Xue Hongshi, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences one The Swedish Academy made a very unusual decision in 1953: to award the current British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill with the Nobel Prize for Literature that year.Although Churchill's works were numerous and he did publish novels in his early years, the award from the Swedish Academy of Letters to him was by no means based on purely literary reasons, but in recognition of his immortal feats in World War II.The choice of the awarding time is also very intriguing, because Churchill happened to finish this voluminous "Memoirs of the Second World War" that year.

Churchill's name is closely connected with the struggle and victory against German, Italian and Japanese fascism.Before the war, he ruthlessly exposed Hitler's conspiracies with his foresight and sagacity, and strongly opposed Chamberlain's appeasement policy; At the critical moment when Britain was fighting alone, he led Britain with fearless heroism to withstand the indiscriminate bombing of Nazi Germany and thwarted the German sea lion plan to invade the British Isles.On June 22, 1941, when Hitler broke his promise and suddenly attacked the Soviet Union, which had a treaty of friendship with Germany, Churchill made a radio speech on the same day, fully supporting the anti-fascist war of the Soviet people. The main architect of the great alliance formed by the Soviet Union; Churchill was already in his seventies at the time, and he was still managing every day with steely determination and tireless spirit. He even studied the technical details of the Normandy landing operations in depth, and contributed all his strength and wisdom to defeating fascism.He took the huge risk of interception by German planes and submarines, and frequently traveled between Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union to coordinate the intricate contradictions and differences among the allies; He stretched out his index finger and middle finger, and made a V gesture symbolizing the final victory; he often delivered exciting radio speeches, encouraging people's fighting spirit, determined to carry the war to the end, and must force the German, Italian, and Japanese invaders to surrender unconditionally.

As G. Lillestrand, academician of the Swedish Academy of Letters, said to Mrs. Churchill who came to accept the award on behalf of Churchill at the award ceremony: In the dark age, his words and corresponding actions aroused people all over the world. Faith and hope in the hearts of millions.The academician also borrowed a sentence from Churchill's works to describe Churchill himself: In the field of human conflict, such a thing has never happened before: so many people should be deeply grateful to one person. Among the only one Nobel Prize winners in literature each year, Churchill occupies a special position. S. Zifalz, an academician of the Swedish Academy of Letters, said in the award speech: A literary award is originally intended to give honor to the author, but This time, on the contrary, it is the author who honors the literary prize.We believe that such an evaluation is both noble and pertinent.

two Long before Churchill became the head of the war cabinet, he was an important figure active in British politics, a writer, orator and statesman with many talents and achievements; however, in a sense, Churchill All the history before the war was just a preparation for his brilliant achievements in wartime. Sir Winston Churchill (Churchill, Sir Winston, 1874｜1965) was born on November 30, 1874, at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England. His family is one of the most prominent and famous families in England; he is the direct descendant of Duke Marlborough I, a famous general in Queen Anne's time.His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, son of the VII Duke of Marlborough, was Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons.His mother, Jeanne Jerome, was the daughter of American financier Leonard Jerome. She was cheerful and sociable.Such a family background prepared favorable conditions for him to enter the political arena in the future, and his half-American blood prompted him to devote his life to strengthening the unity of the two English-speaking nations.

Churchill did not get much care from his parents who were keen on fame and busy with social activities in his childhood, but his loving nanny Mrs. Everest allowed him to fully enjoy the warmth of the world.At the age of seven, he entered St. George's boarding school.He was very naughty, often beaten by his teachers, and was notoriously difficult to discipline.His academic performance was not good, especially Latin.It is worth mentioning that since he was a child, he liked to use a set of toy soldiers to play the game of dispatching troops, and he was particularly fond of history and geography.

When Churchill was thirteen years old, he entered Harrow Public School, but failed in Latin in the entrance examination.Two years later, he was transferred to a special military training class, which was ridiculed by the students with good homework as a paradise for idiots.At the age of eighteen, he applied for the British Royal Military Academy (the predecessor of Sandhurst Military Academy), and was barely accepted after taking the exam three times. However, because of his low scores, he could only enter the cavalry major.His father wrote a letter scolding him for shame, but he was not discouraged, and replied that he would answer his father's accusation with practical actions.At twenty-one, he graduated from military academy.In the past few years, he has worked hard and made great progress in his studies. Among the 130 students, his grades have risen to the 20th place.After graduation he was assigned to the 4th Hussar Regiment as Lieutenant.Both Lord Randolph and Mrs Everest died of illness that same year.

