Propaganda in Polish media discourse of the Second Polish Republic

Abstract

The paper examines the societal and political conditions that formed propaganda in the Second Polish Republic. At the beginning of the restoration of the independent Polish state, the Bureau of Internal Propaganda and the Bureau of External Propaganda were established, whose goal was to seek internal and external support during the Polish-Soviet war in 1920. Alongside the initiatives launched by these institutions, the media of the time – the press and various periodicals – had a significant influence on the formation of public opinion. The article depicts various approaches to defining the essence and objectives of propaganda in Polish and Ukrainian publications. The author notes that the rising threat from Germany accelerated the discussion of the factors of success of the enemy state's propaganda in the Polish media at that time. According to many commentators, propaganda was supposed to be one of the means of influencing the international image of the state.
The paper presents the classification of propaganda, which is used by the authors in leading Polish media. They distinguish state, economic, cultural, social, and foreign policy propaganda. State propaganda was distinguished as having different goals and objectives in democratic and totalitarian states. Almost all contributors did not in any way deny the necessity and importance of propaganda. Often, the Polish press equated propaganda with advertising and promotional materials, highlighting the distinctive features of illustrated and graphic material used to promote a product.
The article shows changes in attitudes toward propaganda in Ukrainian periodicals during the interwar period. It concludes that the understanding of propaganda evolved during the interwar period. It was during this period that the theoretical foundations of public and social perception of propaganda were laid. An important component of this process was the interwar media as a means of communication between the authorities and civil society. At the same time, global events in interwar Poland – the May coup of 1926, the economic crisis of 1929–1933, and the growing external Soviet and German threats – had a significant impact on the formation of the understanding (and definition) of propaganda.