IT
“It’s a shame not to do anything on the pretext that we can’t do everything.”
Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
The great British statesman was the “primum movens” of the victory of the allied forces in the Second World War. A sentence and a speech remain etched in the memory of him. The first was the one he made in commentary at the Munich Conference of 1938 referring to the Germans: “They could choose between dishonor and war. They chose dishonor and they will have war.” He was certainly not a warmonger also because he was well aware of the power, efficiency and fighting capacity of the German army, clearly superior, on paper, to the British one. Faced with the arrogance of his historical enemy, however, he had the courage to choose the only possible way to stop his enemy’s insatiable hunger for power: forcing him to make a choice with no return.
The second was the speech he gave to Parliament on May 13, 1940, a few days after being appointed prime minister to replace Chamberlain by the King. It is known by its key words: “Blood, toil, tears and sweat.” With that historic speech he set out a program that would lead to victory against the Tyrant of the moment. The effect on the British people was something between a punch in the face and a kick in the ass, that awakened their consciences by galvanizing their pride The phrase I mention in this second contribution can be interpreted as his philosophy of life.
The historical moment we are experiencing, sooner or later, will put us at a crossroads to find an adequate response to the arrogant self-confidence of the tyrant on duty. The Russian autocrat is certainly not comparable to the Nazi dictator, but, in some ways, he resembles him. Its policy is that of the “man alone in command”. His doctrine is “the law of the strongest”. His strategy is that of “conquest at all costs”. His method is that of the “permanent threat”. Its goal is the “Russification” of Eastern Europe. His tools are those of “death”. Imagine if one day our head of government decided to take back all the Italian territories that, historical events unfavorable to us, stole from the Bel Paese, launching missiles on Nice (home of the hero Garibaldi), razing Ljubljana and Zagreb (which incorporated Istria, Rijeka and Zadar), bombing Malta (guilty of having preferred independence and the English protectorate).
Not satisfied, the Russian autocrat ordered the poisoning of the leaders of Confindustria and the arrest of all hostile journalists. Science fiction? Suggestion? Emulation? In politics anything is possible. Yet in Italy there are many people who put the executioner and the victim on the same level, remaining insensitive to the massacres of innocent people, above all not fearing that the hungry Bear, encouraged by the sloth, resignation and pseudo-pacifism of the Western soft, might advance on Moldova, Poland, Baltic States, Finland and so on. For us liberal Freemasons the following are unacceptable: 1) brute force 2) tyranny 3) chauvinist expansionism 4) failure to respect the freedom of individuals and peoples and international agreements. Churchill’s lesson certainly does not mean unleashing war at all costs, but it would be even worse to play ostriches by hiding one’s head underground, while in Ukraine people die, suffer and flee. There are over six million refugees, of which three million are housed in Poland.
The Grand Orator of the Grand Liberal Lodge of Italy
NOTE: W. Churchill was initiated into Freemasonry on May 24, 1901 (121 years ago), in Studholme Lodge nº 1591 of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; he passed Fellowcraft on July 19, 1901 and raised Master Mason on March 25, 1902, in Rosemary Lodge No. 2815 in London.
