Transfer

Also called Borrowed authority, Symbol transfer

Borrow prestige or stigma from a respected or hated symbol and paste it onto the message.

History and effect

IPA 1937; formalizes a move as old as religious and national iconography — pairing a message with a flag, a cross, or an enemy uniform to borrow standing the argument has not earned.

The audience's pre-existing feeling about the symbol (reverence, loyalty, fear) flows onto the message, doing work the message's own content cannot.

Lineage: IPA 1937

How it works

Transfer works by adjacency. The sender places a message next to a symbol that the audience already feels strongly about: a flag, a cross or crescent, a national monument, a uniform, a laboratory coat, a university seal, a newspaper's masthead. Nothing in the message argues that the symbol's owner endorses the claim or that the symbol has anything to do with it. The link is visual or rhetorical placement. The audience's existing feeling toward the symbol (reverence, pride, trust, fear or disgust) is then available to be felt toward the message as well.

The Institute for Propaganda Analysis described two directions (Lee and Lee 1939). Positive transfer borrows prestige: a war-bond appeal framed by a soldier's face, a fundraising stamp framed by houses of worship, a political speech delivered in front of warships. Negative transfer borrows stigma: an opponent is shown beside an enemy uniform, a hated flag or a symbol of disease, so that the disgust attached to the symbol lands on the opponent. In both cases the symbol is doing work that an argument would otherwise have to do. The sender is betting that the audience will not separate the two, and in a quick glance at a poster or a few seconds of video, most people do not.

Modern operations add a third form, institutional mimicry. Instead of borrowing a national symbol, the sender borrows the look of a trusted source: a news outlet's logo and typography, a think tank's report format, a government seal. The audience experiences the message as coming from that institution, or as belonging to its category, and extends the trust it would give the real thing. This form depends on the audience recognizing the brand but not checking where the item actually came from.

Why it works

The closest laboratory analogue is evaluative conditioning: pairing a neutral stimulus with a liked or disliked one shifts attitudes toward the neutral one. Staats and Staats (1958) paired national names such as "Dutch" and "Swedish" with positive or negative words and found that ratings of the names moved in the direction of the pairing. Page (1969) argued that part of this effect came from participants guessing what the experimenter wanted, and the question of whether evaluative conditioning requires awareness of the pairing is still debated. Large reviews (De Houwer, Thomas and Baeyens 2001; Hofmann, De Houwer, Perugini, Baeyens and Crombez 2010) conclude that the effect is real but modest, and that it is stronger when people notice which things were paired.

Applied studies have a mixed record. Gorn (1982) reported that students chose a pen color more often when it had been shown with music they liked, a widely cited demonstration of transfer in advertising, but Kellaris and Cox (1989) failed to reproduce it. Carter, Ferguson and Hassin (2011) reported that a single glimpse of an American flag shifted political attitudes months later, but the flag-priming effect did not replicate in the Many Labs project (Klein et al. 2014). The honest summary is that symbols reliably change how people feel about what sits beside them in the moment, while claims of large or lasting effects from brief exposure have not held up.

Two broader frameworks explain why transfer is persuasive when attention is low. In the elaboration likelihood model (Petty and Cacioppo 1986), people who are distracted, uninvolved or rushed rely on peripheral cues rather than arguments, and a respected symbol is a classic peripheral cue. Research on source credibility, beginning with Hovland and Weiss (1951), shows that the same message is judged more believable when attributed to a trusted source, which is exactly the effect institutional mimicry exploits. The halo effect (Thorndike 1920), in which a positive impression in one respect spreads to unrelated judgments, describes the same spillover inside a single person's evaluation.

