Information and propaganda work is the subject of combat training for personnel, a means of maintaining a high moral and psychological state of subordinates, and the highest form of education for military personnel. On the leadership of counter-propaganda in the army and navy Forms

MILITARY THOUGHT No. 4/1986, pp. 3-13

The decisions of the XXVII Congress of the CPSU - come to life!

On the leadership of counter-propaganda in the army and navy*

Major General N.V. SHLPALIN

NOVELTY and the scale of the tasks put forward by the 27th Congress of the CPSU increase the requirements for ideological and educational work. The party, as emphasized in the new edition of the CPSU Program, will do everything necessary to fully use the transformative power of Marxist-Leninist ideology to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country, carry out purposeful work on the ideological, political, labor and moral education of the Soviet people, the formation of a harmoniously developed, socially active personality, combining spiritual wealth, moral purity and physical perfection.

A characteristic feature of our time is the irresistible movement of humanity towards socialism and communism. Every year, more and more millions of supporters are won by the communist ideology, which causes the furious anger of the imperialist reaction. The more the course of historical development undermines the position of imperialism, says the new edition of the CPSU Program, the more hostile to the interests of the peoples the policy of its most reactionary forces becomes. Imperialism is fiercely resisting social progress, making attempts to stop the course of history, undermine the position of socialism, and take social revenge on a worldwide scale.

Modern bourgeois ideology is experiencing a deep crisis, but this, of course, does not mean that the issues of combating it are becoming less significant than before. The words of V.I. Lenin are more relevant than ever: “When the ideological influence of the bourgeoisie on the workers falls, is undermined, weakens, the bourgeoisie everywhere and always has resorted and will continue to resort to the most desperate lies and slander” (Pol. collected works, vol. 25, p. 352).

The acute confrontation of two worldviews in the international arena reflects the opposition of two world systems - socialism and capitalism. In an effort to slow down the progress of the revolutionary process, to resist the ideological offensive of progressive forces, our class enemy is intensifying hostile activity, trying to exert a diluting influence on the consciousness of the population of socialist countries through direct and indirect influences, and is piling up mountains of slander against the Soviet Union and its Armed Forces.

The huge propaganda machine of the monopoly bourgeoisie is being improved. In fact, the class enemy has begun a new round of “psychological warfare” and is trying to attack us today on key issues of domestic and foreign policy. The “psychological war” unleashed by imperialism, noted in the Political Report of the CPSU Central Committee to the 27th Party Congress, cannot be qualified otherwise than as a special form of aggression, information imperialism, trampling on the sovereignty, history, and culture of peoples. This is also a direct political-psychological preparation for war, which, naturally, has nothing to do with either a real comparison of views or the free exchange of ideas, which is what people in the West talk about. Under the guise of defenders of humanism and human rights, the ideologists of capitalism are trying to impose on the socialist world the norms and standards of a way of life that is alien to us, to “loose” people’s consciousness, to make it receptive to petty-bourgeois ideas. “You don’t need to have special political vision,” notes General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Comrade M. S. Gorbachev, “to see how imperialism has intensified its subversive work in recent years and is coordinating its actions against socialist states. This applies to all spheres - political, economic, ideological and military."

Our class enemies are acting more and more brazenly and insidiously. No negotiations are accompanied on their part by any weakening of the ideological and propaganda confrontation with the USSR. On the contrary, the struggle is becoming more complex and acute. It is being carried out by imperialist forces persistently and resourcefully. Refining themselves in slander and appealing to various types of prejudices and remnants in the minds of people, interpreting events and facts in their own spirit, the enemies are trying in every possible way to impose their point of view on the processes and phenomena of social life on the Soviet people.

The arms race and the propaganda of anti-communism and anti-Sovietism go hand in hand in the United States, mutually complementing each other. From abroad we are constantly being fed all sorts of ideas with which the class enemy seeks to denigrate real socialism and embellish imperialism and its predatory inhuman policies and practices. Recently, in the actions of modern anti-communism, there has been a noticeable increase in attempts to sow poisonous seeds of religious prejudice in the minds of Soviet people.

That is why, in the current conditions, the Communist Party sees its most important task as developing the political vigilance of the Soviet people, the soldiers of the Armed Forces of the USSR, their intransigence to hostile views, the ability to evaluate social phenomena from a clear class position, and to defend the ideals and spiritual values of a socialist society.

The documents of the 27th Congress of the CPSU clearly express the party line in the struggle against bourgeois ideology, requiring it to be waged decisively, uncompromisingly, constantly. This line is firmly based on the instructions of V.I. Lenin, who always considered the task of combating the ideological machinations of the class enemy to be one of the central ones in the party’s activities.

Given the severity and complexity of modern ideological confrontation, the party sets the task of improving counter-propaganda both within the country and among foreign audiences. The high quality and effectiveness of counter-propaganda is ensured by the consistent implementation of the Leninist principles of its conduct. The main thing, V.I. Lenin pointed out, is a class approach to the struggle of ideas. The leader of the party taught to see behind the fashionable mask of bourgeois ideology its reactionary essence, social class content, to break through the smokescreen of demagoguery and lies, beautiful phrases and hypocrisy.

The communists contrast the “neutrality” and “non-partisanship” of bourgeois ideologists with militant partisanship. This unshakable Leninist principle aims at the active exposure of ideas hostile to socialism, at a deep mastery of the Marxist-Leninist method of class analysis of the phenomena of social life. In modern conditions, we increasingly encounter attempts by bourgeois propagandists to declare partyism and a class approach to social phenomena “one-sided” and to replace it with an abstract, “universal” approach. These and similar statements are completely unfounded. Hiding behind the slogan of non-partyism, hostile propaganda thereby tries to spread reactionary views in the name of the class interests of the bourgeoisie.

The most important Leninist principle of counter-propaganda is its offensive nature. V.I. Lenin pointed out that our actions in this direction should in no case have elements of justification, but contain propaganda of our own views and be conducted in an offensive spirit. “...We are accustomed to responding to attacks,” wrote Vladimir Ilyich, “not with defense, but with counterattack” (Pol. sobr. soch., vol. 6, p. 91).

From a methodological point of view, the well-known truth seems to be very important that we are not obliged to react to every attack of hostile propaganda, since their frankly falsifying, far-fetched, and sometimes provocative nature is quite obvious without evidence or refutation. The resourcefulness and unscrupulousness of bourgeois propagandists, as noted in the Political Report of the CPSU Central Committee to the 27th Party Congress, must be contrasted with the high professionalism of our ideological workers, the morality of socialist society, its culture, openness of information, and the bold and creative nature of our propaganda. We need offensiveness - both in terms of exposing ideological sabotage and in conveying truthful information about the real achievements of socialism and the socialist way of life.

The principle of anticipation in counter-propaganda it assumes that it should always be sufficiently flexible, operational and purposeful, to give the enemy’s attacks a timely and reasoned rebuff. Our strategic priority is to form among all Soviet people a high level of political consciousness, which begins with patriotic and international education. Tactical advance is associated with our efficiency in informing people on a daily basis, in imposing on the ideological enemy such topics, issues, directions of struggle that force him to take defensive positions. These are the historical achievements of real socialism, the internal and foreign policies of the Soviet Union, the Soviet way of life, the anti-people, inhumane nature of imperialism, its exploitative essence, etc. It is quite obvious that in some cases we are forced to take retaliatory actions. But the basis of counter-propaganda activity is still the desire to forestall the enemy in covering certain events.

