CHURCHILL ON WORLD WAR 1 - SEPTEMBER 11TH, 1914
"We did not enter upon the war with the hope of easy victory; we did not enter up[on it in any desire to extend our territory, or to advance and increase our position in the world; or in any romantic desire to shed our blood and spend our money in Continental quarrels. We entered upon this war reluctantly after we had made every effort compatible with honor to avoid being drawn in, and we entered upon it with s full realization of the sufferings, losses, disappointments, vexations and anxiety and of the appalling and sustaining exertions which would be entailed upon us by our action. The war will be long and sombre (but) we entered upon it and entered it rightly, withy the sure and strong hope and expectation of bringing it to a victorious conclusion."
PERSONAL TRAGEDIES
AFTER WORLD WAR 1 and in his new post in Parliament, Winston had more than just Ireland to worry about. Palestine had been under the rule of the Ottoman empire but since the end of World War 1 it was now under British rule. The 2520 years or 7 times punishment on Judah had ended in 1917 when Britain liberated Jerusalem. The area by then was largely settled by Arabs, but historically the Jews regarded it as their home land. The Jews longed to retrieve it, and the British government said they would support their aim, with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Churchill was a confirmed Zionist and would take the task of overseeing the immigration of Jews to Palestine. The Arabs were as they say "hot under the collar" for loosing land, and the resultant hostilities were to continue unabated.
As Winston was dealing with these two hot areas of contention, he was struck with two personal tragedies. His mother Jennie fell downstairs and broke her ankle; gangrene set in and Jennioe died on the 23rd of June, aged 67. It was but two months later when Marigold, Churchill's youngest daughter, was struck with meningitis. She died on the 24th of August, aged only two and a half. Churchill was distraught. He wrote to a friend, "It seems so pitiful, that this little life should have been extinguished just when it was so beautiful and so happy, just when it was beginning...."
OUT OF PARLIAMENT
Clementine gave birth to her fifth and last child. another daughter, Mary, just over a year later on the 15th of September 1922. On the same day Winston paid 5,000 pounds for Chartwell Manor, a rambling place in Kent. Winston loved it but Clementine not so much as she did not really care for rural life. The sum Winston paid for the Kent manor was the equivalent of a year's income from Garron Towers, the estate in northern Ireland Churchill had inherited from a distant cousin.
It was Garron Towers that gave a welcome boost to Winston's finances, which were often depleted for one reason or another, including his extravagances. He had his taste for cigars and oysters, and drank champagne at almost every meal, with plenty of claret throughout the day.
The upkeep of Chartwell was a further drain of money, and a new threat arrived in October 1922, when the war time coalition came to its end after 7 years. Lloyd George had to resign along with his government. It was the Conservatives who won the General election on the 12th of November, and to Winston's dismay he lost his seat in Dundee, while having an operation for appendicitis. He wrote, "In the twinkling of an eye I found myself without an office, without a seat and without an appendix."
Churchill was now out of Parliament for the first time in 20 years.
He decided to take a break, and wrote, "After.... years of rough official work, there are many things worse than private life..."
He started to supervise the rebuilding of Chartwell. He and his family took a holiday in France, and he started to work on his "History of World War 1." He called it The World Crisis, and his war memoirs were published over ten years.
Margot Asquith, wife of the former Prime Minister said to Winston, "I think your book a great masterpiece." But she went on to say she advised him to stick to writing and painting, and to "lie low: do nothing in politics."
Yet, Winston could not find fulfillment for long out of politics, especially when fundamental changes were underway in the very fabric of Parliament. The Liberal Party was fractured and this put a large question to Winston; if he remained a Liberal it was very unlikely that he would be offered a government post.
CHURCHILL ON THE END OF WORLD WAR 1, DECEMBER 16TH 1918
"The war is won.... We have reached the end of a long, long trail. And what a victory.... In the five weeks which have passed since firing stopped on the Western Front, I have felt a new and fresh inward satisfaction every day in contemplating the magnitude and the splendor of our achievement and our success.... It fills our heart with pride and with thankfulness that we have lived in such a time and belong to such a race."
