He glorified the horrendous and futile Gallipoli campaign in WW1, was an opponent of universal suffrage, especially women's suffrage. Hated by suffragists and repeatedly booed or attacked. Twice whipped by a suffragist crying out 'Take that, you brute! You brute!' In 1910 Welsh miners strike, Churchill sends in the army. Two strikers died and gained a reputation as virilent anti-socialist and became one of the most despised politicians amongst the people of Britain. In 1911 National Railway Strike, Churchill mobilises the army to strategic points. A couple more strikers die. Even his fellow Tories are shocked by his violent statements. In 1926 General Strike, Churchill is the most aggressive opponent of the workers, running the rabid 'British Gazette' newspaper and preferring to 'give them a good hammering' instead of any negotiation. More deaths. He was responsible for ordering first airborne chemical attack on Kurdish villages when Britain controlled large areas of the middle east. Where do you think Saddam got the idea from?

This is the man that Britain voted 'Britons greatest individual' on the BBC (November 2002)! Mo Mowlam, the ex-politician who persuaded so many to vote for him needs to be asked the following question: why did she want a Nazi-sypathiser, a believer in racial supremacy, to be voted best Briton of all time? Perhaps she was being brutally honest and making it clear that Britain's colonial record (and record today) is marred by genocide, trade in slavery and death, oppression of people and now support for a reactionary regime in the United States. Perhaps a few quotes might help show his Nazi, anti-semitic sympathies:

Quotes

"I will not pretend that, if I had to choose between communism and nazism, I would choose communism" - Speaking in the House of Commons, 1937.

"I do not understand the squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisonous gas against uncivilised tribes" - Writing as president of the Air Council.

"I do not admit...that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia...by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race...has come in and taken its place" - Churchill to Palestine Royal Commission, 1937.

"The unnatural and increasingly rapid growth of the feeble minded and insane classes, coupled as it is with a steady restriction among all the thrifty, energetic and superior stocks, constitutes a national and race danger which it is impossible to exaggerate...I feel that the source from which the stream of madness is fed should be cut off and sealed up before another year has passed" - Churchill to Asquith, 1910.

"One may dislike Hitler's system and yet admire his patriotic achievements. If our country were defeated, I hope we should find a champion as admirable to restore our courage and lead us back to our place among the nations" - From 'Great Contemporaries', 1937.

"This movement among the Jews is not new...this worldwide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the 19th century; and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire" - Writing on 'Zionism versus Bolshevism' in the Illustrated Sunday Herald, 1920.

One striking political message in Parliament Square was given through the daubing and decorating of the statue of that racist bigot and ruling class warmonger Winston Churchill. The red paint dripping from his mouth and the hammer and sickle on the plinth were very poignant. He detested the Bolsheviks, reserving for them a special vitriol reminiscent of Nazi tirades against the Jews: 'swarms of typhus-bearing vermin'.

Churchill's racism was at the heart of his imperialist political standpoint. The white races, in particular the British, were for him superior: 'I do not admit...that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia...by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race...has come in and taken its place.' Churchill approved the use of poisonous gas on numerous occasions in Afghanistan, in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and against the Red Army, saying: 'I do not understand this squeamishness about using gas...I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gases against uncivilised tribes'.*

He had a profound contempt for the working class, was opposed to unemployment benefit and, during the General Strike 1926 called for the armed forces to put down the strike by any means necessary. After its defeat he wanted relief for miners' families to be withdrawn, a position too foul even for his fellow Tories. The ex-soldier James Matthews, arrested for daubing Churchill's statue (as part of the Mayday 2000 demonstrations in London) after his picture appeared in the press, defended himself politically in court and was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment by a viciously reactionary magistrate. He justified his action in a clear, political and courageous way when he said:

'The May Day celebrations were in the spirit of free expression against capitalism. Churchill was an exponent of capitalism and of imperialism and anti-semitism. A Tory reactionary vehemently opposed to the emancipation of women and to independence for India. The media machine made this paunchy little man much larger than life, a colossal, towering figure of great stature and bearing the trademark cigar, bowler hat and V-sign. The reality was an often irrational, sometimes vainglorious leader whose impetuosity, egotism and bigotry on occasion cost many lives unnecessarily, and caused much suffering that was needless and unjustified'.

Need any more be said!

Cenotaph: Reclaim The Streets statement

'In relation to the graffiti on the cenotaph, we are obviously aware of the millions of people who have given their lives in the fight for freedom. We know that millions are still dying every year in numerous struggles for independence, freedom and human rights. We respect all those people who are, and have been, prepared to stand up to fascism, imperialism and dictatorship. That said we do not necessarily celebrate the generals and the ruling class that send these people to their deaths to protect the privileges and control of the few. The abhorrence of sending millions of men to their deaths in the trenches dwarfs the stupidity of any possible slogan on a piece of stone'.
 

* A good biography of Churchill is by Clive Ponting, Sinclair Stevenson 1994. This material on Churchill came from a review of this book in FRFI 120 August/September 1994. A short summary of Churchill 'Damaging a criminal' appears in SchNEWs 5 May.