Propaganda Practices Research Articles

Political Enlightenment in the Context of the Soviet Identity Project Based on Materials of Altai Krai (1945–1955)

This article examines the communicative strategies of the formation of civic identity by the system of political education institutions in Altai in the ideological space of 1945–1955 based on regional materials. The authors employ the concept of constructing the phenomenon of Soviet society relevant to the modern neoclassical model of science. The source base consists of normative documents of the Central Committee and the Altai Krai Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, office materials of the propaganda and agitation bodies of the region from the funds of the State Archive of Altai Krai. The authors compare the reports of party committees with the information and analytical data of inspections of political and educational work in Altai. Materials of the All-Union and regional educational and instructional and methodical literature, and regional press were used to analyse discursive propaganda practices. Based on the theoretical and methodological approaches of social design and intellectual history, the article identifies the goals of creation, ideological and semantic motifs, symbolic components, and examples of normative behaviour spread among citizens. It is demonstrated that the production of standards of collective identification of the inhabitants of the region was based on the national-state narrative that rehabilitated the “Homeland” chronotope. The implementation of the all-Union project of social consolidation and support of the Soviet government in Altai Krai focused on the consistent inclusion of the official version of the past in the individual life experience by teaching political literacy, oral, and visual propaganda in schools and school clubs. A feature of the rear region was the construction, first of all, of identification samples of labour heroism. An important technology for involving the population in large-scale activities to restore the economic and socio-cultural potential of the USSR after the Great Patriotic War was the motivation of the feat as a mechanism for personal perpetuation in the memory of descendants.

Özbekistan'da Bilimsel Ateizm Gelişiminin Retrospektif Analizi (XX. Yüzyılın 30'larında)

The article provides a retrospective analysis of the ways, mechanisms, and methods of development of atheism in Uzbekistan in the 30s of the twentieth century. It is explained how in the complex process of the formation of the communist worldview it influenced the consciousness of people and what an important role the atheistic education of the peoples of the former states of the USSR played. The struggle against religion is a necessary circumstance for building a socialist society. Modern Soviet atheist literature included studies aimed at a deeper understanding of the issue of scientific atheism and a precise definition of its place in the system of social and natural sciences, especially in the system of philosophical knowledge. Currently, the study of the connection between the theory and practice of atheism and the development of general problems of communist education is intensifying. Soviet philosophers who study the problems of the theory of scientific atheism face a difficult consequently: to find out how the content of scientific atheism, the forms and methods of its dissemination reflected those profound transformations in all spheres of people’s lives that took place in a developed socialist society. One of the results of the development of our country along the socialist path, which predetermined enormous socio-economic and cultural transformations, is the formation and steady growth of mass atheism. The disappearance of antagonistic classes in Soviet Union has led to the fact that the edge of the class struggle is turned outward. An enormous role in the spread of scientific atheism is played by the ideological activity of the Communist Party. Finally, the nature of the development of mass atheism, the content, forms, and methods of its propaganda has been and is being exerted and continues to be exerted by the political position of religious organizations. Questions of the formation of the Marxist-Leninist worldview are constantly at the center of the Party’s ideological and educational work, an important part of which is atheistic education. During the development of atheism, it? was associated with the activities of the Union of Militant Atheists, which arose from the cells of the society of friends of the newspaper "Bezbozhnik". The Union of Militant Atheists made a great contribution to the development of the theory and practice of anti-religious propaganda. Problem statement: The article focuses on the main question: what was the goal of the Communist Party for the development of atheistic ideology? With the help of what methods and mechanisms did they want to degrade the ideological worldview of the peoples of Central Asia? What role did the intelligentsia of Uzbekistan play in the spread of atheistic ideologies? Goal: study and analysis of the socio-political consequences of the spread of atheist ideology in Uzbekistan. Investigating the psychological impact of atheist ideology on the consciousness of the people of Uzbekistan. The aim of the study is to determine the concept of Atheism itself and to establish its relationship and mutual influence with the concepts of secular and religious culture, science, philosophy, religious tolerance, free thought, humanism, skepticism, and materialism, which have not been studied sufficiently to date. Method and outputs: Analysis with the help of what methods and mechanisms the leadership of the Communist Party propagated the ataxic worldview and ideology. To clarify this, methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization, induction, and deduction were used.