HATRED OF COMMUNISM
Winston wanted another seat in Parliament but it would be no easy task. The ailing Bonar Law resigned from Prime Minister in 1923 and his successor, Stanley Baldwin, called a general election. For the Conservatives is was a disaster. they secured 258 seats, 100 less than before the election. They were a minority government. The Liberals and Labor Parties had between them 350 seats. It was only months later that Baldwin was forced to resign and was replaced by James Ramsay Macdonald, leader of the Labor Party. It was the first government for Labor but only if the Liberals would back them up.
Churchill, who did not win a seat in the election was alarmed. The Russian Bolshevik revolution of 1917 was still recent history and gave Winston a hated for communism. He was convinced the new Labor government was akin to the Russian and would leave a "dark and blighting shadow on every form of national life."
His fears were also shared by many Liberal MPs. But Churchill doubted they could put up much of an opposition to Labor. So he once more began to consider changing parties again.
CHURCHILL ON SOCIALISM AT BATTERSEA TOWN HALL, LONDON 11TH OF DECEMBER 1925
"The follies of socialism are inexhaustible. They talk of comradeship and teach the brotherhood of men. What are they? They are the most disagreeable people. Talk about worldwide common brotherhood! Even among themselves, they have 20 discordant fractions who hate one another even more than they hate you and me.... Can you not feel a sense of disgust at the arrogant presumption of superiority of these people?"
Baldwin grabbed the opportunity to woo Churchill back to the Conservative Party and other Liberals also. Winston failed to win a seat as an Independent candidate in a by-election in March 1924, but six months later Baldwin found him a safe Conservative seat at Epping in north-east London.
The Labor government lasted only 8 months, fall prey to the press reports about the "Red Menace" and tales of Labor being a party of creeping communism. There was a general election, and Churchill in October 1924, and Churchill won the Epping seat with a majority of more than 9,000 votes. The Conservatives were returned to power with a majority of 223 seats over the other two parties. The Liberals fell to a mere 40 seats.
BACK IN THE CABINET
THE NEW PRIME MINISTER BALDWIN A WEEK LATER ASKED CHURCHILL TO BECOME HIS CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER. CHURCHILL WAS DELIGHTED!
WINSTON'S REPLY, "This fulfills my ambition. I still have my gather's robes as Chancellor. I shall be proud to serve in this splenid Office."
Churchill had rejoined the conservative Party after 20 years of absence.
But his mind-set of being a pioneer of social reform had not changed. In his first budget, he outlined his plans for pension schemes for widows and orphans, and reduced from 70 to 65 the age at which the payment of old age pensions should begin. And a 10 per cent tax reduction would come into force to help families on the lowest incomes.
We see the man behind what most of us have today in the Western world.
But many Conservatives did not side with Winston, but saw it all as state interference rather than state aid. Ah seems to me much of that sentiment still lingers in the USA
today, BUT I think the USA people like the idea of old age security payment at age 65 and not 70. Somewhat of a strange mentality some USA people have.
CONCILIATION FAILS
There was a dispute with mine-owners and mine-workers. With falling profits, the mine-owners could see only that the workers had to take a cut in pay. The National Union of Mineworkers threatened a strike. Churchill offered to solve the problem with a government subsidy. The mine-owners agreed, but 9 months later with still more losses, they said the mineworkers had to take a pay cut. A general strike ensued. Many middle class people went to work to try and keep Britain going; students drove buses and lorries delivering food and essential supplies. retired managers and ex-army officers acted as special constables. Troops, sometimes with tanks guarded public buildings and were on hand to deal with any troubles.
The strike left bitter attitudes. The miners were finally forced to back down, by hunger, destitution, and the onset of winter. Churchill's skills as a conciliator had failed, and despite a genuine concern for the working class which all 5 budgets Churchill would
deliver between 1925 and 1929, he was viewed as the "enemy" and also became out of favor with the Conservative Party who disagreed with his interventions in the running of private business.
On the 30th of May 1929 in a general election, churchill and the conservatives were shocked to discover how much the Labor Party had progressed since the Liberal Party had pretty well dropped off the scene to endanger the other two parties. In that general election the Labor Party was once more back in power as the British government, though as minority. Churchill was reelected for Epping but once more he had lost his government post.
THE NEXT POST CHURCHILL WOULD HAVE WOULD NOT COME FOR ANOTHER TEN YEARS!
THE WILDERNESS YEARS
To be continued
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