On Christmas Eve 1914, following several blood thirsty battles and terrible loss of life, ordinary soldiers from both sides, Germans, English, French, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and many other nationalities, laid down their rifles and walked out into no mans land to meet each other. Defying official orders from their high commands to murder one another for the sake of empire and money makers, the men organised truces in several areas. Simple gifts were bartered and exchanged and a game of football was played in the killing zone. So afraid were the governments and royalty of Britain and Germany over the fraternisation that they held secret talks to find the best way to restart the war. Finally the high commands of both sides ordered their artillery to shell their own men back into their rat infested, flooded trenches so that they could go back to the business of butchering each other. Learning of what had happened, Lenin said, “Try to imagine Hyndman, Guesde, Vandervelde, Plekhanov, Kautsky and the rest (leaders of so-called socialist parties that supported the world war) – instead of aiding the bourgeoisie (something they are now engaged in) – forming an international committee to agitate for fraternization and attempts to establish friendly relations between the socialists of the belligerent countries, both in the trenches and among the troops in general. What would the results be several months from now?”
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 12:35:47 +0000
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