Examples across eras and sides

• Germany and the United States, 1917: war posters. The German war-loan poster Helft uns siegen! Zeichnet die Kriegsanleihe (Help Us Win! Subscribe to the War Loan) sets a helmeted soldier's steady gaze above the appeal to subscribe, so the viewer's respect for the soldier attaches to the bond. The U.S. Army recruiting poster Destroy This Mad Brute — Enlist uses negative transfer: a German helmet and the word "Kultur" are placed on a rampaging ape, attaching disgust to the enemy nation. Both governments used the device at the same time for the same purpose. (Sources: Erler 1917; Hopps 1917)
• Germany, 1934 to 1935: the Nuremberg rally film. Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will surrounded Hitler and the party with massed flags, the eagle, marching formations and scenes of the historic city, so that the standing of the nation and its traditions was attached to one party and one leader. Historians of Nazi propaganda treat it as a central case of symbolic staging. (Sources: Welch 1993)
• United States, 1950s: Crusade for Freedom. The fundraising campaign for Radio Free Europe, covertly funded mainly by the U.S. government through the CIA until 1971, sold stamps and mailers to the public. The 1951 stamp Give Freedom to the Captive Nations! Fight Communism! sets church spires, a synagogue, a minaret and a pagoda above a scene of soldiers attacking civilians, and the Freedom-Gram: Help Truth Fight Communism uses the Statue of Liberty. Religious and national symbols lend moral weight to the campaign. (Sources: Cummings 2010)
• Somalia, 1970s: the leader in the flag. A 1976 mural photographed in Mogadishu, Barre Cult of Personality Mural, sets the portrait of Maj. Gen. Mohamed Siad Barre inside the Somali flag, with soldiers and aircraft streaming out of it. The nation's symbol and the leader's face become one image, which also makes it an example of Identity fusion. (Sources: University of Wisconsin Libraries, Herbert S. Lewis collection)
• United States, 1988 and 2003: military backdrops in both parties. Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis rode in an M1 tank for cameras in 1988 to borrow the image of military strength; the footage was widely mocked, and the opposing campaign reused it in an attack ad, which shows transfer can misfire. In 2003 President George W. Bush, a Republican, announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq aboard USS Abraham Lincoln under the "Mission Accomplished" banner shown in 'Mission Accomplished' banner on USS Abraham Lincoln, which lent the look of victory to a war that continued for years. (Sources: Jamieson 1992; U.S. Navy 2003)
• Russia and Israel, 2022 to 2026: borrowed institutional faces. The Russia-linked operation known as Doppelganger built clones of European news sites, with their logos and layouts, to carry pro-Kremlin articles, and the related Matryoshka clips described in Matryoshka's midterm clips: borrowed faces and a borrowed logo stamped a CNN logo on recut celebrity video. In a documented case involving a U.S. ally, Israel's government advertising agency paid through contractors for a site styled as a U.S. think tank, whose unsigned reports chatbots then cited, as described in The Hanover Institute: reports written for chatbots to cite; the foreign-agent filings for that work are public. The two differ: Doppelganger hid its sponsor entirely, while the Hanover site carried a legally required disclosure footer. (Sources: EU DisinfoLab 2022; U.S. Department of Justice FARA registration 7732)

How to spot it

• Cover the symbol. Remove the flag, the uniform, the logo or the religious image in your mind and ask whether the words alone still make a case.
• Ask whether the owner of the symbol actually stands behind the claim. A flag does not endorse a product; a news logo on a clip is not proof the outlet made it.
• Check the source directly. For anything wearing a known brand, find the item on the brand's own site or channel before trusting it.
• Look for symbols unrelated to the subject: religious imagery on a financial appeal, military hardware at a domestic policy speech, lab coats on a supplement ad.
• Notice negative pairings. An opponent shown beside an enemy flag, a disease image or a criminal's mugshot format is being tarred by placement rather than by evidence.
• Watch for the trappings of research (charts, footnotes, "Institute" names) with no named authors, address or funding disclosure.

