In January 1933 the Oxford Union voted 275-153 to approve the motion: “That this House refuses in any circumstances to fight for King and Country.” The proposition became known as the Oxford oath.
Winston Churchill was not amused. While others counseled that it be dismissed as youthful folly, he declined to ignore the proceedings at Oxford. Rather, he declared it “a very disquieting and disgusting symptom” and proceeded to explain why it troubled him (as Martin Gilbert puts it in the fifth volume of his Churchill biography, The Prophet of Truth, 1922-1939):
My mind turns across the narrow waters of [the] Channel and the North Sea, where great nations stand determined to defend their national glories or national existence with their lives. I think of Germany, with its splendid clear-eyed youths marching forward on all the roads of the Reich singing their ancient songs, demanding to be conscripted into an army; eagerly seeking the most terrible weapons of war; burning to suffer and die for their fatherland. I think of Italy, with her ardent Fascisti, her renowned Chief, and stern sense of national duty. I think of France, anxious, peace-loving, pacifist to the core, but armed to the teeth and determined to survive as a great nation in the world.
One can almost feel the curl of contempt upon the lips of the manhood of these peoples when they read this message sent out by Oxford University in the name of young England.
This past Thursday the Oxford Union debated the motion that “This house believes Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide.” The motion passed by 278 votes to 59. Jewish Chronicle has published an understated account of the debate here.
In 1933 the Oxford crowd had sunk into sleepwalking pacifism and national self-loathing. It was a fashionable and perhaps understandable attitude in the aftermath of World War I. Churchill nevertheless saw the challenge such an attitude presented to England.
The current Oxford Union crowd has sunk further than its 1933 predecessor. It has taken the side of the Nazis. They support the self-avowed génocidaires of Hamas. They support the October 7 massacre. The Oxford Union crowd of 1933 were fools. This crowd is evil.
As in 1933, the matter raises a serious issue of national security for Great Britain. This crowd does not mean Great Britain well.
Jonathan Sacerdoti was the first speaker in opposition to the motion on Thursday. He posted the audio of his remarks on YouTube. It provides the flavor of the proceedings.
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