When the Cuban War of Independence broke out in 1895, Winston Churchill visited Cuba during his vacation and fought deep into the primeval jungle with a detachment of the Spanish colonial army.After returning to China, his battlefield report was published in the British "Daily Chronicle".In 1896, Churchill was transferred to India with a delegation and stationed in Bangalore. In his spare time, he studied hard by himself to make up for the lack of previous education.The books he is most interested in are Gibbon's "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" and the political history of the past dynasties.In the second year, he participated in the military operation to suppress the uprising of nomadic tribes in the northern mountainous areas as a reporter for the Calcutta Herald.

In 1898, Churchill was transferred to Egypt and took part in the battle of Omdurman, which suppressed the Sudanese uprising.His collection of Indian battlefield reports "Records of Marazid Field Forces" was published and attracted the attention of the public opinion circles; the following year, his collection of Sudanese battlefield reports "War on the River" won high praise from the critics for its excellent description skills. In 1899, Churchill's experience in South Africa made him a national celebrity overnight.In October of that year, he resigned from the military and went to South Africa to report on the Boer War as a reporter for the "Morning Post" [1].When an army train he was traveling in was ambushed, he stepped up to command the battle, allowing others to escape in a motor vehicle, but he himself became a prisoner.Later, he miraculously escaped from the prisoner camp alone by climbing over the wall, and hid for several days in the shaft of the only local coal mine owned by the British.During this period, British newspapers had already reported his deeds, and people were concerned about his fate.So when he arrived safely in Durban, the British Territory, in December, he received a hero's welcome.

[1] Boer War: 1899 | 1902, British war against the Boers in South Africa.The Boers are the descendants of Dutch immigrants in South Africa. They once established three countries that enslaved blacks: the Transvaal Republic, the Orange Free State and the Natal Republic.The war was protracted, and the Boers launched guerrilla activities against the British army after their defeat.It was not until 1910 that the areas they controlled were formally incorporated into the Union of South Africa and became a British Dominion. The following year, at the age of 26, Churchill was elected as a Member of the House of Commons and entered politics from then on.

In 1900, he published two more correspondence collections: From London to Ladysmith and The March of Ian Hamilton.In the same year, his novel "Savrola" also published a booklet.It is Churchill's only purely literary work, and it is about the civil war in the fictional country of Laurania.The hero Savurola is a young politician, he is brave, witty, erudite, eloquent and has all the enviable excellent qualities.He hated tyranny and was determined to overthrow the military dictatorship.The military dictator sends his beautiful wife, Lucille, to spy on Savorola's plot, but she turns sympathetic to his cause and falls in love with him.The war scenes in the book are very vivid. The rebels finally occupied the official residence of the dictator after fierce street fighting.Churchill's own ideals and pursuits are obviously entrusted to the figure of Savorola.From Savorola's old nanny Bettini, we can see the shadow of Mrs. Everiste.After the novel was published, it was well received, but the author who devoted himself to politics had no intention of continuing to cultivate in the field of pure literature. Since then, his writing talent has been reflected in a large number of magnificent speeches, political discussions, histories and biographies.

