Tribute to Stalin Nyet
I conduct history classes at a small Saturday Russian school in Edinburgh, covering the topic about relation between the UK and the USSR. I have come across a reference to Winston Churchill’s speech at the House of Commons on the 25th of December 1959 dedicated to the 80th Josef Stalin anniversary. Could you, please, kindly advise if it would be possible to obtain the text of this speech for educational purposes, providing all necessary referencing. —V.D., Edinburgh

Churchill made no speeches at all in the House of Commons after his retirement in 1955, according to Hansard, the official Parliamentary Debates. He did make a handful of speeches during the 1959 British general election held on 8 October 1959, but made no mention of Stalin, and he certainly made no speeches after October. In fact, the eight-volume Complete Speeches (Robert Rhodes James, editor, New York: Bowker, 1974) contain no speeches at all after brief remarks at the unveiling of his statue in Woodford, Essex on October 31st.
For years it has been stated or implied that Churchill gave a tribute to Stalin upon the latter’s death in 1953, or at some time thereafter, but there is absolutely no truth to this. Churchill realized the truth about Stalin well before 1953. (He did say laudatory things about Stalin during the war, notably in 1942—but things were different then.)