The Roles and Functions of Computational Propaganda in the International Struggle for Discursive Power: The Case of Russia in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

The fight for discursive power is an important strategic goal in today’s international competition. In the process of discursive power struggle, computational propaganda has been widely used as an emerging covert means of discursive power struggle. This paper starts from the perspective of discursive power struggle, and selects a representative typical case of Russia in the Russia-Ukraine conflict to study computational propaganda in the struggle for discursive power. This paper summarizes the conceptual mechanism of computational propaganda and its relationship with the struggle for discursive power in the light of the theory of discursive power, and focuses on the analysis of Russia’s computational propaganda practice in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the risks and dilemmas it faces.

Eksistensi Baitul Muslimin Indonesia Sebagai Organisasi Sayap Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan dalam Kinerja Persuasi Politik

The problems that adorn the world of politics in Indonesia are manipulative politics which tend to discredit political opponents. This article aims to examine Baitul Muslimin Indonesia as a wing organization of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP). This research was conducted using a qualitative analytical descriptive approach based on literature study. Primary data comes from books, journals and news. The theory used is Dan Nimmo's political persuasion perspective which includes the concepts of propaganda, advertising and political rhetoric. The results of this study prove that the existence of BAMUSI is a preventive measure against the many negative stigmas against PDIP. The propaganda practice carried out against PDIP is propaganda name calling. Even though it has a negative nuance, this propaganda is considered effective as a form of strategy to erode the credibility of political opponents. Nevertheless, the wing organization of this political party continues to strengthen the identity of its parent party. For example by making persuasive non-commercial advertising. And also the rhetoric of the PDIP's character is carried out without being negatively charged such as advisory (exhortive) rhetoric.

The language of legal populism – a philosophical and legal perspective

Populism researchers draw attention to the vital role of language in the implementation of Popularist agenda. This role is discernible in propaganda practices, in attempts to redefine pre-existing notions, and in changing social – but also – linguistic conventions. The recent wave of populism (2010–2021) touches upon law and the rule of law in a special way, and thus phenomena such as propaganda, redefinition of notions and change of convention are often implemented in the field of the language of law. This elaboration is an attempt to analyse the mechanism of changes in the linguistic conventions governing the language of the law and legal language caused by populism, while the tool for this analysis is the philosophy of law applying the achievements of the philosophy of language. Using the concepts and theories proposed by E. Laclau, N. Lacey, R.G. Millikan and F. Recanati, in this study, I explain what the change of legal culture – being conducted by populists – is, defined as a set of linguistic and behavioural conventions relevant to the law. The predominant thesis of the research paper in this area is the claim that the populist change of legal culture consists in turning concepts that are vital for law into empty or constantly floating signifiers, and in destroying legal conventions by 1) ceasing to reproduce behaviours that have so far constituted linguistic and behavioural conventions in the field of law, or 2) initiating the reproduction of new behaviours. In both cases, the modification of the convention entails the loss of their ability to perform functions that are appropriate within the meaning of R.G. Millikan, and thus causes a decline or loss of social usefulness. The analysis carried out enables to draw conclusions as to how the populist change of legal culture can be counteracted.

Manufacturing Digitalized Soft Propaganda: Practices of the Chinese Party Newspapers in the Past Decade

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the practices of the Chinese party newspapers’ propaganda in the past decade. Through in-depth interviews with 30 journalists and editors of 12 party newspapers and analysis of investigative reports about 43 party newspapers’ propaganda work, this article finds that the party newspapers mainly used three propaganda strategies. Among them, mobile first is a technical strategy that gives priority to the use of mobile communication platforms and technologies in the whole process of news production and dissemination; digitalizing authoritative and localized information is a content strategy that aims to increase the appeal of party newspapers’ content to the citizens; and diversified outsourcing, as a service strategy that provides a series of services to the citizens on behalf of government departments, is an innovation of the propaganda practice of the party newspapers. However, there exists a gap in the performance of party newspapers at different levels in the actual propaganda work, and some of them engage in the practice just for the sake of formality.

