1946年丘吉尔铁幕演说全文（附英文稿）
1946年1月，英国首相丘吉尔应邀访美。3月5日，他在美国总统杜鲁门陪同下抵达密苏里州富尔顿，在杜鲁门的母校威斯敏斯特学院发表了题为“和平砥柱”的演说。演讲中，他说：“从波罗的海海边的什切青到亚得里亚海边的里雅斯特，已经拉下了横贯欧洲大陆的铁幕。这张铁幕后面坐落着所有中欧、东欧古老国家的首都——华沙、柏林、布拉格、维也纳、布达佩斯、贝尔格莱德、布加勒斯特和索菲亚。这些著名的都市和周围的人口全都位于苏联势力范围之内，全都以这种或那种方式，不仅落入苏联影响之下，而且越来越强烈地为莫斯科所控制。”“几乎在每一处都是警察政府占了上风……根本没有真正的民主。”丘吉尔还指出，在“铁幕”外面，共产党的“第五纵队”遍布各国，“到处构成对基督教文明的日益严重的挑衅和危险”。丘吉尔呼吁英美联合起来，建立“特殊关系”，推动西方民主国家“团结一致”。
温斯顿.丘吉尔，1946年
麦克鲁尔校长，女士们先生们，以及最尊敬的美利坚合众国总统：
今天下午能造访威斯敏斯特学院我非常高兴。能得到贵校这样资深望重的机构授予的学位我实在受宠若惊。”威斯敏斯特”这个名字在我听来似乎有点耳熟。细想一下，我正是在威斯敏斯特接受了大部分关于政治、辩证法、辞令以及其他若干方面的教育。实际上，我们都在相同，或相似，或至少性质相近的体系下接受过教育。
身为一名私人访客，居然能由美国总统亲自介绍给学界听众，女士们先生们，这份荣誉恐怕也是独一无二了。肩负着如此沉重的负担、职责与责任——他对此并未有意寻求但也不曾退缩——总统先生今天不辞千里亲身莅临，令我们的会面满堂生辉，他也给了我这个机会来向这个血脉相连的国家，以及大海另一边我的同胞们，或许还包括其他一些国家发表致辞。总统告诉我说，他希望——我相信你们也同样希望——我能畅所欲言，在这个令人焦虑而费解的时代给出我衷诚的建议。我自当充分利用这一自由。所有我年少时所胸怀过的个人抱负都已经令我做梦也不敢想地得到了实现，这使我自觉更有权利这么做。不过我必须说明，我并未承担任何官方使命或地位，我的发言仅仅代表我个人。除了你们所见之外我再无掩饰之处。
因此我姑且在这里倚老卖老一回，以毕生经验为参照，回顾一下在我们的绝对军事胜利到来时出现在我们面前的问题，尽我的余力来尽量保证如此巨大的牺牲与苦难所换来的一切能够为了光明的未来与人类的安全而得到保存。
女士们先生们，美国此刻正高踞于世界权力的顶峰。对美国民主来说，这是一个庄严的时刻。至强之力量总会伴随着对于未来令人敬畏的责任。放眼四顾，你们一定不但觉得已经尽了应尽的责任，而且还因为恐怕日后成就未必能赶上今天而感到忧虑。对我们两国来说现成的机会正清晰而光彩夺目地摆在眼前。拒绝、忽视、或糟蹋这个机会将使我们受到后世长期的责备。意志坚定，追求不懈，决策简明，这些品质在和平时期也应当像在战时一样主导英语民族的行为。我们必须证明自己能满足这些严苛的要求，我也相信我们一定能做到。
麦克鲁尔校长，当美国军方遇到严重局势时，他们习惯于在指令抬头写上”全面战略概念”字样。这种做法自有深意，因为它能使思想明朗化。那么，我们今天所应题写的全面战略概念应该是什么呢?至少要为世界各地的所有人的所有家庭带来安全、幸福、自由和进步。我这里尤其要提到那些不可计数的农舍或单元住宅，工薪家庭的顶梁柱们正在克服生活的各种困难与意外，保卫妻子儿女不受饥寒之苦，并令他的家庭对上帝或任何经常起到重大作用的道德概念心怀敬畏。
为了给这无数家庭带来安全，必须保护他们不受两个可怕的掠夺者——战争和暴政——的侵犯。战争的诅咒突降在一家之主与他为之辛劳付出的亲人头上，原本的家庭骤然陷入可怖的动荡之中，我们对此等情形都很熟悉了。在荣光褪尽的欧洲与大部分亚洲地区，惨不忍睹的废墟正直直盯着我们。当恶人的谋划或强国的欲求在大范围内将文明社会的框架化为乌有，平民百姓们就会面临自己无法应对的困局。对他们来说整个世界都遭到了扭曲与破坏，坚实的地面也化为了泥沼。
