Was Churchill a Closet Socialist?
After I posted “Churchill on the Stimulus Package” last Spring, I was asked if Churchill, who said he opposed socialism, was in fact more of a socialist than he cared to admit. For example, he was one of the architects of the British Welfare State early in the 20th century.
To the many appreciations of Churchill’s career let us add that he was (which is not often recognized) a serious political theorist, who learned from experience and, as William Manchester wrote, “usually improved as he went along.” I asked President Larry Arnn of Hillsdale College to respond to this question:
Churchill was a political thinker.…