The Sinews of Peace, 1946

"It is a solemn moment for the American Democracy. For with primacy in power is also joined an awe-inspiring accountability to the future" 

– Winston Churchill, "The Sinews of Peace" ('Iron Curtain' Speech). 

On March 5, 1946, the presence of Winston Churchill and President Harry Truman turned a college gymnasium in a small Midwestern town into a world stage as Churchill delivered his most famous post- World War II address — "The Sinews of Peace."

That Churchill and Truman would travel to Fulton, Missouri, is a story of a college president with the boldness to ask for the seemingly impossible; of a Westminster College alumnus with access to the President of the United States; of a President of the United States with the willingness to endorse the invitation; and of a recently defeated British Prime Minister with the shrewdness to recognize an opportunity.

It is a story of coincidence and a moment boldly grasped — a combination Churchill capitalized on throughout his life.

1946年3月5日，温斯顿·丘吉尔与哈里·杜鲁门总统的到来，使美国中西部一座小镇的大学体育馆瞬间成为世界舞台。就在这里，丘吉尔发表了他二战后最著名的演讲——《和平的支柱》。

丘吉尔与杜鲁门为何会前往密苏里州富尔顿镇？这背后有一段故事：一位大学校长敢于提出看似不可能的邀请；一位威斯敏斯特学院的校友能够联系到美国总统；一位美国总统愿意支持这份邀请；以及一位刚刚在大选中落败的英国前首相，敏锐地意识到这是一次难得的机遇。

这是一个关于巧合与果敢把握时机的故事——这种把握时机的能力，贯穿了丘吉尔的一生。

"The Sinews of Peace" (Iron Curtain Speech)

I am glad to come to Westminster College this afternoon, and am complimented that you should give me a degree. The name "Westminster" is somehow familiar to me. I seem to have heard of it before. Indeed, it was at Westminster that I received a very large part of my education in politics, dialectic, rhetoric, and one or two other things. In fact we have both been educated at the same, or similar, or, at any rate, kindred establishments.

It is also an honor, perhaps almost unique, for a private visitor to be introduced to an academic audience by the President of the United States. Amid his heavy burdens, duties, and responsibilities — unsought but not recoiled from — the President has traveled a thousand miles to dignify and magnify our meeting here to-day and to give me an opportunity of addressing this kindred nation, as well as my own countrymen across the ocean, and perhaps some other countries too. The President has told you that it is his wish, as I am sure it is yours, that I should have full liberty to give my true and faithful counsel in these anxious and baffling times.

I shall certainly avail myself of this freedom, and feel the more right to do so because any private ambitions I may have cherished in my younger days have been satisfied beyond my wildest dreams. Let me, however, make it clear that I have no official mission or status of any kind, and that I speak only for myself. There is nothing here but what you see.

I can therefore allow my mind, with the experience of a lifetime, to play over the problems which beset us on the morrow of our absolute victory in arms, and to try to make sure with what strength I have that what has been gained with so much sacrifice and suffering shall be preserved for the future glory and safety of mankind.

The United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power. It is a solemn moment for the American Democracy. For with primacy in power is also joined an awe-inspiring accountability to the future. If you look around you, you must feel not only the sense of duty done but also you must feel anxiety lest you fall below the level of achievement.

Opportunity is here now, clear and shining for both our countries. To reject it or ignore it or fritter it away will bring upon us all the long reproaches of the after-time.

It is necessary that constancy of mind, persistency of purpose, and the grand simplicity of decision shall guide and rule the conduct of the English-speaking peoples in peace as they did in war. We must, and I believe we shall, prove ourselves equal to this severe requirement.

When American military men approach some serious situation they are wont to write at the head of their directive the words "Overall Strategic Concept." There is wisdom in this, as it leads to clarity of thought. What then is the overall strategic concept which we should inscribe today? It is nothing less than the safety and welfare, the freedom and progress, of all the homes and families of all the men and women in all the lands.

And here I speak particularly of the myriad cottage or apartment homes where the wage-earner strives amid the accidents and difficulties of life to guard his wife and children from privation and bring the family up in the fear of the Lord, or upon ethical conceptions which often play their potent part.

To give security to these countless homes, they must be shielded from the two gaunt marauders, war and tyranny.

We all know the frightful disturbances in which the ordinary family is plunged when the curse of war swoops down upon the bread-winner and those for whom he works and contrives.

The awful ruin of Europe, with all its vanished glories, and of large parts of Asia glares us in the eyes. When the designs of wicked men or the aggressive urge of mighty States dissolve over large areas the frame of civilized society, humble folk are confronted with difficulties with which they cannot cope. For them all is distorted, all is broken, even ground to pulp.

When I stand here this quiet afternoon I shudder to visualize what is actually happening to millions now and what is going to happen in this period when famine stalks the earth. None can compute what has been called "the unestimated sum of human pain." Our supreme task and duty is to guard the homes of the common people from the horrors and miseries of another war. We are all agreed on that.

Our American military colleagues, after having proclaimed their "overall strategic concept" and computed available resources, always proceed to the next step — namely, "the method" Here again there is widespread agreement. A world organization has already been erected for the prime purpose of preventing war. U.N.O., the successor of the League of Nations, with the decisive addition of the United States and all that means, is already at work.