The principles of counter-propaganda mentioned, as well as some others, show that this area of the party’s ideological activity is the most dynamic, requiring constant attention. What makes our position in the ideological struggle against the class enemy truly strong, truly offensive? This is the great truth of historical development, which is on our side and which is represented by our socialist system, inspiring plans for the improvement of socialism. It is therefore important to take care to use all means of propaganda to show even more clearly and convincingly the all-round flourishing of the material and spiritual forces of our society, the fundamental values of socialism, the nobility and purity of the thoughts and aspirations of the Soviet people. The CPSU, says the new edition of the Party Program, sees its task as bringing the people the truth about real socialism, the domestic and foreign policy of the Soviet Union, actively promoting the Soviet way of life, aggressively, convincingly revealing the anti-people, inhumane nature of imperialism, its exploitative essence. It will instill in Soviet people high political consciousness and vigilance, the ability to evaluate social phenomena from a clear class position, and to defend the ideals and spiritual values of a socialist society.

Counterpropaganda in the Armed Forces is an integral part of all political and educational work in the army and navy, an important link in the system of ideological activity of commanders, political agencies and party organizations. If we try to formulate its essence in general terms, then it is a set of organizational, ideological and socio-psychological activities of commanders, political agencies, headquarters, party and Komsomol organizations aimed at creating information and propaganda barriers against the penetration of hostile propaganda into the military environment, exposing it, counteracting the dissemination and perception by personnel of ideas and views alien to socialism, to instill in them political vigilance, ideological fortitude and intransigence towards class-alien ideology. This formulation is, of course, not comprehensive or definitive. It can be supplemented and clarified, but on the whole, in our opinion, it reflects the basic requirements that the party puts before counter-propaganda.

Combat, operational counter-propaganda has now moved to the forefront of all ideological activities of commanders, political agencies and party organizations of the Armed Forces. This is due both to the realities of ideological struggle in the international arena and to the increased tasks of spiritual training of soldiers.

The front of the ideological struggle is becoming more active and sharper in our army conditions. The pressure of subversive propaganda against the Soviet Armed Forces is increasing. In order to continuously influence personnel, research institutions, state and military bodies of the West are intensively collecting various kinds of “materials” that could later be used against Soviet soldiers. All sorts of falsifications and slanderous fabrications are being concocted, the purpose of which is to create a distorted image of the Soviet Armed Forces and military service. The constant objects of our counter-propaganda activities are the forces of war, the military preparations of the imperialists along all lines, the US attempts to achieve military superiority, the true aspirations of the reactionary forces of imperialism, the military-industrial complex.

The situation, therefore, imperatively dictates: issues of countering hostile propaganda cannot be ignored or pushed aside. In this key area of ideological, mass political work, no less than in other areas, efficiency, organization, clear control and verification of execution, and the ability to achieve effective results are needed. The fact that our positions in the fight against bourgeois ideologists are strong is quite obvious. The “psychological warfare” of the USA and NATO against the USSR, especially subversive ideological actions against the Soviet Armed Forces, without a doubt, has no real chance of any significant success. But even the slightest weakening of the ideological struggle is completely unacceptable. The most dangerous thing in this matter is underestimating the actions of the class enemy, complacency, and passivity. There is no vacuum in the ideological struggle: the class enemy will certainly take advantage of our shortcomings. It is from this angle that it is necessary to look at the lessons of counter-propaganda work of recent times.

A lot has been and is being done in the army and navy to improve counter-propaganda. Many commanders, political agencies and headquarters, in a more specific sense, began to organize a system of counter-propaganda. Their leadership and coordinating role in this matter has increased. Problems of counter-propaganda began to be discussed more often in political agencies and party organizations, at seminars and meetings of officers. All this helps our cadres to better understand the changed nature and scale of the subversive actions of the class enemy, and to correctly orient themselves in understanding the tasks of counter-propaganda.

Almost everywhere, organizational structures have emerged that make it possible to conduct counter-propaganda work more systematically. On the whole, the councils, sectors and working groups of counter-propaganda under political agencies have justified themselves. The functions and tasks of these structural forms were more clearly defined. The main thing in their activities: coordination of all counter-propaganda work, development of scientifically based recommendations, guidelines, analysis of the effectiveness of the work being carried out, study of public opinion, preparation of operational information for ideological activists. It is very important that their leaders are people capable of making concrete decisions, the most experienced masters of propaganda - scientists, authoritative specialists, not only well aware of the problems of modern ideological struggle, but also methodically prepared for this work.

The top-down information system on current issues of counter-propaganda has become more streamlined. The situation is much better with the supply of counter-propaganda materials to units and subunits. It is rare that any ideological activist can now manage without such a publication as the “Arguments and Facts” bulletin. Good practice in planning and organizing counter-propaganda actions was accumulated during the preparation and celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi fascism and Japanese militarism.

There is interesting experience in counter-propaganda activities in many districts, groups of troops and fleets. What is especially characteristic in this regard? The political administration of the Belarusian Military District has a good practice of training counter-propaganda personnel. The political agencies of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany thoughtfully identify problems specific to themselves. The political education system and all mass political work in the Baltic Military District were clearly set up to actively counter the enemy’s ideological sabotage. It seems that creative borrowing of this experience from political agencies and headquarters would play a positive role everywhere. There is such experience in every district, in every fleet. Another thing is that not everyone has learned the same way to use what has already been tested in practice and proven to be effective. This is perhaps the weakest link in the entire system of counter-propaganda.

The presence of an established structure, of course, means a lot, but this is not the most important thing. Counterpropaganda is a matter that requires exceptional initiative, efficiency, creativity, and constant search. Unfortunately, many political agencies and party organizations, having created councils and working groups, stopped there. All of their counter-propaganda activities essentially revolve around drawing up plans and setting common goals. But specific leadership of councils and working groups on counter-propaganda is not always provided. Councils and working groups do not carry out active work everywhere, mainly for the reason that sometimes they simply do not know what they should be doing, what their activities should consist of today and tomorrow. Nowhere and no one has relieved political agencies, party committees, and bureaus of responsibility for organizing and conducting counter-propaganda in their departments. And one of the most important components of this responsibility is to constantly and in the most concrete way direct the activities of councils, working groups, communists responsible for organizing counter-propaganda, and to actively delve into all other aspects of this multifaceted work.

In the practice of our army counter-propaganda work, we polemicize with an ideological enemy not so much when directly confronting him face to face, but when we are dealing with the consequences of his information and propaganda penetration into the military environment. This task arises when there is a clear slackness or omission in working with people. Well-executed propaganda of the historical achievements and advantages of socialism, education of army and navy soldiers on the ideas of Marxism-Leninism, proletarian, socialist internationalism is, naturally, the best counter-propaganda. At the same time, counter-propaganda is also a decisive fight against hostile campaigns, ideological sabotage by the enemy, rumors and philistine assessments of important political events and problems.

It is quite clear that the vast majority of hostile ideological attacks fail when faced with the deep patriotism and ideological and political convictions of army and navy personnel. But some of the warriors may be confused by the subversive actions of the class enemy. How is it shown? For some, traces of informational psychological influence from abroad are noticeable in ideologically incorrect judgments, in a touch of political naivety and pacifism. For others, it is a tendency to uncritically accept hostile propaganda. Unfortunately, there are also people who like to spread all sorts of rumors, most often started by Western “voices”. At the same time, forces hostile to socialism do not disdain the transmission of all kinds of gossip, direct disinformation, writing vulgar jokes, and distributing low-quality pseudo-cultural products. That is why the issues of developing strong immunity among military personnel against bourgeois ideology and political vigilance should under no circumstances leave the agenda.

