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"THE GOVERNMENT
 IS THE SERVANT
 OF THE PEOPLE
 AND NOT ITS MASTER"

Winston Churchill
Oslo 1948

Churchill - Global Parliamentarian

By D. McCormack Smyth ©

Web Exclusive

When Churchill College was established, in the University of Cambridge, as the international memorial to Sir Winston, he was asked by his fellow trustees to choose the motto for this new foundation. After careful reflection, he chose a single word: “FORWARD”. That designation was characteristic of Churchill’s basic attitude. He was committed to the improvement of human life in all of his primary efforts.

The distinguished author, Sir Martin Gilbert, reported that Eric Seal, who from September 1939 until later in 1940, was Churchill’s Principal Private Secretary, wrote that “the key word in any understanding of Winston Churchill is the primary word ‘Liberty’ ”. Churchill “stood for liberty”. “He intensely disliked and reacted violently against all attempts to regiment and dictate opinion”. This included all organized efforts to tell human beings what or how they should think. “In the last resort, this was the main spring of his action”.

At the beginning of his political career, in 1899, when he was then only 25 years of age, he told his cousin Ivor Guest that his political aim was to improve the condition of the British people. John Morley, a great Liberal influence on his life, urged Churchill to read a newly published volume titled “Poverty: A Study of Town Life” by Seebohm Rowntree. This had a profound impact on the life of this vigorous and determined young man. Morley changed the direction and purpose of Churchill’s life. He became committed to the “co-ordinated development and expansion with the progress of social comfort and health”.

The combined influence of Rowntree’s writing and John Morley’s influence, followed later by Churchill’s witness of military maneuvers by the German army, led him to the conclusion that political leaders “could make things much better than they are – if they only all tried together!” Churchill wrote “much as war attracts me and fascinates my mind with its tremendous situations – I feel most deeply every year - and measure the feeling here in the midst of arms – what vile and wicked folly and barbarism it all is.” That powerful idea seized Winston Churchill, and remained with him throughout his long life.

These three men - Churchill, Gandhi, and Roosevelt – became determined to rid the world of war, profoundly influencing the life of the Western world from the end of the First World War onward. As the First World War ended, Churchill had realized that if intelligent steps had been taken the evils of Nazism would have been prevented.

Even before the First World War began, Churchill had proposed to the German Naval Leader, Von Tirpitz, “a naval holiday” be established. If this had been accepted, it would have enormously eased political tensions in Europe and possibly prevented the catastrophe that resulted in the First World War and the Second World War.

In March 1946, Churchill delivered perhaps the most significant address in his entire career as an international parliamentarian. That day, on 5 March, 1946, he spoke of “The Sinews of Peace” at Westminster College in the United States. Here it is essential to note that a sinew is a tough fibrous tissue which unites muscle, bone and tendon and thus sustains the strength or holds together the framework of the body. Therefore we should think immediately of the means for sustaining peace.

In that address, Churchill reminded his listeners that when American military men became involved with serious negotiations that they often spoke of the “over-all strategic concept”. Churchill asked: “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…. 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….”

As he continued that great address, Churchill spoke further: “Our supreme task and duty is to guard the homes of the common people from the horrors and misery 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 organization has already been erected for the prime purpose of preventing war, UNO, the successor of the UN 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 someday be hung up, and not merely a cockpit in a Tower of Babel. Before we cast away the solid assurance of national armaments for self-prevention, we must be certain that our temple is built, not upon shifting sands or quagmires, but upon the rock.”

Churchill, as if speaking forward to the future, emphasized that: “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.”

Finally, Churchill had “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 Organization 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 organization. These squadrons should be trained and prepared in their own countries, but would move around in rotation from one country to another. They would wear the uniforms 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 organization. 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 that this may be done forthwith.”

Churchill had a clear series of ideas that, if acted upon and organized in a carefully integrated manner, could have moved the world forward much more effectively before he died. He was profoundly troubled that in his lifetime, the primary advances he had conceived were not employed adequately.

Churchill entitled his March 1946 address at Westminster College “The Sinews of Peace”. Unfortunately, the global “media” focused primary attention on a key passage in his address describing “the iron curtain”, which symbolized the immense struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States and its allies. Now, world attention must be focused on the development, nurturing, and the unending renewal of “The Sinews of Peace” – through the promotion of kindness, peace, and the prevention of war. Being absolutely clear as to what these sinews represent and how they may be nourished is necessary to provide a sustainable framework. These are the primary needs which must be understood and applied for the advancement of parliamentary democracy and its essential principals of peaceful advancement in the modern world. Who must now be the global parliamentarians in our time as Churchill was in his?

D. McCormack Smyth
Founding Director
Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy
51 Aberdeen Ave
Hamilton, ON L8P 2N7
Tel: 905- 525-9545