SINEMATIK TEROR: EKSEPSIONALISME AMERIKA DAN PROPAGANDA ANTI-ISLAM DALAM FILM 12 STRONG

<p><em>The concept of American exceptionalism in American cinema is a way for propagandists to instill certain values or doctrines in the audience. This is clearly depicted through the narrative and non-narrative aspects where each dialogue, characterization, setting and also the way the camera take a shot reflects an effort of exceptionalism that is implanted throughout the film. These efforts led to the practice of propaganda against Islam and Muslim. By using a descriptive analysis method described using binary opposition theory, this research reveals the existence of American exceptionalism indoctrination which has an impact on the emergence of anti-Islamic ideology. The existence of a propaganda technique that is reflected in the film, such as card stacking, creates a cinematic terror in the film about the depiction of Middle Eastern people, especially Muslims.</em></p>

Russian Propaganda During the First World War: Technologies and Forms

The purpose of the article is to analyse the use of political propaganda methods employed by the Russian Empire before and during the First World War, in particular, on the Ukrainian lands, which became a direct theatre of military operations and a field of confrontation between intelligence and counterintelligence services of belligerent powers, which exercised manipulative influence upon great masses of population and implemented special technologies for the formation of public opinion. The research methodology is based on the principles of objectivity, systematicity, dialectics, historicism and interdisciplinarity. The study is grounded on problemchronological, institutional and historical methods, as well as social psychology methods, used in propaganda practices. Scientific novelty: on the basis of printed materials: brochures, First World War periodicals, published posters and woodcuts (lubki prints), as well as memoirs of people, involved in the organization of propaganda campaigns, certain objects, technologies and forms of propaganda, in particular, the involvement of intelligence officers of the Russian Imperial Army in manipulative technologies, were defined. The widespread use of propaganda and counter-propaganda by the states that were the main players of the First World War, became a kind of hallmark of that war. In Russia, unlike other states, there were no special bodies and no such bodies were created later to influence public opinion in their own, hostile or neutral states. The peculiarity of the propaganda of the Russian Empire was the use of mainly constructive (positive) propaganda aimed at neutralizing social conflicts within the state, uniting the population and the authorities and their joint struggle against the enemy. The ideas of Pan-Slavism and Neo-Slavism were actively applied in the international realm. They were aimed at the unity of the Slavic world under the auspices of Russia as the defender of the Slavic peoples and the Orthodox Christian faith. The use of destructive propaganda technologies was aimed at creating the image of the “enemy” and uniting patriotic forces against it. At the same time, Russia failed to offer Slavic peoples of the empire, in particular Ukrainians, to realize their political aspirations in resolving the national issue; it did not feel a change of mood and did not restructure the content of propaganda rhetoric, which eventually led to its defeat in the information and psychological space.

Eksistensi Para “Gus” di Instagram: Visual Semiotik Sebagai Dakwah Baru di Era Digital

