On May 23, 1945, fifteen days after the end of the war, Winston was obliged to follow British electoral custom and present himself at Buckingham Palace where he tendered his resignation as Prime Minister to King George VI.
Winston Campaigns Against Socialism
He left the palace as head of a new caretaker government which, at the King’s request, would rule in Britain until parliamentary elections were concluded. Three days later, Winston was already on the campaign trail.
He chose as his electioneering theme the perils of socialism, the basic creed of his Labor opponents, which he equated with communism. It was a mistaken choice; British socialism emphasized improvement in the lives of the working class and was firmly based on philanthropic Christian values rather than Marxist politics, in this, it was quite unlike the totalitarian communism already being enforced by the Russians in Europe.
By suggesting a link between socialism and communism, Winston badly misjudged the mood of the British people.
Socialism and Communism
In particular, he failed to understand the widespread feeling, especially among the young men and women who had fought in the war, that the State should now focus on solving social problems such as extreme poverty, poor health and bad housing. This was why they welcomed the measures the Labor party was promising.
Labor policy was enshrined in the Beveridge Report, published in 1942. The Report included state provision for unemployment insurance, free medical care, child benefits and old age pensions. Among large numbers of the British electorate there was considerable distrust that Labor’s opponents, the Conservative Party, led by Winston Churchill, had any intention of implementing Beveridge.
On the contrary, the popular image of a new Conservative government, if elected, envisaged a return to the unequal situation that existed before the war, a situation that favored the rich and privileged in British society and grossly neglected the poor.
In addition, the Conservatives in power during the 1930s were widely blamed for the appeasement of Hitler and Nazi Germany that had led to the war and exacted such a heavy cost from Britain and its population.
The Gestapo Prediction
Nevertheless, Winston pursued his anti-socialist, anti-Labor theme throughout the election campaign of 1945. In particular, a radio broadcast he made on June 4 did more damage to the Conservative cause than his opponents could have inflicted on their own.
“My friends,” Winston told electors, “I must tell you that a Socialist policy is abhorrent to the British ideas of freedom ...There can be no doubt that Socialism is inseparably interwoven with totalitarianism and the abject worship of the State."
“It is not alone that property in all its forms is struck at, but that liberty in all its forms is challenged by the fundamental conceptions of socialism ... (The Socialists) would have to fall back on some kind of Gestapo......” (to enforce their rule)
The Gestapo was the terrifying Nazi secret police that had used terror, torture, imprisonment and execution to control the territories the Germans had conquered during the war Winston could not have picked a more horrifying image for the Labor Party. Unfortunately, the “Gestapo” accusation stuck and damaged his chances in the election. It was one of the greatest miscalculations of Winston’s political career.
Winston’s Personal Popularity
In later speeches and broadcasts, Winston tried to tone down his attacks on socialism, attempting to reassure voters of his commitment to the Beveridge Plan, but the “Gestapo” label provoked both embarrassment and outrage across the political spectrum.
To make matters even worse, Winston made some very waspish comments about the Labor leader Clement Attlee, even though Attlee had loyally served in his coalition government throughout the war years. Attlee was, Winston claimed, “a modest man with a great deal to be modest about” and a “sheep in sheep’s clothing”.
Paradoxically, Winston’s own personal popularity remained unaffected. Whenever he was out in public, people lost no chance of showing the affection they had for him. John Martin, who worked in Winston’s private office, was in a car with him on the way to Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country home, when they became caught up in a traffic jam outside the White City, a sports stadium in west London.
“The crowds were coming away from the greyhound races” Martin wrote to his wife on June 17. “Immediately, he was surrounded by an extremely enthusiastic (crowd) ...not a sign of unfriendliness or opposition. It was a remarkable demonstration...”
Winston at Potsdam
The General Election took place on July 5, 1945, but the results were delayed for three weeks, until the votes of service personnel still overseas had been counted. The interval allowed Winston to attend the Potsdam Conference and to take a short holiday in France with his youngest daughter, Mary.
The rigors of electioneering had left Winston feeling sad and tired. Fortunately, he had brought with him his easel, canvas and paints. “The magic of painting soon laid hold of him,” Mary remembered,“ absorbing him for hours on end and banishing disturbing thoughts of either the present or the future.”
A week later, Winston and his daughter left for Potsdam, outside Berlin, for the conference which opened on July 17. At first, negotiations were straightforward.
The Big Three - Winston, Stalin and the new US president, Harry S. Truman, agreed the practical details for governing conquered Germany and approved in principle the reparations that were due to Russia and other countries which had suffered from Nazi aggression.
They also created an International Military Tribunal to prosecute Nazi war criminals. But Potsdam did not fulfil Winston’s major objective - to curb the spread of communism, for the conference had come far too late.
By this time, Russian dominance was already well established in central and eastern Europe and Stalin had no intention of allowing democratic elections, despite promises given at the Yalta conference in February 1945. The wartime alliance between East and West had come to an end and the “Cold War” was about to begin.
Sources
Keegan, John: The Second World War (London. UK: Penguin Books. 2005) ISBN-10: 0143035738/ISBN-13: 978-0143035732
Gilbert, Martin Winston Churchill's War Leadership by Martin Gilbert (London, UK: Vintage Books, 2004) ISBN-10: 140007732X/ISBN-13: 978-1400077328
The War Leader - The Churchill Centre
Brenda Ralph Lewis - My interest in history dates from childhood. I am presently the author of 120 books and hundreds of articles, all on historical ...