在今天这个宁静的下午，我一想到目前上百万人正在何等苦境中挣扎，以及万一饥荒在目前这个时期降临世界将会造成何等后果，就忍不住全身战抖。谁也无法计算所谓”未经估计的人类痛苦”。我们的终极任务与责任就是守护普通民众的家庭不受另一场战争的蹂躏。我们对此全都表示同意。
我们美国军方的同事们在宣布”全面战略概念”并就可用资源进行计算之后总会进行下一步——也就是提出解决方法。在这里我们再次取得了广泛共识。一个以防止战争为主要目的的世界组织已经建立。脱胎于国联的联合国在美国以及其他各个主要国家的决定性加盟之后已经做好了投入工作的准备。我们必须保证联合国的工作取得成果，收到实效而不致沦为虚饰，成为行动的力量而不仅只是口头的空谈，成为一座真正的和平殿堂，令各国在未来的某一天都可以在此解衣卸甲，而不仅只是纷扰争吵之所。在我们将各国自卫军备的坚实保证抛在一边之前，首先要确定这座殿堂的地基不是流沙或沼泽，而是毫不动摇的岩石。明眼人都能看清我们的道路将会漫长而崎岖，但如果我们像二战期间那样同心同德——而非像二战间期那样离心离德——那我毫不怀疑我们将最终实现这一共同目标。
然而，我要提出一项明确而实际的行动建议。法庭和地方政府没有治安官和警长就不能办事。因此必须马上着手给联合国配备一支国际武装力量。这是个需要循序渐进的问题，但我们必须立即着手。我建议，应邀请各个大国和其它成员国派出一定数量的空军中队，为这个世界性组织服役。这些中队将由本国训练和筹备，但在各国轮流驻扎。他们身着本国的军服，佩戴不同的徽章。不能要求他们对自己的国家作战，但在其它方面将受这个世界性组织的指挥。这个办法可以先进行小规模试行并随着我们信心的增长而扩大其规模。第一次世界大战后我曾希望做到这一步，相信现在这一点会很快实现。
不过，女士们先生们，如果把美国、英国和加拿大现在所共同掌握的制造原子弹的秘密知识和经验托付给这个仍处于襁褓中的世界性组织，那将是极其错误且轻率的。如果任凭这种秘密知识在这依然骚动且分裂的世界上自然发展，那是等同于犯罪的发狂。目前制造原子弹的知识、工艺与原材料主要掌握在美国手中，而世界上没有任何一个国家因此而夜不能寐。万一眼下情况调转，某些共产主义或新纳粹主义国家垄断了这等致命手段，我不认为我们还能高枕无忧。对这种情况的恐惧很可能十分轻易地将集权体系强加于自由民主世界，而后果则令人不寒而栗。承蒙上帝没有令这一点成为现实，我们现在至少还有一点喘息之机在危局到来之前重整世界秩序;就算真到了那个时候，假如我们不遗余力，我们依然可以在这方面保有可畏的优势，足以对任何其他使用或威胁使用此等手段的国家构成有效威慑。最终，当人类的兄弟情义可以通过一个国际组织得到真正体现且该组织拥有所有必要的实际护卫措施使其生效时，这等手段自当托付给该组织。
接下来我要谈一下第二位掠夺者，威胁着千万民居和普通老百姓的第二个危险，即暴政。我们不能无视一个事实，就是美国和大英帝国公民在两国境内到处都能享受的自由，在相当多的国家里并不存在，其中一些国家还十分强大。在这些国家内部，各种大包大揽的警察政府对老百姓强加控制，以致压倒和违背了一切民主原则。独裁者或是组织严密的寡头集团通过享有特权的单一党派和政治警察队伍毫无节制地行使着国家的大权。在这多难的岁月，我们的责任不是以武力干预那些我们不曾在战争中征服的国家的内部事务。但是我们绝不能放弃以大无畏的声调宣扬自由的伟大原则和基本人权。这些英语世界的共同遗产，继大宪章、人权法案、人身保护法、陪审团审讯制以及英国习惯法之后，又在美国独立宣言中得到举世闻名的表现。
这一切意味着任何国家的国民都应有权利且有权力通过宪法行为、不受制约的自由选举以及不记名投票来选择或改变自己所在国家政府的特征或形式;言论与思想自由应当高于一切。应当由独立于行政机构、不受任何党派影响的法庭来执行获得大多数人认可并遵从公序良俗的法律。这是应当存放在每一户人家中的自由契约。这是英美两国人民向全人类传达的信息。让我们坐言起行——让我们出言必行。