We must make sure that its work is fruitful, that it is a reality and not a sham, that it is a force for action and not merely a frothing of words, that it is a true temple of peace in which the shields of many nations can someday be hung up, and not merely a cockpit in a Tower of Babel.

Before we cast away the solid assurances of national armaments for self-preservation, we must be certain that our temple is built not upon shifting sands or quagmires, but upon the rock. Anyone can see with his eyes open that our path will be difficult and also long, but if we persevere together as we did in the two world wars — though not, alas, in the interval between them — I cannot doubt that we shall achieve our common purpose in the end.

I have, however, a definite and practical proposal to make for action. Courts and magistrates may be set up but they cannot function without sheriffs and constables. The United Nations Organization must immediately begin to be equipped with an international armed force.

In such a matter we can only go step by step, but we must begin now. I propose that each of the powers and states should be invited to dedicate a certain number of air squadrons to the service of the World Organization. These squadrons would be trained and prepared in their own countries but would move around in rotation from one country to another. They would wear the uniform of their own countries but with different badges.

They would not be required to act against their own nation, but in other respects they would be directed by the World Organization. This might be started on a modest scale and would grow as confidence grew. I wished to see this done after the First World War, and I devoutly trust it may be done forthwith.

It would nevertheless be wrong and imprudent to entrust the secret knowledge or experience of the atomic bomb, which the United States, Great Britain, and Canada now share, to the World Organization while it is still in its infancy. It would be criminal madness to cast it adrift in this still agitated and un-united world. No one in any country has slept less well in their beds because this knowledge and the method and the raw materials to apply it are at present largely retained in American hands.

I do not believe we should all have slept so soundly had the positions been reversed and if some Communist or neo-Fascist State monopolized, for the time being, these dread agencies. The fear of them alone might easily have been used to enforce totalitarian systems upon the free democratic world, with consequences appalling to human imagination. God has willed that this shall not be, and we have at least a breathing space to set our house in order before this peril has to be encountered, and even then, if no effort is spared, we should still possess so formidable a superiority as to impose effective deterrents upon its employment, or threat of employment, by others.

Ultimately, when the essential brotherhood of man is truly embodied and expressed in a world organization with all the necessary practical safeguards to make it effective, these powers would naturally be confided to that world organization.

Now I come to the second danger of these two marauders which threatens the cottage home and the ordinary people — namely, tyranny. We cannot be blind to the fact that the liberties enjoyed by individual citizens throughout the British Empire are not valid in a considerable number of countries, some of which are very powerful.

In these States, control is enforced upon the common people by various kinds of all-embracing police governments, to a degree which is overwhelming and contrary to every principle of democracy. The power of the State is exercised without restraint, either by dictators or by compact oligarchies operating through a privileged party and a political police. It is not our duty at this time, when difficulties are so numerous, to interfere forcibly in the internal affairs of countries which we have not conquered in war.

But we must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man, which are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world and which, through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, the English Common Law, find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.

All this means that the people of any country have the right and should have the power by constitutional action, by free unfettered elections with secret ballot, to choose or change the character or form of government under which they dwell; that freedom of speech and thought should reign; that courts of justice, independent of the executive, unbiased by any party, should administer laws which have received the broad assent of large majorities or are consecrated by time and custom. Here are the title deeds of freedom, which should lie in every cottage home. Here is the message of the British and American peoples to mankind. Let us preach what we practice, let us practice what we preach.

I have now stated the two great dangers which menace the homes of the people: War and Tyranny. I have not yet spoken of poverty and privation which are in many cases the prevailing anxiety. But if the dangers of war and tyranny are removed, there is no doubt that science and co-operation can bring in the next few years to the world, certainly in the next few decades newly taught in the sharpening school of war, an expansion of material well-being beyond anything that has yet occurred in human experience.

Now, at this sad and breathless moment, we are plunged in the hunger and distress which are the aftermath of our stupendous struggle; but this will pass and may pass quickly, and there is no reason except human folly or sub-human crime which should deny to all the nations the inauguration and enjoyment of an age of plenty. I have often used words which I learned fifty years ago from a great Irish-American orator, a friend of mine, Mr. Bourke Cockran. "There is enough for all. The earth is a generous mother; she will provide in plentiful abundance food for all her children if they will but cultivate her soil in justice and in peace."

So far I feel that we are in full agreement. Now, while still pursuing the method of realizing our overall strategic concept, I come to the crux of what I have traveled here to say.

Neither the sure prevention of war, nor the continuous rise of world organization will be gained without what I have called the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples. This means a special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States. This is no time for generalities, and I will venture to be precise.

Fraternal association requires not only the growing friendship and mutual understanding between our two vast but kindred systems of society, but the continuance of the intimate relationship between our military advisers, leading to common study of potential dangers, the similarity of weapons and manuals of instructions, and to the interchange of officers and cadets at technical colleges. It should carry with it the continuance of the present facilities for mutual security by the joint use of all Naval and Air Force bases in the possession of either country all over the world. This would perhaps double the mobility of the American Navy and Air Force.

It would greatly expand that of the British Empire Forces and it might well lead, if and as the world calms down, to important financial savings. Already we use together a large number of islands; more may well be entrusted to our joint care in the near future.

The United States has already a Permanent Defense Agreement with the Dominion of Canada, which is so devotedly attached to the British Commonwealth and Empire. This Agreement is more effective than many of those which have often been made under formal alliances.

This principle should be extended to all British Commonwealths with full reciprocity. Thus, whatever happens, and thus only, shall we be secure ourselves and able to work together for the high and simple causes that are dear to us and bode no ill to any. Eventually there may come — I feel eventually there will come — the principle of common citizenship, but that we may be content to leave to destiny, whose outstretched arm many of us can already clearly see.

There is however an important question we must ask ourselves. Would a special relationship between the United States and the British Commonwealth be inconsistent with our over-riding loyalties to the World Organization? I reply that, on the contrary, it is probably the only means by which that organization will achieve its full stature and strength.

There are already the special United States relations with Canada which I have just mentioned, and there are the relations between the United States and the South American Republics. We British have our Twenty-Years Treaty of Collaboration and Mutual Assistance with Soviet Russia.

I agree with Mr. Bevin, the Foreign Secretary of Great Britain, that it might well be a Fifty-Years Treaty so far as we are concerned. We aim at nothing but mutual assistance and collaboration. The British have an alliance with Portugal unbroken since 1384, and which produced fruitful results at critical moments in the late war. None of these clash with the general interest of a world agreement, or a world organization; on the contrary they help it. "In my father's house are many mansions."

Special associations between members of the United Nations which have no aggressive point against any other country, which harbor no design incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations, far from being harmful, are beneficial and, as I believe, indispensable.

I spoke earlier of the Temple of Peace. Workmen from all countries must build that temple. If two of the workmen know each other particularly well and are old friends, if their families are inter-mingled, and if they have "faith in each other's purpose, hope in each other's future and charity towards each other's shortcomings" — to quote some good words I read here the other day — why cannot they work together at the common task as friends and partners? Why cannot they share their tools and thus increase each other's working powers?

Indeed they must do so or else the temple may not be built, or, being built, it may collapse, and we shall all be proved again unteachable and have to go and try to learn again for a third time in a school of war, incomparably more rigorous than that from which we have just been released.

The dark ages may return, the Stone Age may return on the gleaming wings of science, and what might now shower immeasurable material blessings upon mankind, may even bring about its total destruction.

Beware, I say; time may be short. Do not let us take the course of allowing events to drift along until it is too late.

If there is to be a fraternal association of the kind I have described, with all the extra strength and security which both our countries can derive from it, let us make sure that that great fact is known to the world, and that it plays its part in steadying and stabilizing the foundations of peace. There is the path of wisdom. Prevention is better than cure.

A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory. Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytizing tendencies. I have a strong admiration and regard for the valiant Russian people and for my wartime comrade, Marshal Stalin. There is deep sympathy and goodwill in Britain — and I doubt not here also — towards the peoples of all the Russians and a resolve to persevere through many differences and rebuffs in establishing lasting friendships. We understand the Russian need to be secure on her western frontiers by the removal of all possibility of German aggression.

We welcome Russia to her rightful place among the leading nations of the world. We welcome her flag upon the seas. Above all, we welcome constant, frequent and growing contacts between the Russian people and our own people on both sides of the Atlantic. It is my duty however, for I am sure you would wish me to state the facts as I see them to you, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.

Athens alone — Greece with its immortal glories — is free to decide its future at an election under British, American and French observation. The Russian-dominated Polish Government has been encouraged to make enormous and wrongful inroads upon Germany, and mass expulsions of millions of Germans on a scale grievous and undreamed-of are now taking place. The Communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to pre-eminence and power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control.

Police governments are prevailing in nearly every case, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy. Turkey and Persia are both profoundly alarmed and disturbed at the claims which are being made upon them and at the pressure being exerted by the Moscow Government. An attempt is being made by the Russians in Berlin to build up a quasi-Communist party in their zone of Occupied Germany by showing special favors to groups of left-wing German leaders.

At the end of the fighting last June, the American and British Armies withdrew westwards, in accordance with an earlier agreement, to a depth at some points of 150 miles upon a front of nearly four hundred miles, in order to allow our Russian allies to occupy this vast expanse of territory which the Western Democracies had conquered.

If now the Soviet Government tries, by separate action, to build up a pro-Communist Germany in their areas, this will cause new serious difficulties in the British and American zones, and will give the defeated Germans the power of putting themselves up to auction between the Soviets and the Western Democracies. Whatever conclusions may be drawn from these facts — and facts they are — this is certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent peace.

The safety of the world requires a new unity in Europe, from which no nation should be permanently outcast. It is from the quarrels of the strong parent races in Europe that the world wars we have witnessed, or which occurred in former times, have sprung.

Twice in our own lifetime we have seen the United States, against their wishes and their traditions, against arguments, the force of which it is impossible not to comprehend, drawn by irresistible forces, into these wars in time to secure the victory of the good cause, but only after frightful slaughter and devastation had occurred.

