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Protocols of the Learned
Elders of Zion
Translated by Victor E. Marsden
PROTOCOL 12: CONTROL
OF THE PRESS
1. The word "freedom," which can be
interpreted in various ways, is defined by us as follows --
2. Freedom is the right to do that which the law allows. This
interpretation of the word will at the proper time be of service to us, because
all freedom will thus be in our hands, since the laws will abolish or create
only that which is desirable for us according to the aforesaid program.
3. We shall deal with the press in the following way: what is
the part played by the press to-day? It serves to excite and inflame those
passions which are needed for our purpose or else it serves selfish ends of
parties. It is often vapid, unjust, mendacious, and the majority of the public
have not the slightest idea what ends the press really serves. We shall saddle
and bridle it with a tight curb: we shall do the same also with all productions
of the printing press, for where would be the sense of getting rid of the
attacks of the press if we remain targets for pamphlets and books? The produce
of publicity, which nowadays is a source of heavy expense owing to the necessity
of censoring it, will be turned by us into a very lucrative source of income to
our State: we shall law on it a special stamp tax and require deposits of
caution-money before permitting the establishment of any organ of the press or
of printing offices; these will then have to guarantee our government against
any kind of attack on the part of the press. For any attempt to attack us, if
such still be possible, we shall inflict fines without mercy. Such measures as
stamp tax, deposit of caution-money and fines secured by these deposits, will
bring in a huge income to the government. It is true that party organs might not
spare money for the sake of publicity, but these we shall shut up at the second
attack upon us. No one shall with impunity lay a finger on the aureole of our
government infallibility. The pretext for stopping any publication will be the
alleged plea that it is agitating the public mind without occasion or
justification. I BEG YOU TO NOTE THAT AMONG THOSE MAKING ATTACKS UPON US WILL
ALSO BE ORGANS ESTABLISHED BY US, BUT THEY WILL ATTACK EXCLUSIVELY POINTS THAT
WE HAVE PRE-DETERMINED TO ALTER.
WE CONTROL THE PRESS
4. NOT A SINGLE ANNOUNCEMENT WILL REACH THE PUBLIC WITHOUT OUR
CONTROL. Even now this is already being attained by us inasmuch as all news
items are received by a few agencies, in whose offices they are focused from all
parts of the world. These agencies will then be already entirely ours and will
give publicity only to what we dictate to them.
5. If already now we have contrived to possess ourselves of
the minds of the GOY communities to such an extent the they all come near
looking upon the events of the world through the colored glasses of those
spectacles we are setting astride their noses; if already now there is not a
single State where there exist for us any barriers to admittance into what GOY
stupidity calls State secrets: what will our positions be then, when we shall be
acknowledged supreme lords of the world in the person of our king of all the
world ....
6. Let us turn again to the FUTURE OF THE PRINTING PRESS.
Every one desirous of being a publisher, librarian, or printer, will be obliged
to provide himself with the diploma instituted therefore, which, in case of any
fault, will be immediately impounded. With such measures THE INSTRUMENT OF
THOUGHT WILL BECOME AN EDUCATIVE MEANS ON THE HANDS OF OUR GOVERNMENT, WHICH
WILL NO LONGER ALLOW THE MASS OF THE NATION TO BE LED ASTRAY IN BY-WAYS AND
FANTASIES ABOUT THE BLESSINGS OF PROGRESS. Is there any one of us who does not
know that these phantom blessings are the direct roads to foolish imaginings
which give birth to anarchical relations of men among themselves and towards
authority, because progress, or rather the idea of progress, has introduced the
conception of every kind of emancipation, but has failed to establish its limits
.... All the so-called liberals are anarchists, if not in fact, at any rate in
thought. Every one of them in hunting after phantoms of freedom, and falling
exclusively into license, that is, into the anarchy of protest for the sake of
protest....
FREE PRESS DESTROYED
7. We turn to the periodical press. We shall impose on it, as
on all printed matter, stamp taxes per sheet and deposits of caution-money, and
books of less than 30 sheets will pay double. We shall reckon them as pamphlets
in order, on the one hand, to reduce the number of magazines, which are the
worst form of printed poison, and, on the other, in order that this measure may
force writers into such lengthy productions that they will be little read,
especially as they will be costly. At the same time what we shall publish
ourselves to influence mental development in the direction laid down for our
profit will be cheap and will be read voraciously. The tax will bring vapid
literary ambitions within bounds and the liability to penalties will make
literary men dependent upon us. And if there should be any found who are
desirous of writing against us, they will not find any person eager to print
their productions in print the publisher or printer will have to apply to the
authorities for permission to do so. Thus we shall know beforehand of all tricks
preparing against us and shall nullify them by getting ahead with explanations
on the subject treated of.
8. Literature and journalism are two of the most important
educative forces, and therefore our government will become proprietor of the
majority of the journals. This will neutralize the injurious influence of the
privately-owned press and will put us in possession of a tremendous influence
upon the public mind .... If we give permits for ten journals, we shall
ourselves found thirty, and so on in the same proportion. This, however, must in
no wise be suspected by the public. For which reason all journals published by
us will be of the most opposite, in appearance, tendencies and opinions, thereby
creating confidence in us and bringing over to us quite unsuspicious opponents,
who will thus fall into our trap and be rendered harmless.
