via Josef Goebbels
Introduction
Propaganda in cities differs in many ways from that in the countryside. The
major reason is the entirely different life style of big-city dwellers.
They are politically more sophisticated and have an entirely different
attitude towards things.
The following observations focus on large cities, not on the countryside.
However, the essentials of propaganda are largely similar.
The face of the city, as a center of production and consumption, is marked
by advertising. The concentration of many companies leads to intense
competition, which is won not necessarily by the firm with the best
product, rather with the best advertising. Poster pillars, newspapers,
billboards and so on hammer incessantly on the victim, until finally he
bends to the power of the advertising firm and buys.
This out-and-out commercial advertising is aimed exclusively at earning
money, and appeals only to the billfold. But the most effective advertising
is not necessarily for the best product.
Political propaganda is something entirely different. It uses indeed in
part the same methods to reach its goals, but rests on entirely different
assumptions. Propaganda is by no means simply commercial advertising
applied to the political, or spiritual arena. They seek only momentary
effect, whereas political propaganda seeks the systematic enlightenment
necessary to win supporters to a worldview. We recall the many comrades who
gave their life for the movement. They were propagandists of the deed up to
the last breath.
