30.
Ivan Cvetanovic

The style of art and American film and their influence on political propaganda in Yugoslavia in 1960s and 1970s

Introduction
Propaganda is a legitimate means of communication and its outcome
depends on the intentions of the propagandist. Bernays regards com-
munication to necessarily be propaganda and also states that not all
propaganda is bad depending on the purpose for which it is used (1928).
Unlike everyday communication, propaganda communication requires
organisation that includes preparation such as “field examination” of
the public opinion, selection of techniques, funds etc. Political propa-
ganda is defined as “a planned and organised activity of shaping and
presenting, spreading political content, winning people over and gain-
ing their support for certain political content and its holders” (Slavu-
jevic, 2002-12). There is also the so-called spontaneous propaganda
which does not require organisation but is related to organised propa-
ganda which means that it is the product of it. Political propaganda is
a narrower term than political persuasion because apart from propa-
ganda it also includes the area of spontaneous persuading of people.
Historical context is an important factor of political propaganda.
The period between the 1960 and the 1970 was particularly interesting
for the development of propaganda in Yugoslavia. It was a time when
a country came out of a war with clear orientation to build an eco-
nomically successful society all the while trying to keep up with the
developed western countries and realising that that was the easiest way
to escape the influence of the Soviet Union. This decade is particularly
important because 15 years have passed since the war and the people
are starting to focus on the living standard and the future of the coun-
try's development.
Propaganda, as a legitimate means of communication the outcome
of which depends on the intentions of the propagandist is a complex
mechanism that requires special organisation, field examination, opin-
ion polls, selection of techniques, funds etc. Political propaganda, as a
special aspect of this activity, is defined as “a planned and organised
activity of shaping and presenting, spreading political content, win-
ning people over and gaining their support for certain political con-
tent and its holders” (Slavujevic, 2002-12). There is a so-called spon-
taneous propaganda that does not require organisation but it is only
a part of the organised propaganda as its important product. Political
propaganda is a narrower term than political persuasion because apart
from propaganda it also includes the area of spontaneous persuading
of people. On the other hand there is political marketing which is a
narrower term than political propaganda i.e. one of its variants.