Where it ends: edge cases and legitimate persuasion

Transfer has close neighbors. Testimonial borrows the standing of a specific person who is presented as endorsing the message; transfer borrows from a symbol or institution that has not endorsed anything. Glittering generalities does with virtue words ("freedom," "honor") what transfer does with images, and the two usually travel together. Name-calling is the verbal twin of negative transfer. Identity fusion is transfer taken to its end point, where the leader or cause no longer borrows from the nation's symbols but claims to be them. Plain folks borrows the ordinary rather than the exalted. Institutional mimicry shades into Narrative laundering when the borrowed form is used to hide who is speaking, and into Disclosure theater when a required disclosure is present but placed where few will see it.

Not every symbol next to a message is transfer. A government seal on a document issued by that government, a flag at a state funeral, a university's logo on research its own faculty produced, and a uniform worn by a serving officer giving an official briefing all state a real affiliation. The FRAME definition excludes "relevant institutional affiliation stated as a fact." The line is crossed when the symbol implies an endorsement, a source or a moral standing that the facts do not support, or when it is chosen for its emotional charge rather than because it is relevant to the claim.

The reader's test has two questions. First, is the symbol relevant, meaning its owner actually produced, authorized or is the subject of the message? Second, if the symbol were removed, would the argument change? If the symbol is relevant and the argument stands without it, the symbol is decoration or attribution. If the symbol is irrelevant, or the case falls apart without it, the symbol is doing the persuading.

Sources

• Carter, Travis J., Melissa J. Ferguson, and Ran R. Hassin. 2011. "A Single Exposure to the American Flag Shifts Support Toward Republicanism up to 8 Months Later." Psychological Science 22(8): 1011-1018.
• Cummings, Richard H. 2010. Radio Free Europe's "Crusade for Freedom": Rallying Americans Behind Cold War Broadcasting, 1950-1960. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
• De Houwer, Jan, Sarah Thomas, and Frank Baeyens. 2001. "Associative Learning of Likes and Dislikes: A Review of 25 Years of Research on Human Evaluative Conditioning." Psychological Bulletin 127(6): 853-869.
• Erler, Fritz. 1917. Helft uns siegen! Zeichnet die Kriegsanleihe. Poster. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-12475.
• EU DisinfoLab. 2022. Doppelganger: Media Clones Serving Russian Propaganda. Brussels: EU DisinfoLab.
• Gorn, Gerald J. 1982. "The Effects of Music in Advertising on Choice Behavior: A Classical Conditioning Approach." Journal of Marketing 46(1): 94-101.
• Hofmann, Wilhelm, Jan De Houwer, Marco Perugini, Frank Baeyens, and Geert Crombez. 2010. "Evaluative Conditioning in Humans: A Meta-Analysis." Psychological Bulletin 136(3): 390-421.
• Hopps, Harry Ryle. 1917. Destroy This Mad Brute: Enlist, U.S. Army. Poster. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-4696.
• Hovland, Carl I., and Walter Weiss. 1951. "The Influence of Source Credibility on Communication Effectiveness." Public Opinion Quarterly 15(4): 635-650.
• Jamieson, Kathleen Hall. 1992. Dirty Politics: Deception, Distraction, and Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Kellaris, James J., and Anthony D. Cox. 1989. "The Effects of Background Music in Advertising: A Reassessment." Journal of Consumer Research 16(1): 113-118.
• Klein, Richard A., et al. 2014. "Investigating Variation in Replicability: A 'Many Labs' Replication Project." Social Psychology 45(3): 142-152.
• Lee, Alfred McClung, and Elizabeth Briant Lee (eds.). 1939. The Fine Art of Propaganda: A Study of Father Coughlin's Speeches. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, for the Institute for Propaganda Analysis.
• Page, Monte M. 1969. "Social Psychology of a Classical Conditioning of Attitudes Experiment." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 11(2): 177-186.
• Petty, Richard E., and John T. Cacioppo. 1986. Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change. New York: Springer-Verlag.
• Staats, Arthur W., and Carolyn K. Staats. 1958. "Attitudes Established by Classical Conditioning." Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 57(1): 37-40.
• Thorndike, Edward L. 1920. "A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings." Journal of Applied Psychology 4(1): 25-29.
• University of Wisconsin Libraries. Herbert S. Lewis Somalia photograph collection, photograph catalogued as "Barre cult personality," dated 8 March 1976.
• U.S. Department of Justice. Foreign Agents Registration Act registration no. 7732 (Piro, Inc.), registration statement and informational-materials filings, 2026.
• U.S. Navy. 2003. Photograph 030502-N-9214D-002, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Juan E. Diaz, 2 May 2003.
• Welch, David. 1993. The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge.

