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An iron curtain 1946 Winston Churchill
Discurso pronunciado por el líder de la oposición británica en el Colegio
Westminster de
Fulton, Estados unidos de América, el 5 de marzo de 1946.
I am glad to come to Westminster College this afternoon, and am complimented
that you should give me a degree. The name Westminster is somehow familiar to
me.
I seem to have heard of it before. Indeed, it was at Westminster that I received
a
very large part of my education in politics, dialectic, rhetoric, and one or two
other things.
In fact we have both been educated at the same, or similar, or, at any rate,
kindred
establishments.
It is also an honour, perhaps almost unique, for a private visitor to be
introduced
to an academic audience by the President of the United States. Amid his heavy
burdens,
duties, and responsibilities-unsought but not recoiled from-the President has
travelled a
thousand miles to dignify and magnify our meeting here to-day and to give me an
opportunity of addressing this kindred nation, as well as my own countrymen
across the
ocean, and perhaps some other countries too. The President has told you that it
is his
wish, as I am sure it is yours, that I should have full liberty to give my true
and faithful
counsel in these anxious and baffling times. I shall certainly avail myself of
this freedom,
and feel the more right to do so because any private ambitions I may have
cherished in
my younger days have been satisfied beyond my wildest dreams. Let me, however,
make
it clear that I have no official mission or status of any kind, and that I speak
only for
myself. There is nothing here but what you see.
I can therefore allow my mind, with the experience of a lifetime, to play over
the
problems which beset us on the morrow of our absolute victory in arms, and to
try to
make sure with what strength I have that what has been gained with so much
sacrifice and
suffering shall be preserved for the future glory and safety of mankind.
The United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power. It is a
solemn moment for the American Democracy. For with primacy in power is also
joined
an awe inspiring accountability to the future. If you look around you, you must
feel not
only the sense of duty done but also you must feel anxiety lest you fall below
the level of
achievement. Opportunity is here now, clear and shining for both our countries.
To reject
it or ignore it or fritter it away will bring upon us all the long reproaches of
the after-time.
It is necessary that constancy of mind, persistency of purpose, and the grand
simplicity of
decision shall guide and rule the conduct of the English-speaking peoples in
peace as they
did in war. We must, and I believe we shall, prove ourselves equal to this
severe
requirement.
When American military men approach some serious situation they are wont to
write at the head of their directive the words over-all strategic concept.
There is
wisdom in this, as it leads to clarity of thought. What then is the over-all
strategic concept
which we should inscribe today? It is nothing less than the safety and welfare,
the
freedom and progress, of all the homes and families of all the men and women in
all the
lands. And here I speak particularly of the myriad cottage or apartment homes
where the
wage-earner strives amid the accidents and difficulties of life to guard his
wife and
children from privation and bring the family up in the fear of the Lord, or upon
ethical
conceptions which often play their potent part.
To give security to these countless homes, they must be shielded from the two
giant marauders, war and tyranny. We all know the frightful disturbances in
which the
ordinary family is plunged when the curse of war swoops down upon the
bread-winner
and those for whom he works and contrives. The awful ruin of Europe, with all
its
vanished glories, and of large parts of Asia glares us in the eyes. When the
designs of
wicked men or the aggressive urge of mighty States dissolve over large areas the
frame of CXXIX civilised society, humble folk are confronted with difficulties with which they
cannot
cope. For them all is distorted, all is broken, even ground to pulp.
When I stand here this quiet afternoon I shudder to visualise what is actually
happening to millions now and what is going to happen in this period when famine
stalks
the earth. None can compute what has been called the unestimated sum of human
pain.
Our supreme task and duty is to guard the homes of the common people from the
horrors
and miseries of another war. We are all agreed on that.
