Propaganda

Abstract

The term “propaganda” is of Latin origin, meaning spreading, extending, or propagating with the help of the laity. It was first used by the Catholic church to denominate its mission. In 1622, the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, a council of cardinals responsible for the spread of the Catholic faith, was established in Rome under Pope Gregory XV. During the Age of Enlightenment the term assumed a polemic connotation. In the course of the French Revolution “propaganda” lost its ecclesiastic meaning in favor of a political one. The term then stood for the proclamation of an ideological expansion program hitherto unknown. Propaganda was adapted in a positive sense by the European labor movement in the nineteenth century and consequently also became a central concept of communist ideology. Lenin adopted propaganda, agitation, and organization as core terms of his press theory. The term also gained ground in commerce and became partly a synonym for → advertising. While the latter term, however, referred to economic goods, propaganda took on a more psychological meaning. It was also taken on favorably in the twentieth century by the National Socialist (Nazi) movement in Germany and the fascist movement in Italy. This has always been typical of totalitarian and authoritarian states. As a consequence, the term aroused highly negative associations in western democracies and was replaced there by the term → Public Relations.