The management of counter-propaganda, like any other area of ideological work, does not tolerate a opportunistic approach. The focus on it is due to factors of long-term significance, the fundamental requirements of the CPSU Program for the decisive eradication of manifestations of idle talk, formalism, and primitivism in mass political and propaganda work, and for bringing the content, forms and methods of this work closer to solving the tasks facing the Armed Forces. In light of the large and important tasks defined by the 27th Party Congress in the field of ideological and educational work, the effectiveness of the entire counter-propaganda system must also be increased. In this regard, in our opinion, attention should be paid to the following issues, which are now of decisive importance.

First. Of particular importance in the practice of counter-propaganda is constant monitoring and analysis of its condition, and thoughtful planning. For some reason, attention to this matter has decreased in a number of places. Some commanders, political agencies, headquarters, and party organizations have become less likely to address the problems of increasing efficiency and offensiveness in the fight against subversive ideological actions of the class enemy. Counter-propaganda measures are often developed and included in current and long-term plans, as they say, for show, without taking into account the specific ideological situation, the calendar of historical dates, or political events. There are no grounds for such a weakening of attention to the militancy of counter-propaganda. To achieve greater activity in counter-propaganda means to respond vividly to the dynamics of modern life, to orient all our ideological and educational work as accurately as possible towards knowledge of the ideological situation, an accurate assessment of what, in what form and through what channels the enemy is trying to push us through. Only in this case can we give his attacks a timely and demonstrative rebuff.

Political agencies and headquarters of the Leningrad Military District are systematically and purposefully studying the ideological situation. This helps them more accurately take into account the channels of penetration of bourgeois ideology, sources of biased information, identify counter-propaganda directions, and promptly develop the most convincing theses and arguments against possible subversive actions of the enemy. Measures to create information and propaganda barriers against the penetration of fake hostile propaganda into the military environment have acquired a broader character here. A number of districts and fleets have created a system for searching and accumulating data on the ideological situation in places where troops (forces) are deployed and the nature of hostile actions. On ships of the Pacific Fleet, for example, not a single crew goes on a voyage without familiarizing themselves with what can await them in terms of psychological and ideological sabotage. Literature, tape recordings, and film magazines are selected in advance. Propaganda and agitation assets are provided with materials to expose bourgeois ideology. Thus, preempting the actions of bourgeois propaganda and successfully neutralizing them is what we must always take care of.

Second. In the leadership of counter-propaganda, a more thorough and prompt turn of all political and educational work is required to the current problems of ideological confrontation with imperialism, propaganda of the Soviet way of life, exposure of the anti-people, inhumane nature of imperialism, its exploitative essence. Recently, the counter-propaganda orientation of classes in the system of Marxist-Leninist training of officers, political training for warrant officers and midshipmen, political training for sergeants and foremen, soldiers and sailors has become more noticeable. Political agencies and party organizations of the Central Group of Forces, for example, at classes, seminars and gatherings of propagandists, clearly reveal the nature of the subversive actions of the class enemy in one direction or another, arming them with the arguments and facts necessary to expose the pharisaism of bourgeois propaganda.

As a combat counter-propaganda means, the troops and navies actively and widely use oral propaganda. In live communication, in close connection with people, commanders, political workers, party and Komsomol activists, propagandists and agitators develop ideological convictions among soldiers, form in them correct views on events in international life, expose various kinds of machinations of overseas “crusaders” and their supporters. The front of offensive actions against fakes and false theses of the enemy’s subversive propaganda has strengthened. Lectures, film lectures, evenings and matinees dedicated to promoting the Soviet way of life acquired a clearer counter-propaganda focus. Veterans of the party, the Armed Forces, heroes of war and labor, people who have visited capitalist countries and become acquainted with the degrading culture of the bourgeois world are invited to meet with soldiers. They especially interestingly and convincingly tell how imperialist propaganda hides the vices and ulcers of the bourgeois way of life. Libraries and reference and information centers have intensified their activities.

Experience shows that in counter-propaganda work it is very important to widely use forms that would encourage personnel to be active, creative, and reflective. It is no secret that many lectures and reports are given to soldiers in units, but few debates, quizzes, and various competitions are held where participants in these events could express judgments, defend the right positions, and learn to debate.

Significant role in. The media and propaganda play a role in strengthening counter-propaganda work: print, radio and television. Materials exposing the ideological machinations of imperialism increasingly began to appear on the pages of newspapers and magazines. Many district, group, and naval newspapers constantly publish materials under the headings: “On the fronts of the ideological struggle,” “Strategy of ideological sabotage of imperialism,” “Through the eyes of Soviet people,” and others. Unfortunately, not all press outlets are purposeful and systematic in presenting counter-propaganda materials.

Daily listening by soldiers to information broadcasts of the All-Union Radio and Television has a positive effect. Recently, additional news releases about events of special importance have been introduced. A weekly counter-propaganda television program for young people is broadcast. Information on issues of the country's socio-economic life, strengthening its defense, and military-patriotic education has been expanded. The television programs “Time”, “9th Studio”, “International Panorama”, “Serving the Soviet Union” and others are of great interest to soldiers. Of course, all this, with proper management of the organizers of political and educational work, helps to satisfy the information interest of personnel.

Third. It is very important to extend the counter-propaganda system to the primary, lower level - the military collective. It is in this cell of the military body that there are most bottlenecks. So far, the mechanism of interaction between political agencies, headquarters, organizational structures of districts, groups of forces, fleets, on the one hand, and the political apparatus and party organizations of units, on the other, is poorly established. The lower we go down the structural ladder of the counter-propaganda system, the lower the coefficient of activity and effectiveness of this work. But it is in military collectives that the forefront of the fight against bourgeois ideology takes place. In this cell of the military organism, specific tasks and opportunities for working with people are most visible. Only with a clear organization of counter-propaganda work in the military collective can its results be correctly assessed, not by formal, quantitative indicators, but by qualitative ones, reflecting the state, mood, and awareness of people. It is quite clear that this link should be most thoroughly strengthened. To do this, it is necessary to teach the commanders and political workers of these units the art of counter-propaganda. The duty and responsibility of senior comrades is to help them gain experience working with people as quickly as possible and conduct an ideological struggle with the enemy.

In the life of a military team, everything is interconnected. Therefore, the closeness of leaders to people, to their true needs and interests, is the most important element in counter-propaganda work. Our statements about social justice and the values of communist morality will not work if attention and sensitivity are not shown to a specific person in the team, and injustice is tolerated. “In everything that concerns a person, his work, material well-being and rest, we must be extremely attentive,” emphasized Comrade M. S. Gorbachev at the April (1985) Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee. The chances of success in counter-propaganda work will certainly be reduced if the unit does not give a decisive fight to everything that slows down the process of consolidating socialist ideals in the minds of military personnel, if a specific person falls out of the sight of commanders and political workers. Unfortunately, using the method of individual work to convince military personnel with erroneous views, an incorrect understanding of events, social processes does not have enough time, patience, or perseverance.

An important component of the work on the communist education of soldiers is the fight against manifestations of alien ideology and morality, with all negative phenomena associated both with remnants of the past in the minds and behavior of people, and with the shortcomings of practical work in various areas of public life, with delays in solving urgent problems. problems. We are talking about the consistent and persistent eradication from the life of troops and naval forces of violations of military discipline, theft and bribery, drunkenness, private psychology and money-grubbing, toadying and servility, as well as other negative phenomena. The party calls to resolutely oppose softness and unprincipled behavior in the fight against this evil.

