Ambiguity and Armistice Day

After the first world war a weary population greeted the end of the war and celebrated peace. Armistice day became a day for commemoration of those who had died in that senseless slaughter. The Flanders poppy was a symbol of that. Millions still commemorate the fallen in that way.

Armistice day for them is not a chance to glorify war but to remember the fallen and celebrate peace. The ANZAC memorial in Sydney is dedicated to “all the victims of war”.

The politicians, monarchs and generals who send better people than themselves off to die have a different view. For them, remembrance is a celebration of war and hypocrisy. Millions of pounds each year are taken from the public and handed over to the millionaire arms merchants. The politicians who do this wear their poppies with Satanic pride.
 

Nobody is allowed to appear on TV without wearing a poppy. John Snow dubbed this attitude “poppy fascism”. News readers who have been forbidden to wear badges for World Aids Day are dragooned into wearing what is seen as a symbol glorifying war.

Harry Leslie Smith, a World War Two RAF veteran, has not worn a poppy since 2013 because he believes "the spirit of my generation has been hijacked" by latter-day politicians to "sell dubious wars" in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Some have responded by wearing a white "Peace" poppy instead.

Socialists take no issue with those who genuinely want to commemorate the fallen or celebrate the end of a war. Those who use remembrance to score cheap political points while doing nothing to put an end to war are beneath contempt.