the politics of propaganda

by gary evans

Stuart Legg and J o hn Grierson were playing for high stakes again st Naz i propaganda chief Goebbels

If Johll Griersun and th e documentary film are nearly svnony­ operating "in the quiet light of ordinary humanism." mous in th e lexicon of film, few people realize how complex He bel,ieved the task of propaganda was to speak intimately and totalitarian were th e politics of propaganda which were and quietly about real things and real people. For the rest of intertwined in his philosophl'. In this article we shall examine his life he reiterated dogmatically the theme of propaganda, some major aspects of his thought and try to demonstrate how service and community: "We can, by propaganda, widen the his philosoph1' was applied in th e wartime context at the National Film Board of Canada. horizons of the schoolroom and give to every individual, each in his place and work, a living conception of the community When Grierson was a graduate student at the University of which he has the privilege to serve." Grierson's propaganda Chicago from 1924-27, the core of his philosophy crystallized crusade though secular, had its roots at least partly in his as he rejected Walter Lippmann's pessimistic belief that in this Calvinist upbringing. " [ derive my authority from Moses" century the few had to do the thinking for the many. he would say late in life . This attitude also allowed him to Lippmann's pessimism stemmed from a belief that there was avoid partisan politics and to protect the documentary move­ neither time nor adequate information for the citizens to make ment from partisan attack. To Grierson's political masters in informed judgements. Grierson resisted this analysis and Canada, he was a 'hot gospeller' who, while bolstering their donned the cloak of the totalitarian propagandist. He cl aimed wartime Government, would eventually fall victim to his own that education, which he equated with propaga nda, was the propaganda. tool to serve as the active instrument of the democratic idea, Grierson skirted political labels quite easily. With the world

12jCinema Canada at war in the early 1940's, he insisted that the State was the faith in neighborliness. (Note the soft-co re internationalism.) machinery by which the best interests of the people are The fum did not need to speak of victory, for the narrator secured. Simultaneously he denied the advent of soc iali sm. stated dramatically that Ca nada had a secret weapon: ~he "We are entering upon a new and interim society which is simple power of fi ghting of their own free will. neither capitalist nor socialist but in which we can achieve (Conscription had not yet become necessary.) This in spiring central planning without lo ss of individual initiative, ... in phrase seemed to contain the essence of wha t Canada's free which public unity and discipline can be achieved without men and women were fighting fo r. forgetting the humanitarian virtues .. ." In 1941 , Churchill's Island won the NFB's first Academy He was also careful to distinguish between being totali­ Award for best documentary film. Legg and his unit did not tarian for ev il and totalitarian for good. As a pracitioner of try to cover up the fact that battered Britain was on the defen­ the good, he felt he was "serving the grea te st mobilization sive . If the film was a va ri ation of the 'Britain can take it' of the public imagination since the Churches lost their grip." th eme, it was aggressive too. Germany had failed to reckon And one can discover in so many of Canada's wa rtime propa­ with th e RAF above and the people's army below. Narrator ganda film s an attempt to transmit comprehension of the Lorn e Greene, now recogni ze d as Canada's 'voice of demo­ dramatic patterns which were the backbone of society . Under cracy', concluded authoritatively that Britain had an inner Grierson's guidance, information became a two-way process strength , a stubborn calm which iron and steel and bombs between State and people , people and State. This activity, could never pierce. His la st words bravely flaunted the chal­ linked to a commitment to in sp ire rather than to preach, wa s lenge, "Come- if you dare." no less than a war for men's minds. Another number, entitled Women Are Warriors , compared The Canadian films were quite different from British film the important war work of women in England and Russia to propaganda, produced in large part by the original documen­ that of Canada. Russia was prudently labeled a cooperative tary school Grierson had left in England. The British were rather than communist state. It was asserted that Canada concerned with local tactics of defensive warfare , reiterating profited from these two al lied examples. In · an attempt to themes from 'Britian can take it ' to 'B ritain can dish it out co mpliment Canadian women , the narration stated that the too' later in the war. Studiously avo idin g any enuncia tion of women of Canada had learned to turn the domestic needle and war aims other than military victory (Churchill's orders), the thread into the tools of war. Deftness lea rned at home in tradi­ films of the Ministry of Information