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I do not propose to say many words tonight. The time has come when action rather than speech is required. Eighteen months ago in this House I prayed that the responsibility might not fall upon me to ask this country to accept the awful arbitrament of war. I fear that I may not be able to avoid that responsibility. But, at any rate, I cannot wish for conditions in which such a burden should fall upon me in which I should feel clearer than I do today as to where my duty lies. No man can say that the Government could have done more to try to keep open the way for an honorable and equitable settlement of the dispute between Germany and Poland. Nor have we neglected any means of making it crystal clear to the German Government that if they insisted on using force again in the manner in which they had used it in the past we were resolved to oppose them by force. Now that all the relevant documents are being made public we shall stand at the bar of history knowing that the responsibility for this terrible catastrophe lies on the shoulders of one man—the German Chancellor, who has not hesitated to plunge the world into misery in order to serve his own senseless ambitions.
Contents
- Totalitarianism
- Communism in the Soviet Union
- Fascism in Western Europe
- Totalitarianism as Anti-modernity
- Vladimir Lenin: What Is to Be Done? Date: 1902
- Rudolf Steiner: Theosophy Date: 1904
- John Reed: “Soviets in Action” Date: 1918
- Clara Zetkin: “Organising Working Women” Date: 1922
- Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf Date: 1926
- José Ortega y Gasset: The Revolt of the Masses Date: 1930
- Sigmund Freud: Civilization and Its Discontents Date: 1930
- Benito Mussolini: “The Doctrine of Fascism” Date: 1932
- Joseph Stalin: “Results of the First Five-year Plan” Date: 1933
- Rudolf Hess: Oath to Adolf Hitler Date: 1934
- Leon Trotsky: “I Stake My Life!” Date: 1937
- Munich Pact Date: 1938
- Reinhard Heydrich: Memorandum concerning Kristallnacht Date: 1938
- Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Date: 1939
- Neville Chamberlain: Speech on Germany’s Invasion of Poland Date: 1939
- Liu Shaoqi: How to Be a Good Communist Date: 1939
- Vyacheslav Molotov: Address on Germany’s Invasion of Russia Date: 1941
- Cardinal Clemens von Galen: “Against Nazi Euthanasia” Date: 1941
- John W. Pehle and John J. McCloy: Debate about the Bombing of Auschwitz Date: 1944
- Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany Date: 1945
- Robert H. Jackson: Opening Statement before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Germany Date: 1945
- Mao Zedong: “On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship” Date: 1949
- Mao Zedong: “On the Co-Operative Transformation of Agriculture” Date: 1955