Lest We Forget

“And the end of the War finds cadgers for money for war memorials. War memorials! they are in hospital wards, in lunatic asylums, and in graveyards; they are in the hearts of widows and fatherless children, and 50,000 priests specially fitted and ordained for heaven, were exempted. Had they no faith in their Father? Would not his hand have spared them a clout on the head from a rifle butt, or a prod from the end of a bayonet? Would not his hand have guided the shrieking shell away from their holy bodies? O ye of little faith! Would not the very lice have refused to nibble their precious skins? Would not the ravens have fed them? Their choice was the safety of the recruiting platform. If they were Men, they would have left the Church; if they were women, they would have dropped tears of warm compassion; as they were Priests, like their God, they did nothing.”

(From “The Fourth Age” by William Repton, Pioneer Press, 61, Farringdon Street, 1s.)

(Socialist Standard, August 1932)