Twice the United States has had to send several millions of its young men across the Atlantic to find the war; but now war can find any nation, wherever it may dwell between dusk and dawn. Surely we should work with conscious purpose for a grand pacification of Europe, within the structure of the United Nations and in accordance with our Charter. That I feel is an open cause of policy of very great importance.

In front of the iron curtain which lies across Europe are other causes for anxiety. In Italy the Communist Party is seriously hampered by having to support the Communist-trained Marshal Tito's claims to former Italian territory at the head of the Adriatic. Nevertheless the future of Italy hangs in the balance.

Again one cannot imagine a regenerated Europe without a strong France. All my public life I have worked for a strong France and I never lost faith in her destiny, even in the darkest hours. I will not lose faith now. However, in a great number of countries, far from the Russian frontiers and throughout the world, Communist fifth columns are established and work in complete unity and absolute obedience to the directions they receive from the Communist center. Except in the British Commonwealth and in the United States where Communism is in its infancy, the Communist parties or fifth columns constitute a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization.

These are somber facts for anyone to have to recite on the morrow of a victory gained by so much splendid comradeship in arms and in the cause of freedom and democracy; but we should be most unwise not to face them squarely while time remains.

The outlook is also anxious in the Far East and especially in Manchuria. The Agreement which was made at Yalta, to which I was a party, was extremely favorable to Soviet Russia, but it was made at a time when no one could say that the German war might not extend all through the summer and autumn of 1945 and when the Japanese war was expected to last for a further 18 months from the end of the German war. In this country you are all so well-informed about the Far East, and such devoted friends of China, that I do not need to expatiate on the situation there.

I have felt bound to portray the shadow which, alike in the west and in the east, falls upon the world. I was a minister at the time of the Versailles Treaty and a close friend of Mr. Lloyd-George, who was the head of the British delegation at Versailles. I did not myself agree with many things that were done, but I have a very strong impression in my mind of that situation, and I find it painful to contrast it with that which prevails now. In those days there were high hopes and unbounded confidence that the wars were over, and that the League of Nations would become all-powerful.

I do not see or feel that same confidence or even the same hopes in the haggard world at the present time.

On the other hand I repulse the idea that a new war is inevitable; still more that it is imminent. It is because I am sure that our fortunes are still in our own hands and that we hold the power to save the future, that I feel the duty to speak out now that I have the occasion and the opportunity to do so. I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines.

But what we have to consider here to-day while time remains, is the permanent prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries. Our difficulties and dangers will not be removed by closing our eyes to them. They will not be removed by mere waiting to see what happens; nor will they be removed by a policy of appeasement. What is needed is a settlement, and the longer this is delayed, the more difficult it will be and the greater our dangers will become.

From what I have seen of our Russian friends and Allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness. For that reason the old doctrine of a balance of power is unsound. We cannot afford, if we can help it, to work on narrow margins, offering temptations to a trial of strength. If the Western Democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter, their influence for furthering those principles will be immense and no one is likely to molest them.

If however they become divided or falter in their duty and if these all-important years are allowed to slip away then indeed catastrophe may overwhelm us all.

Last time I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention. Up till the year 1933 or even 1935, Germany might have been saved from the awful fate which has overtaken her and we might all have been spared the miseries Hitler let loose upon mankind.

There never was a war in history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe. It could have been prevented in my belief without the firing of a single shot, and Germany might be powerful, prosperous and honored to-day; but no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool. We surely must not let that happen again.

This can only be achieved by reaching now, in 1946, a good understanding on all points with Russia under the general authority of the United Nations Organization and by the maintenance of that good understanding through many peaceful years, by the world instrument, supported by the whole strength of the English-speaking world and all its connections. There is the solution which I respectfully offer to you in this Address to which I have given the title "The Sinews of Peace."

Let no man underrate the abiding power of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Because you see the 46 millions in our island harassed about their food supply, of which they only grow one half, even in war-time, or because we have difficulty in restarting our industries and export trade after six years of passionate war effort, do not suppose that we shall not come through these dark years of privation as we have come through the glorious years of agony, or that half a century from now, you will not see 70 or 80 millions of Britons spread about the world, united in defense of our traditions, our way of life, and of the world causes which you and we espouse.

If the population of the English-speaking Commonwealths be added to that of the United States with all that such co-operation implies in the air, on the sea, all over the globe and in science and in industry, and in moral force, there will be no quivering, precarious balance of power to offer its temptation to ambition or adventure. On the contrary, there will be an overwhelming assurance of security.

If we adhere faithfully to the Charter of the United Nations and walk forward in sedate and sober strength seeking no one's land or treasure, seeking to lay no arbitrary control upon the thoughts of men; if all British moral and material forces and convictions are joined with your own in fraternal association, the high-roads of the future will be clear, not only for us but for all, not only for our time, but for a century to come.