尽管我刚刚谈及了战争与暴政这威胁人们的两大危险，但我还没有说到贫困与匮乏的问题，在许多情况下这才是人们忧心不已的最主要原因。但是假如战争与暴政的危险得以消除，那么科学与协作无疑将有能力在未来几年内，最迟不超过未来几十年内，为这个刚刚历经战火历练的世界带来物质福利的极大提高，在人类历史上还从未有过类似的情况。
在这个悲哀而令人窒息的时刻，我们陷入了之前的壮阔斗争所导致的饥饿与穷困当中;但这一切都将很快过去，除了人类的愚蠢与不齿于人类的罪行，没有任何其他理由能够阻止世界各国步入并尽情享受充裕的时代。我经常引用五十年前我从一位伟大的爱尔兰-美籍演说家、我的友人波克.考克兰先生那里学来的名言：”充分供养所有人是可行的。大地是一位慷慨的母亲，她会为所有子女提供充足的食物，而他们只需以公义与和平对她的土壤善加耕耘即可。”至今我依然完全同意他的观点。
现在，在我们仍然奉行这一实现我们全面战略概念的方法时，我要讲一讲此行要谈的关键问题。没有我所称之为各英语民族同胞手足式的联合，有效地防止战争和继续发展世界组织都是办不到的。这意味着英联邦与帝国要和美利坚合众国建立特殊的关系。女士们先生们，现在不是泛泛而论的时候，我要明确地谈一下。兄弟般的联合不仅要求我们两个庞大而血缘相连的社会制度之间存在日益增长的友谊和相互谅解，而且要求双方军事顾问继续保持密切的联系，以便共同研究潜在危险、武器异同、训练教材以及军事院校互换军官和学员的问题。这一点还应包括联合使用两国在世界各地掌握的所有海空基地，使现有的设施继续用于共同安全的目的。这样做或许可以令美国海空军机动能力加倍。这将使英帝国军力极大提升，待到世界局势稳定时，这一做法还能节省大量财政支出。我们两国已经开始共同使用大量岛屿了，未来或许还有更多岛屿可以交付于共管之下。
美国早已与密切从属于英联邦与帝国的加拿大自治领地签订了永久防御协议。这一协议比起此前任何在正式同盟关系之下签订的协议都更有效力。这一原则应当以完全对等的原则扩展至整个英联邦。因此，无论发生何种事态且仅在该事态发生的情况下，我们将有能力保障自己的安全并并为了高远而单纯的目标而合作，这些目标对我们而言十分可贵，对任何其他国家也不构成任何恶意。最终或许还将会出现——我认为这一天终将到来——两国共同公民身份的原则，不过我们对这一点倒不妨顺势而为，这一势头我们很多人都早已清楚见到了。
但我们必须自问一个重要的问题：美国与英联邦之间的特殊关系是否会与我们对国际组织高于一切的忠诚相抵触呢?我的答案是恰恰相反，这或许是该组织获得完全地位与力量的唯一方法。我刚刚提到的美加特殊关系早已存在，美国与南美各共和国之间也有着特殊关系。我们英国人也与苏俄签订了二十年合作与互助协定，我同意英国外相贝文先生的观点，即两国很可能还会有一个五十年协定。我们的目的仅仅是与俄国的互惠互助。英国与葡萄牙远在1384年就结为同盟，这一同盟在最近的战争中发挥了极大作用。这一切都没有与世界利益发生冲突，相反还大有裨益。”在我父的家里，有许多住处。”联合国成员国之间不针对任何其他国家且不包含任何与联合国宪章相悖意图的特殊关系非但有益无害，而且在我看来不可或缺。
女士们先生们，刚才我谈到了和平殿堂的概念。各国工人必须同心协力来修建这座殿堂。假如其中两位工人彼此交情深厚，假如他们是通家之好，假如他们有着”对彼此目的的信心，对彼此未来的期望以及对彼此不足的慈悲”——这是我几天前在这里看到的话——那他们为什么不能以朋友与搭档的身份通力协作呢?他们为什么不能分享工具以便增强彼此的工作能力呢?实际上他们必须这么做，否则这座殿堂就永无完工之日或难免垮塌的厄运，而我们这些屡教不改的学生们将不得不三度返回战争学堂进修，其严苛程度将远非我们刚刚脱身的这场战争所能相提并论。黑暗时代将会卷土重来，石器时代将插着科学的翅膀再度降临，那原本可以为人类带来无尽物质福祉的力量将会导致人类的彻底毁灭。要当心，时间不等人。我们不能袖手旁观直至为时已晚为止。如果我所描述的兄弟同盟确能成真，假如我们两国都能从中获取力量与安全，请让我们确保全世界都能得知这一重大事实，确保这一同盟为维护与稳定和平的基础做出应有贡献。这是明智的途径，防患未然总胜于亡羊补牢。
