|
In the fifty-two years since the end of the
Second World War, modes of historical study have changed greatly.
Emphases of study have changed from the study of great men to
the study of the ordinary people, and the issues that concerned
them. The posters produced during the Second World War are a part
of this history.
Visually, they cannot be
regarded as great works of art; neither were they intended
as such by the artists concerned.... But besides their message
they tell us something of the prevailing manners and customs.
They also mirror the changing fortunes of the war.[Footnote
1]
We are surrounded by images from
the past. Artefacts from the past have
attracted varying responses,
ranging from awe to greed, from nostalgia to simple curiosity
- or indifference. And sometimes the historian has turned
to them when seeking to verify or challenge some legend or
fable or well-attested narrative handed down from the past
by word of mouth or in written texts. [Footnote 2]
The use of art for historical
purposes is important when we consider what it is hoped to gain
from the study of posters of the Second World War. In early history
artefacts were used as important evidence, yet by the fifteenth
century, due to the recovery of much ancient literature, the written
word dominated historical sources. Humanist historians were concerned
not with evoking the past, but with drawing moral and intellectual
lessons from it, and art was left to antiquarians. [Footnote 3]
However, since the last century,
the importance of the pictorial sources has increased. It is now
accepted that artefacts can be used to broaden the area of study,
but in order to make the fullest use of an artefact as a source,
it is important for the historian to establish what it is that
is being looked at, its authenticity, when and for what purpose
it was made, and how it was received. Historians also need to
be aware of any circumstances, conventions or constraints that
govern representations in art, and the "technical means available
for expressing this vision".[Footnote 4] In wartime, for instance,
there was little paper available.
During the last couple of decades
the propaganda poster as a souvenir item has become popular, with
visitors to the Imperial War Museum (IWM) able to buy reproductions
of posters in poster and postcard form, with the range expanding
in more recent years. Visitors can now buy reproductions of posters
on such items as key-rings, mugs, playing cards and chocolate
bars, to name but a few, although in a fairly limited range of
designs. It can therefore be seen that there is still a lot of
interest in these posters now, and it is suggested that there
is something in the images contained in the posters that still
has appeal for the British public now, although it is a possible
that this will diminish now that the fiftieth anniversary of the
end of the war is over.
We must not forget "how erratic
and potentially misleading a process has been the survival of
most visual evidence". [Footnote 5] Due to the efforts of the
IWM and the Public Record Office (PRO) it appears that many examples
of Home Front posters have survived. However, there is still an
element of selection in those posters that remain on view; the
IWM has many more posters in storage than it is possible to display.
It was considered important to look at originals of posters, as
the effect is very different from that produced by looking solely
at postcards. The historian can then gain some idea of how posters
looked to contemporaries, although obviously we do not get to
see them in their full context, nor the magnificent hoarding size
posters.
Posters were centrally produced
and distributed and therefore are more reliable as an indicator
of government mentality than, for instance, speeches to workers
at lunch-times, although believing that the public distrusted
'official information' the Ministry of Information (MoI) sought
to remain anonymous as far as possible. As a result, most wartime
posters remain undated and unsourced, making it almost impossible
to follow the development of MoI campaigns through the war, although
poster content and newspaper reports give us some clues as to
the date of poster campaigns.
The main source for governmental
papers is the PRO at Kew. These are important as they give us
an understanding of the planning stages, although we must remember
that the papers that are stored at the PRO account for only "one
per cent of the paperwork created by the state each year". [Footnote
6] Mass-Observation (M-O) contains a unique collection of qualitative
data, providing us with a view of "private opinions which people
might be reluctant to express to a pollster". [Footnote 7] Although
its panel of volunteer observers was heavily skewed towards those
in the middle classes, and the south-east of England, this is
not felt to discredit its findings. [Footnote 8]
For many, the wartime slogans,
such as 'Dig for Victory', 'Careless Talk Costs Lives' and 'Coughs
and Sneezes Spread Diseases' blaring at them from every side,
from the radio, the big screen, newspapers and hoardings, have
never been forgotten, and such slogans have been passed on as
a part of our common heritage. Yet, the poster appears to be the
most enduring memory that is held, and one would question why.
Research into the images contained in Second World War Home Front
posters, the decisions that went into the use of these images,
and the reception of these images by the British public are important,
particularly in relation to the way that the government tried
to collect responses and whether they changed their campaigns
accordingly.
