00:00Before we begin our video, a short note. We'll be glad if you like, comment and share our content.
00:06We are the largest left-wing civic association in Slovakia, and we want to keep growing.
00:12New videos are published Fridays. If you like what we do, you can support us financially
00:17and become our members. More information is available on our website, and most importantly,
00:23don't forget to subscribe to our channel. How Capitalist Propaganda Works
00:30In the first part, we discussed Marx's idea of the superstructure and Sigmund Freud's nephew,
00:37Edward Bernays, and his advertising campaigns in the United States, where he introduced the thesis
00:43that modern societies cannot be governed by force alone. They must also be governed through people's
00:49consciousness. In the second part of our series, we will look at why it became necessary in the
00:58in the first place. Because 150 years ago, the situation was completely different. In the 19th
01:06century, the working class belonged to the most intellectually active layers of society.
01:11Workers founded reading associations, workers' libraries, and discussion circles. In Britain,
01:18thousands of workers' reading societies already existed in the first half of the 19th century.
01:24In Germany, Arbeiterbildungsvereine, workers' educational associations, were active. Similar
01:32organizations also existed in Austria-Hungary. Workers read philosophy, economics, and political
01:38theory. Historian Jonathan Rose showed that British workers read Shakespeare more often than the middle
01:44class. Workers commonly paid readers, people who read books aloud to them during work,
01:50so they could educate themselves even on the job. These were the podcasts of the 19th century.
01:57Education was not a luxury. It was seen as a tool of emancipation. And this was a major problem for
02:03capitalists. Economic elites very quickly understood that an educated working class is politically
02:09dangerous. A person who understands economic relations is difficult to manipulate. A person who discusses the
02:17ownership of the means of production begins to ask questions about power. So a new strategy of social
02:23stabilization begins to emerge. Not repression. The management of consciousness. Exactly what Edward
02:31Bernays was doing. Bernays openly argued that modern democracy needs an invisible government that guides
02:38public opinion. After World War II, living standards were rising. Trade unions were strong. The welfare state
02:46was expanding, and most of society felt that the system worked. Then came the 1960s. And they were
02:53extremely dangerous for capitalism. In the United States, the civil rights movement emerged, along with
03:00mass student protests, resistance to the Vietnam War, and a new wave of union organizing. Universities began
03:08openly criticizing capitalism as a system. In Europe came 1968. Millions protested in Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Prague.
03:19In some countries, protests paralyzed entire states. In France alone, approximately 10 million workers joined a
03:27general strike. It was the largest strike movement in Western Europe since World War II. From the perspective of
03:34economic elites, economic elites, this looked like the beginning of a major systemic crisis. Market regulation was
03:41increasing. Taxes on the wealthiest were rising. The power of trade unions was growing. And at the same time, the
03:48legitimacy of socialist ideas among the younger generation was increasing. In the United States, for example, the top
03:55marginal income tax rate still exceeded 90 percent in the early 1960s. And a large part of society considered
04:03this completely normal. Business elites began to feel they were losing control over the direction of
04:09society. And it was precisely at this moment that a document appeared, which fundamentally changed the
04:15strategy of capitalism. The Powell Memo of 1971. It was a plan for regaining ideological control over
04:24society. It was written by lawyer Lewis Powell for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In it, he argued that
04:31business elites were losing the ideological battle for society. According to him, trade unions, students,
04:38the media, and universities were gaining too much influence. His proposal was simple. Companies and
04:45capitalists must begin organizing politically. Investment must flow into the media, universities,
04:52think tanks, legal institutions, and public debate. Not for a few years, for decades. Thanks to Powell's
05:00document, organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, and the American
05:06Enterprise Institute were established. Their role was to change the language of economic debate. Gradually,
05:13the way society thinks about the state, the market, and inequality began to change. Until then,
05:20for example, high taxes on the wealthy were considered a normal part of democracy. After the 1980s,
05:27they began to be presented as a problem. This was not a spontaneous shift in public thinking.
05:33It was the result of organized ideological work. At the same time, another process was unfolding,
05:40media concentration. In the United States, around 50 large corporations controlled the media landscape
05:48in the 1980s. Today, it is about six companies. Yes, six. A similar development can be observed in Europe.
05:59Large media outlets gradually stopped functioning as independent information institutions and became part of
06:05financial structures. This means that public debate does not begin to take shape randomly. It begins to
06:12take shape systematically. This exact process was described by Noam Chomsky in Manufacturing Consent.
06:19He showed that modern media do not function as tools for informing the public. They function
06:26as filters of reality. Some topics are highlighted. Others are ignored. Some interpretations are supported.
06:35Others are labeled extreme or unrealistic. In this way, they create the boundaries of what is considered
06:42normal thinking in society. That is why propaganda in modern democracies does not look like propaganda.
06:50It does not look like the banning of information. It looks like the selection of information. People feel
06:56that they are making decisions freely, but they are making decisions within a space that has already been
07:01structured in advance. Chomsky called this the manufacturing of consent. We can see the result of this development
07:08everywhere around us today. 150 years ago, workers organized reading societies. Today, most people
07:17spend several hours a day consuming algorithmically selected content. This does not mean they are less
07:23intelligent. It means the informational environment has changed. And with it, the way society is stabilized
07:30has changed as well. The modern system does not need to silence critical thinking. It is enough to push it
07:37to the
07:37margins. And that is exactly why propaganda today works more effectively than ever before.
07:47Before we end our video, a short note. We'll be glad if you like, comment, and share our content.
07:54We are the largest left-wing civic association in Slovakia, and we want to keep growing. New videos
08:01are published Fridays. If you like what we do, you can support us financially and become our members.
08:07More information is available on our website. And most importantly, don't forget to subscribe to our
08:13channel. Thanks for watching.
Comments