Tag: Ministry of Information

Categories
History

A New History of the wartime Ministry of Information

Senate House, where the MOI was housed, now the Institute of Historal Research

Interested that the following project is being sold as the first history of the Ministry of Information (although it does say first official history), as Ian McLaine’s book offers a pretty decent history, then built on by James Chapman re: films, and then of course, my brain is finally working on a book proposal from my PhD…

A major research project will investigate Britain’s wartime Ministry of Information – inspiration for the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four – in the very building where the department was once housed.

“The ministry introduced something new to British society – the idea of an arm of government with the power to control information,” said principal investigator Simon Eliot, professor of the history of the book at the University of London’s School of Advanced Study.

Operational from 1939 to 1946, it funded composers, a film unit, touring exhibitions and loudspeaker vans, while churning out a plethora of posters and pamphlets, and arranging transport for the distribution of material in other countries.

Read full article, and I’m looking to see what new emerges!

Categories
History Reviewer

McLaine, I. Ministry of Morale: Home Front Morale and the Ministry of Information in World War Two London: George Allen & Unwin, 1979

A key work for this project which fully considers the administrative history of the Ministry of Information, the lead government department for propaganda. He argues that for two years, the measures taken by government propagandists were:

  • Unnecessary and inept
  • Based on misunderstanding and distrust of the British public
  • Products of the class and background of the propagandists themselves.
  • He feels that after two years:
  • The Germans were still characterised as irretrievably wicked.
  • Efforts were made to separate Communism from the ‘Russian’ (not Soviet) war effort.
  • Propaganda was intermittently prompted by doubts about people’s martial stamina and devotion to Parliamentary democracy.

McLaine felt that the achievements of the Ministry of Information were that:

  • The MOI realised importance of full and honest news as a factor
  • They recognised that in the fight against totalitarianism, it was important not to disregard one of its main weapons, although within a democratic context.
  • With benefit of Home Intelligence, the MOI came to regard the British people as sensible and tough, and so entitled to be taken into the government’s confidence

See if you can get hold of a copy on Amazon.}

Categories
History Reviewer

Chapman, J. The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-1945 London: I.B. Tauris, 1997

This work is converted from Chapman’s PhD, and is described as a “comprehensive history of the role, nature and organisation of film propaganda in Britain during the Second World War.” Chapman challenges the received wisdom that WW2 propaganda was shambolic and disorganised.

He shows how film propaganda was more successful than alleged. He examines the roles of both commercial film industry and government film units; through an analysis of government and trade sources he explores the relationship between the Ministry of Information & sectors of the film industry. He discusses the role of the cinema as a vehicle for propaganda – set within the context of a country at war. He identifies themes and images through the analysis of key films, whilst exploring their competing entertainment and propaganda values.

Chapman investigated a wide range of different sources including government records, the trade press, newspaper reviews, Mass-Observation surveys & some private letters, memoranda and committee minutes to produce a thorough, well-written, analytical work.

Buy from Amazon.

Categories
History Reviewer

Balfour, Michael Propaganda in War 1939-1945, Organisations, Policies and Publics in Britain and Germany London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979

Balfour worked for the Ministry of Information during the Second World War, from March 1939 to March 1942, he was Temporary Principal in General Division of MOI, which gave him a good view of the Home Front. From April 1942 until the end of the war he was Assistant Director of Intelligence in Political Warfare Executive/ Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF, which gave him a good view of enemy front.

This was the first book to deal with both Britain and Germany, including what each government said to its own, and to each others public. He believed that only by doing this could we understand the whole picture, as each aspect sheds light on the others.

The scope of the book was confined to Britain and Germany unless outside events particularly impinged, concentrated upon the civilian front. It was not intended to be comprehensive, but picked important and interesting aspects. Balfour did not refer back to many documents but worked from ‘acknowledged authorities’, using footnotes to give pointers to other sources of interest.

The balance of the book was inevitably affected as he was better informed about Germany than Britain, due to the fact that there were more sources available. However, he felt that the purpose of the book was not only to describe events 1918-1945, but to shed some light as to nature of propaganda. Balfour tried to answer the following questions in the book:

  • What is the purpose of propaganda?
  • Does propaganda essentially involve misrepresentation?
  • If not, what is the difference between it and persuasion?
  • Is one automatically a propagandist if one makes predictions that do not come true?
  • Can ‘news’ be kept completely separate from ‘views’?
  • How does a publicist know whether he is reporting the truth (particularly in wartime)?
  • Is the use of the mass media essential to propaganda?

Try and find on Amazon, although the title is out of print.

See a book review from a reader in Ottawa (PDF).

Categories
History

James Chapman ‘ Official British Film Propaganda during the Second World War

Chapman, J., ‘Official British Film Propaganda during the Second World War’
PhD Thesis completed, 1995. Lancaster University

The Ministry of Information was set up at the outbreak of war in September 1939 to co-ordinate all aspects of propaganda and information for the British Government. Its Films Divison was responsible for the formulation of official film propaganda policy and the production of official films.

Both the M.O.I. and its films division were handicapped initially by the failure to make adequate plans for propaganda machinery before the war, by an often inappropriate choice of key personnel, and by a lack of co-ordination with other government departments. They were also beset by numerous administration reoganisations and changes of personnel during the first year of the war which caused a great amount of institutional instability.

Abstract: The Ministry of Information was set up at the outbreak of war in September 1939 to co-ordinate all aspects of propaganda and information for the British Government. Its Films Division was responsible for the formulation of official film propaganda policy and for the production of official films. Both the M.O.I. and its Films Division were handicapped initially by the failure to make adequate plans for the propaganda machinery before the war, by an often inappropriate choice of key personnel, and by a lack of co-ordination with other government departments. They were also beset by numerous administrative reorganisations and changes of personnel during the first year of the war which caused a great amount of institutional instability. The Films Division at first attached the most importance to the commercial film industry for propaganda purposes, though even so it struggled to find a role for feature films and at first it merely responded to the initiatives of commercial producers without laying down any policy guidelines itself. The Films Division was soon attracting much hostile criticism, both from the film trade press and also from members of the documentary movement who felt that they had been excluded from the film propaganda effort. The trade interests on the one hand and the documentarists on the other represented the opposite poles of the film industry with which the M.O.I. had to work. After the upheavals of 1940, both the M.O.I. and its Films Division became more settled and stable. A policy for film propaganda was developed which defined a role for both commercial feature films and documentary films. The feature film was used for general, indirect and long-term propaganda. After its experiment in partly financing the production of a feature film, 49th Parallel, the Films Division instead opted for a policy of informal co-operation with commercial producers through various channels to ensure that feature film propaganda worked within certain general guidelines.

Chapman now works for the Open University, and has converted his PhD thesis into a book.

Published Works: