Okay, here are some of the documents presented. I've added some footnotes just in case any of the events listed, or the people named, are unfamiliar to any readers. Field Marshall Viscount Wavell to Mr Churchill, 9 February 1944 Telegram, R/30/1/4: f 91 MOST IMMEDIATE 281-S. Following from the Viceroy for the Prime Minister, Private. You will see my telegram of today to Secretary of State about food imports. I fully realise the difficulties of shipping but situation will be really serious if we cannot command imports as we have requested. I am sure you will agree that we cannot possibly risk another breakdwn and famine which would be on a larger scale than 1943. Please help me all you can. Casey* has unfortunately been ill since arriveing in Calcutta but is recovering. --- *Casey was the Australian governor of Bengal, who took over from the acting governor Rutherford. Casey managed to shake up the administration and published his account of India as a book entitled "An Australian in India". ---- Mr Churchill to Field Marshall vISCOUNT wAVELL Telegram, Wavell Papers, Private Correspondence: Secretary of State, 1943-1946, p 13 IMMEDIATE No. 3721. Following personal and most secret from Prime Minister. Your No. 281-S. Cabinet will consider the matter again officially on Monday. I will certainly help you all I can, but you must not ask the impossible. ----- What follows below is the war cabinet meeting on the subject on the 19th of February. The minutes were too long for me to copy out, so what is below is merely the part concerning the Prime Minister; War Cabinet Meeting, 19th February (Minutes) PRIME MINISTER informed the war cabinet that, besides the telegrams before them, there had been a further communication from the Viceroy urging in the strongest of terms the seriousness of the situation as he foresaw it, if the Government of India's demand was not met. The Prime Minister added that the shipping difficulties revealed by the report of the Committee under the President of the Board of Education were very real. While he was in general agreement with the draft telegram to the viceroy he was most anxious that we should do everything possible to ease the Viceroy's position. No doubt the Viceroy felt that if this corner could be turned the position next year would be better. It was very important that His Majesty's Government in acceding to a request so anxiously stated by the Viceroy shuld be clearly stated in the telegram. ---- Mr Churchill to Field Marshall Viscount Wavell, 15 February 1944 IMMEDIATE PRIVATE Following personal and Most Secret from Prime Minister. We have given a great deal of thought to your difficulties but we simply cannot find the shipping. Everything is involved in the Operation and our own import cut to the barest minimum.* The Secretary of State is cabling you at length. Every good wish amidst your anxieties. ---- *According to Thomas Wilson's book "Churchill and the Prof" (1995), the UK's level of imports were half their pre-war level, of which half were devoted to purely military items. ----- I didn't get this down, but basically Wavell telegrammed Churchill again asking for a reconsideration (16 February). A cabinet meeting on the subject was held on the 17th of February. Amery telegrammed Wavell the same day. Here are some extracts from the telegram: "I am afraid the War Cabinet's decision has been a bad blow to you. I am sure Butler did his best... NOR WAS WINSTON AT ALL UNSYMPATHETIC" [emphasis added" Unfortunately somebody had Amery's diaries on loan, so I couldn't actually get anything from them. Basically I recall from one of the earliest diary entries concerning the famine (August or September 1943) that he says that Churchill agreed something should be done, Churchill recognised the strength of Amery's case and was "really quite friendly and sympathetic". Back to the official documents, what is below is an extract form the minutes of a meeting of the War Cabinet on the subject of food imports on the 24th of April 1944: "The Prime Minister said that it was clear that His Majesty's Government could only provide further relief for the Indian situation at a cost of incurring grave difficulties in other directions. At the same time, there was a strong obligation on us to replace the grain which had perished in the Bombay explosion.* He was sceptical as to any help being forthcoming from America, save at the cost of operations or the United Kingdom import programme. At the same time, his sympathy was great for the suffering of the people of India" ---- Ten days earlier an explosion took place in the Bombay harbour, killing 2000, causing immense damage and the destruction of 45,000 tons of food. This place a severe strain on India's resources. ---- That's it for now. It interesting that the British government did not approach the United States for help earlier. Churchill eventually did this five days after the meeting quoted above. The telegram is in "Churchill and Roosevelt; The Complete Correspondence" edited by Warren Kimball. The answer from Roosevelt was negative. It's curious that this was anticipated by the British government, Amery makes a number of comments regarding how "wasteful the Americans are with regard to shipping" several times. I do not (yet) have any formal qualifications in History. I am a student of it at Glasgow University. However I think that the above illustrates the need for some revisionism when it comes to Churchill's attitude on the Bengal famine. For example, I just found a copy of Arthur Herman's "Churchill and Gandhi". The parts concerning the Bengal famine are made up of secondary sources, and do not quote any offical documents. A number of quotes frequently used to describe Churchill's attitude during the famine are taken out of context somewhat. To give an example, Amartya Sen gives the quote "I hate Indians. They are the beastliest people in the world next to the Germans". The problem is that That quote was made in 1942, a year before the famine began, perhaps Richard Langworth or somebody else can fill me in here, but my suspision is that it was an off the cuff remark, possible an attempt at black humour (he certainly did hold Germans to be beastly, although that didn't stop him making certainly unpleasant jokes about them during the war, whilst not getting Stalin's joke about executing 50,000 German officers). It was not made during the famine, and there turns out to be little direct evidence suggesting that Churchill considering the Indians not worthy of saving. The comparisons between Greece and India were not based on racial views, I have explained this earlier in my first email. I hope I didn't bore you, and I hope that you can forgive the inevitable typing errors. Regards, Andy