Winston Churchill

5 March 1946

Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri

《和平的支柱》演讲（铁幕演说）
温斯顿·丘吉尔
1946年3月5日
密苏里州富尔顿市威斯敏斯特学院

今天下午能够来到威斯敏斯特学院，我感到非常高兴。你们授予我学位，我深感荣幸。“威斯敏斯特”这个名字对我而言似曾相识。我仿佛以前就听说过。实际上，我在“威斯敏斯特”接受了我政治学、辩证学、修辞学以及一两门其他学问的重要教育。事实上，我们都在同一所、或类似、或至少是同源的学府里受过教育。

对一个私人访客来说，能够由美国总统亲自向学术听众介绍，几乎是独一无二的荣誉。总统在繁重的负担、职责和义务之中——虽非所求却毫不退缩——跋涉千里来到这里，使今天的聚会更具尊严和意义，并给了我这个机会，向这个与我们血脉相连的民族讲话，同时也向大洋彼岸的本国同胞以及其他国家的人们讲话。总统已经告诉你们，他希望——我也相信你们同样希望——我能够充分自由地在这令人焦虑、令人困惑的时代提出我真实而忠诚的忠告。

我一定会充分利用这种自由，也更觉得自己有权这样做，因为我年轻时曾怀有的任何个人雄心都已经超出我梦想地得到了满足。然而，我必须明确表示，我此行并无任何官方使命或身份，我仅代表我个人发言。此处没有任何其他东西，只有你们所看到的我。

因此，我可以凭借一生的经验，思索我们在武装斗争完全胜利后面临的问题，并尽我所能确保用巨大的牺牲与苦难换来的成果能够得以保全，成为人类未来的荣耀与保障。

此刻，美国正处于世界权力的顶峰。这是美国民主的一个庄严时刻。因为权力的首位，也伴随着对未来令人敬畏的责任。环顾四周，我们不仅应感到职责已尽，也必然会感到忧虑，唯恐未能配得上这份成就。

机遇就在眼前，清晰而闪耀，属于我们两国。如果拒绝、忽视或浪费它，后世将对我们作出漫长的谴责。

我们必须让坚定的意志、持久的目标和果断的简明来引导和规范英语世界人民的行动，就像在战争中一样。我们必须——我也相信我们能够——证明我们配得上这一严峻的要求。

当美国军方面对某种严重局势时，常常会在指令的开头写下“总体战略构想”这几个字。这是有智慧的，因为它引导思维的清晰。那么今天我们应当写下的总体战略构想是什么？无非是：让所有土地上所有男人女人的家庭与家园得到安全和福祉、自由与进步。

我特别指的是无数的小屋和公寓，那里的劳动者在生活的意外与困境中努力保护妻子儿女免于贫困，并在敬畏上帝或其他道德理念的指导下抚养家庭。

要保障这些无数家庭的安全，必须让它们免受两大魔鬼的侵害——战争与暴政。

我们都清楚，一旦战争的诅咒降临在养家糊口的人及其家人身上，普通家庭便会陷入多么可怕的动荡。

欧洲的大规模毁灭，昔日的辉煌已不复存在；亚洲大片地区也是如此，这一切正赤裸裸地摆在我们面前。当邪恶之徒的图谋或强国的侵略冲动摧毁大范围的文明社会秩序时，卑微的百姓面临的困境将是他们无法应对的。对他们而言，一切都被扭曲，一切都破碎，甚至被碾成粉末。

当我此刻站在这宁静的午后，我不禁战栗地想象着数以百万计的人正在经历的苦难，以及饥荒肆虐地球时将要发生的事情。无人能够计算所谓“人类痛苦的无量总和”。我们至高无上的任务和责任，是保护普通百姓的家庭免遭另一场战争的恐怖与苦难。对此我们都赞同。

我们的美军同僚，在确立总体战略构想并计算可用资源之后，总会进入下一步——即制定“方法”。在这一点上也有广泛共识。世界已经建立了一个旨在防止战争的国际组织。联合国——作为国际联盟的继任者——并且加入了决定性的美国，已经在运作。

我们必须确保它的工作是卓有成效的，是真实的而不是虚假的，是有行动力的而不仅仅是口头空谈，是一座真正的和平殿堂，未来众多国家的盾牌可以悬挂其上，而不是一个巴别塔式的斗鸡场。

在我们丢弃为了自我保全而保留的坚实国防保障之前，我们必须确保这座殿堂是建立在磐石上，而不是建在流沙或沼泽之上。任何人睁开眼睛都能看出，我们的道路会艰难而漫长，但如果我们像两次世界大战中那样坚持不懈——虽然可惜在两战之间没有做到——我毫不怀疑我们最终会实现共同的目标。

然而，我确实有一个明确而实际的行动建议。法院和法官可以设立，但没有警长和治安官就无法发挥作用。联合国必须立即开始配备一支国际武装力量。

在这件事上我们只能循序渐进，但必须立即开始。我建议邀请各大国和各国拿出一定数量的空军中队，献身于世界组织的服务。这些中队将在本国训练和准备，但要轮流调动至其他国家。他们将身着本国制服，但佩戴不同的标志。

他们不会被要求对本国采取行动，但在其他方面将受世界组织指挥。此事可先从小规模开始，随着信任的增加而逐渐扩大。第一次世界大战后我就希望能实现这一点，我虔诚地希望它现在就能付诸实施。

