Never Give In! (9 page)

‘SOCIALISM: ‘ALL YOURS IS MINE!’

22 January 1908

Cheetham, Manchester

The fledgling Labour Party were junior partners in the Liberal administration, which constituted what would today be called a ‘Lib-Lab Pact’. In the ranks of the Labour Party there were to be found many hard-line Socialists, to whose presence in the Liberal coalition Churchill took the strongest exception, while anxious not to alienate the working-class vote.

The Socialists – the extreme and revolutionary party of Socialists – are very fond of telling us they are reviving in modern days the best principles of the Christian era. They consider they are the political embodiment of Christianity, though, to judge by the language which some of them use and the spirit of envy, hatred, and malice with which they go about their work, you would hardly imagine they had studied the teaching of the Founder of Christianity with the attention they profess to have given to the subject. – (
Hear
,
bear.
)

Electioneering in Manchester, 1908.

But there is one great difference between Socialists of the Christian era and those of which Mr Victor Grayson is the apostle. The Socialism of the Christian era was based on the idea that ‘all mine is yours’, but the Socialism of Mr Grayson is based on the idea that ‘all yours is mine’. – (
Cheers.
) And I go so far as to say that no movement will ever achieve any real advantage for the mass of the people that is based upon so much spite and jealousy as is the present Socialist movement in the hands of its extreme men.

‘THE PEN: ‘LIBERATOR OF MAN AND OF NATIONS’

17 February 1908

Author’s Club, London

Having moonlighted as a war-correspondent during his years in the Army, on the North-West frontier of India, on the Afghan border, in the Sudan and South Africa, Churchill had already published six significant works, including a major biography of his late father.

The fortunate people in the world – the only really fortunate people in the world, in my mind, – are those whose work is also their pleasure. The class is not a large one, not nearly so large as it is often represented to be; and authors are perhaps one of the most important elements in its composition. They enjoy in this respect at least a real harmony of life. To my mind, to be able to make your work your pleasure is the one class distinction in the world worth striving for; and I do not wonder that others are inclined to envy those happy human beings who find their livelihood in the gay effusions of their fancy, to whom every hour of labour is an hour of enjoyment, to whom repose – however necessary – is a tiresome interlude, and even a holiday is almost deprivation. Whether a man writes well or ill, has much to say or little, if he cares about writing at all, he will appreciate the pleasures of composition. To sit at one’s table on a sunny morning, with four clear hours of uninterruptible security, plenty of nice white paper, and a Squeezer pen – (
laughter
)
–
that is true happiness. The complete absorption of the mind upon an agreeable occupation – what more is there than that to desire? What does it matter what happens outside? The House of Commons may do what it likes, and so may the House of Lords. – (
Laughter.
) The heathen may rage furiously in every part of the globe. The bottom may be knocked clean out of the American market. Consols may fall and suffragettes may rise. – (
Laughter.
) Never mind, for four hours, at any rate, we will withdraw ourselves from a common, ill – governed, and disorderly world, and with the key of fancy unlock that cupboard where all the good things of the infinite are put away. – (
Cheers.
)

I often fortify myself amid the uncertainties and vexations of political life by believing that I possess a line of retreat into a peaceful and fertile country where no rascal can pursue and where one need never be dull or idle or even wholly without power. It is then, indeed, that I feel devoutly thankful to have been born fond of writing. It is then, indeed, that I feel grateful to all the brave and generous spirits who, in every age and in every land, have fought to establish the now unquestioned freedom of the pen. – (
Cheers.
)

And what a noble medium the English language is. It is not possible to write a page without experiencing positive pleasure at the richness and variety, the flexibility and the profoundness of our mother-tongue. If an English writer cannot say what he has to say in English, and in simple English, depend upon it it is probably not worth saying. What a pity it is that English is not more generally studied. . . .

Now, I am a great admirer of the Greeks, although, of course, I have to depend upon what others tell me about them – (
laughter
),
–
and I would like to see our educationists imitate in one respect, at least, the Greek example. How is it that the Greeks made their language the most graceful and compendious mode of expression ever known among men? Did they spend all their time studying the languages which had preceded theirs? Did they explore with tireless persistency the ancient root dialects of the vanished world? Not at all. They studied Greek. – (
Cheers.
) They studied their own language. They loved it, they cherished it, they adorned it, they expanded it, and that is why it survives a model and delight to all posterity. Surely we, whose mother-tongue has already won for itself such an unequalled empire over the modern world, can learn this lesson at least from the ancient Greeks and bestow a little care and some proportion of the years of education to the study of a language which is perhaps to play a predominant part in the future progress of mankind.

‘WHAT IS SOCIETY?’