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 19:39:11 +0000From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [ChurchillChat] Re: bengal famine (Churchill's opinions revised)To: [email protected] Don't worry, and thanks again. Alex.--- On Thu, 2/10/08, andy macbrayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: andy macbrayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Subject: [ChurchillChat] Re: bengal famine (Churchill's opinions revised)To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Thursday, 2 October, 2008, 8:02 PM I know I said I'd try and get it done by today, but, alas, I was preoccupied with some other stuff. I'll do my best for Friday. Regards,Andy Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 07:45:36 +0000From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [ChurchillChat] Re: bengal famine (Churchill's opinions revised)To: [email protected] Thank you very much for your help. The course is not starting until next week so don't worry, just send it when you have the time. Regards, Alex Calvo--- On Wed, 1/10/08, andy macbrayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: andy macbrayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Subject: [ChurchillChat] Re: bengal famine (Churchill's opinions revised)To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Wednesday, 1 October, 2008, 7:53 AM Greetings, By all means, go ahead. I'm thrilled at the the idea. If you want, I'll copy out the most relevant documents 9from a Churchillian stand point), although it may not be until tommorrow I'll get an opportunity to do this, as the book is in the University of Glasgow Library (I don't own it) and I'm kind of busy today. Regards,Andy Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:30:57 +0000From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [ChurchillChat] Re: bengal famine (Churchill's opinions revised)To: [email protected] Hi Andy, I am teaching a course on Global Economic Geography this coming semester and wanted to add the Bengal Famine to the syllabus. Would you mind me including your posting in the materials for my students? Thank you very much. Best regards, Alex Calvo Professor of International Relations, European University.--- On Tue, 30/9/08, andy macbrayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: andy macbrayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Subject: [ChurchillChat] bengal famine (Churchill's opinions revised)To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Tuesday, 30 September, 2008, 5:50 PM Greetings, Most books that mention Churchill's attitudes on the Bengal famine tend to portray them as being, well, less than honourable. To take one example, the historian Gopal in his essay 'Churchill and India' in ''Churchill'' (edited by RObert Blake and Wm. Roger Louis) writes that Churchill opposed famine relief on the grounds that it was "appeasement" of the congress. In particular the suggestion was that Churchill's racial views influenced his handling of the famine, as he was more concerned about "sturdy Greeks" than "anyhow underfed Bengalis". This view is accepted by Andrew ROberts in Emminent Churchillians, Clive Ponting in his "biography" of Churchill and Peter Clarke in his recent book "The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire". I recently read the official documents concerning the Bengal famine. They are published in "The Transfer of Power, 1942-1947", volume IV, The Bengal Famine and New Viceroyalty (edited by Nicholas Mansergh with the assistance of E.W.R. Lumby). The image of a callous Churchill is belied by the documents. Although Churchill himself doesn't write much on the subject, when he does, one does not get the impression that he was callous. On one occasion Wavell writes to Churchill begging him to release shipping, Churchill's response was "I shall certainly help you all I can. But you must not ask for what is impossible". A number of meetings on the subject concluded that: There was a shortage of shipsThere was no overall shortage of food (a view backed up by Amartya Sen), rather the famine was the cause of hoarding. Not wanting to interfere with the war effort by diverting shipping (and thereby making an already difficult situation with regards to shipping and the UK's imports worse), the government in London encouraged Wavell to try and use alternative strategies to try and prise food from the grasps of Indian hoarders. Through 1944 India actually does get some 700,000 tons of food. On another occasion Churchill, speaking during a meeting, declares himself "most sympathetic". He also wrote to President Roosevelt requesting American ships to help deliver the food to India. Churchill's "sturdy Greeks" comment seems to come from Amery's diary, although the documents presented make it clear that Churchill was not viewing famine relief in Greece as preferable to sending food to India, not because the Greeks were racially superior, but because it was viewed as being not in the best interests of the war effort if potential insurgents in Greece starved to death. In the end, some food marked for the Balkans was diverted to India anyway. Indeed, Amery records at the same meeting Churchill agreed that something needed to be done in order to stop the famine in India. Perhaps the traditional view needs to be revised? Any further comments would be welcome. I certainly hope you Churchillians will comment on my analysis. I understand that Arthur Hermann has just published a book on Churchill's relationship with Gandhi, I'd be interested to know if he mentions the Bengal famine. Regards,Andy [Please forgive any typos] Try Facebook in Windows Live Messenger! Try it Now! 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