Editing Winston Churchill (section)

===Imperialism and racial views===
{{see also|Racial views of Winston Churchill}}

Churchill was a staunch [[imperialist]] and [[monarchist]], and consistently exhibited a "romanticised view" of the British Empire and reigning monarch, especially during his last term as premier.{{sfn|Addison|1980|p=38}}{{sfn|Ball|2001|p=308}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=22}} Churchill has been described as a "liberal imperialist"{{sfn|Adams|2011|p=253}} who saw British imperialism as a form of [[altruism]] that benefited its subject peoples.{{sfn|Addison|1980|pp=32, 40–41}} He advocated against black or indigenous self-rule in Africa, Australia, the Caribbean, the Americas and India, believing the British Empire maintained the welfare of those who lived in the colonies.<ref name="CRC"/>

When he was Home Secretary in 1910-1911, Churchill supported the [[Eugenics|forced sterilization of the "feeble minded."]] In a letter to Prime Minister H. H. Asquith in February 1910, he wrote " The unnatural and increasingly rapid growth of the Feeble-Minded and Insane classes […] constitutes a national and race danger which it is impossible to exaggerate. […] I feel that the source from which the stream of madness is fed should be cut off and sealed up before another year has passed."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rovera |first=Catherine |date=2017-12-01 |title=Unclaimed Bodies, Feeble Minds in The Ballroom (2016): Anna Hope's Visions of Asylum |url=https://journals.openedition.org/ebc/3779?lang=en |journal=Études britanniques contemporaines. Revue de la Société dʼétudes anglaises contemporaines |language=en |issue=53 |doi=10.4000/ebc.3779 |issn=1168-4917|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=pixelstorm |date=2013-04-17 |title=Leading Churchill Myths: "Churchill's campaign against the 'feeble-minded' was deliberately omitted by his biographers" |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-152/leading-churchill-myths-churchills-campaign-against-the-feeble-minded-was-deliberately-omitted-by-his-biographers/ |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=International Churchill Society |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Eugenics in Britain |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/blue-plaque-stories/eugenics/ |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=English Heritage}}</ref>

According to Addison, Churchill was opposed to immigration from the Commonwealth.{{sfn|Addison|2005|p=233}} Addison makes the point that Churchill opposed [[anti-Semitism]] (as in 1904, when he was critical of the proposed [[Aliens Act 1905|Aliens Bill]]) and argues he would never have tried "to stoke up racial animosity against immigrants, or to persecute minorities".{{sfn|Addison|1980|p=39}} In the 1920s, Churchill supported Zionism but believed that [[communism]] was the product of an [[international Jewish conspiracy]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Churchill |first=Winston |title=Zionism versus Bolshevism: A Struggle for the Soul of the Jewish People |work=The Illustrated Sunday Herald |date=8 February 1920 |page=5}}</ref> Although this belief was not unique among politicians, few had his stature,{{sfn|Brustein|2003|p=309}} and the article he wrote on the subject was criticised by ''[[The Jewish Chronicle]]''.{{sfn|Cohen|2013|pp=55–56}}

Churchill made disparaging remarks about non-white ethnicities throughout his life. Philip Murphy partly attributes the strength of this vitriol to an "almost childish desire to shock" his inner circle.<ref name="Conversation_Murphy">{{cite web |url=https://theconversation.com/churchill-and-india-imperial-chauvinism-left-a-bitter-legacy-36452 |last1=Murphy |first1=Philip |title=Churchill and India: imperial chauvinism left a bitter legacy |work=The Conversation |date=22 January 2015 |access-date=17 February 2022 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217172211/https://theconversation.com/churchill-and-india-imperial-chauvinism-left-a-bitter-legacy-36452 |url-status=live}}</ref> Churchill's response to the [[Bengal famine of 1943|Bengal famine]] was criticised by contemporaries as slow, a controversy later increased by the publication of private remarks made to [[Secretary for India]] [[Leo Amery]], in which Churchill allegedly said aid would be inadequate because "Indians [were] breeding like rabbits".<ref name="Conversation_Murphy" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Limaye |first=Yogita |title=Churchill's legacy leaves Indians questioning his hero status |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-53405121 |access-date=17 February 2022 |publisher=BBC News |date=20 July 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217185350/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-53405121 |url-status=live}}</ref> Philip Murphy says that, following the independence of India in 1947, Churchill adopted a pragmatic stance towards empire, although he continued to use imperial rhetoric. During his second term as prime minister, he was seen as a moderating influence on Britain's suppression of armed insurgencies in Malaya and Kenya; he argued that ruthless policies contradicted British values and international opinion.<ref name="Conversation_Murphy" />

[[File:British Empire 1921.png|thumb|center|upright=2.0|The [[British Empire]] at its territorial peak in 1921]]