MUSIC:
FAMOUS ANTI-WAR SONGS:

It's almost time to close out another Remembrance Day, but just to leave you with something a little less dry here's a couple of songs that give something other than a glorification of militarism. Yeah I know, just when you thought you were finally really and truly free of 'Molly's Poetry Corner'. Well I promise you no 'high culture' this time. No promises for the future.
♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

'AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA'

It seems like this should be the granddaddy of them all, but this was actually written in 1971 by singer songwriter Eric Brogle. It tells a story of an old Australian veteran and his bitter thoughts at the commemoration of ANZAC Day, the Australian version of Remembrance Day and Veterans' Day. You can hear this song sung by Marjorie Roswell at this link.


AND THE BAND PLAYED
WALTZING MATILDA
When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪
Here's another one, 'I Ain't Marching Anymore' by Phil Ochs. This was originally released in 1965 for the album of the same name during a period of time when America's war in Vietnam was building up. This song became Ochs' most famous piece. It takes the point of view of a soldier from all the wars in American history from 1812 on. You can see a video of Ochs performing this song at this link.
♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

Phil Ochs
I Ain't Marching Anymore

Oh I marched to the battle of new orleans
At the end of the early british war
The young land started growing
The young blood started flowing
But I ain't marchin' anymore

For I've killed my share of indians
In a thousand different fights
I was there at the little big horn
I heard many men lying
I saw many more dying
But I ain't marchin' anymore

It's always the old to lead us to the war
It's always the young to fall
Now look at all we've won with the sabre and the gun
Tell me is it worth it all

For I stole california from the mexican land
Fought in the bloody civil war
Yes I even killed my brother
And so many others
And I ain't marchin' anymore

For I marched to the battles of the german trench
In a war that was bound to end all wars
Oh I must have killed a million men
And now they want me back again
But I ain't marchin' anymore

(chorus)

For I flew the final mission in the japanese sky
Set off the mighty mushroom roar
When I saw the cities burning
I knew that I was learning
That I ain't marchin' anymore

Now the labor leader's screamin' when they close the missile plants,
United fruit screams at the cuban shore,
Call it "peace" or call it "treason,"
Call it "love" or call it "reason,"
But I ain't marchin' any more.
♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪
Finally we have Buffy Ste. Marie's 'Universal Soldier'. A little local patriotism here. Ste. Marie was born a mere 20 miles or so from where I grew up in the Quapelle Valley. this song debuted in 1964. it gathered little attention at first but took off when it was rerecorded by folk singer Donovan in 1965. You can see various videos of Ste. Marie performing this song at this link.
♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

Universal Soldier
Buffy Sainte-Marie
He's five feet two and he's six feet four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He's all of 31 and he's only 17
He's been a soldier for a thousand years

He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jain,
a Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
and he knows he shouldn't kill
and he knows he always will
kill you for me my friend and me for you

And he's fighting for Canada,
he's fighting for France,
he's fighting for the USA,
and he's fighting for the Russians
and he's fighting for Japan,
and he thinks we'll put an end to war this way

And he's fighting for Democracy
and fighting for the Reds
He says it's for the peace of all
He's the one who must decide
who's to live and who's to die
and he never sees the writing on the walls

But without him how would Hitler have
condemned him at Dachau
Without him Caesar would have stood alone
He's the one who gives his body
as a weapon to a war
and without him all this killing can't go on

He's the universal soldier and he
really is to blame
His orders come from far away no more
They come from him, and you, and me
and brothers can't you see
this is not the way we put an end to war.

HUMOUR:

REMEMBER:

HISTORY:

REMEMBER AND PREVENT:

November 11 is Remembrance Day in the anglosphere, a day set aside to remember the war dead and hopefully resolve to avoid such tragedies in the future. But how much of this remembrance is actually glorification of militarism ? This is especially apt in the case of WW1, where the actual reasons for the war cannot be honestly discussed without criticizing societies founded on profit and the state. Here's a Remembrance day item from the Canadian anti-militarist group Cease Fire asking your opinion.

RDRDRDRDRDRD

Is Remembrance Day too much about war, and not enough about peace?
Add your comment below


Remembrance Day is changing as the veterans of the First and Second World Wars, and the Korean War, pass away. Today more attention is being paid to the veterans of recent conflicts, such as Afghanistan, and the speeches from Government officials freely connect the battles of the past, such as Vimy Ridge, with the current fighting in Kandahar.