were with few exceptions, ti onal wo men's roles had come to se rve them we ll in the wa r flaccid endeavours. industry. Reminiscent of ea rl y Soviet techn iq ues of montage, The two theatrical film se rie s (each released monthly) the film employed superb editing to crea te a fast tempo. At which emerged in Canada during the war were Canada Carries one point the film cut three times fr om shots of factory to plane On and The World In Action. (The French vers ions were En to factory in order to dem onst rate how important woman's Avant Canada and Les Reportages) These were group efforts, supportiv e role was to th e war effort. hence they lacked individual credit s. The guiding hand behind The World In Action se ries, started in June , 1942, reached the two Canadian series was , one of the pione ers out to a wid er audience and had two main goals: first, to relate of the British documentary movement, who in the winter of local strategies to world ones and second , to influence and 1939 had come to Canada to make two fi lms for the Govern­ direc t the political attitu des of North American audiences ment Motion Picture Bureau . When Gri erson became th e first towa rd an internationally ori ented pos twar ethic. Again, the Film Commissioner of the National Film Boa rd , he asked Legg serie s avo ided partisa n politics and conce ntrated upon inspira­ to join him in organizing th ea trical documentary production . ti on. The New York Times praised th ese film s which He and Grierson were in a deadl y chess ga me wit h their at tem pted to give the people grea t hope and faith in them­ nemesis, Nazi propaganda chief Jose ph Goebbels, whose se lv es and , in a brave new world . Th e secret of success, said weekly theatrical newsreel, Wochenschauen , emphasized th e Times, was that the editorial sights of the se rie s' subjects triumphant battle sce ne s and th eme s of in evitable victory, were raised high above the leve l of nati onalism. undersco red by moral e-building mu sic. Legg and his team Our Northern Neighbor exe mplified this approach by it s replied by cutting captured German footage and Al li ed foo ta ge attempt to portray Ru ss ia fairl y. Th e film provid ed an his­ into a monthly an al ysis of the larger strategic plans required to tori cal overv ie w of Ru ss ia and charac teri stically, never once defeat German strategies of world co nquest. The Can adi an used th e wo rd communism. The co mm entary suggested that propaganda was heavil y influen ced by the te chniques and Joseph Stalin , a quieter voice than Trotsky, was leading rhythm of the widely popular American newsreel , The March Ru ss ia to build a pattern of sociali sm for all the wo rld to see. of Time, though the depth of analys is far surpasse d anything The Russian citi ze n was preparing for the promise of ultimate The March of Time had ever done. freedom and goo d livin g after all th ese lea n years. Th e film , begun in 1940, was made primarily for ended with th e internationalist message , "We seek the Canadian audiences. The series concentrated heavily upon cooperation of all nations, large and small, to elimin ate themes of transport and communication. A con tinued empha­ tyrann y and slave ry, oppression and intoleran ce ." sis on the need to integrate all national forces implied how On e of Grierson's fav ourite fi lms of the se rie s was The War Canada could be totalitarian for the good . With few exceptions For Men's Minds, which he ca ll ed a film on the Lin coln theme: these films avoided hate-monge rin g, parochialism and vilifica­ "Wh en th e common people rise to find their liberty , not the tion of the enemy. They stressed th e importance of a broad ga te s of hell wil l preva il against them. " Prime Minister King military strategy and described convincingly the tremendous ought to have been pleased by the film, espec iall y when he and power behind the nation's cooperative and corporate energies. Roosevelt were linked as the tlVO voices of North American An issue like Inside Fighting Canada enunciated the theme of leade rsh ip. Th e film de sc ribed the war as a gigan tic mobili za­ building together for the future and ca ll ed for a wo rld wide ti on for men's minds through the media of propaganda: press,

Cinema Canada/!3 motion picture, and radio. The spiritual defeat of Germany showings were held in union halls across the country . Film had already been accomplished. The aftermath of war was not themes included subjects on unemployment, recreational to be punishment and/or isolation , but brotherhood. [t con­ programmes, rehabilitation, labour management committees cl uded heroicall y that the people came first , the people came and international relatio ns. Films were woven into the normal before all. pattern of union educational work as was the technique of Grierson and Legg spent the wa r years encouraging the discussion shows. From this came pro duction of specific NFB staff to make film s to develop national unity and to di sscussion trail ers in which ordinary trade unionists gave their describe war act ivities and related themes, all to prepare the point of view on the main ftlm and often involved the