The word 'propaganda' is usually associated with tyrannical regimes but it was originally a function of the Catholic Church. It simply means information.
Dr Joseph Goebbels was the Minister of 'Propaganda and Enlightenment' who organised the world's biggest advertising campaign for the 1933 German general election. He used rallies, posters, cinema, newspapers and radio; and he would certainly have used television but it only started in Berlin in 1935. His efforts were rewarded when Adolf Hitler was returned as Chancellor of Germany.
The success of the Nazi campaign ensured that propaganda would play a massive part in the Second World War, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War. It reached the peak of mendacity in 2003 when British prime minister Tony Blair warned that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had 'weapons of mass destruction'. It turned out that he had no such weapons.
Methods of communication have improved over the years. Martin Luther nailed his thesis to the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg and changed the world. Benito Mussolini came to power at the head of a mass movement. He led the March on Rome and was appointed prime minister by King Victor Emmanuel 111. Meetings and demonstrations still have their place but the Internet is now our chosen method of propaganda. It's not completely free of censorship but Facebook and Twitter only ban persistent offenders.
A young Bill Baillie (pictured) campaigning for John Bean's British National Party in the 1964 general election. We were not an insular nationalist party, we believed in European solidarity and social justice. I went overseas in 1965 and came home in 1970, by which time we had been taken over by the National Front and our progressive policies had been dumped. I therefore joined Union Movement and embraced Oswald Mosley's vision of 'Europe a Nation'.
Social media sites are very effective. President Donald Trump entertains his 55 million followers on Twitter and most politicians are regular tweeters.
Newspapers and magazines are expensive to print and distribute but websites are affordable and we can reach more people on the Internet than we did in the old days by putting leaflets through letterboxes or selling newspapers on street corners. The mass media shapes public opinion and the State uses repressive legislation to silence us but we can fight back by using the Internet.
Perseverance is the name of the game. Immigration used to be a taboo subject but, thanks to our persistence it is now openly discussed. So carry on posting on Facebook and Twitter. Let our voices be heard.
The Future is Electric
Petrol and diesel cars are being phased out to reduce pollution. At present electric cars are too expensive but prices are expected to drop as demand increases. Pollution from petrol and diesel cars is killing us but legislation is being passed to clean up the atmosphere. Electric cars will not pollute the atmosphere with exhaust fumes but they need to recharge their batteries with electricity. We have been using coal to generate electricity for over a hundred years but we now know that it's a dangerous pollutant. I wrote the following optimistic piece for my duplicated newsletter 'Nation' in 1974:
" We are fortunate to have a vast wealth of natural resources here in Britain. Our coalfields, properly managed, would provide enough fuel to fire power stations and provide ample electricity for all our needs. It is difficult to get a true idea of the amount of coal in the ground of Britain. Most experts put this figure at about one hundred years supply, but recent finds might double this estimate. What's more, improved methods of burning coal more cleanly and efficiently are being developed".
Clean coal technology was perfected in the Eighties but it was too expensive. Nuclear power was supposed to be the cheapest way to generate electricity but since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the Fukushima disaster of 2011 it has proved to be the dearest and most dangerous method. When the cost of decommissioning and the storage of radioactive waste is calculated, nuclear power is unaffordable.
We are using various methods to generate electricity, including; gas, wind, tidal, hydro, solar, and geothermal. And we are burning renewable fuels such as biomass. Coal is too dirty, nuclear is too expensive and dangerous, and wind power is unreliable. But our scientists will find a reliable way to generate power without poisoning ourselves.
Nations will be forced to protect the environment by international consensus. Brazil was forced to mobilise the army to put out the Amazon fires after France threatened to halt a massive trade deal between the EU and Mercosur, the South American Common Market.
President Donald Trump wants to burn coal because it keeps his coalminers working, but it damages their lungs and pollutes the air we breath. Even the Chinese and the Indians are starting to worry about pollution.
A Vision of the Future
The Nazis were as divided over Europe as the politicians of today. Regrettably, racism dominated the Third Reich. Adolf Hitler saw the Second World War as a conflict between the Nordic 'Master Race' and the Jews, but Joseph Goebbels, his down-to-earth Minister of Propaganda, saw it as a battle between ideas rather than tribes. In his remarkable speech 'Europe in the year 2000', he said:
To make Joseph Goebbels' prediction come true we must embrace his vision of Europe. That may seem difficult at the moment but political systems do not last forever. The Soviet Union defeated the armed might of Nazi Germany but collapsed, almost without a struggle, in 1990. The European Union is a work in progress. The UK has voted to leave it but we will still be Europeans by race, culture and geography, and our future will still be linked to the mainland. Whatever happens, Europe will continue to develop and the current Brexit fiasco will be seen as just a temporary aberration.
History Repeats Itself
The cyclical theory holds that history repeats itself. We know that periods of liberalism and prosperity lead to recession, which gives rise to revolutionary movements, followed by war and authoritarian regimes. This pattern has been repeated over and over again, from the Roman Empire to the present day.
