Between June 29 and July 3, Facebook users shared a post in various groups (1, 2, 3, 4) claiming that Winston Churchill, to mark Joseph Stalin’s 80th birthday, went barefoot to church and held a religious service. According to the posts, he then went to the British House of Commons, where he gave a speech and spoke only positively and in exalted terms about Stalin. The text says that the British politician described the late Soviet leader as an extremely energetic and erudite person, to whom even he couldn’t stand up in conversation.
An identical post was shared on April 7 by a Facebook user on their personal account.
The circulated information about a speech by Winston Churchill praising Stalin is partially false. Churchill did indeed express praise for Stalin, but many details in the Facebook posts are incorrect. Moreover, there is no evidence to support the claim that Churchill went barefoot to a church and held a religious service in honor of Stalin’s 80th birthday.
The relationship between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin was quite complex. During World War II, they had to become allies and make compromises on certain matters. However, before and after the war, their countries were adversaries. Churchill never hid his dislike for communism and actively opposed it. Nevertheless, he did speak positively about Stalin on several occasions. The information shared in the Facebook posts has previously been investigated by the International Churchill Society. This organization, founded in 1968, studies the political and personal life of the former British Prime Minister and aims to preserve his historical legacy for future generations. In 2015, a professor from the University of Naples contacted the organization and asked whether a claim in a book by Molotov, the Soviet Foreign Minister during Stalin’s era, was true that Churchill spoke in laudatory terms about Stalin in 1959 and called him an extraordinarily energetic person. After reviewing the documents and facts available to them, the organization published a response on their website stating that Churchill did not make any statement about Stalin in 1959. In fact, after 1955, Churchill did not speak in the House of Commons at all. However, the organization did note that in 1942, Churchill, as Prime Minister, did praise Stalin in Parliament. It is important to highlight that the content of this 1942 speech closely resembles the text circulating on Facebook, suggesting that users are likely sharing a distorted version of that historical speech.
| The text circulating on Facebook | Winston Churchill’s Statement in the House of Commons, 1942 |
| “Gentlemen, if we wish to remain at the forefront of the free world, it is our duty to know and properly assess our enemies, especially remarkable personalities. Today, I want to name such a person: Generalissimo Stalin. It was a great fortune for Russia that, in its time of grave trial, the country was led by a genius and unwavering military commander – Stalin. He was the most remarkable figure suited to the turbulent and harsh times in which he lived. Stalin was extraordinarily energetic and erudite, a man of unyielding willpower, ruthless and merciless – both in action and in speech – someone to whom even I, raised in the British Parliament, could not stand up. Above all, Stalin had a great sense of humor and sarcasm and an astonishing ability to grasp the essence of what was said. He wrote all his articles and speeches himself, and in them, one could always feel the force of the man – a force so great in Stalin that, among all the leaders of nations and eras, he stood out as unique. Stalin made a profound impression on us. His influence over people had no parallel… When he entered the conference hall at Yalta, we would stand as if commanded – and strange as it may sound, we somehow found our hands drawn stiffly down along the seams of our trousers. He possessed deep wisdom. He was a master at finding a way out of even the most complex and hopeless situations. In both critical and celebratory moments, he remained equally composed. He never gave in to emotion or illusions. He was an extraordinary and complex man. He built and ruled a vast empire. He was a man who would destroy his enemies by the hands of his own enemies and made us, whom he openly called imperialists, fight against imperialists. Stalin was the greatest dictator the world has ever known. He inherited a Russia with wooden plows and left it armed with nuclear weapons! Say what you will about him, but people and history do not forget such individuals! | It was an experience of great interest to me to meet Premier Stalin. The main object of my visit was to establish the same relations of easy confidence and of perfect openness which I have built up with President Roosevelt. I think that, in spite of the accident of the Tower of Babel which persists as a very serious barrier in numerous spheres, I have succeeded to a considerable extent. It is very fortunate for Russia in her agony to have this great rugged war chief at her head. He is a man of massive outstanding personality, suited to the sombre and stormy times in which his life has been cast; a man of inexhaustible courage and will-power, and a man direct and even blunt in speech, which, having been brought up in the House of Commons, I do not mind at all, especially when I have something to say of my own. Above all, he is a man with that saving sense of humour which is of high importance to all men and all nations, but particularly to great men and great nations. Stalin also left upon me the impression of a deep, cool wisdom and a complete absence of illusions of any kind. I believe I made him feel that we were good and faithful comrades in this war – but that, after all, is a matter which deeds, not words, will prove. One thing stands out in my mind above all others from this visit to Moscow – the inexorable, inflexible resolve of Soviet Russia to fight Hitlerism to the end until it is finally beaten down. Premier Stalin said to me that the Russian people are naturally a peaceful people, but the atrocious cruelties inflicted upon them by the Germans have roused them to such a fury of indignation that their whole nature is transformed. |
When comparing the two texts, it becomes evident that they are quite similar in content. The British Prime Minister did indeed speak positively about Stalin, calling him wise, a great war chief, courageous, someone with a saving sense of humor, and a savior for Russia. However, there are also notable differences. He never said that he and Roosevelt would stand up when Stalin entered the room during the Yalta Conferences. He could not have said that, because the Yalta Conference took place in 1945, while this speech was delivered in 1942. Another apparent mistranslation is found in the posts’ claim that Churchill said he could not stand up to Stalin in conversation. In reality, what Churchill noted in Parliament was that Stalin was direct and even blunt in speech, which he didn’t mind at all, since having been brought up in the British Parliament, he was accustomed to such speech and would speak himself the same way when needed.
The authentic speech also does not contain the quote that Facebook posts attribute to Churchill: “Stalin inherited a Russia with wooden plows and left it armed with nuclear weapons!” This phrase has already been fact-checked in the past by the Russian organization Provereno, and it was found that the quote does not belong to Churchill but to the well-known British Trotskyist Isaac Deutscher. In 1949, The Guardian published an article by Deutscher, in which he wrote that Stalin might one day be remembered as the man who “found Russia working with wooden ploughs and left her equipped with atomic piles.”
After searching in Georgian, English, and Russian, we were unable to find any sources confirming that on December 21, 1959, Winston Churchill went to church and performed a service dedicated to Stalin’s 80th birthday. What we do know for certain about Churchill during this period is that his health had severely deteriorated in that year, as he suffered two minor strokes in the left hemisphere of his brain, developed gangrene in his finger, and endured other illnesses. He was physically very frail.
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