'A United States of Europe. Build and fortify the strength of the European Family, for it to dwell in peace, in safety and in freedom.'
On this day, May 5th, we celebrate, in the Netherlands, Liberation Day.
This year, we commemorate the end of World War II, 75 years ago. We celebrate that we have been living in freedom ever since, recognising that we are responsible for passing on freedom. The comparatively modest restrictions, compared to wartime, that are required of our society, to beat the COVID-19 virus, provides a small glimpse into a world in which freedom, which we have taken for granted for so long, is limited.
On this day, and in the weeks prior to this, I can not help but feel an annual burst of admiration for a courageous statesman, visionair, and gifted orator: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965).
Not only for his wit, nor his bow tie, nor even his daily balanced diet of champagne and cigars. But, I am one of many, that have the upmost respect for Churchill's ability to see eminent danger, when others do not, and for his courage to act, in coalition, and in a democratic fashion, to successfully fight to destroy evil.
It is not uncommon, mythical proportions aside, to state that Britain's defiance of the Dictator, for a long time a fight alone, prevented the absolute dominion of 'Hitler and his Nazi gang'. The small island would take up arms, aided from all parts of the Empire, and later, in God's good time, joined by the New World, 'with all its power and might', against the 'Hitler tyranny, the Japanese frenzy, and the Mussolini flop'. The aim, as Churchill stated in his first Speech as Prime Minister to the House of Commons on May 13, 1940: "victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be", incidentally three days after Germany invaded the Netherlands and one day before the Rotterdam Blitz; the German bombing of the city of Rotterdam, which resulted in the capitulation of the Netherlands. From a Dutch perspective: we owe much to many, yet also 'much to a few', to paraphrase Churchill, with the same intended rhetoric.
It is hard to see what the future of, for instance, the Netherlands, would have been, without Britain's 'Finest Hour'.
Andrew Roberts, author of the much acclaimed 2018 biography: Churchill. Walking with Destiny characterises four aspects of Churchill, in the "Churchill Interview" with former cabinet minister The Right Honourable Michael Gove MP, that explain why Churchill was such an extraordinary person:
- His foresight. Not only with regards to Hitler and the Nazi's, but also already in March 1946 with regards to the threat of Stalin and soviet communism, and coining the term 'iron curtain' in his The Sinews of Peace speech in Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri.
- His physical courage. He led his platoons into No Man's Land many times with the Grenadier Guards and the Royal Scots Fusiliers, to the extent that they could hear the Germans in their trenches. He fought on four continents, in five campaigns. He travelled, in WWII, some 110.000 miles under bad conditions, often within the range of the Luftwaffe.
- His moral courage. He did not shy away from taking positions opposite to the general view or establishment view, and wholeheartedly defended that position.
- His eloquence. Not as part of a rhetoric game, but resulting from a firm belief in the role he was cut out to play to save Londen, the country and the Empire - his destiny.
Roberts, who had access to new sources for his biography, the diaries of King George VI, amongst others, with whom Churchill had lunch every Tuesday, paints a grand portrait of a grand man. Following up on Roberts' analysis of Churchill's foresight, I now focus on again an example of immense foresight. Churchill's proposal for a "United States of Europe" in his 1946 “Let Europe arise!” speech in Zürich.
If you listen to his speech or read it, today, one can only recognise how spot on he had been. The EU has been created, it has provided peace, safety and freedom, and the French-German axis, is of importance in the EU today. Churchill's foresight was not only limited to the creation of such a European Union, that recognises his role in the creation of its foundation, but even with regards to Brexit, as I will argue.
It is interesting to know that the mayor of London (terms: 2008-2016) was invited to write a biography on his hero, Winston Churchill. Boris Johnson saw his book The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History published in 2014. In public media sessions dedicated to the book and its author, such as this 2014 Washington 'Politics and Prose' lecture, we see in the audience and the speaker, a tendency to compare aspects of Churchill with Johnson. As we know today, of course, Johnson is Churchill's successor as current resident of Downing Street 10. And Johnson is seen as the personification of Brexit; where Britain will leave the EU. In the abovementioned lecture in Washington, someone from the audience asks Johnson what Churchill's position would have been on the EU today. Johnson answers: 'I think Churchill had wanted to be there, involved, engaged, although he might not necessarily have wanted to be subsumed into a federative system. Churchill was a great campaigner for the idea of a united Europe, but Churchill sees Britain as an usher in a church, as it were, not actually participating in the Union. Associated, but non absorbed.'
When reading Churchill's 1946 Zürich speech, we already see
Great Britain, the British Commonwealth of Nations, mighty America, and I trust Soviet Russia, for then indeed all would be well, must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe and must champion its right to live and shine.
To quote the aforementioned Andrew Roberts in the Spectator: With Europe, but not of it. 17 February 2018:
Churchill wanted Britain to be with Europe, but not a part of it. A 'friend and sponsor' is not the same as a member, as he made abundantly clear in his postwar premiership.
On 29 November 1951, Roberts continues, Churchill wrote a minute on Robert Schuman’s plan for a European Coal and Steel Community — which was to form the basis for the later EEC — that stated unequivocally:
Our attitude towards further economic developments on the Schuman lines resembles that which we adopt about the European Army. We help, we dedicate, we play a part, but we are not merged with and do not forfeit our insular or Commonwealth character.... It is only when plans for uniting Europe take a federal form that we ourselves cannot take part, because we cannot subordinate ourselves or the control of British policy to federal authorities.
And thus, Churchill foresaw the creation of the United States of Europe, but saw a role for Britain and the British Commonwealth of Nations and in a special relation, I would argue, with 'mighty America'; 'the New World and the Old'.
To this day, this still holds.
Credits:
- Picture of Winston Churchill at University of Zürich. Taken on Monday September 19th 1946. Published by the International Churchill Society: https://winstonchurchill.org/news-and-events/past-events/70th-anniversary-of-churchill-s-zurich-speech/
- Picture of Winston Churchill. December 30, 1941 by Yousuf Karsh. 1 photograph: silver gelatin print ; 30.8 x 24.0 cm. Karsh called this "The Roaring Lion" picture. See: https://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=3915740
The biographies:
