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Iron Curtain Speech
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Themes
Working Together
Winston Churchill emphasizes the need for collaboration throughout his speech. At the crux of his proposal for ensuring world peace is the British Commonwealth and the United States working together more intimately than ever before. Churchill believes that developing a strong fraternal relationship between the two countries, or an “association of the English-speaking peoples” (22), especially in terms of the military, is key for the common good of each country and for the peace and prosperity of the world at large. This proposed connection, which Churchill argues could be built on the affinity that each country already has for one another, is capsulized in the now famous phrase “special relationship.”
Part of this proposal comes from the realization that, post-war, the United States will be the dominate force in the world for a significant period of time, and that England and the United Kingdom are emerging from the war significantly weakened. Despite their post-war state, England is still burdened with a victor’s responsibilities toward the defeated nations. In fact, at this point, all of Europe, including Germany, Russia, France, Italy, and others, have vast amounts of infrastructure that has been damaged and needs repair. Not addressing those issues threatens the existence of the surviving governments. One of the few countries to emerge stronger after the war, the United States is in the position to dominate world affairs. Churchill therefore views the United States as an essential ally to England.
Additionally, now that the new atomic age has dawned, Churchill realizes that Russia will be strongly aiming to join the “nuclear club” as soon as possible. He states, “It would nevertheless be wrong […] to entrust the secret knowledge or experience of the atomic bomb, which the United States, Great Britain, and Canada now share, to the World Organization while it is still in its infancy” (24). By working together to develop a synchronized diplomatic strategy, Churchill believes the United Kingdom and United States will be able to counteract the nuclear threat of Russia on a more consistent basis and to reduce the possibilities of related accidents or misconstruing of communications. In addition, Churchill notes that inviting other Western Allies to join them in certain international concerns would be more effective if it appears the two countries are speaking with one voice.
Rejection of Fascism and Communism
A second reoccurring theme throughout this speech is the need for the Western countries, if not all countries, to reject both the fascist and Communist ideologies. The Western Allies did work together, albeit with the Communist ally Russia, to defeat the fascist governments of Germany, Italy, and Japan, along with minor Axis governments Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. The Western Allies promised to help these defeated countries re-build so that they would not revert back to a fascist form of government. Churchill warns that communism is now a great threat to the defeated countries’ attempts to introduce democracy, free elections, and greater liberties.
Secret ballot elections, the rule of law, courts of justice independent of the executive branch, and a society based on constitutional action are hallmarks of a democracy. Rejection of these ideals is the shadow that Churchill refers to, transforming vulnerable territories into what he calls them police states. Countries such as Italy and Greece were at the time experiencing internal civil strife, and Greece even had an extended civil war in the years directly after the end of World War II. It was only many months and some years later that these countries did escape the shadow of communism and totalitarianism. The Western Allies were able to lend political, and even more importantly, monetary, support to these countries so that communism would not gain another foothold in southern Europe. Most of this support originated in the United States, with assistance primarily from England, Canada, and Australia. Countries such as France, Germany, Austria, the Benelux countries, and the Scandinavian countries primarily focused on rebuilding their own countries, but assisted when and where they could. Churchill called in his speech for the continuation of this support by the United States. He knew that if the United States withdrew inward and became an isolationist state like it did after World War I, it would be a huge mistake, and perhaps just lead to World War III in the future. By supporting fledgling democratic countries now, it would be easier to defeat other totalitarian systems in the future.
This theme of rejecting these ideologies by assisting democratic governments would be repaid in the long run by greater economic trade among the free countries, as well as reducing the risk of a further spread of fascism and communism. Morally, Churchill argues, it is also the correct thing to do, regardless of the economic arguments.
The Spread of the Soviet Sphere of Influence
Historically, winners of wars were able to control the regions and territories they conquered during the wars. World War II was no different, other than it involved three different ideologies competing against each other, and the winning side only was able to defeat the third ideology by melding the other two ideologies: communism and democracy/capitalism. Of course, at the start of the war, fascism and communism were allied until Hitler turned on Stalinist Russia and invaded in 1941. Prior to the war, Churchill had been a lonely voice in the wind against Communist Russia as well as the fascist German state. Now, facing dangerous uncertainty, he says, “Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytizing tendencies” (28).
What bound fascist Germany and communist Russia together was totalitarianism. Under this type of government structure, individual liberties and civil rights of the citizens were denied or eliminated. Churchill warns the world against totalitarianism in his speech in Missouri. He perceives that Russia, as one of the “winners” of the war, is determined to spread its ideology as far as the Western Allies would let it. The war-weary population would fall under the yoke of a government more concerned with staying in power and eliminating any idea of protest or individual thought. By rejecting the benefits of democracy and capitalism, individual liberties and civil rights, and the rights of man, the communists gave promises of shared burdens and rewards that turned out to be false promises. In these types of governments and economies, top-down economic planning was a crucial part of a totalitarian system but had already been shown to be corrupt and unworkable. What the Soviet communists realized is that in these impoverished areas, the people were uneducated to the dangers of communism and could be persuaded to agree to accept this type of system. Once such a system was put in place, by either corrupt elections or by force of arms, it was nearly impossible to change course to a different governmental system.
Finally, within this spreading of communism, the Russians were prioritizing the implementation of the takeover of the local and regional governmental structures instead of assisting with the mass of humanity and the impoverished conditions. Individuals were not so much a concern as gaining control over the systems that managed the individuals. Millions of people were attempting to return to their homes with little or nothing to sustain them, only to find that home was often destroyed or taken over by others. Disease and crime were rampant and hunger was constant. Refugees many times had no documents or proof supporting their claims, nowhere to go and nowhere to stay. There was residual anger toward German and other Axis country refugees. All of these problems and concerns were things that communist Russia did not want to deal with. Control and reparations were the concerns of Russia.
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By Winston Churchill
