Uploaded May 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Churchill was a divisive, reactionary politician - unpopular even within his own party - and an open enemy of the working class. The life he lead was that of a racist imperialist, and he was sympathetic to fascism - a supporter of Mussolini and Franco. How has this wartime leader become a household god for many?
In this video (and his new book) Tariq Ali looks at the development of the Churchill cult: where it came from, why his legacy is being used in this way, and how long it will last.
Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes by Tariq Ali is out now: versobooks.com/books/3971-winston-churchill?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video
“In Ali's telling, which draws on more honest existing historical scholarship than most popular biographies of Churchill, the two-times prime minister emerges not so much as deeply racist - some of his contemporaries remarked on it in shock - as profoundly authoritarian, with a soft spot for fascist strongmen, and a hostility to working-class assertion.” – Priyamvada Gopal
Churchill was a divisive, reactionary politician - unpopular even within his own party - and an open enemy of the working class. The life he lead was that of a racist imperialist, and he was sympathetic to fascism - a supporter of Mussolini and Franco. How has this wartime leader become a household god for many?
In this video (and his new book) Tariq Ali looks at the development of the Churchill cult: where it came from, why his legacy is being used in this way, and how long it will last.
Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes by Tariq Ali is out now: versobooks.com/books/3971-winston-churchill?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video
“In Ali's telling, which draws on more honest existing historical scholarship than most popular biographies of Churchill, the two-times prime minister emerges not so much as deeply racist - some of his contemporaries remarked on it in shock - as profoundly authoritarian, with a soft spot for fascist strongmen, and a hostility to working-class assertion.” – Priyamvada Gopal
