Hugh Dalton
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Minister of Economic Warfare (1940 to 1942); President of the Board of Trade (1942 to 1945); head of Special Operations Executive until 1942 · United Kingdom
On the regime page: Churchill wartime government
5 quotes, oldest first. Filter with other speakers.
Content note: Refusal to let food reach an enemy population. The words are shown as they were said or written. Why
“The principal purpose of the Ministry of Economic Warfare is to deny to the enemy all goods and services, including foreign exchange, which may assist him in the conduct of the war. I cannot, therefore, give any such undertaking as the hon. Member desires.”
Dalton had been Minister of Economic Warfare since 14 May 1940. A Member asked whether food would be allowed to go into Germany; the answer was given to the Commons in an ordinary question session.
Oral answer to a question on food supplies to Germany, House of Commons, 28 May 1940 (HC Deb vol. 361, cc. 420-1) Source
Content note: Refusal to relax a blockade during famine. The words are shown as they were said or written. Why
“I share my hon. Friend's concern at the suffering of the Greek people under the enemy's yoke—suffering as bravely endured as it is wantonly imposed. But His Majesty's Government must continue to insist that both the legal and the moral responsibility for feeding the populations of enemy occupied territories rests upon the enemy, and that to relax the blockade of any part of enemy occupied Europe must strengthen the enemy and prolong the war. There are, according to the admissions of the German authorities themselves, large reserves of wheat and flour under their control, and part of these supplies could, if the Germans chose, be used to feed the Greeks.”
Greece was under German, Italian and Bulgarian occupation and short of food. The British blockade of occupied Europe was in force; Dalton answered a question asking for wheat and flour to be imported.
Oral answer on food for Greece, House of Commons, 5 August 1941 (HC Deb vol. 373, cc. 1770-1) Source
Content note: Refusal to allow food through a blockade to occupied peoples. The words are shown as they were said or written. Why
“As there has been considerable misapprehension about this matter, I welcome this opportunity of making it clear that recent arrangements regarding Greece do not involve any departure from the general policy of His Majesty's Government. We do not allow foodstuffs to be shipped through the blockade, but subject to suitable conditions we have no objection to the purchase by our Allies of foodstuffs inside the blockade area for the relief of their peoples. These principles are, of course, impartially applied and certain other occupied territories have already benefited by their application. His Majesty's Government maintain their view that it is the responsibility of the enemy to feed the peoples he has enslaved, and they remain convinced that it would not be possible to allow foodstuffs to reach those territories through the blockade without defeating the objects of economic warfare.”
The question referred to the despatch of 50,000 tons of food and medical supplies to Greece and asked whether similar arrangements could be made for other occupied Allied countries before winter.
Written answer on food supplies to enemy-occupied territories, House of Commons, 14 October 1941 (HC Deb vol. 374, c. 1264W) Source
“As regards the third part of the Question, the general aim of German policy in occupied Europe has been to reduce the population to a bare subsistence ration, substantially less than that available for the German people themselves. Exportable surpluses are removed to Germany, though in certain industrial areas which are naturally deficient in food production and contain factories which are harnessed to the German war machine, some foodstuffs have been imported. It is therefore broadly true to say that the urban population throughout the occupied territorities are living at a level which is below, and in some areas substantially below, peace-time standards. But much worse conditions prevail in Greece, in some parts of Poland, and in German-occupied Russia, where it becomes clearer every day that famine is an instrument of German policy.”
A Member asked about the food situation in German-occupied areas. Dalton was Minister of Economic Warfare until 22 February 1942, when he became President of the Board of Trade.
Oral answer on food in German-occupied Europe, House of Commons, 10 February 1942 (HC Deb vol. 377, cc. 1366-7) Source
“As I stated last week, the worst conditions in German-controlled Europe prevail in Greece, in some parts of Poland, and in occupied Russia. While I should not be prepared to say what proportion of the death rate is due to lack of food, there can be no doubt that deaths from starvation are occurring in these territories. In other occupied countries, reports do not indicate any deaths directly attributable to food shortage, though in Belgium and Occupied France, some part of the increase in the mortality of certain diseases, notably pneumonia, is probably due to insufficient nutrition. In Norway, the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia the diet, though well below pre-war standards, has not been so inadequate as to cause any marked increase in the death-rate.”
Dalton gave the Commons the Ministry of Economic Warfare's assessment of conditions in occupied territories five days before he left the Ministry.
Oral answer on deaths from starvation in German-controlled Europe, House of Commons, 17 February 1942 (HC Deb vol. 377, c. 1626) Source
Often attributed, not verified
These words circulate under Hugh Dalton’s name but could not be traced to a source. They are listed so readers can check them, not as Hugh Dalton’s words.
“industrial and military sabotage, labour agitation and strikes, continuous propaganda, terrorist acts against traitors and German leaders, boycotts and riots”
Summaries print variant wordings ('terrorist acts' and 'terrorist attacks'; 'labour' and 'labor'), and the page that cites M. R. D. Foot gives no page. The letter and Foot's text were not available to read, so no exact wording could be confirmed.
“And now set Europe ablaze.”
Dalton's memoir The Fateful Years (1957) reports Churchill saying this to him in July 1940. It is Churchill's reported instruction, not a Dalton quotation, and the memoir was not available to read.