然而，在联合国还处于婴儿期的时候，把原子弹的秘密知识或经验交给它是不对的、不谨慎的。把这种力量随意抛入一个仍然动荡、未统一的世界，将是犯罪式的疯狂。由于这种知识、方法和原料目前主要掌握在美国手中，没有哪个国家的人民因此而睡得更不安稳。

我不认为，如果局势反过来，而某个共产主义或新法西斯国家暂时垄断了这种可怕的力量，我们还能睡得这样安稳。仅仅是这种力量的恐惧，就可能被用来迫使自由民主世界屈服于极权制度，其后果超乎人类想象。上帝不允许这种事发生，我们至少有一段喘息的时间来整理我们的家园，在这种危险真正降临之前做好准备；即便那时，如果不遗余力，我们仍将拥有足以威慑任何人使用或威胁使用这种力量的压倒性优势。

最终，当人类兄弟情谊真正落实到一个具有一切必要保障的世界组织中时，这种力量自然会交付给世界组织。

现在我要谈第二个威胁普通百姓家庭的危险——暴政。我们不能对这样一个事实视而不见：整个大英帝国内公民所享有的自由，在许多国家——其中一些国家非常强大——并不存在。

在这些国家，国家权力通过各种无孔不入的警察政府强加于普通百姓，达到了压倒性的程度，与民主原则完全背道而驰。国家的权力不受任何约束，由独裁者或通过特权政党和政治警察运作的寡头集团行使。我们现在没有责任——在困难如此之多之时——武力干预那些我们在战争中并未征服的国家的内政。

但我们绝不能停止无畏地宣告自由与人权这些伟大原则——它们是英语世界的共同遗产，并通过《大宪章》《权利法案》《人身保护法》《陪审团审判》、英国普通法得到最著名的表达，并在《美国独立宣言》中达到新的高峰。

所有这一切都意味着，任何国家的人民有权并应当有能力通过宪法行动，通过自由无拘的秘密选举，选择或改变他们所生活的政府的性质或形式；言论与思想自由应当盛行；司法应当独立于行政，不受任何政党偏见，执行那些获得广泛多数同意或经时间与习俗认可的法律。这里就是自由的产权证，应当陈列在每一个家庭。这里就是英美两国人民要向全人类传递的信息。让我们言行一致，实践我们所宣扬的，宣扬我们所实践的。

我已经阐述了威胁人民家庭的两大危险：战争与暴政。我尚未谈到贫困与匮乏，虽然它们在许多情况下是人们最迫切的焦虑。但如果战争和暴政的危险被消除，毫无疑问，在经过战争这所磨砺的学校之后，科学与合作可以在未来几年，乃至几十年，为人类带来前所未有的物质繁荣。

此刻，在这悲伤而喘息的时刻，我们正陷于饥饿与困苦之中，这是我们巨大斗争的余波；但它终将过去，可能过去得很快。除了人类的愚蠢或罪恶，没有理由让所有国家不能迎来和享受一个丰饶的时代。我曾经多次引用我五十年前从爱尔兰裔美国伟大演说家、我的朋友伯克·科克伦先生那里学来的话：“地球是一位慷慨的母亲；只要人类公正而和平地耕耘，她就会为她的所有子女提供丰富的食物。”

到这里为止，我相信我们完全一致。现在，在继续追求实现总体战略构想的方法的同时，我要说出我此行的核心。

既不能确保防止战争，也不能确保世界组织的不断发展，除非实现我所称的“英语世界人民的兄弟般的联合”。这意味着大英帝国与英联邦和美国之间的一种特殊关系。现在不是泛泛而谈的时候，我斗胆具体阐述：

这种兄弟般的联合，不仅要求我们两种庞大而同源的社会体系之间日益增长的友谊与相互理解，还要求继续保持我们军事顾问之间的紧密关系，从而共同研究潜在危险，使武器和操作手册趋于一致，并在技术院校互派军官与学员。它还应当包括继续共享两国所拥有的所有海军和空军基地，以保障共同安全。这或许能使美军海空力量的机动性翻倍，也能大大提高英联邦部队的机动能力，甚至随着世界逐渐平静，还可能带来重要的财政节约。我们已经共同使用了大量岛屿，未来可能会有更多托付于我们共同管理。

美国已经与加拿大自治领缔结了永久防御协定，加拿大热忱地隶属于大英联邦。这一协定比许多正式联盟都更为有效。此原则应当推广到所有英联邦国家，并完全对等。只有如此，无论发生什么，我们才能确保自身安全，并共同为我们珍视的高尚而纯粹的事业努力，而这一切不会对任何国家造成威胁。最终——我深信最终必然会到来——我们会走向共同公民身份的原则，但此事可以交由命运决定，命运的伸展之臂我们许多人已清晰可见。

