Sold – Churchill’s Signed Address: “Fight the Evil Forces” Threatening Our Nation

Churchill believed that, “All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” As a result of these core beliefs, he was a life-long opponent of totalitarianism in all its manifestations. He is venerated for his battle with Fascism, but he felt the same way about Communism, famously saying he would not prefer it to Nazism. He saw Communism as “dull brutish servitude,” and after World War II denounced the Communist parties in Eastern Europe for “seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control.” He expanded on this in his 1946 speech in the United States, in which he coined a notable phrase in saying, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

He lived during a rising tide of Socialism in Europe, and this worried him, as he saw Socialism and Communism as related. “If I were asked the difference between Socialism and Communism,” he said, “I could only reply that the Socialist tries to lead us to disaster by foolish words and the Communist could try to drive us there by violent deeds.” This belief made Socialism a potential long-run danger, as “It is not alone that property…is struck at, but that liberty, in all its forms, is challenged by the fundamental conceptions of socialism.” After all, he opined, “Socialism is inseparably interwoven with totalitarianism…” He went so far as to state in a radio broadcast in 1945, “A socialist policy is abhorrent to the British ideas of freedom…It will prescribe for every one where they are to work, what they are to work at, where they may go and what they may say. Socialism is an attack on the right to breathe freely. No socialist system can be established without a political police. They would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance.”

The British Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement and Socialist political parties of the 19th century, seeking workers’ representation and empowerment. It described itself as a “democratic socialist party”. Its greatest strength was among the working class. It had several spells in power, at first in minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931, then as a junior partner in the wartime coalition with Churchill from 1940-1945, and ultimately forming a majority government when Clement Attlee surprisingly beat Churchill in the 1945 election. Attlee’s proved one of the most radical British governments ever, from 1945-1951 presiding over a policy of nationalizing major industries and utilities, including the Bank of England, coal mining, steel, electricity, gas, telephone, railways, road haulage and canals. Its policy was to implement a “cradle to grave” welfare state. Churchill was the leader of the Conservative opposition the entire time Atlee was in office, and to put it mildly, was appalled by all this.

There was an election in February 1950, and Churchill’s message was clearly coming to be accepted by more of the electorate: Labour lost 78 seats and eeked out a five vote majority in the House of Commons. The momentum was all in the Conservative’s favor, and it was soon clear that Labour could not govern with such a small majority. So another election would have to be called, and soon. Churchill lost no time in keeping his message before the people, anticipating another election. And one group of constituents he very much cared about was trade union workers who voted Conservative; as their very existence gave the lie to the idea that all working people voted Labour, and that the Conservative Party had only the interests of the wealthy in mind. These Conservative trade unionists had an annual meeting, and Churchill liked to attend and speak, to both thank them and urge them on to convince their fellows in the union halls that the Labour Party would damage their interests in the long run.

I hope, therefore, that all Conservative trade unionists will be active…in supporting the election to office of those who are good trade unionists, irrespective of party creed or faction. Above all, I hope that they will not hesitate to stand for union office themselves, and that if elected they will rise above narrow party politics and serve the good of their colleagues who share in their heritage of this great British movement.

On September 19, 1950, Churchill spoke in Parliament against the Iron and Steel Bill, which would nationalize these industries before the following year’s election could return the Conservatives to power. He further appealed to the “millions of Conservative and Liberal trade unionists throughout the land…I say to them from here – and my voice carries some distance – that they must not let themselves be discouraged in their national efforts by the political and party manoeuvres of a fanatical intelligentsia” (quoted in Martin Gilbert’s biography of Churchill, volume 8). A month later would come the 1950 Conservative trade unionists meeting, but this year Churchill would be unable to attend, as he would be accepting an honorary doctorate from the University of Copenhagen. Instead, he wrote out the address he was to give and sent it to the group to be delivered in his absence.

Typed Address Signed on his Chartwell letterhead, Westerham, England, October 9, 1950, giving his message in his inimitable and unique style. “Today there is a growing body of trade unionists who are becoming less satisfied with the doctrinaire approach of the Socialist Party to industrial problems. They have watched, and are watching, theories of nationalisation being worked out in practice, and they view the results with grave misgivings. Conservative trade unionists have a special responsibility and duty at this time to take a lead in fighting the evil forces which threaten to disrupt not only their unions but their country. I hope, therefore, that all Conservative trade unionists will be active…in supporting the election to office of those who are good trade unionists, irrespective of party creed or faction. Above all, I hope that they will not hesitate to stand for union office themselves, and that if elected they will rise above narrow party politics and serve the good of their colleagues who share in their heritage of this great British movement.”

This is the first time we can recall seeing a signed address of Churchill offered for sale. Its call to fight the “evil forces” that threaten the British way of life in 1950 is precisely the same language he used to rally the nation in his Atlantic Charter broadcast on August 24, 1941, and its clarion to rise above party politics employed the concept of transceding narrow boundaries for the common good that was frequently on his mind.  There was indeed soon another election – in 1951 – and Churchill was returned to power for a 4-year term, his popularity with the British people restored.