Yugoslavia and America in the 1960s and the 1970s
The Yugoslav state was created in 1918. as a country of a triple named
nation. The idea of a Yugoslav nation was soon destroyed and three
separate nations were acknowledged unlike America which was pro-
claimed a nation of the American people. The official Yugoslav histori-
ography considered the Communist party of Yugoslavia as the maker
of the second Yugoslavia. It was the Federation of Yugoslavia created
after the year of 1945. It was believed that this was an ideal regulation
of state, however, there was a conflict of interest between the federal
government and the authorities of the federal units, a conflict between
the centre unit and the units of different nations and religions, (Pop-
ovic, 1993). The long-term propaganda has given the title of an oppres-
sive nation to the Serbian people and unitarism was its second “sin”.
At the beginning of the 1960s a strategy for dismantling Yugoslavia
from within was created. Nationalism becomes stronger, with it the
tendencies for separate national countries, and everything is allowed
in literature, political science, journalism and culture. The increase in
corruption and economic crime are just one of the few signs of the de-
cline of power of the Federal Yugoslavia. In 1968 mass demonstrations
and riots occur at Kosovo with the agenda of persecuting Serbs.
“There is an intense activity of the humanistic intelligence in the
Yugoslav public and political life since this moment (1968) under the
slogan: “A critique of everything that exists”. This intelligence that was
mostly Marxist provenance in Belgrade has developed in the following
decades a theoretical criticism of Stalinism, Titoism and other differ-
ent forgeries of Marxism and at the same time advocated the return
to Marx, true Marxism. If one tried to formulate its political credo in
three words it would be: socialism with a human figure.” (Popovic,
1993: 151).
The 1960s in America were marked by events that set the foun-
dation of a new approach to propaganda: In 1960 the first television
debate between Kennedy and Nixon took place, the assassination of
John Kennedy in November of 1963 and a major media game and cal-
culation concerning the assassination, Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil
Rights Act as the newly elected president in 1964, the assassination
of Martin Luther King the leader of the civil rights movement. This
period is characterised by the creation of the resistance towards the war
in Vietnam after the report of the violation of human rights. Richard
Nixon who becomes the president in 1968 realizes the importance of
paid, political propaganda videos. That decade and the consequences
of events during that time had repercussion and influence on the entire
world particularly on the developments in that sphere in Yugoslavia.
The country of Yugoslavia came into existence as a state of a triple
named nation unlike America which was proclaimed a country of the
American people (Popovic, 1993). The kingdom of Yugoslavia existed
for 22 years and failed to win the fight for the ideology of a united
Yugoslav people. The official Yugoslav historiography considered the
Communist party of Yugoslavia as the maker of the second Yugoslavia
that was created after the Second World War. However, the conflict
of interest between the federal government and the authority of the
federal units, the conflict between the centre unit and the units of
different nations and religions brought about a significant weakening
of the state, Popovic explains (1993). The division of territories inside
the Federation of Yugoslavia was done to the detriment of the Serb-
ian people. The long-term propaganda awarded to the Serbs a title of
an oppressive nation. The second “sin” of that same propaganda was
unitarism. At the beginning of the 1960s a strategy for dismantling
Yugoslavia from within was created by strengthening nationalism in
all areas of social life: literature, political science, journalism, culture
and economy. The increase in corruption and economic crime are just
one of the few signs of the decline of power of the Federal Yugoslavia.
In 1968 mass demonstrations and riots occur at Kosovo with the agen-
da of persecuting Serbs. Dobrica Cosic and the historian Jovan Mar-
janovic came forward at the Central Committee of the League of Com-
munists of Serbia and criticized the official politics at Kosovo. The stu-
dents demonstrated in June and insisted on the return to the original
program of the Union of the Communists of Yugoslavia. These events
only deepened the crisis.
“There is an intense activity of the humanistic intelligence in the
Yugoslav public and political life since this moment (1968) under
the slogan: “A critique of everything that exists”. This intelligence
that was mostly Marxist provenance in Belgrade has developed in
the following decades a theoretical criticism of Stalinism, Titoism
and other different forgeries of Marxism and at the same time ad-
vocated the return to Marx, true Marxism. If one tried to formu-
late its political credo in three words it would be: socialism with a
human figure.” (Popovic, 1993: 151).

Josip Broz as the symbol of the liberation aspirations of
the Yugoslav people

After the Second World War Josip Broz Tito was the head of restored
Yugoslavia. Ever since he came to power a lot of effort was put in
spreading propaganda of his character and work. This indicates that
Yugoslavia was not far behind America in developing propaganda
that implies the image of the leader people can seamlessly trust and
admire. This can be accomplished by using different techniques the
easiest one being making the leader recognised as a common fellow
citizen, a man from the people. The use of well known techniques such
as the travelling orchestra 1) , and candor 2) i.e. the portrayal of Josip Broz
as a man of the people of poor and peasant origin, testimonials and
supplying credibility to the source of information etc. The main char-
acteristic of Broz,s image is that he represents the safest protector of the
workers and peasants. The Photographs were very skillfully used for
propaganda: Tito behind a metallurgical lathe (Calovic, 2011), turning
his birth home in Kumrovec into a museum, the making of busts of
Tito (Antun Augusticic, 1943) and his portraits (Djordje Andrejevic
Kun, Ismet Mujezinovic, Mihailo Petrov, Milan Konjovic and others),
poetry about Tito (Ciplic, Zogovic, Miljkovic and others). The sym-
bols of sickle and hammer symbolize the worker and the peasant, the
colour red symbolizes the revolution and the character of Broz that
symbolizes the liberation were the most efficient symbols which were
the foundation for the whole Yugoslav propaganda ever since Josip
Broz became the head of state.
Propaganda showed its true power regarding the celebration of
Tito,s birthday on the 25 th of May. On that day celebrations were or-
ganised across Yugoslavia and a ceremonial handover of the baton to
the leader in honor of his birthday. This act of celebrating the leader,s
birthday, a day celebrated by the whole nation especially by the youth,
has a single aim and that is to show a unique, unshared love towards
the father of a successful new state. The artists designed unique batons
in Broz,s honor every year. Today they are in the House of Flowers
museum in Belgrade where Tito was buried. There are also pieces of
office furniture, valuable gifts which Josip Broz received from polit-
icians world wide, also letters of appreciation from workers of all parts
of Yugoslavia that demonstrate the propaganda machinery of the time.

