World 1937: Churchill's Men of the Times
by Winston Churchill.
Translated by Zhu Hongfei and published by Hunan People's Publishing House.
This book is a collection of character reviews by Churchill, written in 1937 at the turn of the two world wars. In this turbulent era, Churchill witnessed the First World War, the ** Revolution, the rise of Hitler, the Spanish Revolution, the Irish Autonomy Movement, and the Great Depression of the world economy. He recalls Kaiser Wilhelm II, Hindenburg, Lawrence of Arabia, Foch, Clemenceau, Arthur Belfour, George V, Kitchener and other important figures in World War I, and also looks forward to the different futures of Roosevelt and Hitler. As a leading politician in modern history, the book is imbued with his accurate understanding of history, politics and life, rational analysis and unique insights on important issues, and intuitive feelings of personal contact with relevant figures.
Selected readings: Roosevelt. The second danger of Roosevelt's heroic experiments came from the tendency to chase the rich as pests. It's an attractive sport, and once it starts, quite a few people around are willing to join the chase. And the prey is both agile and cunning, so it is difficult to catch. The chase was long and exciting, and everyone had this passion in their blood. The question is whether over-indulging in this pastime can contribute to the general welfare of the community. A millionaire or billionaire is like a highly economical animal. He sucks money from various ** like a sponge absorbing water. In the process, instead of depriving ordinary people of their income, he opened a business, allowing it to continue, increasing its value and expanding its credit. Without large-scale credit, comprehensive economic opportunities cannot be open to millions of people. The pursuit of wealth is not the same as the acquisition of common wealth.
This money-sucking and credit-making creature animal not only walks, but also runs, and flies when frightened. If his wings are clipped, he will also dive or crawl. When he is finally caught, what is left but an unusual personal apology for his mistakes, especially for his failure to escape?
But at the same time, huge buildings were flattened. Confidence is shaken, businesses are depressed, the unemployed are lining up at soup kitchens or walking in line on public works, taxpayers are spending more and more, and workers are bringing home only the legs or wings of the once millionaires. You can tell that people who are interested in this battle will not accept this kind of statement that is not good for their movement. They will have to accept the consequences of ignoring such claims. Capital and credit should be respected and cherished partners in the economic system, which are indispensable to the wealth of the country and to the wages and living standards of workers. If this point is discarded, the path of ** is certainly also an option. But the self-reliant inhabitants of the United States, who cut down the forests, cleared the land, connected the continents with railroads, and raised the level of acquisition and distribution of wealth to a level that humanity had never reached before, no one would think that such inhabitants could endure even a week of dark and cruel slavery.
A shrewd instinct prompted Mr. Roosevelt to abandon his attempts to limit ** by law. The practice of price limiting, which was often adopted in Old World countries, failed in practice, except in wartime or in very limited locations. Such measures are appropriate for the defeat of monopolies or chains, but they must not be accepted as a monotonous basis for economic life. No matter how long it takes, there will be no good wages or good jobs without good profits, and the sooner this is recognized, the sooner the situation will change.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
As an author who has been Chancellor of the Exchequer for nearly five years, I was surprised by a law recently passed in the United States. It stipulates that all income for taxation purposes must be disclosed. Such a rule seems to be a great obstacle to business recovery and – although this is secondary – is also unpopular in the field of personal relationships. In the UK, we pride ourselves on receiving essentially as much income from the rich as possible under a progressive tax system that does not undermine tax objectives. Our income tax and surtax payers have been praised by foreign observers for paying their taxes in full and on time. Even our own socialist ministers have proved it. But we have always believed that neither rich nor poor, the taxpayer has relations with the state and only with the state, neither his employees nor his rivals, nor his neighbors nor creditors, nor his enemies or friends, should know what is happening between him and the treasury. To have a merchant or a manufacturer who has set up a production enterprise disclose his income for the year not only to the tax collector but to all the people is bound to be all sorts of harms, and the annoyance and harm it brings must be an almost incalculable hindrance to the cause of the state. It seems to me to be the only variant of the stupidity of Prohibition. Recently, the wisdom and vitality of the United States got out of Prohibition with a patient but irresistible sensation on broad shoulders.
We could say a thousand words about this. The important question is whether American democracy can clean up scandals and punish misconduct without losing its own claims and undermining the vitality of economic entities and organizations. It is useless to oppose ordinary individual businessmen who make only small profits as **departments**. And as long as these ** stay in the office from 10 to 4 in a decent way, their task is done. Planning, logistics, and risk-taking are integral to all for-profit activities. If these are destroyed, the capitalist system has failed and one other system will surely take its place. The capitalist system, like everything else in our imperfect human life, is undoubtedly full of evils, mistakes, and inequalities, but it is under capitalism that, just a few years ago, the United States brought the largest number of people a great prosperity never before seen in human history. It is not illogical to say: "Rather than forgiving these mistakes and ills, we should sweep away the system, no matter how much it costs us in terms of material welfare." We will replace it with the only other system that can initiate the great organization and development, namely, the nationalization of all means of production, distribution, credit and exchange. "However, it is absurd to destroy or paralyze the capitalist system without the mental fortitude and ruthless action required to create a new communist system.
To foreign observers, the United States now faces that big choice. The capitalist system protects private property rights, rent, interest and profits are its pillars, and the sanctity of contracts is recognized and enforced by the state. It's the same for us in the old world. If we are to continue on this dilapidated and leaky lifeboat on this rough sea, we must work hard to drain it outwards so that it floats on the water and sails towards the port. If we decide to take a lifeboat with a new regime, we also need loud assurances that we can sail on land. But the coast of Siberia is rugged and inhospitable, and the Arctic Ocean is full of long, merciless frost.
The question of whether equality at the expense of poverty or happiness at the expense of equality is a very open question that any family can argue about until late at night. Life is going to be very tough no matter what. Whether we are ruled by brutal bureaucrats or selfish capitalists, ordinary people will have a difficult pilgrimage through this gloomy world. He needs to earn a living and try to plan for his old age and loved ones before he runs out of energy. The United States was founded on property, freedom, and enterprise, and it undoubtedly provided tens of millions of people with the most expansive and abundant life in history. Going back to that Asian path would be a major step and should be measured from the outset with a firm vision.
Author: Winston Churchill.
Text: Winston Churchill Editor: Zhou Yiqian Editor: Zhu Zifen.