Özet:

The 1950 election is an important historical event and breaking point in the history of Turkish Democracy as much as the transition to multi-party life in 1945 and the first free elections in 1946. As a matter of fact, in this election, the The Republican People’s (CHP) left the power it has held for twenty seven years to the DP. However, before the elections, the CHP has a strong belief that it will maintain its power. Moreover, it was prepared for election in a method that has never been used before. It has established the Propaganda Committees as a structure that will only carry out election and propaganda activities within its organization. Propaganda Committees consist of a dual structure as central and provincial. In the center, there is the Propaganda and Broadcasting Bureau of the CHP General Administration Council, which is responsible for the coordination and management of the committees. In the provinces and districts, propaganda committees were established separately from CHP organizations. The main task of the propaganda committees is to make CHP propaganda in the places where they are in line with the instructions sent from the center and to prepare for the elections. Committees consisting of three to five people will be elected from among the members of CHP provincial and district organizations or from outside. Attention was paid to the fact that the members were sociable, able to speak freely in the public and gained the love of the people. Although their structures and numbers may be different according to their regions, the committees were asked to appeal to all segments of the society. After the establishment of the committees, materials such as brochures, posters, flyers prepared from the center were sent to be used during propaganda activities. In these materials, what the CHP has done in the field of economy, industry, agriculture, education, health and transportation during its twenty-seven years in power is included. The committees conveyed these informations to the voters through the visits and meetings they organized in provinces, districts, towns and villages and distributed the materials. The General Board of Directors Propaganda and Broadcasting Bureau requested weekly reports on these activities of the committees and shaped their propaganda activities in line with these reports. In this study, the formation, structure and activities of the Propaganda Committees are mainly discussed within the framework of archive documents.

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