Propaganda of the Deed or Propaganda by Deed was an anarchist doctrine that promoted the decisive action of individuals to inspire further action by others.
Arguably it was in this period that modern-day international terrorism was born. The invention of dynamite, and its widespread distribution the 19th century, gave enormous power to anyone able to obtain it.
This newfound power led anarchists, notably Johann Most in his pamphlet The Science of Revolutionary Warfare, to advocate its use to further their cause through assassinations and terrorism.
By the mid-1890s it was clear that "Propaganda of the Deed" was a failed strategy, and most revolutionary anarchists, including Kropotkin and Malatesta, distanced themselves from the idea. A fringe continued the practice for a few years more.
Propaganda in this sense would be distinguished from education, which assumes that the listener is rational, can understand several points of view, and will make up his or her mind on the basis of the evidence.
Propaganda became both a public issue and a writer's issue in England and America during World War I. Following the religious and colonial wars of the 19th century, when nationalism appeared to be an answer to the upheavals and transformations of social movements, new ideological conditions prevailed.
Propaganda uses slogans that scapegoat members of a class, race, or ethnic community as the enemy who is outside the boundaries of the human community.
In the early 20th century the term propaganda was also used by the founders of the nascent public relations industry to describe their activities; this usage died out around the time of World War II, as the industry started to avoid the word, given the pejorative connotation it had acquired.
Propaganda, in this sense, serves as a corollary to censorship in which the same purpose is achieved, not by filling people's minds with approved information, but by preventing people from being confronted with opposing points of view.
Such permeating propaganda may be used for political goals: by giving citizens a false impression of the quality or policies of their country, they may be incited to reject certain proposals or certain remarks or ignore the experience of others.
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