[Ads-l] Antedating of "Iron Curtain"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Great finds, Fred and Garson.

JL

On Tue, Sep 6, 2022 at 1:36 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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)
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>


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