This is leaving many to wonder why we gather together each November 11. Is it to mourn the dead, or to adulate them? Do we lament war, or commemorate it?

Remembrance Day was first marked within the British Commonwealth (which included Canada) on November 11, 1919, at 11 a.m. to commemorate the end of the First World War upon the German signing of the Armistice.

According to the Government of Canada, we continue to celebrate this date to

“… honour those who fought for Canada in the First World War (1914-1918), the Second World War (1939-1945), and the Korean War (1950-1953), as well as those who have served since then.”
Red poppies became a popular symbol of Remembrance Day due to John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields” and their blood-red colour. His famous poem is hardly a call for peace. Instead, through McRae, the voices of the dead soldiers urge the reader to fight on, and “Take up our quarrel with the foe.”


However, this militarized focus on Remembrance Day is not shared by all. One of the most prominent examples of this is the white poppy campaign, which dates back to 1933. This poppy is meant to symbolize the need for peace and to commemorate the war-related deaths of both civilians and service men and women.

The white poppy campaign is not without controversy even today, as some peace groups seek to revise the anti-war symbol. The Royal Canadian Legion and other groups feel that it denigrates the symbol of those who have died while serving their country (as well as infringing on the Legion’s trademark of the red poppy symbol, used in their fundraising – page 41 of the Poppy Manual).

What is your opinion?

Do you feel that Remembrance Day has become a commemoration of war, or does it remain a time to think about peace?

HISTORY:

NOVEMBER 11- AN ANARCHIST REMEMBRANCE DAY:

The eleventh hour of the 11th day of the 11th month ! The guns fell silent on the western front in the "war to end wars". Not unexpectedly wars continued as their cause, the division of the planet into nation states continued as well. This day, however, has a place in the memory of those who seek to end the cause of warfare- the anarchists.

Here is what Mollymew published two years ago on the occasion of Remembrance Day.

.............................

Other Things to Remember on November 11th:

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month has since the end of WW1 been set aside for remembrance of the war dead of various countries. Yet this date has a history that extents further back in time to the year 1887, and since then the month of November has figured prominently in the minds of those who want to remember the dead of the "class war", another war that pits humanity against the tyrants who order the wars that have slaughtered millions.

November 11th, 1887 was the date on which 4 of the 8 Chicago anarchists arrested following the 'Haymarket Riot' in 1886 were hanged by the state of Illinois. The so-called riot in which a bomb was thrown at a force of police gathered to disperse a peaceful demonstration in support of the 'Eight Hour Day' movement was followed by a hail of police gunfire. Four members of the crowd of demonstrators were killed and seven policemen were also among the fatalities. Only one of these had been killed by the bomb. The others were likely killed by "friendly fire" as the police began to fire wildly in the dark and had broken formation.

This "riot" followed on a strike movement organized by the Chicago anarchists for May 1st in support of the eight hour day. This movement attracted about 350,000 workers nationwide. On May 3rd Chicago police attacked the strikers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. plant, killing two strikers and wounding several others. A demonstration was called for Haymarket Square in the early evening of May 4th. The anarchists were poorly organized, and a rain had begun so the rally was ill attended. The police attack on the meeting was unnecessary as the crowd was reportedly totally peaceful.

In the aftermath of the events of May 4th union offices were raided across the country. In Chicago itself 8 prominent anarchists were arrested and charged with murder. Absolutely no evidence was ever presented at the trial connecting the detainees with the bomb. The sole charge was that they were the anarchists who had "incited" the bomb thrower. All were found guilty and seven were sentenced to death. One, Oscar Neebe, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The case was appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court and then to the US Supreme Court. After this Illinois Governor Richard James Oglesby commuted the sentences of two of the defendants, Samuel Fielden and Michael Swabb, to life in prison.

On November 10th one of the condemned men, Louis Lingg, managed to commit suicide in his cell via a smuggled blasting cap, depriving the executioner of one of his victims. On November 11th, 1887 August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fisher and George Engel were hanged for their opinions, not for any crime. They walked to the gallows singing the Marseillaise. August Spies is reported to have said as his last words ;

"The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today."

