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Churchill Speech To Concervative Party Regarding The Independence of Burma

Winston Churchill opposed the British Prime Minister Clement Attlee's decision to grant independence to Burma in 1946. Churchill argued that Britain had made great progress developing Burma over the past several decades of colonization. He believed withdrawing from Burma without an "intermediate stage" like dominion status would be an "evil process" that harmed the Burmese people and led to the fall of the British Empire. Churchill's view was influenced by social Darwinist ideology that justified imperial rule over "primitive" peoples, which he believed the British had an obligation to civilize and govern.

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71 views1 page

Churchill Speech To Concervative Party Regarding The Independence of Burma

Winston Churchill opposed the British Prime Minister Clement Attlee's decision to grant independence to Burma in 1946. Churchill argued that Britain had made great progress developing Burma over the past several decades of colonization. He believed withdrawing from Burma without an "intermediate stage" like dominion status would be an "evil process" that harmed the Burmese people and led to the fall of the British Empire. Churchill's view was influenced by social Darwinist ideology that justified imperial rule over "primitive" peoples, which he believed the British had an obligation to civilize and govern.

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This passage is taken from churchill’s debate upon the evacuation or abandonment of Burma created from

Hansard archive at the House of Commons in 20 December 1946. Following World War II, England was
exhausted by the war; holding onto their colonies in the face of rising nationalism seemed
impossible. Inevitable independence, then, should be gracefully granted as india was bound to
become independent and Burma would certainly follow.However, Winston Churchill , the Leader of
the opposition in the British Parliment ,said he was not about to see the dissolution of the British
Empire.He then accused the prime minister Clement Attlee of the evil process that will cause harm to
Burmese and lead to the fall of British Empire due to the hasty department of the British from Burma
without following the escalator clause.

Burma was under control of British Empire since 1885 after three Anglo-Burmese wars from 1824 to
1885. Britain started colonising territories from Burma ; they had control over lower Burma in 1853 and
until 1886, it was annexed to British Raj by the father of Churchill and until 1936, it became colony of
Britain. As a result, Churchill’s view was based on the long period of great progress that have been
made by his father . Therefore , he was against the hasty process that has been made by the prime
minister ‘ Clement Attlee’. His’ argument against the decision of Prime Minister was to show the
improvement that has been made by his father since 1885 as if he is doing a favour to the country as
not to leave quikly by stating:” great progress has been made in that small country”. He also
mentioned that after three years of fighting and enormous sacrifices, the Japanese invaders were
forced to surrender so it will be an “evil process’ to abandon Burma. He instead suggest that Britain
should follow the “ intermediate stage of Dominion status” instead of giving Burma independence as
they erased this process in India.

In this Churchillian passage, the use of term ‘scuttle’ is particularly notable, as it conveys the hurried
withdrawal of British government from Burma unstead of following «a healthy and constitutional
process ». Yet, this term is more appropriate to his sense of the hurried abondonment of the British
empire to its possessions by saying in his speech that: « divesting ourselves of these great possessions
of the British crown ». Furthermore, he believed that it is their reponsiblity to guide and govern
« primitive and often divided populations ». This attitide towards Burmese is influenced by the theory
of Social Darwinism, a belief that some socities are more evolved than others, and thus have the right
to dominate the less advanced. This ideology often justified imperial expansion and was encapsulated
in the concept of the « white Man’s Burden’, the idea that the advanced western powers had a moral
obligation to uplift and govern the « primitive people »

Churchill was known as the man of war. He warned for the first time as prime minister, members of
parliment by saying that he has nothing to offer but blood , toil, tears, and sweat’. Indeed, he led to
the Britsh victory after ww2, but he failed in achieving peace and development for the devastated
Britiain. Also, it is important to note that Churchill’s racism was inherent; .he referred to the Chinese as 'the
wretched little Yellow Men' and to Africans generally as 'Hottentot’.His choice of words shows his skills
in convincing his audience. He once said to a young research assistant of his, ‘give me the facts, and I
will twist them the way I want to suit my argument’ which illustrates his ability to manipulate information to his
adventage through political discourse.

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