Case studies

• Managing the news: France's 'bourrage de crâne' and Austria-Hungary's War Press Office (1914-1918) — Managing the news: France's 'bourrage de crâne' and Austria-Hungary's War Press Office (1914-1918)
• The Committee on Public Information: how the U.S. government sold the First World War at home (1917-1919) — The Committee on Public Information: how the U.S. government sold the First World War at home (1917-1919)
• The Hanover Institute: reports written for chatbots to cite — The Hanover Institute: reports written for chatbots to cite
• Germany answers back: the Manifesto of the 93 and the Lusitania medal (1914-1916) — Germany answers back: the Manifesto of the 93 and the Lusitania medal (1914-1916)
• Matryoshka's midterm clips: borrowed faces and a borrowed logo — Matryoshka's midterm clips: borrowed faces and a borrowed logo
• The Office of War Information's Domestic Branch, 1942-43 — The Office of War Information's Domestic Branch, 1942-43
• The Nayirah testimony: a Kuwaiti government PR campaign at a House human rights caucus — The Nayirah testimony: a Kuwaiti government PR campaign at a House human rights caucus
• How the US and UK governments presented the case for war in Iraq, 2002-03 — How the US and UK governments presented the case for war in Iraq, 2002-03
• Taxpayer-funded government advertising in Canada and Australia, 1996-2019 — Taxpayer-funded government advertising in Canada and Australia, 1996-2019
• "Désinfox coronavirus": the French government's page of selected press fact-checks — "Désinfox coronavirus": the French government's page of selected press fact-checks
• Torches of Freedom: the 1929 Easter Parade cigarette march — Torches of Freedom: the 1929 Easter Parade cigarette march
• OxyContin's launch marketing: a one-paragraph letter and a "less than one percent" message — OxyContin's launch marketing
• The Congress for Cultural Freedom: a CIA-funded intellectuals' network, 1950-1967 — The Congress for Cultural Freedom: CIA money behind an intellectuals' network
• The Crusade for Freedom: Truth Dollars for a CIA-funded radio, 1950-1971 — The Crusade for Freedom: a donation drive in front of a CIA-funded radio
• 'For whites only': the forged Klan letters sent to Olympic committees in 1984 — Forged Klan letters to Olympic teams, 1984
• The Korean War germ-warfare charges: commissions, confessions and the 1953 recall — The Korean War germ-warfare allegations, 1952
• Lubang Buaya, 1965: the mutilation story the autopsies did not support — Indonesia 1965: the Lubang Buaya story
• 'Asia for the Asiatics': Japan's Co-Prosperity Sphere and the movements that used it — 'Asia for the Asiatics': Japan's Co-Prosperity Sphere and the movements that used it
• The Kenya Emergency, 1952-1960: 'rehabilitation', the Hola water cart, and the oath — The Kenya Emergency, 1952-1960: 'rehabilitation', the Hola water cart, and the oath
• 'Benevolent assimilation': the Philippine-American War and the propaganda on every side — 'Benevolent assimilation': the Philippine-American War and the propaganda on every side
• Buy Empire, burn foreign cloth: the Empire Marketing Board and the swadeshi boycotts — Buy Empire, burn foreign cloth: the Empire Marketing Board and the swadeshi boycotts
• The Congo Free State press war: Leopold II's Press Bureau and the Congo Reform Association — The Congo Free State press war: Leopold II's Press Bureau and the Congo Reform Association
• The Islamic State's media machine: Dabiq, Rumiyah, Amaq and the 'virtual caliphate' — The Islamic State's media machine: Dabiq, Rumiyah, Amaq and the 'virtual caliphate'
• The second Ku Klux Klan: selling membership as '100% Americanism' — The second Ku Klux Klan: selling membership as '100% Americanism'
