2 | MP introduction

fasces or leaders. These acts and sentiments impress upon each
individual the unity of the group.

Less effective is propaganda by words. Yet unsatisfactory as
it may be, talk become0s increasingly important as a weapon of
propaganda in those societies in which a number of rival groups
fight for the support of the citizen, and in which the citizen ex-
pects at least the appearance oft rational argument. There are two
ways of propagating beliefs by words. The one tends to guide, the
other to dominate. The one respects the dignity of the people, tries
to put them on their feet, to develop their latent faculties and
abilities, and make them think for themselves. The other treats
them as childish halfwits, as 'human material', as dumb instrum-
ents of their masters. The latter is the more common. To avoid con-
fusion, we will call the first 'education', and reserve the word
'propaganda' for the latter. The division between the two is, of
course, not quite clear-cut. In actual practice most education
contains some propaganda, and propaganda is, normally at least,
slightly informative. But, on the whole, education and propaganda
can be quite well treated as opposites.

Propaganda would be a poor weapon, indeed, if it had only words
at its disposal - arguments and slogans, hymns and songs. Non-
verbal propaganda is often more effective because you cannot argue
with it - pictures, cartoons, flags, and symls. There is the
propaganda of example, and of the deed which often carries more
weight than mere verbiage. Gandhi's 21-days fast at Delhi in 1924
was bound to impress the Indian peasant masses more deeply than
600,000 words in 'Young India' could have done. The Mahatma's
fasts and penances were anxiously marked, and quickly understood,