peace. Unlike the German " who believed that war made audience by stimulating controversy . spl endid pro paga nda , Grierso n had long been committed to There were al so the non-theatrical industrial films , geared the Bertrand Russe ll maxim that peace should be made as both to the needs of the war and to describing the growth of excitin g as war. As Grierson put it bluntly but priva tely in Canadian industries and the de velopment of the nation's 1943, " 1 confess [ can't ever ge t very excited about the war natural resources. The programme was inaugurated in January effort per se and feel that any information regarding it must 1943 to provid e one show a month fo r eleven months. so mehow try to ge t behin d the shot and shell . The surface Showings were held in the plants, partly on company time, values-the guns and the campaigns and the braveries and the partly on lunch breaks and/or between work shifts. It was assembly lines and the sacrifices- are, I think, taken by them­ estimated that these film s reached an annual audience of selves the greatest bore on earth . .. " Grie rso n had turned his 400,000. eyes to peacetime info rmation. He hoped to ge t relevant Gov­ Community or ethnographic ftlms we re another ge nre of ernment departments behind such concrete themes as conser­ film which did much to bridge the barriers between various va tion, nutritio n, and people as produce rs and consumers, so cultural groups comprising th e Canadian mosaic. The "Peoples that all the info rmation would be tied to common ends. He of Canada" series, made from 1941-43, portrayed major fo resaw in this organization more a Ministry of Educa tion ethnic groups at wo rk building the nation , and at play. than anything else . Glimpses of Indian, Eskim o, Polish , Scottish , and Ukranian Here again we see how Gri erso n's philosophy of education/ communities we nt far in interpreting Canada to Canadians and propaganda was to be harnesse d to the machinery of state to in en couraging respect and toleration for others. create a to talitarian world fo r the good. Under the spell of his An other non- theatrical sphere was exploited with the own propaganda, he believed that all this was leading to a new establishment of the Volunteer Projection Services. Here film s kind of democra cy. "The essence of the educational process were made ava ilable to interested groups such as Junior Boards has been taken over by governments and industry in the name of Trade, Chambers of Commerce, Public Libraries, Youth, of propaga nda ... One might say that we had removed the Women's and Church gro ups, all of whom sponsored ftlm Church influence from education onl y to hand it to the series. By the end of the war, the non-theatrical audience in bureaucrats of public and priva te enterprise." He believed that Canada was about one million. it was his duty to prepare the public to recognize that to tal In addition to the above outlets, there was an attempt to civilian effort and Government initiative we re to become a ex pl oit the newsreel as an effective tool of communication. permanent fea ture of twentieth ce ntury life. Three se ri es, Eyes Front, Canada Communique and Pictorial To this end Grierson had already encourage d the establish­ Hometown News were developed fo r troops overseas : Eyes ment of non-theatrical circuits across Canada. Under the able Front was al so fo r training camps at home. Th ere were , in directio n of Donald Bu chanan, the Ce ntral Government Distri­ addition, fo ur other se ri es deve loped fo r rural and industrial bution Service had expanded the non-thea trical distribution non-thea trical circuits: Rural Newsreel, Industrial Newsreel, system to some 43 travelling circui ts, serving up to one quarter Front Line Reports and Screen Magazine. of a millio n viewers per month by mid-1 942. Each circuit Al l of this was remarkable because rural and working reached 20 rural communities per month and returned the class Ca nada were not just simply lin ked to global events: sa me day each mo nth . Some of the films contained disc uss ion the people we re learning by viewing and discussing film s. trail ers which suggested how the audie nce could foll ow up This was a way o f makin g citizens part o f the active demo­ so me of the themes art iculated in the films. On e fi eld re prese n­ cratic process. Gri erson's idea o f totalitarian propaganda, this tative gave a typical report of the audience disc ussion when a t wo way communica tion between the governing and the half doze n local citizens took the platfo rm with him during a governed, was an applicati on o f what Marshall McLuhan would half-ho ur in termission to have a round table disc uss ion. "Criti­ later call the 'global vill age' concept. Film, education, and cism was not lacking," he admitted, "but was usuall y qui te disc ussion linked the human-ness and one- ness of the indivi­ intelligen t and the discuss ions always took a decidedly positive dual human being in his own environment ;ith the wo rld as di rection. Ve ry constructive consideration of so cal issues came a whole. to th e fo re." The import ance of these in-field reports shoul d Lookin g at film pro