[Ads-l] Antedating of "Iron Curtain"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Interesting citation, Fred. Here is another precursor for “iron
curtain”. The 1919 citation posted by Fred contained the phrase
“prevent, as far as they could, all communications”.

The 1915 instance below matches this notion semantically. It refers to
an “iron curtain" of military censorship. I think the author of this
passage is primarily referring to censorship in countries outside of
Russia which is blocking news about developments within Russia.

https://books.google.com/books?id=1bY4AQAAIAAJ&q=%22iron+curtain%22#v=snippet&

Date: November-December, 1915
Periodical: The Socialist Review: A Quarterly Review of Modern Thought
Section: International Notes
Subsection: Russia
Quote Page 779
Publisher: The Independent Labour Party, London.

[Begin excerpt]
RUSSIA
"Behind the iron curtain of the military censorship, and obscured by
the clash of arms, there are going on in the belligerent countries,"
says the writer of "Political Notes" in Clara Zetkin's paper,
Gleichheit, "extensive changes, changes that will be at least of as
much importance to Europe as the immediate and direct effects of the
war." The precise course of affairs in Russia is especially difficult
to ascertain, but it seems clear that the prestige of Tsardom is
gravely impaired, and that the bourgeois revolution, so long overdue,
makes rapid progress. But conditions differ much from those which
obtained in France at time of the Great Revolution, for in the large
towns there already exists in Russia a comparatively instructed
proletariat, and it is at least questionable whether, in the turmoil
of the war and of the period of reorganisation, the workers may not
secure important gains...
[End excerpt]

It appears that Lancelot Eden wrote the International Notes section
because his name is listed on page 787. Philip Snowden published an
article in this issue of “The Socialist Review”. Perhaps he saw the
phrase “iron curtain” in this issue.

Garson

On Mon, Sep 5, 2022 at 10:23 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> 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
>
>
> ________________________________
> 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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