Gender Factor in the Russian Propaganda of the Ally’s Image during World War I

Abstract

This article analyses the role of the gender factor in promoting the image of an ally in the conditions of the First World War. The author shows that in the pre-revolutionary period of Russia’s participation in the war, pro-allied propaganda was used as an instrument of patriotic political mobilisation of society. The main plot of such propaganda was the successes of the allies, primarily England and France, in mobilising material and human resources in the interests of the war, and the achievements of those countries in organising the rear. In the publications of the press, gender language was widely used, as well as images of masculinity and femininity as examples of proper male and female participation in the war, and the patriotic efforts of men and women. The concepts of ideal masculinity used in promoting the image of an ally included the ideas of a responsible civic attitude, decisiveness, and energy as the main attributes of a man in the conditions of the “home front” of a new industrial war. Until the February Revolution of 1917, Great Britain served as a model when it came to national mobilisation in the propaganda of the Russian media, and its leaders, like the heads and representatives of the British Empire governments, became personal incarnations of masculinity. In contrast to them, the position of W. Wilson before the US entered the war was viewed as humiliating and humble, which contained negative gender connotations and contradicted the ideal of masculinity. The images of the allied nations’ women played a special role in patriotic mobilisation, embodying selflessness as the traditional ideal of femininity, while simultaneously involving new connotations and meanings associated with the proactive position of women in a new type of war. During the Revolution of 1917, in a situation of growing disillusionment with the war, the propaganda of the mobilisation efforts of the allies ceased to be a popular subject of Russian socio-political discourse. Titanic propaganda efforts undertaken by the allies themselves also failed. The public demand for gender equality actualised by the Revolution manifested itself in the movement to form women’s battalions, which also became a demonstration of the patriotic civic position of women. Despite its predominantly propagandistic rather than military significance, this movement also did not work as an instrument of patriotic mobilisation, showing the persistence of gender stereotypes and society’s weariness from war.