9. In the front rank will stand organs of an official
character. They will always stand guard over our interests, and therefore their
influence will be comparatively insignificant.
10. In the second rank will be the semi-official organs, whose
part it will be to attack the tepid and indifferent.
11. In the third rank we shall set up our own, to all
appearance, off position, which, in at least one of its organs, will present
what looks like the very antipodes to us. Our real opponents at heart will
accept this simulated opposition as their own and will show us their cards.
12. All our newspapers will be of all possible complexions --
aristocratic, republican, revolutionary, even anarchical -- for so long, of
course, as the constitution exists .... Like the Indian idol "Vishnu"
they will have a hundred hands, and every one of them will have a finger on any
one of the public opinions as required. When a pulse quickens these hands will
lead opinion in the direction of our aims, for an excited patient loses all
power of judgment and easily yields to suggestion. Those fools who will think
they are repeating the opinion of a newspaper of their own camp will be
repeating our opinion or any opinion that seems desirable for us. In the vain
belief that they are following the organ of their party they will, in fact,
follow the flag which we hang out for them.
13. In order to direct our newspaper militia in this sense we
must take special and minute care in organizing this matter. Under the title of
central department of the press we shall institute literary gatherings at which
our agents will without attracting attention issue the orders and watchwords of
the day. By discussing and controverting, but always superficially, without
touching the essence of the matter, our organs will carry on a sham fight
fusillade with the official newspapers solely for the purpose of giving occasion
for us to express ourselves more fully than could well be done from the outset
in official announcements, whenever, of course, that is to our advantage.
14. THESE ATTACKS UPON US WILL ALSO SERVE ANOTHER PURPOSE,
NAMELY, THAT OUR SUBJECTS WILL BE CONVINCED TO THE EXISTENCE OF FULL FREEDOM OF
SPEECH AND SO GIVE OUR AGENTS AN OCCASION TO AFFIRM THAT ALL ORGANS WHICH OPPOSE
US ARE EMPTY BABBLERS, since they are incapable of finding any substantial
objections to our orders.
ONLY LIES PRINTED
15. Methods of organization like these, imperceptible to the
public eye but absolutely sure, are the best calculated to succeed in bringing
the attention and the confidence of the public to the side of our government.
Thanks to such methods we shall be in a position as from time to time may be
required, to excite or to tranquillize the public mind on political questions,
to persuade or to confuse, printing now truth, now lies, facts or their
contradictions, according as they may be well or ill received, always very
cautiously feeling our ground before stepping upon it .... WE SHALL HAVE A SURE
TRIUMPH OVER OUR OPPONENTS SINCE THEY WILL NOT HAVE AT THEIR DISPOSITION ORGANS
OF THE PRESS IN WHICH THEY CAN GIVE FULL AND FINAL EXPRESSION TO THEIR VIEWS
owing to the aforesaid methods of dealing with the press. We shall not even need
to refute them except very superficially.
16. Trial shots like these, fired by us in the third rank of
our press, in case of need, will be energetically refuted by us in our
semi-official organs.
17. Even nowadays, already, to take only the French press,
there are forms which reveal masonic solidarity in acting on the watchword: all
organs of the press are bound together by professional secrecy; like the augurs
of old, not one of their numbers will give away the secret of his sources of
information unless it be resolved to make announcement of them. Not one
journalist will venture to betray this secret, for not one of them is ever
admitted to practice literature unless his whole past has some disgraceful sore
or other .... These sores would be immediately revealed. So long as they remain
the secret of a few the prestige of the journalist attacks the majority of the
country -- the mob follow after him with enthusiasm.
18. Our calculations are especially extended to the provinces.
It is indispensable for us to inflame there those hopes and impulses with which
we could at any moment fall upon the capital, and we shall represent to the
capitals that these expressions are the independent hopes and impulses of the
provinces. Naturally, the source of them will be always one and the same --
ours. WHAT WE NEED IS THAT, UNTIL SUCH TIME AS WE ARE IN THE PLENITUDE POWER,
THE CAPITALS SHOULD FIND THEMSELVES STIFLED BY THE PROVINCIAL OPINION OF THE
NATIONS, I.E., OF A MAJORITY ARRANGED BY OUR AGENTUR. What we need is that at
the psychological moment the capitals should not be in a position to discuss an
accomplished fact for the simple reason, if for no other, that it has been
accepted by the public opinion of a majority in the provinces.
19. WHEN WE ARE IN THE PERIOD OF THE NEW REGIME TRANSITIONAL
TO THAT OF OUR ASSUMPTION OF FULL SOVEREIGNTY WE MUST NOT ADMIT ANY REVELATION
BY THE PRESS OF ANY FORM OF PUBLIC DISHONESTY; IT IS NECESSARY THAT THE NEW
REGIME SHOULD BE THOUGHT TO HAVE SO PERFECTLY CONTENDED EVERYBODY THAT EVEN
CRIMINALITY HAS DISAPPEARED ... Cases of the manifestation of criminality should
remain known only to their victims and to chance witnesses -- no more.
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