Winston Churchill
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Russia. And we who look on this war-with-Russia talk as criminal foolishness must carry our message direct to the people—even though we may be called communists because we dare to speak out.
I believe that peace—the kind of peace I have outlined
I AM honored today by being received in your ancient university and by the address which has been given to me on your behalf and which I greatly value. I wish to speak to you today about the tragedy of Europe. This noble continent, comprising on the whole the fairest and the most cultivated regions of the earth, enjoying a temperate and equable climate, is the home of all the great parent races of the Western world. It is the foundation of Christian faith and Christian ethics.
It is the origin of most of the culture, art, philosophy and science, both of ancient and modern times. If Europe were once united in the sharing of its common inheritance there would be no limit to the happiness, the prosperity and the glory which its 300,000,000 or 400,000,000 people would enjoy. Yet it is from Europe that has sprung that series of frightful and nationalistic morals originated by the Teutonic nations in their rise to power, which we have seen in this twentieth century and which have for a long time wrecked the peace and marred the prospects of all mankind.
Europe Senses New Terror
And what is the plight to which Europe has been reduced ? Some of the smaller states have indeed made a good recovery, but over wide areas a vast quivering mass of tormented, hungry, careworn and bewildered human beings gaze on the ruins of their cities and scan the dark horizon for the approach of some new peril, tyranny or terror.
Among the victors there is a babel of voices, among the vanquished a sullen silence of despair.
That is all that Europeans, grouped in so many ancient states and nations—that is all that the Germanic races have got by tearing each other to pieces and spreading havoc far and wide. Indeed, but for the fact that the great republic across the Atlantic Ocean has at length realized that the ruin or enslavement of Europe has involved their own fate as well, and has stretched out hands of succor and guidance —but for that, the Dark Ages would have returned in all their cruelty and squalor.
They may still return. There is a remedy which, if it were generally and spontaneously adopted by the great majority of people in the many lands, would, as if by a miracle, transform the whole scene and would in a few years make all Europe, or the greater pa.rt of it, as free and as happy as Switzerland is today.
A United Europe
What is this sovereign remedy?
It is to recreate the European family, or as much of it as we can, and to provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in pwce, in safety and in freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe.   In this way only
tonight—is the basic issue, both in the Congressional campaign this fall and right on through the Presidential election in 1948. How we meet this issue will determine whether we live not in "one world" or "two worlds"—but whether we live at all.
will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living.
The process is simple. All that is needed is the resolve of hundreds of millions of men and women to do right instead of wrong and to gain as their reward blessing instead of cursing. Much work has been done upon this task by the exertions of the planned European Union, which owes so much to Count Coidenhove-Calergi and which demanded the services of the famous French patron and statesman, Aristide Briand.
There is also that immense body of doctrine and procedure which was brought into being amid high hopes after the first World War. I mean the League of Nations. The League of Nations did not fail because of its principles or conceptions. It failed because these principles were deserted by those states who had brought it into being. It failed because the Governments of those days feared to face the facts and act while time remained.
This disaster must not be repeated. There is, therefore, much knowledge and material with which to build and also bitter, dear-bought experience to spur the builders.
No Conflict With U. N.
I was very glad to read in the newspapers two days ago that my friend, President Truman, had expressed his interest and sympathy with this great design. There is no reason why a regional organization of Europe should in any way conflict with the world organization of the United Nations.
On the contrary, I believe that the larger synthesis will only survive if it is founded upon broad natural groupings in the Western Hemisphere. We British have our own commonwealth of nations. These do not weaken—on the contrary they strengthen—the world organization. They are, in fact, its main support. And why should there not be a European grouping which can give a sense of national patriotism and common citizenship to the distracted peoples of this turbulent and mighty Continent, and why should it not take its proper, rightful place, with other great groupings and help to shape the destinies of man?
In order that this may be accomplished, there must be an act of faith in which millions of families speaking many languages must consciously take part. We all know that the two world wars through which we have passed arose out of a vain passion of a newly united Germany to play a dominating part in the world. In this last struggle crimes and massacres have been committed which have no parallel since the invasion of the Mongols in the fourteenth century and have no equal at any time in human history.
Blessed Act of Oblivion
The guilty must be punished. Germany must be deprived of tjl3 power to rearm and make another aggressive war.
A United States of Europe
FRANCE AND GERMANY MUST LEAD THE WAY By WINSTON CHURCHILL, Former Prime Minister of Great Britain Delivered at Zurich University, Zurich, Switzerland, September 19, 1946
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Vital Speeches of the Day
But when all this has been done, as it will be done, as it is being done; then there must be an end to retribution.
