PROPAGANDA TO GERMANS"
Sts,—In the article " Propaganda to Germans " John Willoughby raises two points on which I would like to comment.
First, the writer's complacency is exceeded only by his obvious difficulty in grasping the merest essentials of conduct in modern war- fare. He states, in effect—" German propaganda, with its uses of untruth, cajolery and intimidation, is evil—but can be diabolically effective," and goes on to say " our propaganda to Germany is," on the other hand, " mainly fumbling, directed by those who have little or no knowledge of Germany and led by diplomats and returned diplomats who have just literally no knowledge of the art of propa- ganda." Finally he asks plaintively, " Has the War Office forgotten . . . as a weapon of war the shattering power of truth, the truth of fact and the truth of human principles? " Therein lies the rub. Mr. Willoughby cannot have it both ways. As I understand him, German propaganda is both lying and effective, but our Govern- ment's propaganda is truthful yet ineffective. In spite of this he exhorts the Government to continue in the use of the " shattering Power of truth." Will Mr. Willoughby therefore please inform me at what future period will the lying propaganda of Germany prove ineffective and our Government's truthful propaganda become effec- tive? If he is not acquainted with Lord Ponsonby's admirable book Falsehood in Wartime he would do well to read it and ponder the unpalatable yet undeniable fact that "the first casualty in wartime is Truth."
Secondly, the article itself would provide a juicy morsel for use by Dr. Goebbels. Mr. Willoughby is very revealing ; his type of mentality—alas! all too frequent in certain circles today—is laid bare. "Propaganda should be retained for at least three years after the war ends," he says, " to prevent the German Government and a host of German propagandists (not all of them in Germany) from sabotaging the peace." This is a peculiar way of expressing it, I must say, but Mr. Willoughby is not finished yet. He goes on. " Once beaten they will, as before, cringe and whine. They will say ' Why should we suffer—have we not suffered enough?' To prevent such persistent activity we shall need the constant vigilance and equally constant intervention of an experienced and well-prepared Ministry of Propaganda." It follows, therefore, that Mr. Willoughby is of the opinion that if, and when, the Germans " cringe and whine " and say " Have we not suffered enough?" then our Government should ignore these " persistent activities " and get on with the job of planning a super-Versailles at which, presumably, certain statesmen who believe as Mr. Willoughby does, hope to cure Europe's ills.
John Willoughby's article ranks alongside the notorious Blacte Record as representative of the type of mischievous and irrespon- sible writing which, in fact, is making the task of our propagandists
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