Fourth. You cannot successfully conduct propaganda and counter-propaganda without having a clearly functioning feedback mechanism. The classics of Marxism-Leninism very correctly noted: “In order to act with any chance of success, you need to know the material that you are going to influence.” (K. Marx And F. Engels. Soch., vol. 16, p. 195). Feedback allows you to work with people more specifically, makes it possible to correctly see the channels of counter-propaganda, and more accurately judge the results of your actions. Purposeful study of the needs and interests of military personnel, public opinion, obtaining strictly objective information about sentiments, the effectiveness of educational measures, analysis of questions from letters from military personnel - all these are the most important elements of managing counter-propaganda. Without this, it is useless to talk about its effectiveness. The correct approach to matters in this regard is demonstrated by the command and party-political apparatus of one of the units of the Strategic Missile Forces. The leadership of this unit is characterized by a deep study of public opinion, those social and moral processes that occur in military collectives, a constant vision of emerging problems, and an assessment of them from the point of view of the possibility of exploitation by an ideological enemy. The unit has developed and operates a clear system of answers to questions received from military personnel during political classes, political information sessions, theme evenings, and lectures.

We cannot leave without a principled, party assessment of the actions of those military personnel who, consciously or unconsciously, make immature judgments, incorrectly assess phenomena and events in the world and the country, and spread all kinds of gossip and rumors. The role of communists and Komsomol activists in the fight against such phenomena is especially great. Of course, in order to know public opinion, prevent the emergence of undesirable sentiments, and create strong information and restrictive barriers against the enemy’s subversive actions, you need to spend more time with people and constantly communicate with them. A good example of this is set by the command and political administration of the Carpathian Military District. Thus, on their instructions, generals and officers of the district headquarters and departments are constantly sent to military collectives to conduct group and individual conversations. These meetings take place where soldiers live, train and rest - in the barracks, Lenin's rooms, in breaks between classes, in duty shifts.

These conversations are very interesting and useful for both sides. People are happy that they are consulted, have a direct conversation, and do not shy away from so-called pressing issues. For leaders, such meetings provide an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the moral and psychological climate, the mood in military teams, and help avoid complacency.

We have to regret, however, that not all managers strive for such meetings in a relaxed atmosphere. One of them will arrive at the unit, proceed to the office, walk through the territory, along the training fields, look into the fleet of combat vehicles and leave it at that. No, to definitely meet with soldiers, sergeants, officers, to assess the political and moral state with a professional eye, to advise something, to help in something. It is necessary to encourage and encourage in every possible way the personal participation of leaders of any rank in ideological and educational work with personnel. This will give confidence to people and raise the authority of the leader.

Fifth. The central link on which the functioning of the entire counterpropaganda system actually depends is personnel. Of course, to work in the counter-propaganda sphere, we need specially trained people who are able to set things up, conduct a dialogue, and answer questions. The main thing is that each of them has a deep scientific worldview and is well erudite. It is also necessary to have a clear understanding of the nature of counter-propaganda speech, its difference from direct positive propaganda, and to master the methodology of polemics. It is no less important for a worker on the ideological front to be principled in defending his convictions, irreconcilable to shortcomings, various kinds of deviations from the principles and norms of communist morality, to be able to show will and character in the fight against everything that hinders our movement forward. Such a person, noted V.I. Lenin, “seeing evil, takes up the fight in a businesslike manner: he openly and officially supports the candidacy of the good worker Ivan, proposes to replace the bad Peter, initiates a case - and conducts it energetically, firmly, to the end - against the rogue Sidor , against the protectionist trick of Titus, against the most criminal deal of Miron...” But there is also another type of worker, about whom V.I. Lenin wrote with deadly sarcasm that he “whines, cries, gets lost in the face of any manifestation of ugliness and evil, loses self-control, repeats any gossip, puffs up saying something incoherent about the “system” ( Pol. collected works, vol. 52, p. 228). The party calls on such weak-willed, “demagnetized” whiners to give a decisive rebuff.

Instructive experience in working with counter-propaganda personnel has been accumulated by the political department of the Air Defense Forces. Political department employees systematically go to the field to set up and prepare propaganda personnel for work in the counter-propaganda field. In lecture groups, agitprop groups and agitprop groups, special counter-propaganda sections have been allocated. Separate classes, briefings, and seminars are conducted with counterpropagandists. Propaganda and agitation activists began to be better provided with materials that would help expose the tricks of hostile propaganda. Of great help in this matter is the reference and information literature that is developed at a certain periodicity in the political departments of districts, groups of troops, fleets and sent to political agencies. In a number of places, through the efforts of political agencies, counter-propaganda offices have been created, where you can get advice and gain knowledge about the forms and methods of subversive actions of the enemy.

Ideological, political and educational work in the army and navy is now unthinkable without combat offensive counter-propaganda. This is a special, specific direction in the work of commanders, political agencies, headquarters and party organizations. Every day their activities in this area become more active, versatile and concrete. It contributes to the formation in soldiers of a deep communist conviction and irreconcilability towards alien ideological influences. To develop among the personnel of the Armed Forces spiritual inflexibility and moral fortitude, high citizenship and political vigilance, and the ability to always defend communist beliefs - this is the task of all workers on the ideological front.

Gorbachev M.S. Selected speeches and articles. - M.: Politizdat, 1985, p. 24.

Gorbachev M. S. Selected speeches and articles, p. 16.

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Hadding Scott
Our weapon is the truth. Counter-propaganda tactics.

Some of our like-minded people consider honesty to be a hindrance. Moreover, they think it wise, having learned of the fraudulent practices of some of our racial enemies, to follow their example. This is the wrong approach.

Tactical techniques that our enemies use will not always work for our benefit. Firstly, because the methods of our enemies do not suit our purposes. Techniques that are effective in disintegrating and weakening the people cannot be used for the opposite task. Secondly, we and those who sympathize with us are different from our enemies. We are a different people and we have a different character. While Jews, blacks and other non-whites communities value group solidarity over truth, the best representatives of our people will support the speaker only if he speaks the pure truth. Finally, our weak voice can make a strong impression only if our speech is completely convincing. We are obliged to maintain authenticity, otherwise, against the backdrop of the all-pervasive propaganda carried out media hostile to Whites– they simply won’t believe our words.

Counterpropaganda

The truth that we are obliged to bring to people has two distinct edges.
The truth should mainly help to debunk state propaganda, while being convincing and based on reliable sources.

Jacques Ellul defines modern propaganda as a systematic dive population into a certain type of worldview. Only the state or quasi-state, which controls the media and the education system, is capable of conducting modern propaganda.

Immersion is required because a strong unified belief (in a large population) can only be maintained in the absence of contradictions. This is a very vulnerable point of the system. This means that effective counter-propaganda is much less expensive than the propaganda it aims to undermine. A single little boy who points out the king's nakedness has great power.

The most obvious form of counter-propaganda is media criticism. Another form of counter-propaganda is historical revisionism. Basic activities such as public processions can also be effective because it breaks the illusion of unanimity and gives people an example of dissent.

Ellul notes that persuading people in one's favor is not always the main goal of counter-propaganda; often the goal is simply to shake established beliefs. Despite the disgusting consequences of introducing a patently false doctrine of racial equality, if we can only make holes in the wall of fear that prevents people from doubting this doctrine, then our counter-propaganda has achieved its goal, because perception and knowledge will complete the job. When someone expresses a forbidden thought and forces the system and the public to put up with it, this is already a victory that forces the system to go on the defensive.