The cyclical theory holds that history repeats itself. We know that periods of liberalism and prosperity lead to recession, which gives rise to revolutionary movements, followed by war and authoritarian regimes. This pattern has been repeated over and over again, from the Roman Empire to the present day.
We must, therefore, ask ourselves if there's any point in trying to make a better world? The answer is yes, because we are born with the instinct of self preservation.
To get where we are today we had to struggle; against the Ice Age, warring tribes, hunger, and disease. But instead of freezing to death we invented clothing, to overcome hostile tribes we formed ourselves into nations, to feed ourselves we developed agriculture, and to keep ourselves healthy we discovered medicine and hygiene. It's our nature to struggle against adversity. We must not allow political and religious dogma to subvert our basic instincts.
Political and religious leaders always start out with good intentions. They do not want to make life miserable for their people. But every political and religious ideology has resulted in Spanish Inquisitions, concentration camps, and Gulags.
Loseb Jughashvili (pictured) was training to be a priest until he quit the seminary, changed his name to Joseph Stalin and became a ruthless dictator. He was an 'idealist' who wanted freedom and justice for the down-trodden subjects of Czar Nicholas Romanov. He transformed the old Russian Empire into the Soviet Union and he almost caught up with the West in scientific and industrial development when in 1941 his country was attacked by Adolf Hitler; another 'visionary' with a head full of nonsense. Joseph Stalin's achievements were formidable; he modernised the Soviet Union and led its people to victory, but he ruled by terror and murdered millions.
If the cyclical theory of history is correct we are in the terminal stage of liberal capitalism and approaching economic disaster. President Donald Trump and prime minister Boris Johnson may figure in this Divine Comedy. Only time will tell.
Another Myth Exposed
The 'Morgenthau Plan' to exterminate the Germans is part of the far-Right's mythology. Henry J Morgenthau (pictured) was the US Treasury Secretary during World War Two. His plan to de-industrialise Germany to stop them from starting another war, was never taken seriously. It was the anthropologist Prof Albert Hooton who proposed selective breeding to pacify a belligerent German nation.
Colin Liddell writing for the 'Affirmative Right' website exposes the myth of the Morgenthau Plan.
Yes, a plan to breed out the Germans (and now all Europeans) dreamed up by a non-Jewish American "race realist" is casually attributed to a Jew, whom we are told was driven solely and exclusively by genocidal hatred for the Germans. This is the kind of sloppy, lazy, dishonest, Jew-obsessed nonsense that has made the Rump Alt-Right the intellectual laughing stock it is today.
Having dealt with the Morgenthau plan, Colin Liddell should turn his attention to the Coudenhove-Kalergi plan which is just as far-fetched. Count Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi (1894-1972), was the half Japanese founder of the Pan Europa movement who advocated a multiracial Europe ruled by a Jewish aristocracy. This bizarre plan was never adopted by the European Union but it remains a canon of the far-Right.
Another far-Right myth that needs exposing concerns the Bank of England which has been state-owned since 1947. The BOE does not belong to the Rothschild family. The Governor of the BOE is appointed by the British Government. He sets the interest rate but fiscal policy is decided by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Also, Mark Carney, the current Governor of the BOE is not Jewish, he is a Canadian of Irish ancestry.
https://affirmativeright.blogspot.com
Europe of 100 Flags
If this model included the UK we might see separate states for Cornwall and Yorkshire. They have already got their own flags and anthems but such little states would struggle on their own. Fouéré envisaged a federation of self-governing states, like Switzerland which is divided into twenty six self-governing cantons speaking four different languages; German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Each canton is autonomous but the country has one flag, one army, one currency, and a central government for defence and foreign affairs.
When Britain ruled a mighty empire on which the sun never set, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales kept their own languages and traditions but they were essentially British. And so were the White Dominions whose flags bore the Union Jack and whose currencies bore the image of the British monarch. We extended our patriotism to embrace the British Empire.
A similar extension of patriotism would be required for a European federation, be it of twenty-eight or one hundred states. At present we are fixated with Brexit, but the problem will be resolved in the light of economic reality. For myself, I am happy to be British and European. But if we have to be divided into separate little states I nominate Eddy Morrison to be the Gauleiter of Greater Yorkshire.
The idea of pretentious little states was covered by GK Chesterton in his 1904 novel 'The Napoleon of Notting Hill', in the 1949 Ealing comedy 'Passport to Pimlico', and in the 1959 film starring Peter Sellars, 'The Mouse That Roared'. They all depicted the futility of petty nationalism.
Nation Revisited
This blog seeks reform by legal means. All articles are by Bill Baillie unless otherwise stated. The opinions of guest writers are entirely their own. We are protected by the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19: "We all have the right to make up our own minds, to think what we like, to say what we think, and to share ideas with other people."
European Outlook
Our sister blog European Outlook is posted on - https://europeanoutlook.blogspot.com
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