The Haymarket Martyrs were buried at Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, and Schwabb and Fielden were also buried there when they died later of natural causes. In 1893 the Haymarket Martyrs Monument, by sculptor Albert Weinert, was erected at the grave site. This was later to become the only cemetery memorial to be accorded the 'National Historic Landmark' designation by the US Department of the Interior.

The trial was widely recognized to have been a travesty of justice. The identity of the bomb thrower was never discovered and there has been endless controversy about whether he was indeed an anarchist. Some believe that he was an agent provocateur hired by the steel companies to discredit the strike movement. On June 26th, 1893 Illinois Governor John Peter Atgeld, recognizing the illegality of the trial process, signed full pardons for the three remaining prisoners after having concluded that all 8 were undoubtedly innocent. This ended his political career. In the aftermath of the events international interest was aroused. The Eight Hour Day movement spread and the first Mayday demonstration in Chicago went on to become Mayday, the real Labour Day as recognized by most of the labour movement outside of North America (and to a large extent in NA as well).

To see more about the Haymarket Martyrs look to the following references:

a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_Riot

b) http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/haymarket/Haymarket.html

c) http://libcom.org/history/articles/mayday-haymarket-martyrs

d) http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/haymarket.htm

e) http://www.chicagohs.org/hack The latter is the Haymarket Affair Digital Collection, and it is the fullest source.

Other November Deaths:

While the execution of the Chicago anarchists was certainly the event that changed history the most there are also other labour martyrs whose deaths fell in the month of November. one actually occurred on Nov. 11th itself. this was the lynching of IWW member Wesley Everest in Centralia, Washington. Everest was a WW1 veteran and rank and file lumberjack in the American West. On Nov. 11th, 1919 a mob of American Legionares had gather at the local Elks' Hall in Centralia, and, incited by the lumber trusts, they marched on the local IWW hall. When they attacked IWW members fought back, and 4 members of the mob were killed. Everest was arrested, and a second mob later broke into the jail, took him out and lynched him. Nobody was ever charged with Everest's murder, but 11 Wobblies were put on trial for the deaths of members of the mob. Six of them were sentenced to 15 years in prison even though there was no evidence to connect them to the deaths.For the IWW slant on this affair see Ralph Chapman's 'The Centralia Conspiracy" at the official IWW site at

http://www.iww.org/en/culture/library

For the fullest historical treatment see History Link at:

http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?fik_id+5605

For brief summaries see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Everest

http://libcom.org/history/1919-the-murder-of-wesley-everest

November 19th is also the anniversary of the execution of the famous IWW songwriter and poet Joe Hill. He was born in Sweden on Oct 7th, 1879 and emigrated to the USA on in 1902 (but sources vary as to these dates). He joined the IWW around 1910 and was framed for a murder that occurred on January 10th, 1914 in Utah. Despite international pleas for clemency or a new trial from not just labour organizations but also the Swedish government, Helen Keller and even Woodrow Wilson he was executed by firing squad on Nov. 19th, 1915. For more information on Joe Hill see:

a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe-Hill

b) http://libcom.org/history/articles/murder-joe-hill

On November 20th, 1936 the Spanish anarchist Buenaventura Durruti(July 14th,1896-Nov. 20th,1936) was killed while defending Madrid against Franco's fascist troops. Durruti had had along career as an anarchist and labour militant in both Europe and South America. The 'Iron Column' that he led to Madrid's defence was the best of the anarchist militias. Many suspect that the killer was actually an agent of the Communist Party. For more on Durruti see:

a) http://libcom.org/history/articles/1896-1936-buenaventura-durutti

b) http://134.173.117.152/Anarchist_Archives/bright/durruti/durrubio.html

Finally, lest anyone think all this is a matter of the distant past there is the death of Russian anarchist and musician Timur Kacharava (Aug. 21st, 1985- Nov. 13th, 2005), stabbed to death by neo-fascists in St. Petersburg. This comrade had been active in Food Not Bombs, Critical Mass and the Russian punk rock band 'Sandinista'.For his memorial see:

http://www.musirorecords.com/timur/main.htm

The list of labour's martyrs is, of course, much longer and wider than what has been given above. I've only chosen prominent names from the moth of November to illustrate the point that there is more to remember than the fallen who were connived into armies by the ruling class. Not that I don't appreciate the soldiers of the Second World War, just like I appreciate the soldiers of the Spanish Civil War who fought fascism while the Western Powers were appeasing Hitler and Mussolini and later selling out Czechoslovakia. But almost every other war fought has been for monetary interests, including the present one where Canadians are dying in Afghanistan for the interests of the American Empire.