The main result of counter-propaganda- this is not a crowd of converts who are ready to join the ranks of a racial organization and pay party dues. Don't be discouraged if this doesn't happen. You should expect a different, less noticeable and larger-scale effect - people who have become familiar with your point of view will become more inclined to discuss it, or at least begin to be tolerant of it. The technique is to politely repeat the thought until it is no longer scary. This kind of work can be done on college campuses, on radio talk shows (doing it gently and carefully), and so on. This way you can expand the scope of acceptable topics for discussion and also encourage others to speak out more openly. This is why our enemies are so desperate to ban American Renaissance conferences and smear Pat Buchanan for appearing on James Edwards' radio show. They know that small leaks can result in a flood.

Counter-propaganda, as a form of truth-telling, can generate widespread sympathy for our cause because the majority of Whites do not like what is happening to our society, and because counter-propaganda does not seek to instill conviction, but only to dispel the obvious error that oppresses a person.

Who should we contact?

Motivate people without embarrassment express your thoughts on a racial issue– this is just the beginning. The views of the majority of our people are either too moderate or poorly reasoned, and do not allow us to solve our problems. One might even say that in the racial question our people are guided not by considerations, but by simple emotions. We need a revolution in the people's way of thinking, a revolution which, through well-founded truth, will shatter the constantly repeated hypocritical lies.

The choice of truth as a weapon also determines the categories of people who which makes sense to contact. It is clear that in the end, any idea that rejects the truthful approach is doomed to failure; however, it should be remembered that not every person is equally interested in the truth. Even people's ability to recognize the truth is not equal. We must turn to those people who can be convinced by reasonable arguments and facts.

We cannot attract the broad masses to our side. Most people tend to favor the views that are most often repeated to them and that are voiced by the most sources - no matter how valid these views are; This is the problem, because we do not own the media. We will also not be able to enlist the support of prudent people, those who, when making important decisions, proceed from their narrow interests, and not from the desire for truth, because we do not have large sums of money that can interest them.

Moreover, even if you manage to win these people over to your side, they cannot be relied upon, because any wind from the big media will completely change their views and make them forget about what they claim today. Consequently, with our extremely limited means, setting the main goal of persuading the broad masses is a monstrous waste.

Abandoning attempts to attract the broad masses through direct persuasion, we get a huge advantage. The point is that we get the opportunity to tell the whole truth as it is, without limiting it to the limits of acceptability that our enemies have imposed on the public. Without being obliged to shy away from various taboo topics, we retain the opportunity to express our views intelligibly, which is absolutely necessary in order to attract thinking people and help them come to the necessary, fundamental conclusions.

We must turn to spiritually developed people, to those who are driven by idealism. These are people of conscience who despise falsehood, people whose inner voice does not allow them to become like the crowd when the crowd is in obvious error.

Counter-propaganda should be directed primarily at people most prone to skepticism; on thinking people; on those who have first-hand experience of the wickedness of the system and its propaganda: on those who spend most of their lives outside the constraints of society (for example, farmers and truckers, a favorite category of Robert Matthews when he still operated strictly within the bounds of the law), or on those who in everyday life routinely encounter phenomena that contradict the promotion of equality (for example, veterinarians and police officers).

The truth must come first. William Luther Pierce - the most significant figure in American racialism since World War II - was largely, or even mainly, driven by outrage at the lies that surrounded him.

William Luther Pierce.

Carriers of a new worldview

It will be more difficult for us to find understanding when we move beyond fending off attacks on pride and self-determination Belykh and let us undertake to explain what is the reason for these attacks and who is committing them; It will be even more difficult when we begin to assert a new view of the world based on the recognition of biological group interests. In order to arrive at our worldview, we need not only a conscience, but also a well-developed ability to think. It is quite easy to expose the unfair treatment of White people by the media, government and various organizations and to expose the anti-White ideas that these organizations promote. But to embrace a new worldview and reject the traditional conservative beliefs that have allowed us to be reduced to such a deplorable situation requires truly independent thinking. So, although the counter-propaganda will attract a significant portion of the wider white audience, only a small portion will be able to engage with the new worldview that we offer.

Thus, our cause is destined to be represented by two circles - internal and external, unanimous in their purpose, since we are all of the same blood, but using different philosophies to understand the common racial instinct. This does not mean that the doctrine of the inner circle should be kept secret: it should be professed openly, as scientists honestly declare their discoveries.

Those who belong to the inner circle must be firmly convinced that they are telling people the truth: here they cannot rely on dubious data or resort to deception. Complete authenticity will strengthen unanimity and maintain idealism within this core group. Firm confidence in one's rightness ignites the soul. People who are convinced of the correctness of their words and actions are much more tireless than all sorts of petty scammers who themselves do not believe in what they say.

And then one day Fischer plucked up courage and went to meet Hayek at the London Stock Exchange, where he was a professor. Fischer asked Hayek for advice: should he go into politics to try to stop the impending disaster?

Hayek bluntly answered him that such a step was useless, because politicians were forced to please the prevailing public opinion. Instead, Hayek told him, he should try something much more ambitious - try to change the very way politicians think, and to achieve this, we need to change the ideological atmosphere that surrounds them. Fischer wrote down Hayek's words for himself.

“He believed that the outcome of the battle of ideas and strategies was decided by intellectuals, whom he called “dealers of second-hand ideas.”
(Adam Curtis, "The Curse of Tina")

The purpose of the “scientific institute” created by Fisher and Smedley was not to directly influence the general public - they did not have that opportunity - but to convince members of the opinion-forming elite that their ideology was valid. As a result of these efforts, the dominant views in economic policy for several decades were replaced by completely opposite ones.

Radical social change begins with the efforts of a handful of fanatics whose idea attracts people who think along the same lines. Revolutions are generally carried out by groups of conspirators, the number of participants in which is calculated as a tiny percentage of the population. Even the ordinary US electoral process, which is supposed to express the will of the public, is heavily influenced by vocal minorities who use their channels of communication to maintain in-group worldviews and coordinate actions. This is, for example, the Christian Zionist faction of the Republican Party, which, more than a year before the 2000 presidential election, made George W. Bush the overwhelming favorite. The same faction in 2011 instantly gave Rick Perry the status of favorite without any effort on his part (but he failed to properly manage this status). Likewise, the influence of the far left in the Democratic Party during the 20th century was disproportionate to its size in the party.

History is always made by an active minority. Most just watch what is happening.

We have truth on our side, and with its help we must be able to attract idealists and thinkers into our ranks in order to form an effective cadre. The second and final necessary condition is money, and not the huge sums of money that the system has, but only sufficient quantity for the organization to continue to operate and grow. Among people with healthy racial instincts, there are undoubtedly wealthy people.
If the appeal is clear and convincing, and the leadership is reliable and responsible - which, unfortunately, is very rare in the cause of racialism - these people will be ready to sacrifice part of their funds.

We rely on reason, and therefore do not have the need to saturate the general public with our ideas. We need only a little publicity to attract useful people into our ranks, because vigilant and intelligent people themselves will notice and find us if our call is true and we do not ruin it by deceit or other flagrant manifestation of a vicious character.

Cautious rhetoric

We do not own the media, and this means that we - even if we had such a desire - do not have the opportunity to lie with impunity, as our enemies do. . We should also not use dubious sources. We must be very careful in what we say, because any important statement of ours, if it attracts significant attention, will be subjected to meticulous criticism.

Our rhetoric must be based either on obvious facts, or at least to publicly available information, which everyone can check. Such facts can be found in news releases, government and scientific websites. The source should always be indicated. so that the arguments of a white racialist are based not on the degree of credibility of him, but on the degree of reliability of a popular or other authoritative source. Only in this way can we convince any intelligent person who does not yet fully trust us of the correctness of our view.