然而我们必须自问一个重要问题：美英特殊关系是否会与我们对世界组织的最高忠诚相抵触？我回答说：恰恰相反，这也许是世界组织实现其完整规模与力量的唯一途径。

我刚提到美国与加拿大的特殊关系，还有美国与南美共和国的关系。英国也与苏联签有二十年互助合作条约。我同意英国外交大臣贝文先生的看法：就我们而言，这甚至可以是五十年条约。我们的目标只是互助与合作。英国与葡萄牙的同盟自1384年未曾中断，并在上次战争的关键时刻产生了丰硕成果。这些都不与世界协议或世界组织的总体利益冲突，相反它们有助于这一目标。“我父的家里有许多住处。”

联合国成员国之间那些对其他任何国家无攻击意图、没有任何与联合国宪章不符企图的特殊联合，不仅无害，反而有益，且我认为是不可或缺的。

我刚才提到“和平的殿堂”。来自各国的工匠都必须建造这座殿堂。如果其中两位工匠彼此相知已久，情同手足，家庭相互通婚，彼此对对方的目标有信心，对对方的未来有希望，对对方的缺点有宽容——借用我最近在此地看到的好句子——为什么他们不能作为朋友与伙伴共同劳动？为什么不能分享工具，从而提高彼此的工作能力？

实际上，他们必须这样做，否则殿堂可能建不起来，或即使建成也可能坍塌，我们将再次被证明不堪教诲，只好去一所比刚刚离开的战争学校更加严酷的学校再学一次。

黑暗时代可能卷土重来，石器时代可能借科学的光翼再现。而本可给人类带来无法估量的物质福祉的东西，也可能带来人类的彻底毁灭。

我说要警惕，时间可能不多。不要让我们任凭事件漂流，直到为时已晚。

如果要建立我所描述的兄弟般的联合，凭借两国能从中获得的额外力量与安全，让我们确保全世界都知道这一伟大事实，让它成为稳固和平的基石。这才是智慧之道。预防胜于治疗。

盟军胜利的光明场景上空，已然投下阴影。没有人知道苏联及其共产国际组织在近期打算做什么，或它们的扩张与宣传的倾向是否有任何界限。我对英勇的俄罗斯人民和我战时的战友斯大林元帅怀有深深的钦佩与尊敬。英国对所有俄罗斯人民怀有深切的同情和善意——我毫不怀疑这里的你们也是如此——并决心在历经许多分歧与挫折之后，仍然要坚持建立持久的友谊。我们理解俄罗斯希望通过消除德国侵略的可能性来保障其西部边境安全的需求。

我们欢迎俄罗斯在世界列强中占据其应有的地位，欢迎她的国旗在海上飘扬，最重要的是，欢迎俄罗斯人民与我们大西洋两岸人民之间不断、频繁且日益增长的接触。然而，我有责任——我相信你们也希望我如实陈述我所见的事实——把欧洲当前的局势如实地摆在你们面前。

从波罗的海的什切青到亚得里亚海的的里雅斯特，一道铁幕已经降临在整个欧洲大陆。那条线后面是中欧和东欧所有古老国家的首都：华沙、柏林、布拉格、维也纳、布达佩斯、贝尔格莱德、布加勒斯特和索非亚，这些著名的城市和其周边的人民都处在我必须称之为苏联势力范围之内，不仅受苏联影响，而且在许多情况下受到来自莫斯科日益加强的控制。

只有雅典——希腊，这个拥有不朽荣耀的国家——能够在英美法监督下自由决定自己的未来。受苏联支配的波兰政府被鼓励对德国实施大规模、非法的侵占，数百万德国人的大规模驱逐正在发生，其规模令人震惊、难以想象。东欧各国原本规模很小的共产党，如今被提升到远超其人数的显赫地位，正在到处寻求建立极权统治。

几乎在所有情况下，警察政府当道，除了捷克斯洛伐克以外，都不存在真正的民主。土耳其和波斯对莫斯科政府提出的要求和施加的压力深感不安。俄罗斯人在柏林的占领区试图通过对某些左翼德国领导人给予特殊待遇，来建立一个准共产党的德国政党。

去年6月战斗结束后，美英军队按照先前协议向西撤退，在某些地段撤退深度达150英里，前线长达近400英里，以便让我们的俄罗斯盟友占领这一大片由西方民主国家征服的领土。

如果现在苏联政府试图在其占领区单方面建立一个亲共产主义的德国，这将给英美占领区带来新的严重困难，并赋予战败的德国人可在苏联和西方民主之间讨价还价的权力。无论从这些事实得出何种结论——但这些确实是事实——这绝不是我们为之奋斗解放的欧洲，也不具备持久和平的要素。

世界的安全要求欧洲实现新的团结，不应让任何国家被永久排除在外。正是欧洲强大母体民族的争端，酿成了我们亲历的两次世界大战和历史上的其他战争。

在我们有生之年，美国两次被不可抗拒的力量卷入这些战争，虽然这与他们的愿望和传统相悖，尽管他们的理由我们完全能够理解，但他们仍在及时参战以确保正义事业的胜利，然而却是在可怕的屠杀与毁灭发生之后。

美国两次不得不派遣数百万青年横渡大西洋去打仗；而现在，战争可以在日落与黎明之间找到任何国家。我们理应自觉努力，推动欧洲的宏大和解，在联合国的框架内并遵循其宪章。这是一个重大而公开的政策目标。

