August 6, 2013

Finest Hour 120, Autumn 2003

Page 16

LIBERALISM AND SOCIALISM

Where does WSC say that Liberalism is dedicated to bringing the poor up, Socialism to tearing the rich down?

Churchill spoke this in Dundee on 14 May 1908. (The official biography, vol. II, p. 263, omits the italicized sentences.) “Liberalism has its own history and its own tradition. Socialism has its own formulas and aims. Socialism wants to pull down wealth, Liberalism seeks to rise up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests—Liberalism would preserve them in the only way they could justly be preserved, by reconciling them with public rights. Socialism seeks to kill enterprise; Liberalism seeks to rescue enterprise from the trammels of privilege and preference. Socialism assails the maximum preeminence of the individual—Liberalism seeks to build up the minimum standard for the mass. Socialism exalts the rule; Liberalism exalts the man. Socialism attacks capital; Liberalism attacks monopoly.”

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Of course you may wish to rely on a shorter, more recent quotation: “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” (House of Commons, 22 October 1945.)

And, around the same time: “Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” (Perth, 25 May 1948.)

“MR. CHERRY BRANDY”

I recently read the autobiography of Erik Hazelhoff, a Dutch wartime hero who flew in the RAF after being involved in SOE operations, and later became the adjutant to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. In his book, Hazelhoff relates how P. S. Gerbrandy, Prime Minister of the Dutch government-in-exile, whose English upon his arrival in London left a little to be desired, first met Churchill. He extended his hand and engaged WSC with the greeting “Goodbye.”

Churchill’s reply was all we could expect: “Sir, I would wish that all political meetings were so short and sweet.”

This event was talked of with much amusement amongst the Dutch who had fled to London after the capitulation of the Netherlands in May 1940. Mr. Gerbrandy much admired Churchill, particularly for his standing up to Hitler. He regularly sent the Prime Minister bottles of the Dutch gin “Jenever.” Amusingly, Churchill referred to Mr. Gerbrandy as “Mr. Cherry Brandy.”
—Graeme Lawton ([email protected])

EUROPE UNITE

Because of my studies concerning Europe I have a question: Where can I get more information about Churchill’s speech in Zurich in 1946? The tenor was “Europe arise. ” What else did he say about Europe?
—Rainer Baudermann
Baden-Wilrttemberg, Germany

The speech (19 Sep 46) was “The Tragedy of Europe,” and significant in that Churchill became the first to urge rapprochement between old enemies:

“I am now going to say something that will astonish you. The first step in the recreation of the European family must be a partnership between France and Germany. In this way only can France recover the moral leadership of Europe. There can be no revival of Europe without a spiritually great France and a spiritually great Germany.”

He went on to discuss what he called a “United States of Europe.” A similar theme was repeated in London (14 May 1947) and at The Hague (7 May 1948). All three speeches are in vol. VII of Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches 1897-1963, Robert Rhodes James, ed., NY and London: Bowker/Chelsea House, 1974. The Zurich speech is in Churchill’s The Sinews of Peace (London: Cassell 1948); the other two are in his Europe Unite (London: Cassell, 1950). Also, go to our website and search for “Zurich speech.”

MARYLAND TERRAPIN

Former Maryland first lady Helen Avalynne Tawes’s paean to old-fashioned cooking, My Favorite Maryland Recipes, was born of political necessity. During her husband’s successful 1958 campaign for governor, she handed out as campaign literature 12,000 copies of the booklet. As traditional as Tawes was, in a burst of culinary creation she once whipped up the “crab burger,” a fast-food version of the crab cake, that was served at the Maryland Pavilion at the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York.

While living in the executive mansion, Tawes learned that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was a devotee of terrapin soup. After preparing a pot of the famous old Maryland soup, she had it carried directly to a waiting airplane by a state policeman. It was picked up by a messenger in London and taken directly to Churchill’s home. He later sent Tawes a letter congratulating her on the preparation of the hearty soup.

—Excerpted from an article by Frederick A. Rasmussen in the Maryland online site www.sunspot.net