This cautious rhetoric is exemplified by Dr. William Pierce's weekly racial sermons.. This is how he usually structured them: he contrasted some brutal crime against White people, which for some unknown reason did not receive wide publicity in the media, and the disproportionately massive coverage of some attack against one of the privileged minorities, which, in comparison with the first crime, did not deserve such press attention. In both cases, the source of the material was the popular media, since it is their reports that are subject to careful analysis. This demonstrated the media's anti-White bias.

As a result, the audience also became aware of the intentions of those running the media. At this stage of the discussion, the facts may not have been widely known, but they were also easily verifiable. Thus, in just 20 minutes of his speech, Dr. Pierce moved from the most basic counter-propaganda to radical criticism of the central institution on which democracy is based, without at all forcing his listeners to take his word for it. This is the kind of treatment that serious people take seriously.

Since we do not have the media at our disposal, instead of appealing to the indoctrinated majority, we must first of all turn our appeal to people of conscience who are capable of putting truth above generally accepted beliefs. This means that, out of respect for our audience, we are obliged to provide them not with emotional propaganda, but with the purest truth they demand, conveying it through information channels that are not associated with media hostile to us.
As this organization of dedicated, capable, united White men grows, so will our influence on public opinion and events in general.

Conclusion: Reason for optimism

1. Most people are led by an ideological minority, and this means that such a minority can be White Idealists.
2. We are able to create an ideological minority at a much lower cost than it would take for the system to prevent the emergence of such a minority.
3. The powerful idealism of smart White people will be our ally if we do not push it away by disregard for the truth.

Counterpropaganda and propaganda are also closely related to each other as intelligence and counterintelligence. They can act as two independent means and as a single means of the political communication system. In the latter case, counter-propaganda is an integral element of propaganda that protects propaganda from possible counter-arguments of the enemy (opponent) and enhances its psychological impact on mass consciousness. As an example, let us cite the leaflet “Romanians of the Hungarian Army,” distributed by Soviet special propagandists in 1942 among Hungarian army soldiers of Romanian origin. Here is its text:

“We, two Transylvanian Romanians, were captured by the Russians. We asked ourselves the question: “What bad did the Russians do to us?” And they answered: “Nothing.” It was Hitler and Antonescu who did us bad by giving Northern Transylvania into the hands of the Hungarians. We are treated well at the camp. It’s better to fight against the Hungarians than against the Russians. Surrender and return alive to your families!”

Elements of counter-propaganda designed to enhance the psychological impact and neutralize the enemy’s possible counter-arguments about the hellish torments of being in Soviet captivity are two phrases: “We, two Transylvanian Romanians, were captured by the Russians” and “We are treated well in the camp.” The strength of the leaflet is that it is compiled as evidence (we discussed this technique of specific suggestion in section 2.1.) of two eyewitnesses about the good conditions of their stay in Soviet captivity. And it is always difficult to refute the story of eyewitnesses. A more powerful type of counter-propaganda in the propaganda impact on the enemy is the return release of prisoners to their military units and their personal testimonies of good conditions while in captivity. This technique was often used by Soviet special propagandists during World War II.

Conventionally, counter-propaganda can be divided into offensive and defensive. Offensive counter-propaganda, from the point of view of the author of this work, includes: negative advertising, black PR, the use of rumors, anecdotes, epigrams, nicknames, nicknames, pseudonyms.

Offensive counter-propaganda is built on the principle of asymmetry and uses unpredictable and, at first glance, absurd actions against opponents. The main goal of offensive counter-propaganda is to strike the enemy on his own territory. Let's consider the main techniques of offensive counter-propaganda used in psychological warfare and election technologies:

"Trap". It consists of luring the enemy (opponent) to that information field, where he will then be struck. Following, the enemy does not realize that he has entered a “mined field”. This technique was successfully used by the “telekiller” S. Dorenko against Yu. M. Luzhkov and E. M. Primakov, the leaders of the “Fatherland - All Russia” bloc.

"Transfer of Disapproval"- forms among voters a negative attitude towards a particular candidate by demonstrating in the media those groups of people who support this candidate, but arouse in the electorate such feelings as disgust, fear, and hostility. For example, a march of prostitutes along Tverskaya Street in support of “their client” S. Kiriyenko or demonstrations of gays in Krasnoyarsk in support of the “real man” A. Lebed. Thus, the disapproval is transferred to the candidate in question.

"Transferring a Negative Image"- projection of negative qualities of a person or any object, subject or moral values onto another person or idea with the aim of discrediting them. For example, during the 1986 election campaign in France, socialists released a poster depicting a wolf with long teeth and the caption: “Why, dear right-wingers, do you have such big teeth?”

“The method of “legal security” used when pushing unverified information. To protect yourself from prosecution, in this case, when presenting information, the words are used: according to rumors, apparently, according to version, according to assumption, etc. Information when using such words becomes speculative, and it becomes difficult to convict the author for libel. The voter, as a rule, forgets additional words and perceives or remembers the supposed event as real.

"Public Disapproval". It is used to create the illusion of disapproval of certain actions of the candidate by public opinion. It is carried out by selecting various statements from influence groups, “representatives” of various segments of the population, relevant data from sociological surveys, etc. Used against Communist Party deputies A. Makashov and V. Ilyukhin after their “anti-Semitic” statements in 1998.

"Imitation disinformation" consists of making changes to the enemy’s propaganda, which give it a different direction and content, reduce confidence in it, and create a negative image. An example is the release of a leaflet with an electoral program and the design of competitors, but the “program” contains provisions that are unacceptable to the electorate.

"Scare Topics and Messages" are one of the most effective ways of psychologically influencing potential voters. The goal is to present the election of a particular candidate as a threat to the life, safety and well-being of citizens, etc. For example, during the 1996 presidential elections in Russia, leaflets with the slogan “Buy food for the last time!” were used against the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation G. Zyuganov.

"Shift by semantic field" represents a leap from “for” to “against”. Example: the pro-fascist “Sąjūdis” in Lithuania presented its activities as protection from the Russian Interfront, which, they say, is fighting not for the rights of Russians in Lithuania, but against Lithuanians.

"Contrasting Propaganda"- a tendentious selection of facts, information, images, against the background of which the assessment of certain elements of the image takes on the necessary shade. This kind of selection is carried out at the macro level - the level of ideas and topics discussed in the media. For example, in Russia it is quite common to refer to the experience of other countries, after which a comparison is made with the situation in one’s own country. By selecting these links in this way, it is possible to form ideas in the minds of voters about the incorrectness of certain actions of a competitor, their inconsistency with world practice.

Use of rumors. Rumors are a specific method of offensive counter-propaganda. The main features of this method are anonymity and the “non-intersection” of its topics with those of the media. The use of rumors is a very effective method of psychological influence on voters and can significantly strengthen certain latent stereotypes and ideas of the electorate.

Let us move from offensive counter-propaganda to defensive. Defensive counter-propaganda is classical counter-propaganda, its main task is to counter the enemy’s subversive propaganda. Let's consider its main techniques (methods):

"Direct rebuttal". The method consists of directly refuting various points of the opponent's propaganda. It is rarely effective without additional measures. First of all, this is due to the psychological characteristics of a person’s perception: destroying an existing stereotype is much more difficult than creating a new one.

"Ignoring". The method consists of deliberately ignoring certain topics of enemy propaganda. It is based on the assumption that a negative topic that remains “in the public eye” causes more damage compared to a topic that appears for a short period of time. The method can be quite effective, especially if the enemy’s propaganda topic is insignificant or his resources are insufficient.