铁幕前方还有其他令人忧虑的因素。在意大利，共产党因必须支持共产党训练的铁托元帅对亚得里亚海头部意大利领土的要求而深感为难。然而，意大利的未来仍然悬而未决。

同样，我们无法想象没有强大的法国就能有一个重生的欧洲。在我整个公共生活中，我都在为强大的法国努力，哪怕在最黑暗的时刻我也从未丧失对她命运的信心。现在我依然不会失去信心。

然而，在许多远离俄罗斯边界的国家以及世界各地，共产党的第五纵队已经建立，并完全一致地行动，绝对服从共产主义中心的指令。除了在大英联邦和美国（共产主义仍处于萌芽状态），共产党或第五纵队对基督教文明构成日益增长的挑战与威胁。

在这样一个刚刚赢得了自由与民主事业的辉煌胜利的时刻，却要陈述这些阴暗的事实，对任何人来说都不是愉快的事；但若不趁时间尚早直面它们，将是极不明智的。

远东的局势同样令人不安，尤其是满洲。雅尔塔会议上签署的协议对苏联极为有利，我本人也是签约方之一。但当时没有人能确定德国的战争不会一直延续到1945年夏秋之际，且预计日本的战争还将持续至少18个月。你们对远东了解得如此透彻，对中国的友谊如此深厚，我无需在此详述。

我有责任描绘出笼罩世界的阴影，无论是在西方还是在东方。我曾是凡尔赛和约谈判时期的部长，是英国代表团团长劳合·乔治的密友。我当时并不认同许多所作所为，但我脑海中对那个局势的印象非常深刻，现在看到当下的状况与之相比，令我痛心。当年人们怀抱很高的希望，对战争已成过去充满信心，相信国际联盟将大有作为。

我今天看不到、感受不到当时那种信心，甚至看不到那样的希望。

另一方面，我坚决驳斥新战争不可避免、甚至迫在眉睫的看法。正因为我坚信我们的命运依然掌握在自己手中，我们仍有力量拯救未来，所以当我有这个机会时，我必须发出呼声。我不认为苏联希望战争。他们想要的是战争的果实以及他们权力和学说的无限扩张。

但我们今天必须考虑的问题，是如何永久防止战争，如何尽快在各国建立自由和民主的条件。闭上眼睛回避困难和危险不能消除它们；袖手旁观等待事态发展也不能消除它们；姑息政策更不能消除它们。我们需要的是解决，而越迟解决，就越困难，危险就越大。

从我在战争期间观察到的俄罗斯朋友和盟友的行为来看，我坚信他们最敬佩的莫过于力量，而他们最不尊重的莫过于软弱，尤其是军事软弱。因此，旧的均势理论是不可靠的。如果可能，我们不能在狭窄的边缘上运作，给对方试探实力的诱惑。如果西方民主国家团结一致，严格遵守联合国宪章的原则，它们对推进这些原则的影响将是巨大的，几乎无人敢于挑衅。

但如果它们分裂，动摇于职责之中，如果这几年最重要的时间被白白浪费，那么灾难的洪流就真的可能吞没我们所有人。

上一次我预见到一切，向我的同胞和全世界大声呼喊，但无人理会。直到1933年甚至1935年，德国都还可以从后来降临的可怕命运中被拯救，我们也都可以免受希特勒向人类释放的灾难。

历史上从未有一场战争比刚刚毁灭了如此大片地球的那场战争更容易通过及时行动来防止。我相信它本可不发一枪就被阻止，德国今天或许本可以成为强大、繁荣、受人尊敬的国家；但无人愿意倾听，我们最终一个接一个被吸进那可怕的漩涡。我们绝对不能再让这样的事情发生。

这一切只有通过现在、就在1946年，与俄罗斯在联合国总体权威下达成良好谅解，并在许多年和平岁月中维持这一谅解才能实现。要用英语世界及其联系所能提供的全部力量来支撑这个世界工具。这里就是我恭敬地在这次题为《和平的支柱》的演讲中为你们提出的解决方案。

不要低估大英帝国和英联邦持久的力量。不要因为你看到我们岛上四千六百万人为粮食供应发愁——即便在战争年代我们也只能自产一半——或者因为我们在六年热血奋战后重建工业和出口贸易遇到困难，就以为我们无法度过这些艰难岁月。我们会像走过光荣的痛苦岁月一样走出这段艰难岁月。五十年后，你们仍会看到七千万、八千万英国人分布世界各地，团结捍卫我们的传统、生活方式，以及你我共同支持的世界事业。

如果把英语世界各国的人口加上美国的人口，再加上这种合作在空中、海上、全球各地、科学和工业、以及道义上的含义，将不会再有摇摆不定、岌岌可危的权力平衡给野心和冒险提供诱惑。相反，我们将拥有压倒性的安全保障。

如果我们忠实遵守联合国宪章，沉着稳健地前行，不觊觎他人土地或财富，不企图武断控制人类思想；如果英国的一切道义和物质力量、信念都与你们联合在兄弟般的关系中，那么未来的大道将一片光明，不仅为我们，也为所有人，不仅为我们这一代，也为未来一个世纪的人类。