• Christchurch and its copycats: livestreamed attacks and 'manifesto culture', 2019-2022 — Christchurch and its copycats: livestreamed attacks and 'manifesto culture', 2019-2022
• Red Army Faction: communiqués, hunger strikes and the 'isolation torture' campaign — Red Army Faction: communiqués, hunger strikes and the 'isolation torture' campaign
• Shining Path: the Gonzalo cult, the 'people's war' and the state's reply — Shining Path: the Gonzalo cult, the 'people's war' and the state's reply
• Walls, prisons and airwaves: republican and loyalist paramilitary propaganda in Northern Ireland — Walls, prisons and airwaves: republican and loyalist paramilitary propaganda in Northern Ireland
• The Tamil Tigers' martyr cult, and the state's 'humanitarian operation' — The Tamil Tigers' martyr cult, and the state's 'humanitarian operation'
• Soviet montage cinema as state film: Battleship Potemkin and October — Soviet montage cinema: Battleship Potemkin and October
• Film under Goebbels: Triumph des Willens (1935) and Der ewige Jude (1940) — Film under Goebbels: Triumph des Willens and Der ewige Jude
• Why We Fight: the U.S. Army's orientation films, 1942-1945 — Why We Fight: the U.S. Army's orientation films
• Kadesh and Behistun: kings carving their own record — Kadesh and Behistun: kings carving their own record
• Octavian, Antony and the Res Gestae: how Augustus wrote his own reign — Octavian, Antony and the Res Gestae: how Augustus wrote his own reign
• The Reformation print war: Luther, Cranach and the Catholic reply — The Reformation print war: Luther, Cranach and the Catholic reply
• The English Civil War pamphlet war, 1641-1649 — The English Civil War pamphlet war, 1641-1649
• Join or Die to the Boston Massacre: patriot and loyalist print, 1754-1783 — Join or Die to the Boston Massacre: patriot and loyalist print, 1754-1783
• Revolution, counter-revolution and Napoleon's bulletins, 1789-1815 — Revolution, counter-revolution and Napoleon's bulletins, 1789-1815
• Abolitionist and pro-slavery print, 1787-1860 — Abolitionist and pro-slavery print, 1787-1860
• Union and Confederate print, 1861-1865 — Union and Confederate print, 1861-1865
• India's Emergency: 'India is Indira' and the censored press — India's Emergency: 'India is Indira' and the censored press
• Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI: how Indonesia's New Order kept 1965 on screen — Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI: how Indonesia's New Order kept 1965 on screen
• Indian Chronicles: fake local outlets, revived NGOs and a borrowed professor — Indian Chronicles: fake local outlets, revived NGOs and a borrowed professor
• The loudspeaker war: propaganda across the Taiwan Strait, 1949-1987 — The loudspeaker war: propaganda across the Taiwan Strait, 1949-1987
• The Kim leader cult, the anti-US month and the leaflets sent back — The Kim leader cult, the anti-US month and the leaflets sent back
• Marcos's martial law: the 'New Society' and the online contest over its memory — Marcos's martial law: the 'New Society' and the online contest over its memory
• Holy war on three sides: the Ottoman jihad call, Germany's Islam policy and Britain's Arab Revolt messaging (1914-1918) — Holy war on three sides: the Ottoman jihad call, Germany's Islam policy and Britain's Arab Revolt messaging (1914-1918)
• Russia's war of words: tsarist lubki, the Liberty Loan and the fight over 'German agents' (1914-1918) — Russia's war of words: tsarist lubki, the Liberty Loan and the fight over 'German agents' (1914-1918)
• The Institute for Propaganda Analysis (1937-1942) — The Institute for Propaganda Analysis (1937-1942)
• The 1800 election: "Jefferson and no God" and "squints at monarchy" — The 1800 election: "Jefferson and no God" and "squints at monarchy"
