[Ads-l] Antedating of "Iron Curtain"

[Shapiro, Fred]

I should add, however, that there is a difference of connotation between Buxton's usage and that of later users of the term.  In later occurrences, the Iron Curtain was something imposed by the Soviet Union, whereas Buxton was blaming Western governments.

Fred Shapiro


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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, September 5, 2022 9:17 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Antedating of "Iron Curtain"

The term "Iron Curtain," referring to a political divide between the Soviet Union (and countries dominated by it) and the rest of the world, is popularly credited to Winston Churchill, who used it beginning in 1945.  It has been known for some time, however, that Ethel Snowden used it earlier, in her 1920 book _Through Bolshevik Russia_.

I have discovered an earlier occurrence of the term:

1919 _Haslingden (U.K.) Gazette_ 5 Apr. 3/3 (British Newspaper Archive)  They [the British and French governments] wanted to prevent, as far as they could, all communications between the people so that an iron curtain, as it were, had fallen down between this nation and the great people of Central Russia.

This article was an account of an address at Accrington given by Labour politician Charles Roden Buxton.  It is likely that Buxton is being quoted as using "iron curtain" in that address.  The phrasing is actually closer to Churchill's formulation than was Ethel Snowden's phrasing.  Interestingly, the article about the Buxton address occurs in the newspaper immediately next to an article about an address by Philip Snowden, Ethel's husband.

Fred Shapiro
Editor
Yale Book of Quotations (Yale University Press)



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