Our American military colleagues, after having proclaimed their over-all
strategic concept and computed available resources, always proceed to the next
step-
namely, the method. Here again there is widespread agreement. A world
organisation has
already been erected for the prime purpose of preventing war, UNO, the successor
of the
League of Nations, with the decisive addition of the United States and all that
that means,
is already at work. We must make sure that its work is fruitful, that it is a
reality and not a
sham, that it is a force for action, and not merely a frothing of words, that it
is a true
temple of peace in which the shields of many nations can some day be hung up,
and not
merely a cockpit in a Tower of Babel. Before we cast away the solid assurances
of
national armaments for self-preservation we must be certain that our temple is
built, not
upon shifting sands or quagmires, but upon the rock. Anyone can see with his
eyes open
that our path will be difficult and also long, but if we persevere together as
we did in the
two world wars-though not, alas, in the interval between them-I cannot doubt
that we
shall achieve our common purpose in the end.
I have, however, a definite and practical proposal to make for action. Courts
and
magistrates may be set up but they cannot function without sheriffs and
constables. The
United Nations Organisation must immediately begin to be equipped with an
international
armed force. In such a matter we can only go step by step, but we must begin
now. I
propose that each of the Powers and States should be invited to delegate a
certain number
of air squadrons to the service of the world organisation. These squadrons would
be
trained and prepared in their own countries, but would move around in rotation
from one
country to another. They would wear the uniform of their own countries but with
different
badges. They would not be required to act against their own nation, but in other
respects
they would be directed by the world organisation. This might be started on a
modest scale
and would grow as confidence grew. I wished to see this done after the First
World War,
and I devoutly trust it may be done forthwith.
It would nevertheless be wrong and imprudent to entrust the secret knowledge or
experience of the atomic bomb, which the United States, Great Britain, and
Canada now
share, to the world organisation, while it is still in its infancy. It would be
criminal
madness to cast it adrift in this still agitated and un-united world. No one in
any country
has slept less well in their beds because this knowledge and the method and the
raw
materials to apply it, are at present largely retained in American hands. I do
not believe
we should all have slept so soundly had the positions been reversed and if some
Communist or neo-Fascist State monopolised for the time being these dread
agencies.
The fear of them alone might easily have been used to enforce totalitarian
systems upon
the free democratic world, with consequences appalling to human imagination. God
has
willed that this shall not be and we have at least a breathing space to set our
house in
order before this peril has to be encountered: and even then, if no effort is
spared, we
should still possess So formidable a superiority as to impose effective
deterrents upon its
employment, or threat of employment, by others. Ultimately, when the essential
brotherhood of man is truly embodied and expressed in a world organisation with
all the
necessary practical safeguards to make it effective, these powers would
naturally be
confided to that world organisation.
Now I come to the second danger of these two marauders which threatens the
cottage, the home, and the ordinary people-namely, tyranny. We cannot be blind
to the
fact that the liberties enjoyed by individual citizens throughout the British
Empire are not
valid in a considerable number of countries, some of which are very powerful. In
these
States control is enforced upon the common people by various kinds of
all-embracing CXXX
police governments. The power of the State is exercised without restraint,
either by
dictators or by compact oligarchies operating through a privileged party and a
political
police. It is not our duty at this time when difficulties are so numerous to
interfere
forcibly in the internal affairs of countries which we have not conquered in
war. But we
must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom
and the
rights of man which are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world and
which
through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and
the English
common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of
Independence.
All this means that the people of any country have the right, and should have
the
power by constitutional action, by free unfettered elections, with secret
ballot, to choose
or change the character or form of government under which they dwell; that
freedom of
speech and thought should reign; that courts of justice, independent of the
executive,
unbiased by any party, should administer laws which have received the broad
assent of
large majorities or are consecrated by time and custom. Here are the title deeds
of
freedom which should lie in every cottage home. Here is the message of the
British and
American peoples to mankind. Let us preach what we practise - let us practise
what we
preach.
I have now stated the two great dangers which menace the homes of the people:
War and Tyranny. I have not yet spoken of poverty and privation which are in
many cases
the prevailing anxiety. But if the dangers of war and tyranny are removed, there
is no
doubt that science and co-operation can bring in the next few years to the
world, certainly
in the next few decades newly taught in the sharpening school of war, an
expansion of
material well-being beyond anything that has yet occurred in human experience.
