Submitted by Janine on
Published in Solidarity 397, 9 March 2016
Once the Military Service Act come into force in 1916, men aged 18-41 had to apply to a Military Tribunal if they believed that they had a reason not to be drafted. The majority had health, work or family reasons, but 2% were Conscientious Objectors (COs): men who objected to military service because they objected to war.
Submitted by Janine on
From its declaration of war in 1914, Britain’s ruling class appealed to patriotism to boost its support and its military recruitment. By 1916 both were flagging. On the pages of socialist newspaper The Herald, poets used verse to question both nationalism and the war’s aims. When the government asked men to fight for King and Country, was it shielding its true motives?
Submitted by Janine on
Hopeless force the Dardanelles
Shells, death knells and straits to hell
Terra firma, firmer terror
History puts it down to error
Wounded yet still predatory
Terrorise for territory
Ground of flesh and rocks from bones
Lay out wire for telephones
Cable London, cross terrain
Thousands dead, a few yards gained
Must despatch a good news story
Inched a bit more territory
Submitted by Janine on
Photos, clips and fanzine bits from the decade where punk without music was known as ranting poetry. Janine took to the stage as The Big J and produced fanzine Blaze!
Submitted by Janine on
Notes from the introduction to a workshop on 'What do we mean by socialist feminism?' at Workers' Liberty Women's 'All The Rage' event on 28 February 2015.
1. Key ideas:
Submitted by Janine on
Published in Solidarity 396, 2 March 2016.
Submitted by Janine on
Submitted by Janine on
Dulce et decorum est
As Owen wrote, the ancient lie
Inscribed upon the soldier's breast
And told to men when sent to die
But tell me, for commemoration
Below the flag that's raised to fool us
Did they really die for nation
Or rather for the nation's rulers?
Photo: Wilfred Owen
Submitted by Janine on
This article was published in two parts in Solidarity newspaper, beginning in issue 388 on 6 January 2016.
Picture: My grandfather, Albert Henry Booth, who was in the Navy at Gallipoli, with his sister Victoria (Queenie).
Submitted by Janine on
Follow the links for a shocking story of a Stalinist anti-semitic purge.
London is loyal, London's a comrade
London has toiled through many a bomb raid
London's a leader, London's a fighter
London is feeling the noose closing tighter
Those in London's seats of power
Are sending suspects to the tower
London's former champions sense
There's too much foreign influence