Art in service of propaganda
Despotovic states that art in the service of political propaganda may
put the artist into political engagement in two possible ways: apologet-
ic and critical (Despotovic, 2016). The first way is by glorifying propa-
ganda about ideology and the political situation in the authoritarian
regimes while the other way is the complete opposite. It is a critical
examination of the political goals and it clearly reacts to their irregu-
larities.

“In the work of the engaged art in Yugoslavia in the intellectual
left wing developed a critical movement between two World Wars
which divided into two currents: surrealism and social art which
gave way directly to socialist realism after the victory of Tito's par-
tisan movement and the revolution that completely altered the
social and political conditions. The first two poetics had a more or
less clear critical, ideological and social dimension the other one
being an aesthetic scion of the leftist revolution has suddenly re-
placed criticism with apologetics, engagement with glorification,
truculent negation with candescent affirmation, bourgeois aesthet-
ics with artistic leftism...” (Despotovic, 2016)
____________________
1) The institute of propaganda analysis defined seven basic propaganda
techniques in 1937: naming, brilliant generalizations, transfer, testimonials,
candor, shuffling cards and the travelling orchestra. The last technique is
the so-called technique of joining the majority. This technique uses the
notion that a man aspires to be “part of the pack” so he easily accepts the
attitude and actions that are accepted by others in order to be part of “the
pack”. Read more about these techniques in: Tadic, D. (2005) Propaganda,
Spectrum Books, Belgrade, 133-169.
2) This technique usually implies giving a false identity in this case to a leader.
Otherwise this technique is especially used in pre-election campaigns and
in advertisement.

Pages: [ 1 ] [ 2 ]

Слични текстови


Patrick Condliffe
Through a Wongar, Darkly

Milorad Djuric
The Legacy of Serbian Heroes

Коментари

Leave a Reply

ДОНАЦИЈЕ

Претплатите се и дарујте независни часописи Људи говоре, да бисмо трајали заједно

даље

Људи говоре је српски загранични часопис за књижевност и културу који излази у Торонту од 2008.године. Поред књижевности и уметности, бави се свим областима које чине културу српског народа.

У часопису је петнаестак рубрика и свака почиње са по једном репродукцијом слика уметника о коме се пише у том броју. Излази 4 пута годишње на 150 страна, а некада и као двоброј на 300 страна.

Циљ му је да повеже српске писце и читаоце ма где они живели. Његова основна уређивачка начела су: естетско, етичко и духовно јединство.

Уредништво

Мило Ломпар
главни и одговорни уредник
(Београд, Србија)

Радомир Батуран
уредник српске секције и дијаспоре
(Торонто, Канада)

Владимир Димитријевић
оперативни уредник за матичне земље
(Чачак, Србија)

Никол Марковић
уредник енглеске секције и секретар Уредништва
(Торонто, Канада)

Уредници рубрика

Александар Петровић
Београд, Србија

Небојша Радић
Кембриџ, Енглеска

Жељко Продановић
Окланд, Нови Зеланд

Џонатан Лок Харт
Торонто, Канада

Жељко Родић
Оквил, Канада

Милорад Преловић
Торонто, Канада

Никола Глигоревић
Торонто, Канада

Лектори

Душица Ивановић
Торонто

Сања Крстоношић
Торонто

Александра Крстовић
Торонто

Графички дизајн

Антоније Батуран
Лондон

Технички уредник

Радмило Вишњевац
Торонто

Издавач

Часопис "Људи говоре"
The Journal "People Say"

477 Milverton Blvd.
Toronto ON,
M4C 1X4 Canada

Маркетинг

Маја Прелић
Торонто, Канада maya.prelic@hotmail.com

Контакт

Никол Марковић, секретар
т: 416 823 8121


Радомир Батуран, oперативни уредник
т: 416 558 0587


477 Milverton Blvd. Toronto,
On. M4C 1X4, Canada

rabbaturan@gmail.com nikol_markovic@hotmail.com casopisljudigovore@gmail.com ljudigovore.com


ISSN 1925-5667

© људи говоре 2024