thousands of people should gather in Trafalgar Square demanding the most vehement I and audacious attacks than that there should be the weepings and ■I wailings and peace agitations which in other lands and other wars The day after the broadcast the nation stood ready for action — for intensive bombing of Germany and for some sign of raids or even an offensive against the continental coast line. The turning point of the war had come. What they asked was to be the first shattering manifestation of the new spirit? At the time of going to press, three weeks have passed and although our Russian allies are engaged in a battle on which the result of the war may depend, there has been no sign whatsoever of British offensive action on land. Worse still, there has been only one airraid on Germany of any significance during the whole period. A people which is very well aware of how little towards deciding the war was achieved by nightly Nazi air-raids on London for weeks on end can scarcely be expected to believe that occasional cricketingweather attacks on isolated targets in a much vaster and more inaccessible country is to be the means of beating Germany. Whatever are the true facts there can be no doubt that the Prime Minister's broadcast aroused expectations which have not yet been fulfilled by events. Ordinarily such a state of affairs is not vitally serious, for in war-time miscalculations are bound to be made. But this broadcast seemed to be of great and special significance. If events should continue to give no support to the hopes it held out the effect upon public feeling will be considerable. No propagandist will underestimate the effect upon the British people if they come to think that their leaders are substituting words for actions. The public, because of its experiences in the last war, is basically cynical in face of rhetorical attitudes. So far, throughout his period of office, Mr. Churchill has been careful to measure words by deeds. Whatever his opinion may be of the importance of propaganda he must continue to remember that words must be used with responsibility as well as with virtuosity. He would be ill-advised to put his gifts as an orator at the service of those of our leaders who believe that occasional air-raids on Germany can be verbally disguised to look like an offensive which will satisfy the demand for a Second Front. The crowds whom Mr. Churchill welcomed to Trafalgar Square were not there to play with words or to be congratulated w ith well-turned phrases. They wanted action. The professional propagandists know that there is a war-winning mood in this country — a mood which, if utilised, will make it unnecessary for today's policies to be inhibited as they are now, by the cautious war economies of 1944. It is the duty of propagandists who know their business and who wish the United Nations to win the war quickly to articulate and direct that war-winning mood and to see that it is not dissipated by rhetorical speeches, however unimpeachable may be the sentiments they express. Delay between threatand execution is dangerous.