Anti-Semitism uncovered in Winston Churchill’s writings

From British daily The Independent:

Uncovered: Churchill’s warnings about the ‘Hebrew bloodsuckers’

Unpublished article from 1937 suggests ‘aloof’ Jews to blame for antagonism towards them

By Paul Bignell

Published: 11 March 2007

Winston Churchill suggested Jewish people were “partly responsible for the antagonism” that saw them branded “Hebrew bloodsuckers”, according to an article made public for the first time today.

The 1937 document, “How the Jews Can Combat Persecution”, was unearthed by Dr Richard Toye, a Cambridge University historian. Written three years before Churchill became Prime Minister, the article has apparently lain unnoticed in the Churchill archives at Cambridge since the early months of the Second World War.

The article argues that “the wickedness of the persecutors” was not the sole reason for the ill-treatment of Jews down the ages. Churchill criticised the “aloofness” of Jewish people from wider society and urged them to make the effort to integrate themselves.”

Dr Toye said: “I nearly fell off my chair when I found the article. It appears to have been overlooked. I think a lot of people thought that the file it was in only contained copies of articles that had already been published. It was certainly quite a shock to read some of these things and it is obviously at odds with the traditional idea we have of Churchill.” …

However, Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s biographer, says there is another reason for the anti-Semitic language: “Churchill had a ghostwriter who was a member of the Mosleyite party.

This article was the only serious subject the ghostwriter was asked to tackle, in which he went over the top in the use of his language.”

This ghostwriter was Adam Marshall Diston.

Why did Churchill employ a fascist as ghostwriter?

The “traditional idea we have of Churchill” was already at odds with earlier Churchill articles already known which contained anti-Semitism and racism and militarism.

It is interesting to compare the “moderate anti-Semitism” in this 1937 article with “moderate” Islamophobia of today, in aspects like “blaming the victim”.

Churchill in 1944, as seen by Trotskyist Ted Grant: here.