NEWS OF THE WEEK
HE reporters for British newspapers who set out to represent the Communist youth festival at Berlin as a damp squib have had to change their story as the week has gone on. This carefully organised rally is not really funny at all. Europe, and especially Germany, has seen enouL, I of the effect of insistent /propaganda, par- ticularly when it is directed at those who are young and impressionable, to know that it does not 'break down either through external ridicule or its own internal inconsistencies and absurdities. There is obviously plenty that is incon- sistent and absurd about the Berlin rally. It is enough, for anyone who stops to think, that propaganda of this degree of intensity can only be made to work in an enclosed space, with the aid of coloured, shirts and continuous entertainment, and without contact with the day-to-day reality of life in Eastern Europe. But it is not the intention of the sponsors that the boys and girls attending the rally shall stop to think. For them the trip to Berlin must be a great adventure ; there must be plenty of excitement ; and for those who feel like exploring in the direction of West Berlin, or who might feel inclined to laugh at the curious pictures of their own countries presented in the various " national " exhibitions, just a slight threat from Big Brother, who will still be with them when they go home, will probably be enough. Perhaps it does not matter where children from, say, Britain or Canada are concerned, though the adven- tures which some of them have had in getting to Berlin will no doubt increase their sense of self-sacrifice, and it is difficult to imagine any who are already Communists changing their minds as a result of the Berlin celebrations. But the main targets for- Communist propaganda are without doubt Germans, who have been exposed to the blandishments of Hitler Youth- organisers in the past and are exposed to a particularly clear Communist threat in the present. For that reason alone the Berlin rally must be taken seriously and the fullest possible measures taken to counteract its evil effect.