Posters that were not published
or were withdrawn also make for interesting study, particularly
for reasons as to why they were rejected, such as whether there
were certain images that made such posters offensive. However,
there do not seem to be many examples of these, although whether
this is because records of unsuccessful designs were not kept
or because there were not many anyway, was not established.
There "must be a reasonably fertile
field to nourish the propagandist's seed before it can be expected
to ripen into attitudes and opinions", [Footnote 9] and therefore
it is important to understand how the war affected civilians,
but many studies have already been done in this area, [Footnote
10] and it is not wished to repeat such information here. We can
then understand the meanings behind some of the images used in
posters, and understand how, for instance, during particularly
bleak periods there was seen to be a need for morale-boosting
propaganda. We will look at whether the government felt that propaganda
constituted the 'fourth armament', and may then be able to understand
the way in which the government balanced the use of persuasion
and legislation in its campaigns so necessary for the survival
of Britain.
In chapter one we will establish
a brief, general history of the poster, including advances in
graphic techniques and its use in the past. We can then look at
how it was actually used in the war, but with particular emphasis
upon the extent to which the poster was used in the propaganda
'battle' on the 'Home Front', both terms which are used today
without a thought for how such terms were popularised through
wartime propaganda. To avoid anachronisms, we also need to understand
that the poster may serve an entirely different purpose now as
to that of wartime Britain. Although little reference is made
in this study to other propaganda methods, such as newspapers,
the cinema, [Footnote 11] and radio, [Footnote 12] posters "generally
form part of a larger scheme, and their functions cannot be judged
without knowledge of the underlying policy and the plans for the
campaign as a whole". [Footnote 13]
In chapter two we will look briefly
at the development and organisation of the MoI, and see to what
extent First World War experiences affected both the way that
the poster was used in the Second World War, and the use of particular
images within posters. We will also see what steps the government
took to ensure that its propaganda was appropriate, including
the use of sources such as M-O and the Home Intelligence Division.
In chapter three we will see
if the government learnt any lessons from the commercial world,
and look at the first posters that they produced, generally perceived
to be failures, although this is possibly as every historian is
reliant upon M-O as the main critical source. [Footnote 14] We
will then look at subsequent posters to see if the government
appeared to learn any lessons from the criticisms of the first
posters.
In Second World War posters there
is a conspicuous absence of 'hate xenophobia' which was a staple
ingredient of First World War posters. In chapter four we see
some of the effects of relations between the British government
and foreign powers, in particular their attempts to distinguish
between ruling ideologies and the general populace. We will look
particularly at the impact of Soviet propaganda on British posters.
The best remembered poster from
the First World War is the pointing finger of Kitchener
(Figure 1); in chapter five,
we will see how some posters used this method. We
will then look at other techniques by which the direct
consequences of their actions were put across to the
British public.
Through chapter six we will see
the way that women were portrayed, and appealed to, in posters.
We will gain an idea of the roles that women were expected to
fulfil, in the home and in the services. We will look particularly
at the use of glamour in posters, which was used both to appeal
to new recruits, and to indicate the dangers of careless talk
and the 'easy woman'. We will also look at two posters that were
rejected, and try to understand the reasons for this.
Although several popular relevant
histories have been published, [Footnote 15] which are useful
to see how various myths about the war are perpetuated, we must
be aware of the dangers of using such over-simplified histories.
In both popular and academic studies the poster tends to be seen
as ancillary to other issues of war, or used simply as an illustration,
rather than studied in its own right. Even though there are several
books which have been published on the subject of wartime posters,
[Footnote 16] it is not one that has been fully explored, and
more often posters are studied within a more general book on government
propaganda. [Footnote 17] British posters in particular, have
been neglected in favour of Nazi propaganda, with no study especially
focusing upon what the government believed the people needed to
hear, but rather approaching posters as evidence of what the people
felt, a gap which this study, concentrating upon British government
Home Front posters, will attempt to fill.
Footnotes:
If you wish to cite from this page, please use
the following citation:
Lewis, R.M., 'Chapter 1: Introduction, Undergraduate
Thesis: The planning, design and reception of British home front
propaganda posters of the Second World War'<http://www.ww2poster.co.uk/research_project/ugrad/dissintroduction.htm>,
written April 1997, accessed Enter Date Here
|
List of Pictorial Illustrations
|
|
|
'Poster' and 'Propaganda' - What are
they?
|
|