In the pesantren tradition, whom inherited from the founder of the pesantren to the children and grandchildren are the most eligible decendant . The succession line of relatives under the Kyai who have a young age is pinned as Gus for men and Ning for women. They are a small picture of the behavior of Kyai and the pesantren extended family. The digital age is fostering new roles from new people about a propaganda practice that can break through space and time. The Gus and Ning who occupy the new space maximize the use of social media as kind a step to preach. The new pattern of Da'wah nowadays is very fluid by using artifacts and text from self profiles in the form of audio, images, photos, videos, and writing content. The text is uploaded on their accounts pages periodically and with current typologies. Their existence in a social media Instagram has a different style, modernist and bringing a newness. Visual semiotics is a new way of communicating via technology to the reader (reader) or audience by putting forward text-shaped signs that are verbal (language) and visual. Communication through this sign is presented with a design that contains icons that refer to linguistic messages. Various approaches to preaching communication in a new era, one of them with semiotic visuals on Instagram unlocks visual visions embedded in the icons displayed. All the pictures, photos, and caption notes created by the Gus in their accounts deserve to be elaborated in the context of da'wah in the digital age. Using a purposive sampling technique with a Semiotic Visual analysis, the results show that the variety of sign visualizations on Gus's Instagram account profile means a call for preaching and moral messages in a subtle, dynamic, and open ways.
 Keywords: Visual, Semiotic, Instagram, Artifacts, Interaction

Radicalism Prevention through Propaganda Awareness on Social Media

Dissemination of information through social media is prone to high school students because of its high social media usage activities. Students need to have propaganda awareness (awareness of the existence of propaganda practices), which is mainly disseminated through news or other media content. By having propaganda awareness, students can analyze information or news, so they can sift essential information, including information that they wish to redistribute. This research used a mixed method. The data was collected with a focus group discussion and propaganda test to students of State Madrasah Aliyah (MAN) in the Yogyakarta Special Province. The result of the propaganda test before the simulation showed the strong influence of the media on student attitudes. After simulation and retesting, the effect decreased significantly. Propaganda awareness can be a provision for students to be more alert in filtering information from social media that contain radicalism.

Computational propaganda: Structural characteristics and vectors of research

The term “computer propaganda” appeared several years ago because of the intersection of a number of sciences (computer sciences, political science, sociology, linguistics, social psychology, etc.). This phenomenon attracts attention for both technological and societal reasons. Therefore, the authors aim to reveal and analyze the main vectors of the development of theoretical concept of computer propaganda from the standpoint of the socio-communication approach. For this purpose, they identify the main structural characteristics of the concept corresponding to the characteristics of the process of information influence (object of propaganda, forms, channels, subjects of propaganda). Based on this position, the authors consider the original concept of propaganda presented in classical works on theory and practice of propaganda, and reveal the specifics of the new concept of computer propaganda. New characteristics of the target propaganda audience, a segmented structure of network virtual communities with the property of uncritical perception of “convenient and familiar” information, form specific features of the computer propaganda object. The authors outline that purposefully designed and circulated fake information in social networks is a new form of computer propaganda, and social bots as algorithmized programs, that allow for such distribution with maximum speed and scale, are a new channel of distribution for such information. The subjects of computer propaganda are the new political and business elites that have joined forces with representatives of the technological elite. In addition, current negative connotations dominate in the interpretation of computer propaganda as a communicative practice of using new computer technologies for manipulation and disinformation in online space. In conclusion, the authors discuss the possible perspectives of this topic, related to the understanding of the broader (neutral-information) context in understanding the phenomenon of computer propaganda.

Російська пропаганда в роки Першої світової війни: технології та форми

The purpose of the article is to analyse the use of political propaganda methods employed by the Russian Empire before and during the First World War, in particular, on the Ukrainian lands, which became a direct theatre of military operations and a field of confrontation between intelligence and counterintelligence services of belligerent powers, which exercised manipulative influence upon great masses of population and implemented special technologies for the formation of public opinion. The research methodology is based on the principles of objectivity, systematicity, dialectics, historicism and interdisciplinarity. The study is grounded on problem-chronological, institutional and historical methods, as well as social psychology methods, used in propaganda practices. Scientific novelty: on the basis of printed materials: brochures, First World War periodicals, published posters and woodcuts (lubki prints), as well as memoirs of people, involved in the organization of propaganda campaigns, certain objects, technologies and forms of propaganda, in particular, the involvement of intelligence officers of the Russian Imperial Army in manipulative technologies, were defined. Conclusions. The widespread use of propaganda and counter-propaganda by the states that were the main players of the First World War, became a kind of hallmark of that war. In Russia, unlike other states, there were no special bodies and no such bodies were created later to influence public opinion in their own, hostile or neutral states. The peculiarity of the propaganda of the Russian Empire was the use of mainly constructive (positive) propaganda aimed at neutralizing social conflicts within the state, uniting the population and the authorities and their joint struggle against the enemy. The ideas of Pan-Slavism and Neo-Slavism were actively applied in the international realm. They were aimed at the unity of the Slavic world under the auspices of Russia as the defender of the Slavic peoples and the Orthodox Christian faith. The use of destructive propaganda technologies was aimed at creating the image of the “enemy” and uniting patriotic forces against it. At the same time, Russia failed to offer Slavic peoples of the empire, in particular Ukrainians, to realize their political aspirations in resolving the national issue; it did not feel a change of mood and did not restructure the content of propaganda rhetoric, which eventually led to its defeat in the information and psychological space.