Now, at
this sad and breathless moment, we are plunged in the hunger and distress which
are the
aftermath of our stupendous struggle; but this will pass and may pass quickly,
and there is
no reason except human folly or sub-human crime which should deny to all the
nations
the inauguration and enjoyment of an age of plenty. I have often used words
which I
learned fifty years ago from a great Irish-American orator, a friend of mine,
Mr. Bourke
Cockran. There is enough for all. The earth is a generous mother; she will
provide in
plentiful abundance food for all her children if they will but cultivate her
soil in justice
and in peace. So far I feel that we are in full agreement.
Now, while still pursuing the method of realising our overall strategic concept,
I
come to the crux of what I have travelled here to Say. Neither the sure
prevention of war,
nor the continuous rise of world organisation will be gained without what I have
called
the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples. This means a special
relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States.
This
is no time for generalities, and I will venture to be precise. Fraternal
association requires
not only the growing friendship and mutual understanding between our two vast
but
kindred Systems of society, but the continuance of the intimate relationship
between our
military advisers, leading to common study of potential dangers, the similarity
of
weapons and manuals of instructions, and to the interchange of officers and
cadets at
technical colleges. It should carry with it the continuance of the present
facilities for
mutual security by the joint use of all Naval and Air Force bases in the
possession of
either country all over the world. This would perhaps double the mobility of the
American Navy and Air Force. It would greatly expand that of the British Empire
Forces
and it might well lead, if and as the world calms down, to important financial
savings.
Already we use together a large number of islands; more may well be entrusted to
our
joint care in the near future.
The United States has already a Permanent Defence Agreement with the Dominion
of Canada, which is so devotedly attached to the British Commonwealth and
Empire. This Agreement is more effective than many of those which have often
been
made under formal alliances. This principle should be extended to all British
Commonwealths with full reciprocity. Thus, whatever happens, and thus only,
shall we
be secure ourselves and able to work together for the high and simple causes
that are dear CXXXI
to us and bode no ill to any. Eventually there may come-I feel eventually there
will come-
the principle of common citizenship, but that we may be content to leave to
destiny,
whose outstretched arm many of us can already clearly see.
There is however an important question we must ask ourselves. Would a special
relationship between the United States and the British Commonwealth be
inconsistent
with our over-riding loyalties to the World Organisation? I reply that, on the
contrary, it is
probably the only means by which that organisation will achieve its full stature
and
strength. There are already the special United States relations with Canada
which I have
just mentioned, and there are the special relations between the United States
and the
South American Republics. We British have our twenty years Treaty of
Collaboration and
Mutual Assistance with Soviet Russia. I agree with Mr. Bevin, the Foreign
Secretary of
Great Britain, that it might well be a fifty years Treaty so far as we are
concerned. We
aim at nothing but mutual assistance and collaboration. The British have an
alliance with
Portugal unbroken since 1384, and which produced fruitful results at critical
moments in
the late war. None of these clash with the general interest of a world
agreement, or a
world organisation; on the contrary they help it. In my father's house are many
mansions. Special associations between members of the United Nations which have
no
aggressive point against any other country, which harbour no design incompatible
with
the Charter of the United Nations, far from being harmful, are beneficial and,
as I believe,
indispensable.
I spoke earlier of the Temple of Peace. Workmen from all countries must build
that temple. If two of the workmen know each other particularly well and are old
friends,
if their families are inter-mingled, and if they have faith in each other's
purpose, hope in
each other's future and charity towards each other's shortcomings-to quote some
good
words I read here the other day-why cannot they work together at the common task
as
friends and partners? Why cannot they share their tools and thus increase each
other's
working powers? Indeed they must do so or else the temple may not be built, or,
being
built, it may collapse, and we shall all be proved again unteachable and have to
go and try
to learn again for a third time in a school of war, incomparably more rigorous
than that
from which we have just been released. The dark ages may return, the Stone Age
may
return on the gleaming wings of science, and what might now shower immeasurable
material blessings upon mankind, may even bring about its total destruction.
Beware, I
say; time may be short. Do not let us take the course of allowing events to
drift along
until it is too late. If there is to be a fraternal association of the kind I
have described, with
all the extra strength and security which both our countries can derive from it,
let us make
sure that that great fact is known to the world, and that it plays its part in
steadying and
stabilising the foundations of peace. There is the path of wisdom. Prevention is
better
than cure.
A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory.
Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organisation
intends
to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their
expansive and
proselytising tendencies. I have a strong admiration and regard for the valiant
Russian
people and for my wartime comrade, Marshal Stalin. There is deep sympathy and
goodwill in Britain-and I doubt not here also-towards the peoples of all the
Russias and a
resolve to persevere through many differences and rebuffs in establishing
lasting
friendships. We understand the Russian need to be secure on her western
frontiers by the
removal of all possibility of German aggression. We welcome Russia to her
rightful place
among the leading nations of the world. We welcome her flag upon the seas. Above
all,
we welcome constant, frequent and growing contacts between the Russian people
and our
own people on both sides of the Atlantic. It is my duty however, for I am sure
you would
wish me to state the facts as I see them to you, to place before you certain
facts about the
present position in Europe.
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has
descended
across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient
states of Central
and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade,
Bucharest and CXXXII
Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I
must call the
Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet
influence but
to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.
Athens
alone-Greece with its immortal glories-is free to decide its future at an
election under
British, American and French observation. The Russian-dominated Polish
Government
has been encouraged to make enormous and wrongful inroads upon Germany, and mass
expulsions of millions of Germans on a scale grievous and undreamed-of are now
taking
place. The Communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern States
of
Europe, have been raised to pre-eminence and power far beyond their numbers and
are
seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control. Police governments are
prevailing in
nearly every case, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia, there is no true
democracy.
Turkey and Persia are both profoundly alarmed and disturbed at the claims which
are being made upon them and at the pressure being exerted by the Moscow
Government.
An attempt is being made by the Russians in Berlin to build up a quasi-Communist
party
in their zone of Occupied Germany by showing special favours to groups of
left-wing
German leaders. At the end of the fighting last June, the American and British
Armies
withdrew westwards, in accordance with an earlier agreement, to a depth at some
points
of 150 miles upon a front of nearly four hundred miles, in order to allow our
Russian
allies to occupy this vast expanse of territory which the Western Democracies
had
conquered.
If now the Soviet Government tries, by separate action, to build up a pro-
Communist Germany in their areas, this will cause new serious difficulties in
the British
and American zones, and will give the defeated Germans the power of putting
themselves
up to auction between the Soviets and the Western Democracies. Whatever
conclusions
may be drawn from these facts-and facts they are-this is certainly not the
Liberated
Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of
permanent
peace.
The safety of the world requires a new unity in Europe, from which no nation
should be permanently outcast. It is from the quarrels of the strong parent
races in Europe
that the world wars we have witnessed, or which occurred in former times, have
sprung.
Twice in our own lifetime we have seen the United States, against their wishes
and their
traditions, against arguments, the force of which it is impossible not to
comprehend,
drawn by irresistible forces, into these wars in time to secure the victory of
the good
cause, but only after frightful slaughter and devastation had occurred. Twice
the United
States has had to send several millions of its young men across the Atlantic to
find the
war; but now war can find any nation, wherever it may dwell between dusk and
dawn.
Surely we should work with conscious purpose for a grand pacification of Europe,
within
the structure of the United Nations and in accordance with its Charter. That I
feel is an
open cause of policy of very great importance.
In front of the iron curtain which lies across Europe are other causes for
anxiety.
In Italy the Communist Party is seriously hampered by having to Support the
Communist-
trained Marshal Tito's claims to former Italian territory at the head of the
Adriatic.
Nevertheless the future of Italy hangs in the balance. Again one cannot imagine
a
regenerated Europe without a strong France. All my public life I have worked for
a
Strong France and I never lost faith in her destiny, even in the darkest hours.
I will not
lose faith now. However, in a great number of countries, far from the Russian
frontiers
and throughout the world, Communist fifth columns are established and work in
complete
unity and absolute obedience to the directions they receive from the Communist
centre.
Except in the British Commonwealth and in the United States where Communism is
in its
infancy, the Communist parties or fifth columns constitute a growing challenge
and peril
to Christian civilisation. These are sombre facts for anyone to have to recite
on the
morrow of a victory gained by so much splendid comradeship in arms and in the
cause of
freedom and democracy; but we should be most unwise not to face them squarely
while
time remains.