Like his father, Churchill initially entered the House of Commons as a Conservative Party politician. However, Churchill had his own independent views on British domestic and foreign policies, and he always had clear views and outspoken opinions.In order to stick to what he believed to be the correct opinion, he did not hesitate to quit the party or switch to the party; later became a minister, and even resigned because of differences of opinion with those in power.At the beginning of 1905, he left the Conservative Party because he advocated free trade. In May, he officially transferred to the Liberal Party and had a close relationship with the leader of the Liberal Party, Lloyd George.A Liberal government was formed in December of the same year, and Churchill was appointed Under Secretary for Colonial Affairs, his first senior government post.He was active in the Liberal Party for 20 years. In 1924, he quit the Liberal Party because of disagreements with the Liberal Party leaders and ran for election as an independent anti-socialist and constitutionalist. .He returned to the Conservative Party the following year and never switched parties for the next forty years. From Churchill's appointment as Minister of Commerce in 1908 to before he became prime minister, he held nine ministerial positions (in order: Minister of Commerce, Minister of the Interior, Minister of the Navy, Minister without Ministry, Minister of Munitions, Minister of War, Minister of Air Force, Minister of the Colonies Minister of State Affairs and Minister of the Exchequer), in every position, he has done a great job and made a lot of achievements.For example, the legislation of the eight-hour work system was completed during the tenure of the Minister of Commerce, and the Labor Council and the Labor Exchange were established to solve the unemployment problem.Accelerate the construction of the navy as the Minister of the Navy.As the Minister of Munitions, he actively promoted the development of new weapons and tanks, all of which contributed to the victory of the Allied Powers over Germany in World War I. Some of Churchill's actions have been criticized. For example, in 1915, he actively advocated attacking the Dardanelles, but failed.After the victory of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917, Churchill actively engaged in armed intervention against the Soviet regime, and thus was recognized by Soviet Russia and leftists all over the world as a reactionary figure who was blatantly anti-Soviet and anti-communist.His official career was far from smooth, especially in 1922, when he took part in the Dandy city election due to illness, he suffered a disastrous defeat. In his own words: Overnight, I found that I lost my public office and lost my job. seats, lost party affiliation, and even lost its appendix. During the long ten years from 1929 to 1939, Churchill remained in opposition due to political disagreements with successive Labor Party leader MacDonald and Conservative Party leader Baldwin.He and his virtuous housemate and life-long partner, Clementina Hozier, lived at Chartwell Manor, writing books, painting, building walls, raising pigs, and doing everything with great success: a A landscape painting was auctioned off, and the money was used to support the unemployed in Dandy; his pigs won more than one prize at the Edenbridge Hog Show.On the surface, he seems to be living a leisurely life. In fact, he lives in the rivers and lakes, and his heart is in Wei Que. He is watching the great changes in Europe and the world with concern. We will discuss these situations in the next section. Churchill is a writer who has written a lot of books. Before he became prime minister, he published works. In addition to those mentioned above, the main ones are: his father's biography "Randolph Churchill Biography" (1906), "My A Passage to Africa" ​​(1908), "Liberalism and the Social Question" (1909), "The Rights of the People" (1910), the monumental World War I memoir "The Crisis of the World" (1923｜1931), My Early Life (1930), India (1931), Thoughts and Adventures (1932), Contemporary The Great Man" (1937) and the biography of his ancestors "The Life of Marlborough" (1933 | 1938).After the war, besides this "Memoirs of the Second World War", his main works include "History of the English Nation" (1956 | 1958). three "Memoirs of the Second World War" was written by Churchill based on his personal experience as British Prime Minister and Secretary of Defense.The book is about 3.6 million characters in Chinese and is divided into six parts. It was published successively between 1948 and 1954.As one of the three giants of the Allied Forces, Churchill was able to stand on the highest point and overlook the global situation for more than 20 years, analyze and show the causes of the war, the interests of various countries, the intricate contradictions, and the various stages of the war process, involving various countries, Numerous aspects of politics, military, diplomacy, economics, culture and ideology of various peoples.Due to his special status, the materials he has mastered are extensive, comprehensive and authoritative.The book makes extensive references to government documents, meeting minutes, telegrams, and his personal archival materials, all of which are difficult for ordinary people to access.The following is a brief analysis of the main contradictions at various stages during World War II and Churchill's thoughts, words and deeds in the chronological order described in the original book, for the reference of readers when they study the whole book. Four For Churchill, the vast majority of Western critics gave high praise without reservation.In 1950, "Time Magazine" selected him as the great man of the century.Former U.S. President Richard Nixon called him the greatest figure of our time.We have no intention of echoing this.When we evaluate historical figures, we must follow the viewpoint of historical materialism, and it is no exception for such outstanding figures as Churchill.It is