Countering Communist and Nasserite Propaganda: the Foreign Office Information Research Department in the Middle East and Africa, 1954-1963
Abstract
This thesis considers the role of the Information Research Department (IRD) in
countering Arab nationalist and Communist propaganda directed at British interests in the
Middle East and Africa between 1954 and 1963. It argues that the 1956 Suez Crisis and its
fallout was the catalyst that drove a significant expansion of IRD's remit and responsibility.
From 1956 the department – which up to this point had had a purely anti-Communist function –
was given the responsibility of countering the increasing flow of Arab nationalist propaganda
emerging from Egypt. The same year, the Communist powers mounted a renewed and
concerted effort to culturally and ideologically penetrate Africa. IRD, who to this point had
been excluded from directly operating in Africa, began counter-Communist work in the face of
stiff Colonial Office resistance.
Analysis of IRD in the Middle East has rarely considered events beyond the immediate
aftermath of Suez. IRD's work in Africa is almost wholly unexplored. It is a central contention
of this thesis that the two regions cannot be viewed in isolation post-Suez. Egypt's standing was
buoyed by the propaganda capital of victory over Suez, and Nasser's position as the figurehead
of Arab nationalism was assured. In seeking the removal of colonial influence from the Middle
East and Africa, Arab propaganda – particularly the Voice of the Arabs programme of Cairo Radio
– ties the regions together. Communist and African nationalist propagandists were drawn to
Cairo in the wake of the Suez Crisis. The former, building relationships through aid, sought to
leverage Cairo's expanding influence to their own advantage. The latter sought facilities and
support for their own propaganda efforts.
After Suez, IRD sought to manage Egyptian propaganda whilst avoiding direct
confrontation, seeking to normalise relations. In Africa, the department sought to build an
infrastructure for information work aimed at influencing future leaders, their efforts constrained
by the timetable of British decolonisation. In both regions, through developing relationships
with local agencies and the BBC, and from initiatives such as the Transmission 'X' news
commentary service, IRD continued to address Arab nationalist and Communist propaganda
with a flexibility and responsiveness not recognised in the current literature on IRD.
Publication date
2014-07-16Published version
https://doi.org/10.18745/th.14327https://doi.org/10.18745/th.14327