• Crime and victim attack ads in two U.S. presidential races: Horton and the furloughs (1988), James Byrd Jr. and hate-crimes law (2000) — Crime and victim attack ads in two U.S. presidential races: Horton and the furloughs (1988), James Byrd Jr. and hate-crimes law (2000)
• 2004: outside-group ads on Kerry's Navy record and Bush's Guard record — 2004: outside-group ads on Kerry's Navy record and Bush's Guard record
• Mood over argument: "Morning in America" (Reagan-Bush 1984) and "Hope" / "Yes We Can" (Obama 2008) — Mood over argument: "Morning in America" (Reagan-Bush 1984) and "Hope" / "Yes We Can" (Obama 2008)
• The steelworker ad and the welfare ads: two fact-checked attacks from the 2012 U.S. presidential race — The steelworker ad and the welfare ads: two fact-checked attacks from the 2012 U.S. presidential race
• British election posters and broadcasts, 1978 to 2005: Conservative and Labour attack campaigns — British election posters and broadcasts, 1978 to 2005: Conservative and Labour attack campaigns
• The MMR scare: from a 1998 press conference to Vaxxed, and its 1802 ancestors — The MMR scare: from a 1998 press conference to Vaxxed, and its 1802 ancestors
• Just Say No and the fried egg: anti-drug campaigns, 1971-2016 — Just Say No and the fried egg: anti-drug campaigns, 1971-2016
• Gay plague, tombstones and Silence = Death: messaging in the AIDS crisis, 1981-1990 — Gay plague, tombstones and Silence = Death: messaging in the AIDS crisis, 1981-1990
• Better babies, fitter families: eugenics campaigns in the US, Sweden and Germany — Better babies, fitter families: eugenics campaigns in the US, Sweden and Germany
• Votes for Women and the anti-suffrage campaigns, 1908 to 1920 — Votes for Women and the anti-suffrage campaigns, 1908 to 1920
• Temperance, Prohibition and the wets: the dry campaigns and their opponents, 1874 to 1933 — Temperance, Prohibition and the wets: the dry campaigns and their opponents, 1874 to 1933
• Labor organizing and anti-union campaigns in the United States, 1910-1941 — Labor organizing and anti-union campaigns in the United States, 1910-1941
• The US abortion debate: persuasion campaigns on both sides since the 1960s — The US abortion debate: persuasion campaigns on both sides since the 1960s
• The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street: two protest waves after the 2008 crash — The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street: two protest waves after the 2008 crash
• Gun rights and gun control: persuasion on both sides of the U.S. gun debate — Gun rights and gun control: persuasion on both sides of the U.S. gun debate
• The civil rights movement and the Citizens' Councils: boycotts and marches, 'outside agitator' labels, state money and economic pressure — The civil rights movement and the Citizens' Councils: boycotts and marches, 'outside agitator' labels, state money and economic pressure
• Mobutu's authenticité: how Zaire's party-state wrote one man into the nation — Mobutu's authenticité: how Zaire's party-state wrote one man into the nation
• Voice of the Arabs and the Voice of Britain: the Arab radio war, 1953-1967 — Voice of the Arabs and the Voice of Britain: the Arab radio war, 1953-1967
• The 1990-91 Gulf crisis: Iraq's 'guests' and 'linkage', and Washington's Hitler analogy — The 1990-91 Gulf crisis: Iraq's 'guests' and 'linkage', and Washington's Hitler analogy
• Perón cumple, Evita dignifica: Argentina's state media machine, and the decree that erased it — Perón cumple, Evita dignifica: Argentina's state media machine, and the decree that erased it
• Imperial Japan's wartime propaganda at home: the Information Bureau, the neighbourhood associations and the war communiqués — Imperial Japan's wartime propaganda at home: the Information Bureau, the neighbourhood associations and the war communiqués
