The Art of Persuasion
By SARAH ranyone believed the VIith World Festival of Youth and Students for Friendship and Peace ‘'as politically neutral, he was not in Vienna. b `-ven the most perfunctory effort to keep up that pretence was soon abandoned; it was a Communist Show', run and attended by Communists. Outsiders either came—like part of the American group— S° challenge the Communists inside their own ntrianghold; or they came along for the ride they could not otherwise hope to afford. And from 'Be far ends of the earth it was no mean ride for !Poor youngster, and a splendid junket when they
d.
The organisers did not have it too easy. They had some difficulty filling the advertised 17,000 maces, and more in accommodating the 15,000 who came—floods had made part of the tenting area and some boat moorings unusable. Not every- tie was happy with the accommodation, but in practice extreme informality has its compensa- "ons. It was easier to slip out at night from a tent tdw take a stroll in the well-treed Prater than iould have been from the schoolrooms turned dormitories, which the organisers wanted to borrow from the Ministry of Education and which were refused. The slogan of Friendship was taken with Youthful literalness and girls with narrow keeasas to what they came here for took care to en together after dark. The inevitable rows Yvel°Pd between and inside delegations, helped a sPell of sticky heat which shortened tempers. ugoslays were seen turning their backs on R LI -s•ans; Indians, Italians, Americans and Brazilians all had involved internal quarrels; and the organising committee took a beating from the Viennese press hich had an agreement to ignore the whole affair, Yet the w imagi nalivees.t's counter-campaign was weak and Printed matter is not much read )y the non-Co alfnunists or the uncommitted; by rhos` from Communist lands, not at all. An expen- alvt= and well-chosen book show was a good idea, ble‘ en the courageous. Poles were not too happy out walking of with 1984 in a jacket recognis- able at twenty paces—why not all books in plain covers instead of only a few? Photographic shows of boy scouts or apprentices smiling at bits of metal were a simple waste of time and money. In the Eastern block they get that all the time and Westerners are indifferent for other reasons. Why not some working models? The Schoolboys' Exhibition would have been better than solemn guff about freedom and democracy. Even a poster announcing Ella Fitzgerald has to drag in the Freedom of the Artist in the West, whatever that may mean. Jazz singers do not need any draw but their performance. The East knows that jazz is the secret weapon of the West, even if we do not. Why was there not a jazz concert every evening in the Prater? A good deal of money and thought was put into a Festival newspaper in eight languages by a combination of opposition groups. The distribu- tors got into some fights but it seeemed to raise little ideological dust—though it may be unfair to judge what may have a long-term effect on some minds. One day the Hungarian edition sold out. It carried an article on the death of Imre Nagy, a matter still mysterious inside Hungary : that fact might show a pointer towards future efforts in this field. Nothing sells newspapers like news. Propa- ganda is sick-making for young people who have it shoved down their throats every day at home.
We have a lot to learn about persuasion, that fact we must face. Thoughts directed from the out- side are useless except to those already secretly persuaded. Effective persuasion consists in formu- lating the thought which is already nagging con- sciously or unconsciously in the minds of those we wish to persuade.
Still, there was one advocate speaking loud and clear for the West. Vienna is beautiful, even in the dog-days. The only signs of regimentation were the millions of full-blown roses in the public gardens. Wine is cheap, the simple food is good, the girls are pretty; and the older people showed a perfectly genuine tolerance, an unschooled easy- goingness that could not be assumed. No amount of outdated chat about capitalist face-grinding stands up to the rows of motor-scooters by every building site; if these workers are oppressed in their cheerful casualness then the world stands on its head. Streets more crammed with traffic (no sign of regimentation here) in an hour than an East European city in a week; and shops crammed with a staggering variety of gadgets, pretties, luxuries which have become necessities—these cannot be challenged because they are lobe seen in use by ordinary people everywhere.
On the whole it is probably a good thing to have Communist Festivals in Western cities. Next time they should go to Rome, or Paris. But let us lay off conscious propaganda if we cannot do it better.
'lie says, Ma'am, that if "Kwaine" won't do, how about "Geoffrey Bing?"'
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