"Distractive Propaganda" consists of distracting and shifting the attention of the target audience from the main topics of the enemy’s propaganda to other topics. They can be related to an election campaign, an opposing rival, or they can also be random topics of interest to public opinion. The method is quite effective.

"Decreasing the importance of the topic"- shifting emphasis to elements of a topic that have “less negativity”, briefly touching on and “not mentioning” this topic, etc. Typically used in conjunction with the Distraction Propaganda method.

"Preventive propaganda" consists of the preventive use of a propaganda theme that can be used by enemy propaganda - with modified and softened components or elements to reduce the credibility of the theme. In election campaigns it is often used to develop the theme of possible provocations, the use of “dishonest methods on the part of competitors,” putting forward similar accusations that the propaganda of the other side was supposed to use, etc. This leads to a decrease in the overall level of trust in any information, including negative information. There are cases of obviously far-fetched accusations being made against a candidate, followed by a broad refutation of these accusations. For example, during the election campaign in one of the regions of the Russian Federation, an accusation was allegedly made by one of the candidates of embezzlement of funds by another candidate, and then a broad denial was provided due to the absence of this form of credit in banking practice. The use of this technique made it possible to neutralize the counter-propaganda of competitors, based on a similar fact of appropriation of loans, but with much greater reliability.

Using counter-rumors. Due to the specific characteristics of rumors, one of the most effective methods to counter them is the use of appropriate counter-rumours.

Use of euphemisms- the “labeling” method is the opposite. Consists of replacing emotionally charged words with less emotional or less understandable words. For example, instead of the journalistic headline “theft of public money,” the expression “misuse of budget funds” is used.

"Changing message priority". Example: it is announced that, having come to power, the opponent will disperse the local veterans' union. Such a statement should take place in the mouth of his “active supporter.”

“Increased release of information that does not correspond to the truth”. Example: in order to disrupt a press conference, it is announced that issues of anti-Semitism will be discussed at it. As a result, all questions to the opponent will be only on this topic.

“Violation of information issuance processes”. Example: journalists receive incorrect information about the time of an opponent’s visit to certain events.

Political Marketing

In a sense, politics is market , where political ideas and programs are exchanged for political support of their authors and promoters.

The role of “sellers” is played by political leaders, elite, political parties, movements; in the role of “buyer” are citizens (voters, ordinary members of parties, participants in movements).

Elements of the political market are:

Contractual freedom of participants;

Political competition;

Political market There is a way of identifying the needs of its participants based on information about what can be perceived as expectations and the extent to which these expectations are realizable .

Unlike the economic market, in the political market the actions of exchange participants are value-based, ideologically colored and, in general, socially significant. The purpose of political decision-making is the common good; personal responsibility cannot be accurately taken into account: collective decisions are made under the influence of a party or movement. The election of any particular “product” in the political market excludes the possibility of choosing another “product”. In politics, the individual is forced to renounce personal benefits and incentives for the sake of the public good.

Integration of heterogeneous interests of various groups is achieved through the use of political technologies .

Political technology- This a system of techniques and methods of effectively influencing the population, designed to achieve both immediate local results (tactics) and global goals (strategy).

One of the types of political technologies is political marketing– a system of information influence on it based on the study of the political market in order to ensure the support of citizens. Political marketing was first used in the USA in 1952, in the election campaign of President D. Eisenhower.

Marketing strategy used in solving problems:

Penetration into the political market;

Actualization of a new political leader in the political market;

The withdrawal of an unpopular politician from the political market.

Along with borrowing market research techniques, marketing advisers have adapted and applied them to the political sphere. positioning theory, advertising, theatrical performances (meetings), design, etc.

Political marketing is a technology for implementing any political campaign.

By set of tools and methods political marketing can be conversion, stimulating, developing ; By nature of the impact - offensive, defensive, expectant, supportive, counteracting.

Marketing any political campaign involves a number of stages .

On first stage the conjuncture of the political market is studied:

The moods and expectations of various population groups are revealed;

The nature and types of reactions to possible actions to solve the current problem are determined.

On second stage strategy and tactics of political influence are being formed:

The expectations of the population are transformed into a specific program that defines goals, methods and means of achieving them;

Probable results are calculated;

Address groups are identified whose support you can count on.

On third stage there is a “promotion of a product” (program, political course, candidate, reform project) to the political market. It is accompanied by propaganda that creates a strong positive interest among the public in the goals of the campaign.

The essence of election campaign marketing consists of studying the political market conditions within their constituency: in identifying the most pressing problems and the relationship between various social interests.

Purpose of selective marketing consists of assisting candidates and political parties to design and conduct an effective election campaign.

Selective marketing is best developed in the USA. Here he is characterized by a genuine trading and competitive spirit, a pragmatic basis, a focus on winning, and the central importance of the individual (candidate). European election marketing is based more on partisanship and ideology.

The marketing strategy of election companies is based on step-by-step technology.

First (preliminary) stage begins 1 year before the elections - during which the “headquarters” of the election campaign is formed. The purpose of the first stage is to obtain the information necessary to plan the strategy and tactics of the election campaign. To achieve this goal, marketing research is carried out. Are subject to analysis last election results (stable political preferences of voters, the level of electoral activity and the nature of its connection with the social, economic, demographic characteristics of the population of the district). Then it is studied election statistics (information about registered voters who have already voted, information about the distribution of votes).

Second (main) stage begins six months before the elections and is divided into two stages. On first stage are determined strategy And style election campaign (defining the value, problem, behavioral and motivational typology of voters; identifying the image of the “ideal candidate”; segmenting target groups of voters for targeted impact on each group; determining the positions of opponents). On second stage an advertising campaign plan is developed, the most effective means of political influence on voters are selected, television debates, meetings with voters, and the distribution of leaflets, brochures, letters, and invitations are organized.

The candidate should conduct self-inquiry » according to the following parameters:

1) “product” (who you are, your skills, qualifications, relationship style);

2) “price” (your capabilities in solving specific problems);

3) “place” (your political and ideological preferences);

5) “perception” (your social image);

6) “promotion” (assessment of your prospects in the political market during the election campaign).

Third (final) stage carried out on election day. Its purpose is to ensure the gradual withdrawal of a candidate or political party from the election campaign, to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of its implementation.

Marketing research also precedes other political campaigns - the adoption of laws, changes in the structure of government institutions, redistribution of power, reform of the social system, etc.

In any case, the components of political marketing are:

- setting goals political campaign;

- political market research: collection of political information (information about the number and social group characteristics of supporters and opponents of the campaign); collection quality information (identification of current social problems, electoral preferences of citizens, degree of trust);

- political market segmentation (emphasis identically behaving groups of the population, or according to the degree of interested, either by social, property, professional, demographic, territorial settlement, ideological and other signs);

- positioning (identification of those segments of the political market that will be influenced);

- image formation ( specially created image of a politician;

R.-J. Schwartzenberger identifies 4 types of images of a political leader: “Savior of the Fatherland”, “Father of the Nation”, “Charming Leader”, “A Man of His Own”);

Implementation of the complex communication activities (development of political slogan , choice channels and means of communication- television, radio, personal meetings with the population, posters, billboards, leaflets, souvenirs with political symbols, etc.).

2.2. Counterpropaganda as a psychological means of strengthening and neutralizing the information and propaganda impact

Political propaganda, being an integral part of the system of political communication, is a specific information process aimed at the emotional-volitional sphere of mass consciousness. The effectiveness of the psychological impact of propaganda is determined not so much by the diversity and perfection of its forms and technologies, but by the psychological characteristics of mass consciousness, among which we can highlight:

* Blocking another point of view;

* Emotionality;

* Black and white picture of the world;

* Active search for enemies;

* Suggestibility;

* Stereotyping and figurative thinking.

