A ‘not uncongenial task’: British propaganda veterans and propaganda’s post-First World War reputation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Shortly after the Armistice which ended the First World War, most of the propaganda organizations established by the British authorities closed down, apparently because of distaste for an occupation considered a necessary wartime evil. Within a decade, propaganda’s reputation was damaged by several critiques of wartime activities and continued to worsen thereafter. This article provides an overview of British wartime propaganda activity, and, drawing on wartime and postwar observations from writers, artists, speakers and administrators, considers how propaganda veterans discussed propaganda, and how this affects understanding of its historical reputation. Many eminent propagandists proved happy to discuss their activities in later reminiscences. Such recollections, ranging from enthusiastic claims to their own or others’ credit, republication of propaganda content, self-validation alongside wider critiques of the organizations, euphemistic or evasive discussion of propaganda activity, and renunciations or denunciations, suggest propaganda was not a universally despised relic of the war, but a contribution to wartime service willingly undertaken and often recalled without embarrassment or disdain. Propaganda did not have a terminally negative reputation after the First World War.