impossible for us to fully affirm him. We can only affirm his outstanding achievements in the anti-fascist World War II. This aspect has been fully expressed in the previous article. However, Churchill had another important aspect: anti-communism.Regarding this aspect, we must carefully analyze and identify it.Churchill was always outspoken about his anti-communist political stance.On June 22, 1941, he said this in his famous radio speech in support of the Soviet Union: In the past twenty-five years, no one has consistently opposed communism as I have.In 1942, when he met with Stalin in Moscow, Stalin mentioned the British armed intervention against the Soviet Union. In order to express his friendship with Churchill, he said: This is not the responsibility of Churchill, but the responsibility of Lloyd George. .Churchill said frankly: I am the most active person who interferes, and I don't want you to think differently. In writing this book, Churchill, although subjectively trying to be objective and impartial (e.g. his description of the Katyn massacre. In the absence of sufficient evidence, he did not conclude or even hint at which side the crime was committed dry), but, in fact, he still failed to do so.His clear standpoint and deep prejudice are revealed everywhere.In the book, he not only attacked Stalin and equated him with Hitler, but further attacked the similarities between the two systems of government.Not only is this utterly fallacious, it also violates basic common sense.Communism and Nazism are not only fundamentally different, but also incompatible: Communism advocates national equality and internationalism, while Nazism is a kind of insane national chauvinism characterized by hatred of the Jewish nation.Throughout the book, we can find about 20 or 30 anti-communist remarks with clear meaning. Those words full of hatred and hostility, such as: bandits, tyrants, devils, conspiracy, executioners, etc., are very glaring in this book. and discordant.It should be admitted that some of Stalin's actions, such as signing contracts with Nazi Germany and Japanese fascism successively, are debatable. In particular, at the Yalta Conference, he signed an agreement with Roosevelt that damaged the sovereignty of China's allies. By slandering and attacking the great communism.For the above-mentioned mistakes, I believe readers will make due judgments. Churchill also has many wrong ideas in this book.For example, the Lytton investigation report was obviously the product of Britain’s compromise with Japan, and was essentially partial to the Japanese aggressors, but Churchill described it as a document worthy of attention. Churchill was an active participant in the colonial war of the British Empire when he was young. He despised the oppressed nations in the East. , Su Ping is a second-class citizen who sits on an equal footing.In this book, he used the national pride of the British to exaggerate the glory of the British fighting alone. We do not want to object to this, but if it comes to fighting alone, the Chinese people’s holy war of resistance started at least two years and two years earlier than the British. months (not to mention the War of Resistance after September 18, 1931, there are zeros in eight years since the July 7th Incident)!Whether it is the Chinese Kuomintang or the Chinese Communist Party, the army has glorious achievements that make the world awe-inspiring: Taierzhuang, Kunlun Pass, Hundred Regiments Battle, and Pingxing Pass are all shocking and weeping ghosts and gods; Zuo Quan, Yang Jingyu, Zhao Yiman, Zhang Zizhong, Wang Mingzhang, Xie Jinyuan and other countless people with lofty ideals are national heroes of our great China.However, Churchill did not make due evaluation of China's contribution to the Anti-Fascist War in this book.Regarding the Chinese heroes and daughters who fought alongside the British in Burma, he only said this lightly: On May 10, four Chinese divisions crossed the Salween River at Kun Nong and above, thus troubled the Japanese flank.This deeply unjust prejudice is not difficult to understand. It is an underlying expression of his colonial mentality in his early years. The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party restored the ideological line of seeking truth from facts, which made it possible for us to conduct genuine scientific research on historical issues.With regard to some complex phenomena such as how to correctly evaluate the Soviet-German Treaty signed on August 23, 1939 and the Soviet-Japanese Treaty signed on April 13, 1941, we believe that as long as Guided by the scientific theory of Marxism, adhere to the ideological line of seeking truth from facts, fully grasp the materials, and conduct independent thinking on this basis, we can make our understanding closer to the objective reality.For the restricted area in previous research work such as the Katyn incident, we should correct the limitations in our previous understanding based on the new materials officially released by the Soviet Union.On such issues, it seems that we don't need to adopt the method of supporting whatever Lao Qiu opposes and opposing whatever Lao Qiu supports. In short, although this book provides rich and unique historical facts and ideological materials, and despite its great military, historical and literary value, it is not a complete and scientific history of the Second World War. It is a memoir with strong personal emotions written by its unique identity, standpoint and observation angle.In order to comply with the relevant provisions of the copyright law and the principle of providing readers with a complete original face, we have not deleted or changed the original text.We firmly believe that readers can read this great work with correct eyes, and pick up the essence and reject the dross.Only in this way can we hope to get more harvest. First draft dated October 30, 1994 (the 120th anniversary of Churchill's birth) revised on August 15, 1995 (fiftieth anniversary of the victory of the World People's Anti-Fascist War)