不久刚被盟军胜利所照亮的大地已经笼罩上了阴影。没有人知道苏俄和它的共产主义国际组织打算在最近的将来干些什么，以及它们领土与意识形态扩张倾向的止境在哪里，如果还有止境的话。对于英勇的俄罗斯人民和我的战时伙伴斯大林元帅，我十分钦佩和尊敬。在英国——我毫不怀疑在这里也是一样——人们对俄国各族人民怀有同情和善意，决心经受种种分歧和挫折，建立起持久的友谊。我们理解，俄国需要它西部边界的安全，以免再次遭受德国的侵略。我们欢迎她占有它在世界大国中有权占有的地位。我们欢迎她的旗帜在海上飘扬。我们尤其欢迎或应当欢迎俄国人民和大西洋两岸的我方人民之间保持持续、频繁且日益增加的接触。但是我有责任把有关当前欧洲形势的某些事实摆在你们面前。
从波罗的海的什切青到亚得里亚海边的的里雅斯特，一幅横贯欧洲大陆的铁幕已经降落下来。在这条线后面座落着中欧和东欧古国的都城。华沙、柏林、布拉格、维也纳、布达佩斯、贝尔格莱德、布加勒斯特和索菲亚——所有这些名城及其居民无一不处在苏联的势力范围之内，不仅以这种或那种形式屈服于苏联的势力影响，而且还受到莫斯科日益增强的高压控制。只有雅典放射着它不朽的光辉，在英、美、法三国现场观察下，自由地决定它的前途。受俄国支配的波兰政府在前者怂恿之下正对德国领土实行不义的大片侵占，正在以可悲而难以置信的规模把数以百万计的德国人成群地驱逐出境。在所有这些东欧国家，原本弱小的共产党已经上升到同它们党员人数远不相称的主导掌权地位，到处争取极权主义的控制。警察政府几乎在到处都占了上风。到目前为之，除了捷克斯洛伐克，该地区根本没有真正的民主。
土耳其和波斯都为莫斯科政府向它们提出的要求以及施加的压力而感到惊惶万分。驻在柏林的俄国人正试图通过对各左翼领导集团的袒护，在他们的德国占领区建立一个准共产党。去年6月战斗结束时，美国和英国军队按照先前的协议从一条将近四百英里宽的战线上西撤，在某些地方撤退距离深达一百五十英里。俄国人就这样占领了西方民主国家所攻打下来的辽阔的土地。
现在，如果苏联政府试图单独行动，在他们的地区建立一个亲共的德国，将会给英美两国占领区制造严重的困难，战败的德国人将会得到在苏联和西方民主国家之间拍卖抬价的权力。这些都是事实。不论我们从中得到什么结论，这肯定不是我们进行武装斗争所要建立的自由欧洲，也不是一个具有永久和平必要条件的欧洲。
女士们先生们，世界的安全有赖于欧洲成为新的整体，没有哪个国家应当被永远排除在外。我们刚刚目睹的这场战争之所以发生就是因为欧洲强势民族之间争端不止。我们这一代人已经两次见到美国违背国内意愿与传统，不顾争议与谁也不敢轻忽的力量，受无法抵挡的力量牵引着两次步入战争，为正义一方争取胜利，但两次都等到可怖的屠杀与毁灭已然发生时才动身。
在横跨欧洲的铁幕前面，还有其它令人焦虑的因素。意大利共产党由于不得不支持共产党训练的铁托元帅对亚得里亚海顶端前意大利领土的要求而受到严重的牵制。尽管如此，意大利还是前途未卜。再一点，如果没有一个强大的法国，欧洲的复兴将是不可思议的。甚至在最黑暗的日子里，我也不曾对法国的命运丧失信心。现在自然更不会。不过在远离俄国边界、遍布世界各地的许多国家里，共产党第五纵队已经建立。它绝对服从来自共产主义中心的指令，完全协调地工作着。除了在英联邦和美国——那里的共产主义运动还在婴儿时代——共产党第五纵队到处都构成对基督教文明的日益严重的挑衅和危险。这是任何人在取得胜利的次日都应该谨记的黯淡事实。这一胜利是通过在战斗中以及在自由和民主的事业中结成情谊深厚的战友关系所取得的。如果我们不趁还来得及的时候正视这些事实，那就太不明智了。
远东尤其是满洲地区的情况同样不容乐观。雅尔塔协议——我也是签署人之一——极度偏向苏俄，但是签署该协议时谁也没想到对德战争会在在1945年夏秋季过去之前结束，而根据当时的主流意见对日作战在对德战争结束后还要持续一年半。在这个国家你们对于远东局势是很熟悉的，也一直是中国的忠实朋友，因此我在这里就不多说了。
