Halte au Menteurs! Les Cocobacilles Sement La Haine! [Stop the Liars! The Communist Bacteria Spread Hate!]
- Title:
- Halte au Menteurs! Les Cocobacilles Sement La Haine! [Stop the Liars! The Communist Bacteria Spread Hate!]
- Alternate Title:
- [Stop the Liars! The Communist Bacteria Spread Hate!]
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Paix et Liberte
- Date:
- 1952
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2395.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2395_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1940 - 1959
- Subject:
- Communism & Cold War
Pictorial
Politics & Government
Satirical
Unusual Graphics/Text - Measurement:
- 51 x 49 on sheet 80 x 60 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This political poster map uses clever word play and images, based on contemporaneous news events, to attack the “lies” and “hate” spread by the French Communist Party. Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin is at the top right of poster, shouting through a megaphone at France. As he speaks, he expels a number of germs that cover the nation, each portrayed as an insect-like caricature of an important French communist leader or supporter. The captions read “Halt the Liars - The Communist Bacteria Spread Hate.” (Coccobacilli, with three “c”s” in “cocco”, are a type of bacteria characterized by their shape. Some species of coccobacilli can cause serious diseases in humans, including pneumonia, whooping cough and plague. The word “coco,” with two “c”s, is French slang for Communist.)
Each of the 11 communist figures is identified by name in a legend below, although many would have been readily recognizable at the time from their caricatures. Perched atop Stalin’s megaphone is No. I, Maurice Thorez, long-time chief of the Communist Party of France. His position close to Stalin also reflects the fact that he was physically in the Soviet Union for medical care from 1950-53. During his absence, the French party was led by Jacques Duclos, No. VI. Thorez is shown attached by a string to his wife and fellow communist activist, Jeannette Vermeersch, No. III. Among the other figures are the French activist and scientist Frédéric Joliot-Curie, No. VIII, who shared the 1935 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with his wife Irène. Liebich, Andre, “Halte aux Menteurs,” https://books.openedition.org/iheid/6660, accessed April 9, 2019.
During the Korean conflict (as in most wars and natural disasters), there was an increase in infectious diseases, including cholera, typhus and plague, particularly in North Korea. On February 22, 1952, the North Korean foreign minister began a “most vehement, and effective, BW propaganda campaign” by accusing the U.S. of carrying out biological warfare. By March 8, the Chinese press and foreign minister Chou En-lai had joined, attacking the American Air Force as war criminals. Crane 2001, 64; Cowdrey 1984, 163-64. The Soviets also took up the cause, asserting before the United Nations that the U.S. "had rained down the following list of germ-infested objects: crackers, pork, spiders, crows, ants, yellow leaves, crickets, canned food, fleas and goose feathers." New York Times, March 29, 1952, pp. 1-2.
When photos were published purporting to show insects and germ bombs dropped over North Korea, U.S. scientists reviewed the images and easily identified them as frauds. Ibid. April 3, 1952, p. 1 ("Reds' Photographs on Germ Warfare Exposed as Fakes"). But the claims continued, and gained worldwide recognition. In July the New York Times noted “the ferocity of the Communist campaign” and reported that “by sheer force of repetition,” the allegations “have now assumed a position of fundamental importance in relations between the Soviet Union and the free World.” (“Germ-Warfare Canard Grows to Major Issue,” July 13, 1952, p.6E.) “In the end there were few places on earth where the charge of BW had not been heard and its merits debated.” Cowdrey 1984, 153. This poster is undated, but it seems likely that it was produced during the spring or summer of 1952 when the biological warfare propaganda campaign was at its peak.
The poster map is one in a series published and widely distributed by a little-known organization, "Paix et Liberté." Throughout the 1950s, this organization "participated in American psychological warfare campaigns and the mobilization of Europeans for the anti-communist cause, mixing covert actions with open propaganda." It was "first and foremost, a two-dimensional state-private network" organized "to fight against the dangers of communism" and "to wage the ideological Cold War." Not surprisingly, "the exact circumstances and dynamics behind the creation of Paix et Liberté remain uncertain." Ludwig 2014, 81.
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.