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34 THE TECHNIQUES OF BOVIET PROPAGANDA =~ propaganda galleries for the Soviets, who have confused and deceived ublic opinion so profoundly thet today many people believe it is oscow which honestly wishes to disarm, and Washington which is stubbornly resisting. 7S Gs fae orig OF, Y. Locomacuic Means =” “2 The lack of preparedness of the people in. the free world, both i= factual knowledge and in the art of discussion, enables the Soviets 4 to flood the West with fallacies painstakingly fabricated to delude . minds; with views apparently plausible but actually playing into, the ‘ hands of the Communists. CHANGING FRAME OF REFERENCE AND LIGHTING “~"*"" = er To delude judgments, Communist propaganda primarily uses a eub- tle and effective method, consisting of covertly changing frames of reference and lighting when passing from the Soviet regime to the free world. Summarized in the following table are the more systematic modifications of criteria and attitudes, surreptitiously implemented by auxiliaries. Salt Concerning the Soviet regime | Concerning Western regimis | Frame of reference adopted for judg- | Dislectice..... Elements considered valid for fadg- | Pro ment, Attitude adopted... Intellectas! ran darée, To review the principal “organized fallacies” circulated by Com- munist propaganda: : FALLACY NO. 1: WE ARE FACED WITH A CONFLICT BETWEEN “TWO BLOCS,” THE U.8.8.8. AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA This propaganda theme is in accord with the old liberal illusion that ~ international conflicts invariably have a sordid economic basis. It renders the U.S.S.R. several services: Establishing parity of guilt between the U.S.S.R. and the United States as equally engaged in defending or exten ng their interests. concealing unilateral Soviet aims, and practices of aggression and hegemony by this false symmetry. _ Since the matter is represented es simply one of rivalry between interests, uninvolved countries are induced to believe they may remain aloof as neutrals. Yet the conflict is neither national nor economic. It does not exist between two empires; neither between socialism and capitaliam.