但是我还是感到有责任对这片笼罩东西方世界的阴影进行描述。凡尔赛和约签署期间我是一名政府大臣，也是英国代表团团长劳合-乔治先生的密友。我本人对于凡尔赛的许多做法都不以为然，但这一事件依旧给我留下了深刻印象，将当时的情况与眼下相比实在令我心如刀绞。当时的人们怀有高涨的希望与无限的信心，相信战争永不会重来，相信国联无所不能。在眼下这个动荡的世界，我完全没有看到或感受到相同的信心或希望。
不过话又说回来，女士们先生们，我绝对反对新一轮战争不可避免的想法，更不用说什么战争已经迫在眉睫了。因为我很确定，我们的命运还在自己手中，我们有力量拯救未来，我感到有责任抓住目前这个发言机会说明这一点。我不相信苏俄希望战争。他们所希望的是得到战争的果实以及无限扩张他们的权力和主义。但是趁现在还为时未晚，我们所应当考虑的问题是如何永久制止战争并尽快在一切国家为自由和民主创造条件。对于困难和危险视而不见不能解决问题;袖手旁观也不解决问题;采取绥靖政策也无济于事。现在需要的是作出解决问题的安排。拖得越久就越困难，对我们的危险也就越大。
上一次我目睹大战来临时曾对自己本国同胞和全世界大声疾呼，但是人们都听不进。直到1933年甚至1935年，或许还能把德国从后来落到它头上的可怕命运中拯救出来，使我们大家都免遭希特勒强加于人类的苦难。在全部历史中，没有哪一次战争比前不久使地球上广大地区沦为废墟的大战更容易通过及时的行动加以制止。它本来可以不发一枪就遭到制止，而今天的德国也原本可以强大、繁荣而受人尊敬。但是谁也听不进。于是所有我们这些国家一个接一个都被卷入了可怕的漩涡。我们必须绝不让这种事重演。为了做到这一点，我们必须在1946年，在联合国普遍权威之下，就所有问题同俄国达成良好谅解;并且通过这个世界性组织，在英语世界及其一切相关地区的全力支持下，使上述良好谅解在今后漫长的和平年份中维持下去。这就是我通过这次讲话向大家呈现的解决方案，我称之为”和平砥柱”。
请不要低估不列颠帝国和英联邦的坚持。你们或许看到了4600万本岛居民受到食品供应的困扰，看到他们的粮食自给率只有一半，甚至在战时也是如此。你们或许看到了在充满激情的6年战争努力后我们在恢复工业生产与出口贸易方面所遭遇的困难。但绝不要以为我们无法像历经战火洗礼的年月一样挺过眼下物质匮乏的黑暗时刻。绝不要以为半个世纪之后你们不会看到7000至8000万英国人遍布全世界，为了捍卫我们的传统、生活方式以及你我双方共同支持的事业而团结在一起。如果在美国的人口之外再加上英语联邦的人口，再加上这种合作关系所涉及的在空中、海上、科学和工业各方面的合作，那就不会出现不稳定或不可靠的力量均衡，挑逗野心家和冒险家们轻举妄动，相反将会出现压倒性的安全保证。倘若我们忠实于联合国宪章，以镇定而清醒的力量向前迈进，不贪图任何人的土地与财富，不对人类思想进行任何专断控制;倘若英国所有道义上、物质上的力量和信念，都同你们的力量和信念兄弟般的联合在一起，那将不仅为我们、为我们的时代，而且也将为所有的人与未来的世纪带来一个广阔的前程，这是明确无疑的。
附：丘吉尔铁幕演说的英文稿如下：
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 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 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 of 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 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 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.
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 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.
