Propaganda by the spoken word — talking with the individual, study groups, discussion evenings, mass meetings, choruses — usually result from the written word. The two forms of propaganda are inseparable.
a) The most basic form of oral propaganda is the discussion with the individual. This form is still the most effective, since deep contact is established. It is easier to do that in this way than in study groups.
b) The study group deepens the idea and educates the party member, and encourages closer contact with citizens who are friendly or at least honestly uncertain about the movement. Through them we win supporters by give and take. Without doubt, the movement from its beginnings built the inner strength it needed and won its best fighters through study groups. Every local group should hold two study groups a month. If in a given month no public meeting is held, it should hold another study group.
A discussion evening is not a membership meeting, open only to a certain audience, but rather a public gathering to which party members may bring guests or truth-seeking racial comrades.
Securing a speaker is not as great a problem as in a public people’s meeting, Party members not rhetorically suited for a larger public meeting can do very well in a discussion evening, as long as they possess a firm grasp of the aims of the movement.
They will become increasingly better speakers, and the give-and-take with party members will help them become able to serve as discussion speakers at the meetings of other parties.
The speaker is the propagandist of the idea, who sacrifices his time, strength, health and material welfare for the movement. Recognizing his ability and caring for him provides support he needs.
It is a matter of honor for a speaker to meet his obligations insofar as it is humanly possible. Meetings should be held regardless of the attendance. The credibility of the party is at stake.
The speaker should keep in mind that although his activity in study evenings promises little fame, they often bring more success for the movement than a public meeting.
e) The public mass meeting is the place where an authoritative speaker proclaims the aims of our movement and the nature of our worldview with regard to domestic and international events to every class of the population. The meeting is therefore a matter of the prestige of the party and a source of strength. The manner of its preparation is the mark of a good local group or section. One should speak of a “mass meeting” only when the masses will really appear.
The theme of the meeting should always be chosen to reach the people, particularly the group that one wants to attract to the meeting. We distinguish between world view and current event themes.
The other way to chose meeting themes is to find sensational events, scandals of the Jews or Marxists, in particular events that can be summarized in three or four words. This encourages the masses to come from curiosity, anger over political events, or in the hope of hearing something advantageous given their financial or class interests.
Do not neglect either worldview or political themes. Otherwise, one either loses contact with the masses, or on the other hand attracts only the masses, not the valuable fighters we need. The goal is to build the enthusiasm of the masses from meeting to meeting so that they are eager to come, as was achieved in an exemplary manner in Munich during the years 1922/23.
The following principles for conducting meetings apply:
1. Before the meeting, the speaker should be informed of the local political situation.
2. The meeting chair, with a witness, should assume control from the host.
3. Meeting protection should be assured either by a sufficient number of local or neighboring S.A. men, or by request to the police. The latter is particularly important in the case of meetings that may turn violent, for the riot damage act requires it. The state’s responsibilities begin only when damages exceed 400 marks.
4. It has proven advantageous in certain meetings and in certain places to have a part of the S.A. in civilian dress scattered throughout the room in order to deal with expected troublemakers.
5. The chairman conducts the meeting. His introduction and conclusion should be at most 3-5 minutes.
6. Attendance by party members is both expected and tactically necessary, given the opponents. No party member should want to demonstrate, either by not appearing at all or by being inattentive, that he already knows everything that the speaker has to say.
7. In the discussion period, only one speaker from each party is permitted. Announce at the start that a speaker cannot give his speaking time to someone else. It is better in advance to give a speaker from another party a longer speaking time, if that is required by the local situation.
8. At the start of each discussion speech at difficult meetings, it is good to announce the time to the audience to keep the discussion speaker and his supporters from claiming that he has only spoken for 5 or 10 minutes.
9. Make propaganda during the meeting for the central organ of the movement, the “Völkischer Beobachter,” either through brief words from the chairman or before the meeting and during the breaks with brochures.
10. Each meeting is to be closed by the chairman with a “Heil” to National Socialism and our Führer Adolf Hitler.
11. Singing a song at the conclusion of a meeting makes sense only if this can be done well. The meeting chairman should give directions. It is to be sung standing up, not by singing one stanza as people are leaving. Thin and scattered voices by several party members make a bad impression, particularly when the opponent begins to sing his battle song.
If many communists are present, do not close with the national anthem. The following case demonstrates this. One of our well-known speakers spoke to a meeting with a predominately communist audience. After he had impressively demonstrated the whole miserable swindle of Bolshevist equality to the audience, the chairman wanted to close the successful meeting with the national anthem. The speaker whispered to him “don’t sing the national anthem!” The chairman said: “At the request of the speaker, we won’t sing the national anthem!” This stupidity led the communists to say that we had good speakers, but were still reactionaries, while the Stahlhelm members present thought we were concealed Marxists after all!
d) Choruses supported by a trumpet are effective. Several short, compelling sentences, repeated often, have a strong effect on a meeting. Be sure they have practiced, and are not in an awkward position.
3. Propaganda through mass marches:
The third type of propaganda includes Demonstrations, local S.A. marches, Gau and Reich party rallies. Here all that needs to be said is that good discipline is the best propaganda.
4. Propaganda through cultural gatherings:
Cultural gatherings are the fourth group. The influence of theater and movies on the masses is well known. One has to think only of Piscator or of Russian films like “Battleship Potemkin” and “The General Line.” We must try to use these institutions for our purposes, and to combat the destructive influence of cultural Bolshevism. The N.S. Volksbühne and the N.S.-Filmbühne have been established in some cities already and have done well. They are not only a recreational outlet for party members, but also promotional gatherings. Our theater presents only works displaying the German spirit. The N.S.-Filmbühne, which strives to produce our own films, also shows films that put heroic thoughts in the foreground.
In order to use our films every day, we should attempt to supplement political speeches with films in the suburbs. Even the smallest cell can be reached and informed in this way.
This has been only a survey of propaganda. It must be used in various ways, but will be successful only when it is conducted by fanatical fighters with unbreakable wills.
The source: Gustav Straebe, “Bewährte moderne Propagandamethoden,” Unser Wille und Weg, 2 (1932), pp. 230-233.