CXXXIII
The outlook is also anxious in the Far East and especially in Manchuria. The
Agreement which was made at Yalta, to which I was a party, was extremely
favourable to
Soviet Russia, but it was made at a time when no one could say that the German
war
might not extend all through the summer and autumn of 1945 and when the Japanese
war
was expected to last for a further 18 months from the end of the German war. In
this
country you are all so well-informed about the Far East, and such devoted
friends of
China, that I do not need to expatiate on the situation there.
I have felt bound to portray the shadow which, alike in the west and in the
east,
falls upon the world. I was a high minister at the time of the Versailles Treaty
and a close
friend of Mr. Lloyd-George, who was the head of the British delegation at
Versailles. I
did not myself agree with many things that were done, but I have a very Strong
impression in my mind of that situation, and I find it painful to contrast it
with that which
prevails now. In those days there were high hopes and unbounded confidence that
the
wars were over, and that the League of Nations would become all-powerful. I do
not see
or feel that same confidence or even the same hopes in the haggard world at the
present
time.
On the other hand I repulse the idea that a new war is inevitable; still more
that it
is imminent. It is because I am sure that our fortunes are still in our own
hands and that
we hold the power to save the future, that I feel the duty to speak out now that
I have the
occasion and the opportunity to do so. I do not believe that Soviet Russia
desires war.
What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their
power and
doctrines. But what we have to consider here to-day while time remains, is the
permanent
prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy
as
rapidly as possible in all countries. Our difficulties and dangers will not be
removed by
closing our eyes to them. They will not be removed by mere waiting to see what
happens;
nor will they be removed by a policy of appeasement. What is needed is a
settlement, and
the longer this is delayed, the more difficult it will be and the greater our
dangers will
become.
From what I have seen of our Russian friends and Allies during the war, I am
convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is
nothing for
which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness.
For that
reason the old doctrine of a balance of power is unsound. We cannot afford, if
we can
help it, to work on narrow margins, offering temptations to a trial of strength.
If the
Western Democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles of the
United
Nations Charter, their influence for furthering those principles will be immense
and no
one is likely to molest them. If however they become divided or falter in their
duty and if
these all-important years are allowed to slip away then indeed catastrophe may
overwhelm us all.
Last time I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and
to the world, but no one paid any attention. Up till the year 1933 or even 1935,
Germany
might have been saved from the awful fate which has overtaken her and we might
all
have been spared the miseries Hitler let loose upon mankind. There never was a
war in all
history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated
such great
areas of the globe. It could have been prevented in my belief without the firing
of a single
shot, and Germany might be powerful, prosperous and honoured to-day; but no one
would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool. We
surely must
not let that happen again. This can only be achieved by reaching now, in 1946, a
good
understanding on all points with Russia under the general authority of the
United Nations
Organisation and by the maintenance of that good understanding through many
peaceful
years, by the world instrument, supported by the whole strength of the
English-speaking
world and all its connections. There is the solution which I respectfully offer
to you in
this Address to which I have given the title The Sinews of Peace.
Let no man underrate the abiding power of the British Empire and
Commonwealth. Because you see the 46 millions in our island harassed about their
food
supply, of which they only grow one half, even in war-time, or because we have
difficulty CXXXIV
in restarting our industries and export trade after six years of passionate war
effort, do not
suppose that we shall not come through these dark years of privation as we have
come
through the glorious years of agony, or that half a century from now, you will
not see 70
or 80 millions of Britons spread about the world and united in defence of our
traditions,
our way of life, and of the world causes which you and we espouse. If the
population of
the English-speaking Commonwealths be added to that of the United States with
all that
such co-operation implies in the air, on the sea, all over the globe and in
science and in
industry, and in moral force, there will be no quivering, precarious balance of
power to
offer its temptation to ambition or adventure. On the contrary, there will be an
overwhelming assurance of security. If we adhere faithfully to the Charter of
the United
Nations and walk forward in sedate and sober strength seeking no one's land or
treasure,
seeking to lay no arbitrary control upon the thoughts of men; if all British
moral and
material forces and convictions are joined with your own in fraternal
association, the
high-roads of the future will be clear, not only for us but for all, not only
for our time, but
for a century to come.