paganda and information in total , no t be missed. fo r th ey all owed Gri erso n and his staff to kee p (Grierso n had become head of the Wartime Information Board their fingers o n the pulse of p ublic opinion and to measure, in in 1943) Prime Minister King and his Gove rnment may have part , the effect of the NFB 's propaganda. been convi nced that what Gri erson was do ing was wo rthwhile Along the same li nes, the NF B trie d to in tegrate film as part in the contex t of the wa r. Besides, the Prime Minister was of the branch ac tiv ity of the trade union movement. Th e benefitting from frequent publi cit y which disg ui sed his usual Na ti o nal Trade Uni on fi lm circuit was sponso red by th e awkward manner before the pUblic -· Opposition critics had Canadia n Co ngress of Labour, the Trades and Labour Co ngress complain ed that images of Kin g in Government propaganda of Canada, the Workers' Educational Associa tion and the we re as n umerous as the posterity of Ab raham' More likely, Na tional Fi lm Board. Fro m September to Ma y. monthly the King Government was too busy to devote time o r interest l4/Cinema Canada Observing the shoot from one of four se ts was part of the crew o n How's the War News: Alfred Jacquemin . camera; Fred Govan, grip; Gordon Sparling, director ; Mi ss Boulkind, sc ript girl and Phil Taylor, assistant director to infonnation policy. In fact, it was amazing what the NFB Affairs and King's closest foreign affairs adviser. "No one who got away with, Stuart Legg admitted years later. was realistic would have given a se rious thought to the The internationalism of Film Board propaganda would, Beveridge succession," said J .W . Pickersgill years later. More by war's end and in the wake of the infamous Gouzenko spy significantly, Canada was not prepared to expound Grierson's scandal and Royal Commission, be inconsistent with the brand of internationalist foreign policy through the medium of Government's position to align itse lf with the United States' film. Ross McLean became acting Commissioner for 18 postwar foreign policy. The so- called internationalist posi­ months, then permanent Commissioner in 1947 for two more years. tion which Canada adopted was displayed in its support of the United Nations. The U.N., however, was to become an King's aid , Walter Turnbull, who was Grierson's conduit to international forum from which the two great rival powers, the Prime Minister, believes that during the war, the people at the top were probably not seeing enough film propaganda to the United States and the Soviet Union, would attempt to conduct their respective propaganda campaigns of words while fully appreciate the direction toward which Grierson was steering the country's infomlation policy. He has summarized seeking to win and hold friends and champions. In Canada. the picture in 1945 incisively: "Grierso n had an over-appre­ the hot war against Fascist aggression would become a cold ciation of his efforts: his political masters had an under- appre­ war against communist ideology and the erstwhile Russian ciation which was as far below as was his above. The gap ally. In this context, Grierson's so ft-core internationalism and between the two was tremendous." his support of total mobilization of the country's energies to Thus perished John Grierson's idealistic war for men's win the hearts and minds of its citizens to this end, became anomalous. minds. He had been fortunate to appear on the scene at an his­ torical moment when world crisis allowed him to develop his By 1945, Grierson was preparing to leave Canada and move unique philosophy of totalitarian propaganda for the good. his crusade on to the international level. Before leaving, he Victory achieved, liberal democracy se nse d that it was better hoped he could marry the Film Board to the Department of to avoid totalitarianism and say nothing to the millions, than External Affairs, not only to ensure its continued survival but to undo the credo of individualism and laissez faire . And if also to push the internationalist message in Canada's foreign communication was nece~sary , the ruling elite would speak policy. He hoped that Canada would present an image of its to the masses in a one-way process. After rejecting the international achievement to a worldwide audience, divided Grierson conception of propaganda, Canada praised its citizens into specialized audiences corresponding with the specialized for having sacrificed enough to make the world safe for the interests and groupings of the Canadian population. "The real democracy of ruling elites. The ordinary citizen was once again internationalism," he had said, " is in the manias we share with adrift in a sea of alienation, no closer than before to having a each other." significant grasp or input into the destiny of his 'democratic' His choice of successor, 29-year-old , was society. Grierson's unrealized dream of propaganda as educa­ impolitic and smacked of nepotism: Beveridge was cousin to tion and to talitarianism for the good remained a tantalizing Norman Robertson, Under Secretary of State for External l~gacy for the progressives of the next generation. 0

Cinema Canada/IS