Agitprop: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Vigorous intentional promotionPromotion of ideas through popular culture}}

'''Agitprop''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|dʒ|ɪ|t|p|r|ɒ|p}};<ref>{{cite EPD|18}}</ref><ref>{{cite LPD|3}}</ref><ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster|agitprop|access-date=26 July 2020}}</ref> from {{lang-rus|агитпроп|r=Agitprópagitpróp}}, [[portmanteau]] of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "[[propaganda]]")<ref>{{cite web|title=agitprop(n.)|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/agitprop|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=2 June 2020}}</ref> refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in the [[Soviet RussiaUnion]] where it referred to popular media, such as literature, plays, pamphlets[[pamphlet]]s, films, and other art forms, with an explicitly political message in favor of [[communism]].<ref>{{cite web|author=((The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica Article))|title=agitprop|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|date=July 11, 2002|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/agitprop|access-date=January 29, 2017}}</ref>

The term originated in the Soviet RussiaUnion as a shortened name for the Department for Agitation and Propaganda ({{lang|ru|отдел агитации и пропаганды}}, ''{{transl|ru|otdel agitatsii i propagandy}}''), which was part of the central and regional committees of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Agitprop|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/agitprop|website=Encyclopaedia Britannica|access-date=2 June 2020}}</ref> Within the party apparatus, both agitation (work among people who were not Communists) and propaganda (political work among party members) were the responsibility of the ''agitpropotdel'', or APPO. Its head was a member of the MK secretariat, although they ranked second to the head of the ''orgraspredotdel''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Merridale|first1=Catherine|title=Moscow Politics and the Rise of Stalin|date=1990|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=London|isbn=978-1-349-21044-2|page=142|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-21042-8_8 }}</ref> Typically Russian agitprop explained the ideology and policies of the Communist Party and attempted to persuade the general public to support and join the party and share its ideals. Agitprop was also used for dissemination of information and knowledge to the people, like new methods of agriculture. After the [[October Revolution]] of 1917, an agitprop train toured the country, with artists and actors performing simple plays and broadcasting propaganda.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/ck-7wqD2Zf0 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20091114052322/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck-7wqD2Zf0 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|title=Agitprop Train|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck-7wqD2Zf0|publisher=YouTube|date=2007-06-15|access-date=2009-05-09}}{{cbignore}}</ref> It had a printing press on board the train to allow posters to be reproduced and thrown out of the windows as it passed through villages.<ref>Paul A. Smith, ''On Political War'', p. 124, National Defense University Press, 1989</ref> The first head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]] of The Russianthe Communist Party (b) was [[Yevgeni Preobrazhensky|Evgeny Preobrazhensky]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Departments, commissions and institutions of the Central Committee of RCP (b) - VKP (b) - CPSU|url=http://www.knowbysight.info/2_KPSS/03499.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525135813/http://www.knowbysight.info/2_KPSS/03499.asp|archive-date=2019-05-25}}</ref>

It gave rise to [[agitprop theatre]], a highly politicized theatre that originated in 1920s [[Europe]] and spread to the United States; the plays of [[Bertolt Brecht]] are a notable example.<ref>Richard Bodek (1998) "Proletarian Performance in Weimar Berlin: Agitprop, Chorus, and Brecht", {{ISBN|1-57113-126-4}}</ref> Russian agitprop theater was noted for its cardboard characters of perfect virtue and complete evil, and its coarse ridicule.<ref>[[Richard Pipes]], ''Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime'', p. 303, {{ISBN|978-0-394-50242-7}}</ref> Gradually, the term ''agitprop'' came to describe any kind of highly politicized art.

During the [[Russian Civil War]] agitprop took various forms:

*Oral-agitation networks: The [[Bolshevik]] leadership understood that to build a lasting regime, they would need to win the support of the mass population of Russian peasants. To do this, Lenin organized a Communist party that attracted demobilized soldiers and others to become supporters of the Bolshevik ideology, dressed up in uniforms and sent to travel the countryside as agitators to the peasants.<ref name="kenez51">Kenez, pp. 51-53</ref> The oral-agitation networks established a presence in the isolated rural areas of Russia, expanding Communist power.

*[[Agit-train|Agitational trains]] and ships: To expand the reach of the oral-agitation networks, the Bolsheviks pioneered using modern transportation to reach deeper into Russia. The trains and ships carried agitators armed with leaflets, posters, and other various other forms of agitprop. Train cars included a garage of motorcycles and cars in order for propaganda materials to reach the rural towns not located near rail lines. The agitational trains expanded the reach of agitators into Eastern Europe, and allowed for the establishment of agitprop stations, consisting of libraries of propaganda material. The trains were also equipped with radios, and their own printing press, so they could report to Moscow the political climate of the given region, and receive instruction on how to custom print propaganda on the spot to better take advantage of the situation.<ref name="kenez59-60">Kenez, p. 59.</ref>

*Literacy campaign: The peasant society of Russia in 1917 was largely illiterate, making it difficult to reach them through printed agitprop. The [[People's Commissariat of Enlightenment]] was established to spearhead the war on [[illiteracy]].<ref>Kenez, p. 74</ref> Instructors were trained in 1919, and sent to the countryside to create more instructors and expand the operation into a network of literacy centers. New textbooks were created, explaining Bolshevik ideology to the newly literate members of Soviet society, and the literacy training in the army was expanded.<ref name="kenez77">Kenez, pp. 77-78</ref>

*{{cite book|last=Tzu|first=Sun|title=[[The Art of War]]|year=1977|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-501476-1|pages=197|author-link=Sun Tzu|editortranslator=Samuel B. Griffith (translator)}}