Red Dusk and the Morrow · Theme
Propaganda and the Corruption of Language
How Red Dusk and the Morrow develops Propaganda and the Corruption of Language.
The book extensively analyzes how Bolshevik leaders manipulated language, using slogans and catchwords like 'All Power to the Soviets' to deceive the populace, while the actual meaning of terms like 'proletariat' and 'bourgeois' became fungible and propagandistic.
Where it surfaces
- Red Dusk and the Morrow
The chapter illustrates how Bolshevik propaganda distorts reality and language to maintain control, as seen in official narratives and public discourse.
- The Green Shawl
The narrator describes Communist meetings as reeling off 'banal propagandist phraseology' and notes that freedom of speech has become 'freedom for Bolshevist speech only and prison for any other.'
- V: Melnikoff
The demonstration for Liebknecht and Luxembourg is a staged event; soldiers are given bread and pamphlets to ensure attendance, and the crowd's understanding is shallow.
- Finland
The narrator contrasts the 'shrewd common sense' of Finnish peasants with 'nonsensical Red propaganda,' emphasizing the theme of propaganda versus reality.
- XI: The Red Army
The chapter details the oath of the Red Army soldier, which is rarely taken individually but used for propagandist purposes, and describes the Cultural-Enlightenment Committees as tools for political indoctrination.
- XII: "The Party" and the People
The chapter highlights how the Bolsheviks maintain the farce of elections to call themselves the 'Soviet' Government for propagandist purposes, while suppressing free soviets.
- Endnotes
The endnote clarifies the Bolsheviks' official name change, highlighting how language was manipulated for political branding.