By its nature, political propaganda is totalitarian, because, like mass consciousness, it does not accept a different point of view. Alternative information to propaganda is refuted, and its source is discredited in various ways through counter-propaganda.

3.
4.

The basic principles of counter-propaganda are based on the same psychological characteristics of people as the principles of propaganda discussed in the previous section. At the same time, counter-propaganda, as part of the overall strategy for managing public consciousness, has its own specific characteristics.

One of the main features is that counter-propaganda implies the presence of a priori information about the target audience. If the task of promoting an idea is set, as a rule, in relation to a wide social group, then the target audience of counter-propaganda is much narrower, because it is determined by the essence of the ideas that need to be neutralized. And the point here is not only that, for example, the propaganda of anti-communism (i.e., counter-propaganda) is meaningless among the bourgeoisie, and anti-advertising for a teenage clothing store is meaningless among pensioners. The fact is that having information about the ideas being neutralized, it is possible to quite accurately calculate the so-called divergent groups, that is, social groups that are obvious, or potential, generators of these ideas.

Once the divergent groups have been calculated, conditions are created for the subjects of these groups in which:

a) The process of evolution of any stable ideas is extremely difficult.
b) There is no constructive exchange of ideas between group members and, especially, between group members and representatives of external groups.

The first task is solved through schizophrenia of consciousness and instilling fact-oriented thinking, instead of system-oriented thinking. In fact, this is achieved by introducing a special, schizophrenic culture, based on accelerated information flows, when the brain has time to remember information, but not think about it. In addition, education places emphasis on the study of the facts themselves, and not on the influence of these facts on various aspects of reality.
The second task is solved through isolating these groups from mainstream information flows so that the degree of their ideological influence on society is minimal. The situation here is similar to what would happen if the management of a chemical plant, where harmful emissions occurred due to an accident, tried to prevent these emissions from entering the river. In our case, in order to reduce the emissions of harmful ideas, divergent groups are marginalized, and the ideas they generate are pushed into the underground, where they are safe and do not cause significant harm. This is achieved with the help of modern technologies for the destruction of social communities, which we will consider further.

If we look at the modern information society, we will see that the described processes of schizophrenia are especially strong among two overlapping social groups - youth and the intelligentsia. At the same time, people of the older generation, blue collar workers, representatives of traditional society, are influenced by the mentioned factors to a much lesser extent. This is partly, of course, explained by the difference in the lifestyle of these groups. But, at the same time, it should be noted that there is a general strategy for influencing these active and innovative parts of society on the part of the ruling classes. This strategy is expressed in the transformation of education (high-quality systemic education becomes available only to the children of the elite), the destruction of mass culture (a clear division into elite culture, the commercial mainstream and the underground), and the creation of completely isolated subcultures. Such trends indicate that manipulators of consciousness and political strategists have learned to work with socially dangerous divergent groups, managing their protest activity and directing it in a safe direction.

Types of counter-propaganda.

As already mentioned, counter-propaganda aims to destroy unwanted information entities and hide them from the target audience. This can be done in two main ways:

1. Censorship. An extreme method of counter-propaganda is direct censorship, when the author of a harmful message is simply silenced. A typical example: the cops are arresting a “dissenter” with a poster that contains objectionable content to the authorities. Censorship works well for traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television. An incorrect program can be closed, a headstrong presenter can be fired, an unnecessary piece of text from an article can simply be cut out. This type of counter-propaganda is carried out by the chief editors of the media, who select only news that is convenient for the owners of this media and give the floor only to those who say things that are beneficial to those owners.

2. Direct counter-propaganda. In a “democratic” society, direct censorship cannot be used to its fullest, and therefore is not effective. Therefore, to combat unwanted ideas, direct (classical) counter-propaganda is used, which consists of thickly mixing these ideas with various impurities. The effect of direct counter-propaganda is based on the fact that if a person speaks and pieces of crap are flying at him, then it will not be easy to delve into his ideas, and few people will want to do this.

3.Implicit counter-propaganda. Unlike direct counter-propaganda and censorship, it is not aimed at the message itself containing a harmful idea, but at preventing the consumer from being able to extract this idea from the message. The range of tools for implicit counterpropaganda is extremely wide, and the effect achieved with a competent combination of various tools is many times greater than the results obtained only through direct methods. The most common example of implicit counter-propaganda is the management of the attention of the audience, which often ignores this or that message, being distracted by other, less important, but, nevertheless, actively discussed messages. Aerobatics is the manipulation of discourse, when the public generally loses the ability to understand certain things. This is achieved by introducing into her brain such a logical-linguistic apparatus in which these things simply cannot be expressed, and through this they cannot be perceived. But, more on this a little later, for now let’s look at the main advantages and disadvantages of the listed types of counter-propaganda.

Censorship and direct counter-propaganda were actively used in the USSR to prevent the penetration of bourgeois ideas into the consciousness of Soviet citizens. However, they did not help, because they have one fundamental flaw. To illustrate it, we will use the following analogy from radio engineering: we have receivers of a signal containing information, which we want to protect from receiving unwanted information. The obvious way to do this is to attenuate the signal from enemy transmitters so that it drowns in “white noise” and our receivers cannot extract it from there. but the problem is that in this way we suppress only the signal carrying information, and not the information itself. For, if the receiver has a tuned bandpass filter and amplifier, then information will be extracted from the noise; the only question is the time of signal accumulation and processing. It was the same with Soviet counter-propaganda: while prohibiting obvious pro-Western agitation and criticism of the existing system, party functionaries could not do anything about the hidden ideas contained in the texts and works of Soviet intellectuals. The reader, who knew how to read between the lines, understood perfectly well what they wanted to tell him, and the censors’ attempts to increase vigilance only led to paranoia, in which even Chukovsky’s children’s rhyme “Cockroach” seemed like anti-Soviet propaganda. At the same time, censorship and direct counter-propaganda had one significant advantage, which was that they were pure methods, that is, they satisfied the principle of “do no harm” in relation to the dominant ideology being protected.

Much more aggressive, dangerous, and at the same time effective, is implicit counter-propaganda, aimed at the very process of perceiving unwanted information. If we apply the above-described analogy with the reception of a radio signal, then implicit counter-propaganda can be compared to the use of active correlated interference, which can not only deprive the signal of the information component by distorting it, but also disrupt the frequency circuit of the receiver, redirecting it to receive a false signal. The main advantage of such a strategy is its effectiveness in destroying ideas that are undesirable for people to perceive and thus maintaining ideological monopolies. The main problem with such counter-propaganda is the downside of its power and is that the protected ideology inevitably suffers because of it. Because “good” signals that carry the right ideas will also be distorted and suffer from active interference. The fact that the first two types of counter-propaganda predominated in the Soviet Union is partly due to the fact that Soviet ideology was not bourgeois in nature. And the information war waged by the Soviet communists was not aimed at destroying enemy ideas, nor at hiding information, but at protecting their own ideology in conditions of freedom of thought and knowledge. In describing counter-propaganda techniques, we will not consider those that relate to direct censorship, since they are simple, obvious and have already been mentioned by us. Therefore, let's move straight to the methods of obvious counter-propaganda.

Information and propaganda work is the subject of combat training for personnel, a means of maintaining a high moral and psychological state of subordinates, and the highest form of education for military personnel. On the leadership of counter-propaganda in the army and navy Forms

Fried and pickled arrows

Sound automation, sound differentiation -