• Soviet wartime propaganda, 1939-1945: Sovinformburo, Agitprop and the Red Army press — Soviet wartime propaganda, 1939-1945: Sovinformburo, Agitprop and the Red Army press
• Britain's Ministry of Information and Political Warfare Executive: posters at home, black radio abroad — Britain's Ministry of Information and Political Warfare Executive: posters at home, black radio abroad
• The U.S. Office of War Information and the Writers' War Board: a 'strategy of truth' meets the advertising men — The U.S. Office of War Information and the Writers' War Board: a 'strategy of truth' meets the advertising men
• Chinese wartime propaganda, 1937-1945: Chongqing, Yan'an and Wang Jingwei's Nanjing — Chinese wartime propaganda, 1937-1945: Chongqing, Yan'an and Wang Jingwei's Nanjing
• Before the state: the NSDAP's propaganda in its fringe years, 1920-1923 — Before the state: the NSDAP's propaganda in its fringe years, 1920-1923
• Hitler über Deutschland: the 1932 campaigns that made the NSDAP a mass party — Hitler über Deutschland: the 1932 campaigns that made the NSDAP a mass party
• The SA in the street: uniforms, a martyr and staged disorder as proof only the NSDAP could 'restore order' (1921-1933) — The SA in the street: uniforms, a martyr and staged disorder as proof only the NSDAP could 'restore order' (1921-1933)
• Before Triumph of the Will: staging scale for a fringe party at Nuremberg, 1923-1933 — Before Triumph of the Will: staging scale for a fringe party at Nuremberg, 1923-1933
• The Lenin cult after 1924: an embalmed body, a mausoleum and a doctrine called "Leninism" — The Lenin cult after 1924: an embalmed body, a mausoleum and a doctrine called "Leninism"
• Divide the land, label the enemy: propaganda and discipline in the Jiangxi Soviet (1927-1934) — Divide the land, label the enemy: propaganda and discipline in the Jiangxi Soviet (1927-1934)
• Propaganda of the Chinese Civil War, 1945-1949: land reform, surrender leaflets and the fall of the mainland — Propaganda of the Chinese Civil War, 1945-1949: land reform, surrender leaflets and the fall of the mainland
• The Mao cult before the state: 'Mao Zedong Thought' and 'The East Is Red', 1943-1949 — The Mao cult before the state: 'Mao Zedong Thought' and 'The East Is Red', 1943-1949
• The People's Court: the Volksgerichtshof as a stage for verdicts, 1934-1945 — The People's Court: the Volksgerichtshof as a stage for verdicts, 1934-1945
• The SS as its own propaganda institution: Das Schwarze Korps, the Ahnenerbe and the order myth, 1931-1945 — The SS as its own propaganda institution: Das Schwarze Korps, the Ahnenerbe and the order myth, 1931-1945
• The German Labour Front and Strength Through Joy, 1933-1945 — The German Labour Front and Strength Through Joy, 1933-1945
• The NKVD as its own propagandist: 'enemies of the people,' informants and the vigilant state (1934-1946) — The NKVD as its own propagandist: 'enemies of the people,' informants and the vigilant state (1934-1946)
• Selling the Gulag: the "re-forging" of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, 1930-1937 — Selling the Gulag: the 're-forging' of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, 1930-1937
• Xinhua News Agency: China's state press apparatus, 1931-present — Xinhua News Agency: China's state press apparatus, 1931-present
• The Hitler Youth: from a party wing to a legal duty, 1926-1945 — The Hitler Youth: from a party wing to a legal duty, 1926-1945
• The Bund Deutscher Mädel: raising Nazi Germany's girls for the Volk — The Bund Deutscher Mädel: raising Nazi Germany's girls for the Volk
• Nazi control of school curriculum and teachers, 1933-1938 — Nazi control of school curriculum and teachers, 1933-1938