Area Studies at the Modern University: Experience in Studying International Communication Strategies

In this paper, we show the importance of including the large corpus of scholarly, popular and media texts describing the experience of 20th-century Russian and Soviet Indologists in bachelor’s Asian studies programmes. We explain the significance of the practical work of Soviet Asian scholars on developing and implementing international communication strategies and practices and show that this work is topical and relevant for modern tertiary education. We emphasize the extensive experience accumulated by Russian Indologists in developing scenarios and models of interaction between Russia and Asian countries that take regional particularities into account. We examine the work of the Russian Indologist, scholar, journalist, publicist and professor Leonid Mitrokhin (1934-2002), winner of the Nehru Award (1985), who worked for over a decade in India and devoted his entire life to studying South and Central Asia. We analyse Leonid Mitrokhin’s key communicative practices, whose results are reflected in his monographs, popular books and articles. The results of our linguocultural study confirm the effectiveness of the implementation of friendly communication strategies in Indo-Soviet relations in the 1960s and 1970s. The case study of Leonid Mitrokhin’s work shows the broad range of professional competencies of Soviet Indologists, who had in-depth knowledge of the political and sociocultural makeup of South Asia, the systemic connections between individual social, economic and political groups and institutes, and the ethnopsychological, ethnocultural and religious particularities of interethnic communication. The knowledge and skills of Soviet Indologists allowed them to make accurate forecasts of the development of the political and economic situation in South Asia and neighbouring regions, promote communication, make expert assessments in key areas of interaction between the USSR and countries in the region, elaborate effective communication strategies, and shape a positive image of their country in the international arena. The study of the communication experience of Soviet Indologists shall help contemporary students to learn the methodology of area studies, develop their strategic thinking, expand their study and research interests, improve their knowledge of the region’s history and interregional relations, and learn the basics of foreign impact strategies and the practice of foreign propaganda in Asia.

Penyalahgunaan Media Sosial Sebagai Alat Propaganda

Changes in the communication of information continue to occur along with the advancement of technology in the digital era. Nowadays everyone can work as a journalist even though he or she has never learned the basics of journalism. The public also frequently receive information or news that raise the eyebrows — ranging from disaster threats to information about the political world. The finding of this research is that often information that circulates in the hands of Warganet is a hoax and even hate speech, despite the government efforts to reduce the spread of hoax and hate speech. With this paper, the author aims at disclosing the propaganda elements in the hoax and hate speech in the social media as in the digital era the social media is the most vulnerable in spreading of hoax news and hate speech. By utilising qualitative content analysis, the author discusses five hoax news and hate speeches which are dissected using nine propaganda practices. The conclusion obtained by the author is that the hoax news and hate speech comprise of elements of exaggeration, rhetoric, recognition and influence on a variety of parties, as well as prejudices supplemented by emotions.

