Like this:

At school yesterday, we had a presentation in the school gym about Remembrance Day and the “fallen heroes” of Canada’s past and present wars. The mantra of the assembly was “They died for our country”. That got me thinking. Instead of thinking paltry, half-felt prayers in the fifty seconds silence, I thought “What is a country, that so many should die for them?”

The answer to the above question, with regards to European nations at any rate, is an area of land inhabited by somewhat related ethnic groups. In ancient days, it was necessary for some tribes to raid other tribes to survive, and for the potentially raided tribes to defend themselves. Dying for ones own family to support their survival would be a noble and honourable thing. As time progressed, and technology developed, the need to raid and defend against raiding decreased, yet war carried on. It seems that as the power shifted from the hands of the tribal community into the hands of it’s rulers, so did the focus of war. The ruling classes of societies found that they could use the blood of others to further their interests, both through labour and through war. Civil wars between heirs of great kings and the feuding of petty noblemen are evidence to this. Causes were invented and banners made up to try to rally the people to battle, to die on the bayonets of ambition and greed. Sometimes, however, the benefits of labour and the spoils of war came into conflict; ie. the men who would work the sawmills were instead dying on fallow fields, minimizing profits for everyone. Peace treaties and ententes were drawn up by the great powers of Europe to prevent wars like the Napoleonic from happening again. When Serbian terrorists assassinated the Austo-Hungarian Archduke Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary had to violate the peace to defend it’s interests, prompting Russia, Germany, France, and Britain into the war. The people who were recruited to join the forces didn’t think “Oh no, Austria-Hungary tried to get revenge on their assassinated prince and as a result are caught up in a massive war! I should fight them!”. If people didn’t care about the intruiges of nations, then who did? The ruling class. It was the rich people and rulers of nations that cared about treaties and wars, for they were the ones to profit from their creation and destruction. The profiteering seen in World War One was no exception to any rule, it was the rule and the reason for wars before and after it.

So on Remembrance Day, comrades, remember that yes, the soldiers you mourn did die, and did sacrifice, but that there was no cause they were killed for, it was only the money of their masters that mattered. And also remember that it is up to us to make sure that those who make money from our blood must and can be stopped! Workers of the World Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!

There, how’s that?

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