Churchill’s speech marks a new stage in the war¶
Core Argument¶
Churchill’s speech of late September 1943 is here analysed as a frank disclosure of the ruling class’s real anxieties and war aims. The core argument is that the British bourgeoisie, far from waging a principled struggle against fascism, is preoccupied with preventing revolution in Europe. The speech reveals that the British government, while bombing Italian workers in Milan and Turin, was simultaneously negotiating with Badoglio and the monarchy—the very forces that installed Mussolini. Churchill’s frantic telegrams to accelerate the invasion of Italy, lest the country lapse into “anarchy”, are taken as direct evidence of class bias: the fear that workers and peasants might overthrow capitalism before imperialism could secure the peninsula.
The chapter draws on the historical precedent of the last war, citing Lloyd George’s perjured pledge that Britain was not fighting for territory, now echoed by Eden. The fate of the Italian empire is presented as a test case: Abyssinia remains occupied, and the former Italian colonies will be absorbed as British protectorates, exposing the maxim “What we have we hold, plus anything else we can grab”. The armistice with Badoglio and Victor Emmanuel marks the passage of the Italian ruling class into the Allied camp, protected by AMGOT, which prohibits political activity and entrenches capitalists, landlords, the Church and monarchy. The symbolic guard of honour given to the surrendering Italian admirals—former fascists—is held up as emblematic of the real policy: the preservation of the military caste, bureaucracy and monarchy across liberated Europe.
The polemic is directed against the official narrative of a war for democracy. Churchill’s phrase about satellite states being allowed to “work their passage home” is translated bluntly as a “carve-up”. The chapter argues that British imperialism is preparing to back Antonescu, Bulgarian and Hungarian quislings, and any Balkan regime willing to switch sides, just as it already allies with Polish and Greek dictatorships. The aim is not to defeat fascism but to protect profits, markets and colonies, and to cripple Germany as a competitor. The sombre prospect Churchill holds out—that the bloodiest part of the war lies ahead—is attributed to the fact that Anglo-American imperialism can offer the German people nothing better than a new Versailles.
A further layer of analysis concerns the secret diplomacy with Stalin. The reshuffle bringing Beaverbrook back into government is read as a step toward an agreement: temporary concessions on boundaries and reparations in return for Stalin’s help in crushing European revolution. The suggestion that Russia join AMGOT is seen as a device to delude the masses and share the odium of suppression. The chapter concludes that these plans will be shattered by the resistance of European and Asian masses, and above all by workers and soldiers in Britain and America, who will learn that only working-class conquest of power in a socialist Europe can abolish fascism and war.