Are Informal Education Facilities Effective Means for Generating Political Support? A Spatial Analysis*

ObjectiveInformal education based on public facilities, such as museums and memorials, is an important propaganda practice in authoritarian countries. However, the empirical research on this area is underdeveloped and relies on small and potentially biased samples.MethodThis study collects unique spatial opinion data of over 300 such informal education facilities in China merged with original survey data and conducts a systematic evaluation of this form of propaganda.ResultThe statistical results challenge the conventional expectation that more exposure to the informal education facilities would improve the citizens' support of and obedience to the government.ConclusionThe findings reveal a backfire effect of informal education facilities in that more exposure to them reduces both citizens' political support and obedience.

The People and the Poster: Theorizing the Soviet Viewer, 1920–1931

The relationship between political posters and their intended viewers was the focus of numerous texts in the 1920s; this article analyzes the ways in which Soviet theorists sought to understand this relationship. They operated in an intellectual context that tried to conceive the modern subject as an active consumer and co-creator, rather than a passive audience. Their study of the contexts of viewing, of display practices and of the role of the viewer as an active participant in the creation of meaning, caused concern about the risk of misunderstandings and led to calls for images to address specific audiences with greater clarity. Many imagined that audiences and producers of images were in dialogue with one another, negotiating over the content, form, and function of political art. The image would thus mediate the relationship between individual and state, integrating political messages into everyday life, and aiming to integrate the individual into the process and practice of propaganda.

The theory and practice of nationalist propaganda during the Second World War

The theory and practice of nationalist propaganda during the Second World War

Re-visiting ‘Solidarność’: Propaganda of Protest and Campaigning of the Social Movement

This article analyzes Polish Solidarity’s propaganda practice. Drawing from a discursive archive comprising cultural artifacts, the movement’s policy statements, and augmented by interviews, this Foucault-inspired study reveals how “propaganda of protest” became a “pillar” of the Solidarity movement’s campaigning. This study analyzes propaganda strategies and tactics for mobilization and political engagement among Poles, and how campaigning aided power shifts between the movement and the authorities. Contextualizing this analysis in the Sovietized settings, this study shows that propaganda was inherent to Solidarity’s transgressive and subversive campaigning in multiple areas of the movement’s agency: mobilization and support building, construction of collective identities, coalition-building, issues management and policymaking, and implementation. Finally, I argue, that the qualities of Solidarity’s propaganda were culturally-grounded, based on the self-presentation strategies as well as the zeitgeist belief in engagement of workers’ with trade unionism rather than policies of the state socialist regime.

Authoritarian Participatory Persuasion 2.0: Netizens as Thought Work Collaborators in China

In the reform era, management of information by the Chinese Communist Party has been continuously moving away from explicit, crude tactics of the past toward more subtle and orderly mechanisms of the present. This study examines one facet of this transformation in the online sphere: digital persuasion. Drawing on three emerging trends in online persuasion, including official digital revamping of state media, expansion of government Weibo, and official promotion of patriotic bloggers, the authors explain how online persuasion is taking on an increasingly participatory form under President Xi. Specifically, the conceptualization of ‘authoritarian participatory persuasion 2.0’ includes direct co-production of persuasion, with netizens called to repost, share and create content, as well as the indirect participation, whereby netizens are invited to partake in the life of the top leader, Xi Jinping, and to consume exclusive practical tips provided by the state. The participatory digital persuasion, whereas intended to facilitate public complicity with the regime, has also opened up spaces for satire and ‘incivility’ unmasking and challenging the state’s covert propaganda practices.

Practice of Propaganda on Korean Peninsula (1945-1960)

Abstract The topic of propaganda, which was thought to be a part of the Cold War past, was recently revived by modern and rather successful application in Georgian, Syrian and Ukrainian conflicts. In this regard Korean Peninsula is a perfect example of prolonged use of mutual practice of indoctrination to study its origins. This article discuses the evolution of propaganda use by both Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Republic of Korea (1945-1960) in cultural, economic and political dimensions. Qualitative text analysis and case study in conjunction with theoretical framework of A. E. Cassirer, S. Langer, E. Barneys and W. Lippmann are used to establish techniques used, and to explain its overall success.