There must be what Mr. Gladstone called a blessed act of oblivion. We must all turn our backs upon the horrors of the past. We must look to the future. We cannot afford to drag forward across the years that are to come the hatreds and revenges which have sprung from the injuries of the past.
If Europe is to be saved from infinite misery and, indeed, from final doom, there must be this act of faith in the European family and this act of oblivion against all the crimes and follies of the past, and the free peoples of Europe must rise to the height of these resolveä of the soul and of the instinct of the spirit of man.
If they can, the wrongs and injuries which have been inflicted will have been washed away on all sides by the miseries which have been endured.
Is there any need for any further conflicts or agony? Is the only lesson of history to be that mankind is unteachable? Let there be justice, mercy and freedom. The people have only to will it in order to achieve their hearts' desire.
I am now going to say something which will astonish you. The first step in the re-creation of the European family must be a partnership between France and Germany.
In this way only can France recover the moral and cultural leadership of Europe.
There can be no revival of Europe without a spiritually great France and a spiritually great Germany.
The structure of the United States of Europe, if well and truly built, will be such as to make the material strength of a single state less important.
Small nations will count as much as large ones and gain their honor by their contribution to the common cause. The ancient states and principalities of Germany, newly joined together into a federal system, might take their individual place among the United States of Europe.
I shall not try to make a detailed program for hundreds of millions of people who want to be happy, free and prosperous, and wish to enjoy the four freedoms of which the
v2« DO YOU believe in a real danger of a "new war," about which at the present time so much irresponsible talk is being carried on ? What steps should be taken for preventing war if such danger exists?
A. I do not believe in a real danger of a "new war." The noise is being raised about a "new war" mainly by military-political scouts and their few supporters from the ranks of civilian officials.
They need this noise if only (a) to frighten with the specter of war some naive politicians from the ranks of their counter-agents and thereby aid their Governments to extract more concessions; '(b) to make difficult for some time the reduction of military budgets in their countries; (c) to check demobilization of troops and thereby prevent quick growth of unemployment in their countries.
It is necessary to distinguish sharply between the «oise
great President Roosevelt spoke, and live under the principles embodied in the Atlantic Charter.
"Dangers Have Not Stopped"
If this is the wish of Europeans in so many lands, then they have only to say so and means can certainly be found and machinery erected to carry that wish to full fruition. But I must give warning; time may be short. At present there may be a breathing space. The cannons have ceased firing. The fighting has stopped, but the dangers have not stopped.
If we are to form a United States of Europe, or whatever name it may take, we must begin now. In these present days we dwell strangely and precariously under the shield, and I will even say protection, of the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb is still only in the hands of a State and nation which we know will never use it except in the cause of right and freedom, but it may very well be that in a few years this awful agency of destruction will be widespread and the catastrophe following from its use by several warring nations will not only bring to an end all that we call civilization but may possibly disintegrate the globe itself.
I must now sum up the propositions which are before us. Our constant aim must be to build and fortify the strength of the United Nations organization. Under and within that world concept, we must recreate the European family in a regional structure, called, it may be, the United States of Europe, and the first practical step would be to form a Council of Europe.
If at first all states of Europe are not willing or able to join the union, we must nevertheless proceed to assemble and combine those who will and can. The salvation of the people, of the common people of every race and land, from war and servitude must be established on solid foundations, and must be guarded by the readiness of all men and women to die rather than to submit to tyranny.
In all this urgent work, France and Germany must take the lead together. Great Britain, the British Commonwealth of Nations, mighty America and, I trust, Soviet Russia—and then indeed all would be well—must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe. Let Europe arise!
about a "new war," which is being carried on now, and the real danger of a "new war," which does not at present exist.
"Encirclement" Discounted
Q. Do you think that Great Britain and the United States consciously are forming a "capitalistic encirclement" of the Soviet Union?
A. I do not think the ruling circles of Great Britain and the United States of America Could create a "capitalistic encirclement" of the Soviet Union even if they wanted to do this, which, however, we cannot affirm.
Q. Speaking in the words Mr. Wallace used in his last speech, can England, western Europe and the United States be assured that Soviet politics in Germany will not be turned into a weapon of Russian efforts directed against western Europe ?
Opinion on Current Questions
STATEMENT TO PRESS
By JOSEF STALIN, Premier of the United Soviet Socialist Republic Delivered at Moscow, U.S.S.R., September 24, 1946
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