4 May 1908

Kinnaird Hall, Dundee

On 8 April Herbert Asquith succeeded Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister. The same day he appointed Churchill, at the young age of 33, to be President of the Board of Trade with a seat in the Cabinet. At the time it was still the practice that newly appointed Cabinet Ministers had to seek re-election by their constituencies before they could accept an office of profit under the Crown. Churchill’s constituents were not minded to endorse him and he was defeated by 429 votes. But the Scottish city of Dundee provided him with a haven, and shortly after this speech, returned him in a by-election with a large majority. Later that summer, on 12 September, he married Miss Clementine Hazier.

And what is society? I will tell you what society is. Translated into concrete terms, Socialistic ‘society’ is a set of disagreeable individuals who obtained a majority for their caucus at some recent election, and whose officials in consequence would look on humanity through innumerable grills and pigeon-holes and across innumerable counters, and say to them, ‘Tickets, please.’ (
Laughter.
) Truly this grey old world has never seen so grim a joke. (
Applause.
) Now, ladies and gentlemen, no man can be either a collectivist or an individual. He must be both; everybody must be both a collectivist and an individualist. For certain of our affairs we must have our arrangements in common. Others we must have sacredly individual and to ourselves. (
Cheers.
) We have many good things in common. You have the police, the Army, the Navy, and officials – why, a President of the Board of Trade you have in common. (
Applause.
) But we don’t eat in common; we eat individually. (
Laughter.
) And we don’t ask the ladies to marry us in common. (
Laughter.
) And you will find the truth lies in these matters, as it always lies in difficult matters, midway between extreme formulae. It is in the nice adjustment of the respective ideas of collectivism and individualism that the problem of the world and the solution of that problem lie in the years to come. (
Applause.
) But I have no hesitation in saying that I am on the side of those who think that a greater collective element should be introduced into the State and municipalities. I should like to see the State undertaking new functions, particularly stepping forward into those spheres of activity which are governed by an element of monopoly. (
Applause.
) Your tramways and so on; your great public works, which are of a monopolistic and privileged character – there I see a wide field for State enterprise to embark upon. But when we are told to exalt and admire a philosophy which destroys individualism and seeks to replace it by collectivism, I say that is a monstrous and imbecile conception which can find no real foothold in the brains and hearts – and the hearts are as trustworthy as the brains – in the hearts of sensible people. (
Loud cheers.
)

‘I
AM
THE BOARD OF TRADE’

4 February 1909

Chamber of Commerce dinner, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

If there is any office in the Government which should claim a friendly reception it is the Board of Trade. In a sense I am the Board of Trade. (
Laughter.
) I preside over a Board which for centuries has not met. One constitutes a quorum. I am that quorum. But in a larger sense the Board of Trade is a great apparatus of beneficent Government organisation, a great accumulation of knowledge, and it has a staff which is quite equal to the very finest flavour of the Civil Service. Its attitude is non-partisan. It has relations with all parties and with the leaders not only of industrial enterprise but of the trade unions, and both sides are willing to give the Board the best information they have when any important question arises. The statutory powers of the Board are large, and the amount of work done that is outside the statutory powers, by goodwill and conciliation, is also great. Both sides know that they will get fair treatment, and that there will be no hanky-panky or jerrymandering in dealing with different interests and different classes. This undoubtedly gives the Board in its larger aspect an influence far outside any power that is conferred upon it by Parliament. (
Cheers.
) Its three great principles, enunciated by my predecessor, are ‘Confer, Conciliate, and Compromise’.

THE BUDGET: ‘CANNOT AFFORD TO LIVE OR DIE’

22 May 1909

Free Trade Hall, Manchester

Considering that you have all been ruined by the Budget – (
laughter
),
–
I think it very kind of you to receive me so well. When I remember all the injuries you have suffered – how South Africa has been lost – (
laughter
); – how the gold mines have been thrown away; how all the splendid army which Mr Brodrick got together – (
laughter
)
–
has been reduced to a sham; and how, of course, we have got no navy of any kind whatever – (
laughter
),
–
not even a fishing smack, for all the 35 millions a year we give the Admiralty; and when I remember that in spite of all these evils the taxes are so oppressive and so cruel that any self-respecting Conservative will tell you he cannot afford either to live or die – (
laughter
),
–
when I remember all this, Mr Chairman, I think it remarkable that you should be willing to give me such a hearty welcome back to Manchester. Yes, gentlemen, when I think of the colonies we have lost, of the Empire we have alienated, of the food we have left untaxed – (
laughter
),
–
and the foreigners we have left unmolested – (
laughter
),
–
and the ladies we have left outside – (
laughter
)
–
I confess I am astonished you are glad to see me here again.