• Two ladders to the top: the Napolas, the Adolf Hitler Schools, and the Reich's rival cadet pipelines (1933-1945) — Two ladders to the top: the Napolas, the Adolf Hitler Schools, and the Reich's rival cadet pipelines (1933-1945)
• The All-Union Pioneer Organization: scouting rebuilt as a communist pipeline, 1922-1991 — The All-Union Pioneer Organization: scouting rebuilt as a communist pipeline, 1922-1991
• The Komsomol: youth pipeline, mass mobilization and internal discipline, 1918-1991 — The Komsomol: youth pipeline, mass mobilization and internal discipline, 1918-1991
• The Little Octobrists (Oktyabryata): a red star badge for seven-year-olds — The Little Octobrists (Oktyabryata): a red star badge for seven-year-olds
• The Pavlik Morozov cult: a Soviet martyr built from a disputed murder — The Pavlik Morozov cult: a Soviet martyr built from a disputed murder
• A corner of the flag on a six-year-old: the Young Pioneers of China — A corner of the flag on a six-year-old: the Young Pioneers of China
• Red scarf to Party card: a century of the Communist Youth League of China — Red scarf to Party card: a century of the Communist Youth League of China
• Class struggle in the classroom: nationalizing China's school curriculum and textbooks, 1949-1977 — Class struggle in the classroom: nationalizing China's school curriculum and textbooks, 1949-1977
• Down to the countryside: how China rebranded a mass relocation of youth as revolutionary 're-education' (1968-1980) — Down to the countryside: how China rebranded a mass relocation of youth as revolutionary 're-education' (1968-1980)
• The Volkssturm: staging a 'people's storm' out of Nazi Germany's last conscription, 1944-45 — The Volkssturm: staging a 'people's storm' out of Nazi Germany's last conscription, 1944-45
• Wonder weapons: how the Reich sold the V-1, V-2 and Me 262 as war-winners, 1944-1945 — Wonder weapons: how the Reich sold the V-1, V-2 and Me 262 as war-winners, 1944-1945
• Werwolf: Nazi Germany's propaganda of a nationwide resistance that barely existed, 1944-1945 — Werwolf: Nazi Germany's propaganda of a nationwide resistance that barely existed, 1944-1945
• The Wehrmachtbericht's collapse: from 'Endsieg' to Dönitz's surrender broadcasts, 1944-1945 — The Wehrmachtbericht's collapse: from 'Endsieg' to Dönitz's surrender broadcasts, 1944-1945
• Yeltsin on the tank: the broadcast image that framed the August 1991 coup's collapse — Yeltsin on the tank: the broadcast image that framed the August 1991 coup's collapse
• The end of the USSR: Gorbachev's resignation and the flag over the Kremlin (December 1991) — The end of the USSR: Gorbachev's resignation and the flag over the Kremlin (December 1991)
• Grief on schedule: Mao's death, Hua Guofeng's succession and the 'two whatevers', 1976-1978 — Grief on schedule: Mao's death, Hua Guofeng's succession and the 'two whatevers', 1976-1978
• History will absolve me: the 26th of July Movement and Batista's press, 1953–1959 — History will absolve me: the 26th of July Movement and Batista's press, 1953–1959
• ¡Venceremos!: Cuba's 1961 literacy campaign, the primer, and the year-end declaration — ¡Venceremos!: Cuba's 1961 literacy campaign, the primer, and the year-end declaration
• Órgano oficial del Comité Central: Cuba's standing media apparatus after 1959 — Órgano oficial del Comité Central: Cuba's standing media apparatus after 1959
• The peoples of three continents: OSPAAAL, a Havana secretariat, and Tricontinental — The peoples of three continents: OSPAAAL, a Havana secretariat, and Tricontinental
• Pioneros por el comunismo: Cuba's youth ladder, the single textbook, and the reply that uses the same devices — Pioneros por el comunismo: Cuba's youth ladder, the single textbook, and the reply that uses the same devices