The Perfect Paper 1 (Highly Idealistic)

Why fight for Russia?

The following text is a leaflet written by British Pacifist Norman Angell in 1914 in response to Britain’s decision to enter the World War 1 alongside Russia. The extract displays conventions of a leaflet all throughout including bold titles, use of a variety of persuasive techniques and also facts and figures. The given extract was written in 1914 when essentially Britain was an empire where the sun never set. Norman Angell approaches this issue not only as a pacifist but also as a patriotic British national. Through the effective use of stylistic devices such as rhetorical question, anaphora and antithesis to compare Russian and British ideologies, Angell establishes the argument that Britain has no need to enter the World War 1 alongside Russia.

The purpose of this leaflet is to persuade the audience to protest against Britain’s decision to enter World War 1. The audience can be anyone as leaflets are freely distributed to the public but the target audience is clearly the working class as Norman Angell says “Make your Trade Union, you I.L.P., or B.S.P. branch pass strong resolutions”. He therefore creates this leaflet as a call to action, the action being to protest against Britain’s involvement in the war. The theme of this leaflet is merely the notion that war causes violence and this is also obvious as Norman Angell was a Pacifist.

The content of the leaflet revolves around this idea and Angell provides factual information to drives the desired response from the reader. He compares Russian and British ideologies and states that Russia’s system is against British ideals of liberty and justice and against ‘western civilization’ as a whole. Norman Angell then asks a direct question which compares Germans to Russians and provokes a logical thought process. He calls Russians ‘slaves of a corrupt autocracy’ and does this to send the message that that Great Britain as a civilized nation should not relate or associate itself with Russia. Norman Angell goes a step further to state that Germans are of the same race and blood and just like the British, are engaged in trade and industry and peaceful occupations. This induces the reader to relate to a German rather than a Russian and also adds to his purpose to persuade the reader to protest against War. He also mentions that a war for Russia is like a war against civilization and this further provokes the desired response from the working class, that is, to vote against Britain taking part in WW1 and to live in peace and harmony.

The tone of this leaflet is preachy and is therefore convincing and this creates a patriotic mood that turns it into a matter of urgency. The author indicates that the information should be spread by saying “write your member that you will try and turn him out”. Norman Angell essentially questions what the reader expects of their country and the values it upholds. The author effectively uses logos to explain why Britain shouldn’t take part in the war using and example from Crimea where Great Britain spent 50 million pounds. He also uses figures to compare the population sizes of Germany compared to Russia to emphasize the much greater threat Russia could be in comparison to Germany. He also indirectly uses pathos in the form of a patriotic angle to change the opinion of a reader that Britain should fight alongside Russia in World War 1. The author effectively uses a range of literary devices in the leaflet, such as anaphora when he repeats ‘Russia’ three times to grab the reader’s attention. He uses the antithesis that a war for Russia is a war against civilization to directly influence the reader’s opinion and perspective to one that is for peace and thus against Britain taking part in WW1.

The structure of this poster is one that is organized and shows a logical but biased thought process. The title itself asks a question ‘Why fight for Russia?’ This rhetorical question indicates the start of the thought process. The reader can then use the information and the question provided by Norman Angell to think about the War and its consequences. The author’s intention to re-emphasize that this is a violent war to be fought alongside Russia, is satisfied with the the statement ‘A War for Russia is a War against Civilization.’ Again, the use of an antithesis combined with the big bold black text conveys the underlying message to the reader. Lastly Angell reiterates what he means: ‘BRITAIN, STAND CLEAR!’ and this provides a conclusion to his well-organized argument.

In conclusion, Norman Angell effectively uses persuasive techniques and bias to create a leaflet that questions the patriotism of the British by comparing them to Russians who he mentions in the leaflet, are against the values and ideals of the nation. He therefore provokes the desired response from the reader, to protest and vote against Britain taking part in World War 1.

Obviously he failed…. hahaha