Why postage stamps were forged, and how they became a weapon of propaganda

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Why Issue Fake Postage Stamps? Then, that this is a fairly effective way to wage an ideological struggle. Both large states, and small ones, and even non-existent ones used mail as an agitation tool already in the century before last, when postage stamps were just beginning to circulate. Now this method of propaganda is a phenomenon that has already become obsolete, but by studying such a philatelic heritage of the past, one can assess the scale of those information wars.

Space for visual agitation

Let the main function of the postage stamp become confirmation of payment for the shipment, secondary, propaganda, was also - after all, the stamps depicted what the population was supposed to know and love. Starting from 1840, when the first such sign was released, portraits of heads of state were often printed on stamps, and besides them, portraits of authors, politicians, heroes of war and peacetime important for the official ideology.

Postage stamps issued during the existence of the Soviet Union deserve separate consideration. Residents of various parts of the country, including settlements remote from the capital, were at least in this form available portraits of the leaders of the proletariat, including those released for various joyful and sad anniversaries. Other educational materials were also replicated, for example, images of writers whose works corresponded to the state ideology.

To a certain extent, a similar propaganda of values important for the state can be seen on the stamps of other countries, even if the design of the brand was not everywhere subject to such a degree of censorship as in the Soviet space. Much more interesting are the cases when the release of certain series of stamps was not sanctioned by the state on whose territory these stamps were distributed, on the contrary, the authorities fought this kind of creativity in the most decisive way.

The first "opposition" campaign of this kind was launched in 1871, just three decades after the appearance of postage stamps as such. The emission was conceived within the framework of campaigning for the contender for the French royal throne, Comte de Chambord, potential emperor Henry V. “For” the count and “against” the republic - these stamps carried such ideas. Of course, such postage signs were not of any value for communication services, since they had nothing to do with payment and were fakes.

Quite often, it was not the leader of the opposition struggle himself or even his team that was responsible for this kind of sabotage - the issue of stamps bypassing state institutions - but just someone who sympathized. By the way, the identity of the person who launched the fake propaganda stamps into circulation was often unidentified. This was the case, for example, with the issue of postage stamps dedicated to General Georges Boulanger, who in the late 1880s sought to establish a dictatorship in France. Who exactly issued these stamps remains unknown.

Philately propaganda as a direction of political struggle

Often the printing of false postage stamps accompanied military conflicts, became their harbinger, or, conversely, an echo. After the end of the First World War, a series of non-postage stamps, that is, not related to postal circulation, became widespread. It was called "Lost Territories", and this issue was financed by some private organizations, revanchists. That was the time of the painful issue for the Germans of the loss of colonial possessions as a result of the war.

In Upper Silesia, before the start of the plebiscite on the passage of the border between Germany and Poland, which took place in 1921, other propaganda stamps were in circulation, without specifying the denomination. As a result, the votes were distributed approximately evenly, and part of the territory of Upper Silesia was recognized as belonging to Germany, part to Poland. More often, the appearance of such marks was tied not to joining any state, but, on the contrary, to the struggle for independence. At the beginning of the 20th century, the separatists sent letters to members of the French Parliament with stamps campaigning for the secession of Brittany.

Incidentally, one should not accuse propagandists of seeking to profit from their initiative by saving on postage signs. As a rule, letters of this kind were paid according to all the rules, the required number of official stamps was pasted on the envelope. The only thing the senders could be blamed was for using campaign stickers on letters, but not for fraud.

In addition to territorial disputes, social slogans also became the reason for the appearance of propaganda stamps. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, "suffragette stamps" appeared in France - a man with a board adorned them, parodying the image on the official stamp - a woman holding a shield with the inscription "Droits de l'homme" ("Human rights / men"), which read "Droits de la femme" ("The rights of a woman").

Self-proclaimed rulers stamps

Propaganda philately is a separate area of interest for collectors. Finding such stamps and studying them was once a popular hobby - for example, in Great Britain in the second half of the 20th century. This also probably explains the appearance of a large number of "postal ghosts", that is, stamps of non-existent states: the issue could be interesting from a commercial point of view. There were plenty of such states, whether jokingly or seriously declaring "independence" in the 20th century. It was not only about postage stamps - such territories acquired their own currency - which, from the point of view of the law, already led to more serious troubles than the replication of "propaganda stickers".

In 1924, English entrepreneur Martin Harman bought a small island in the Bay of Bristol and declared himself the local ruler - the king of the Landy state. The production of coins was even started, which, however, violated British law and led to fines against the monarch; coins from then on had only numismatic value. There were also postage stamps - which, of course, did not have weight in the eyes of the postal services of Great Britain, which never recognized Lundy's sovereignty. The reign of the "king" continued until his death in 1954. In 1970, Leonard Casley, a farmer from Australia, declared his holdings as the sovereign principality of the Hutt River, thus protesting against the increase in sales taxes. "Prince Leonard I", having invented the national flag and coat of arms for this occasion, did not forget about the postage stamps. However, the project turned out to be quite successful: the "state" with an area of 75 sq. M. km are visited annually by tens of thousands of tourists, moreover, about 14,000 people are holders of Hutt River passports, although they are called fictitious.

But how in general postage stamps appeared, some of which are worth a fortune.