HOLIDAYS:

REMEMBRANCE DAY:

Today, November 11th is 'Remembrance Day' in most of the British Commonwealth. Originally named 'Armistice Day', in which name it is celebrated in France, New Zealand and many other Commonwealth countries it was originated by a Royal Proclamation on November 9th, 1919 by George V of England. Canada is the country that celebrates this holiday in the most serious fashion. In the United Kingdom two minutes of silence are observed on November 11th, but the main observance is held on the second Sunday of November. Remembrance Sunday where wreaths are laid at local war memorials at ceremonies organized by the Royal British Legion. These ceremonies are attended by representatives of the Crown, the Armed Forces and local governments. In Whitehall in England the ceremony is held in the presence of the Queen, the Royal Family. members of the Government and Opposition as well as dignitaries from the Armed Forces. The service is usually conducted by the Anglican Bishop of London, with representatives of other faiths as per managerial ruling class protocol. Various wreaths are laid to remember the war dead by representatives of the Commonwealth and the various armed forces and home defense organizations.

In Canada Remembrance observations are held on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month each year. If this falls on a workday (which it hasn't this year) it is considered a holiday. The status of the holiday varies from province to province for private business , provincial government employees and schools. In Western Canada and the Atlantic provinces it is considered a "Stat". In Ontario and Quebec it is not, though federally recognized corporations are allowed to consider it a holiday. Commodity trading organizations often do. The day is usually marked in schools on the day or the day prior by assemblies about the war dead, thought students today usually have little connection to events over 60 years in the past. In Canada today there is an attempt to put emphasis on more recent Canadian adventures overseas, even though these are often rather doubtful excursions as mercenaries of the USA in "wars" that are never "won" but merely fought to negotiation or exhaustion.

Aside from Bermuda, which contributed the first colonial unit to fight on the western front in 1915 and which had more soldiers per capita than any other Commonwealth country in WW1 , Canada takes the anniversary of Remembrance Day more seriously than anyone else in the world does. In the USA November 1th is celebrated as "Veterans' Day', but most of the observances occur on Memorial Day in May. In Poland November 11th is celebrated as 'Independence Day" for the national founding of Poland after WW1. In Germany the day is, of course, unknown, and it actually marks the beginning of the German Carnival. In the Roman Catholic and Anglican calenders Remembrance Day overlaps with the feast of St. Martin de Tours. He was a saint in catholic mythology who supposedly put aside his life as a soldier for that of a monk. Someone actually quite appropriate for this day.

POPPIES:

The tradition of wearing poppies on this day dates to the writing of military doctor John McCrae's poem 'In Flander's Fields' on May 3rd, 1915. It is written in the form of a French rondeau. According to tradition it was written on a scrap of paper laid on the back of Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrave in a trench on the western front, though this tradition is purely apocryphal. This poem gas achieved legendary status as few other poems have achieved. The text is as follows:

"In Flanders' fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amongst the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Great and rousing. My father avoided military service in WW1 as did so many Irish and French Canadians. His saying was that "why, when Britain has murdered millions of Irishmen should I get my legs shot off for the right of British capitalists to crack a whip across the backs of black men in preference to the rights of German capitalists to do the same." That pretty well sums up the goals of WW1, though the end results were somewhat different as Britain became a debtor nation to the growing US Empire.

The poems of John McCrae are available on the Project Guttenberg ebooks site under the heading of 'In Flanders' Fields and Other Poems' by John McCrae. His book is very jingoistic but still representative of his time. The Guess Who have written a parody of the poem in their song 'Friends of Mine'. It goes like this:

In Flanders Fields the poppies grow

between the crosses row on row

To mark the dead.

To Flanders Fields the hippies go

To smoke the poppies there below

and feed their heads.

Rather irreverent but appropriate 30 years ago and even more appropriate today when the powers that be are attempting to grab historical memory to justify their present wars of aggression. Wars today to secure oil supply are not in the same category as WW2. The best analogy is WW1 where the war was fought for imperial profit. Cracking a whip across the back of a black man as my father used to say. May Molly's little writings contibute to such a sensible attitude today.