Remembrance

On this day 11 November at Compiègne in France, the Allies and the Germans signed the armistice that ended the war on the Western Front. That date, now also known as Remembrance Day, has in many countries been declared a public holiday to commemorate those killed in the war.

Few things better capture the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie than the sight of British Prime Ministers solemnly laying wreaths at the Cenotaph while their administrations are spending billions of pounds on aggressive foreign wars.

But if the bourgeoisie prefers empty phrases to learning the true lesson of the Great War, most artists do not:


Käthe Kollwitz, ‘Nie wieder Krieg’ (No More War), lithograph, 1924.