Penny Heroes, Guttersnipes & Mass-Minded Fools
So I'm reading through the collected letters of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, the second part starting in 1939, all the way to his death in '53. And an aspect that fascinates me is that it gives this unparalleled view into the mind of the young man suddenly thrust into a world at war.
It's very interesting, especially since the first collection, up to '39, gives you a good sense of his life as a young man, a new father, and an emerging writer struggling to make ends meet. When World War II began, Dylan was 25 (my age, so a bit chilling). And suddenly, where life was hard enough for a poet from a small provincial village on the Welsh coast trying to "make it", here comes this war, and even more interestingly, this wave of propaganda.
Now, you'd think everyone is fuck no, but then, as now, there was a heavy layer of propaganda smeared across the "war effort". According to Dylan's letters, the government made it out as if only old grannies, cowards and "perverts" opposed the concept of needless death on the battlefront.
It's an idea that has, bafflingly, endured to this day. We speak of soldiers as heroes, and it's not uncommon for people avoiding the draft and military life to be judged and deemed cowards for their actions.
My own grandfather did what he could to avoid the draft. When WW2 started, he was just 18, and he was very fortunate in managing to avoid fighting throughout the war. Even now, speaking about it, I used to feel it's a bit hush-hush, like something you might not want to admit to. Because this BS mentality that there's something ignoble about not dying when you're told to.
Dylan himself comes under fire (so to speak) for writing to various acquaintances asking for letters against the war. Is he a coward? How dare he? It's an honor and a duty to die for King and country.
First off, it doesn't seem cowardly to me for a person to refuse to fight and die for someone else's political and financial interests. Rather, it seems quite noble for a young husband and father to try to remain home and aid and protect his family to the best of his ability.
Now, much is said about WWII, most of it along the lines of "Hitler was crazy, we had no choice". More accurately, this translates to "we had a falling out with Hitler -- who'd been just fine and dandy up to '39 -- and he started stepping on our turf". Huge difference.
Country, I was a soldier for you
Did what you asked me to
It was wrong and you knew.
Country, now I'm just a stranger to you
A number, a name, it's true
Throw me away when you're through.
Personally, I have tremendous amounts of respect for soldiers and veterans, mostly around the terror they endured. Great sympathy for that unimaginable struggle and horror that no human being should be exposed to.
But I never understood this hero culture. It seems more prevalent in the US and the West, so maybe that's partly why. Where I am, you don't have all this pomp around veterans or "thank you for your service". I never got that. Particularly not in modern times. Thank you for what? Flying out to the Middle East and slaughtering some unarmed kids for the ever-elusive "war on terror"? Seems to me that these people's experiences should be acknowledged, but more in the form of "I'm so sorry this happened to you". Better yet, in the form of "hey Government, how come you ditch our heroes to PTSD, addiction and suicide once they're back home?".
It seems to me that this hero culture does little to help returning veterans struggling enormously with their mental health. Because on the one hand, you've got this tormenting, terrible trauma that you endured. Then you come back and everyone pats you on the back and says jolly good? I haven't met that many soldiers in my life, but it seems like a recipe for dissociation and alienation.
Dylan Thomas captures this social disparity well in one of his letters, dated, October 14th 1939, just outlining his proposed collection of war objections.
Objections, not generalised but whole-heartedly practical of various people, mostly writers. Not a Pacifist, proRussian, Mosleyite or literary peace front, but the individual non-party non-political objections of people like you and me. I think, at this time, when many people who appeared trustworthy are turning out as penny heroes, guttesnipes, rattle snakes, mass-minded fools or just lazy buggers, it would be valuable.
It felt particularly resonant as there is a fair amount of war talk here in Europe. I've heard it said worryingly often that the powers that be might reintroduce mandatory military service for our young men. It seems evident to me that the first thing to do as a family with eligible men would be to scarper somewhere far away. Personally, I see nothing noble in having my brother or partner die furthering the interest of NATO. And if you're someone thinking half-clearly, neither should you.
The trouble is that many will be tricked into thinking there is something noble there. Many who will buy into that "yes, our young men need the military for its rigor and bla-bla-bla" bullshit. As in Dylan's times, the masses will be made up of unthinking youths who will rather heartily pledge to this "dying for your country as heroism" nonsense.
Add to those even more who, while unhappy about their inevitable enrollment, will feel powerless to stop it. I can't speak (obviously) for the 1940s. But if there's one thing the past years have shown us, it's that the majority may not agree but it will still say nothing to stop atrocity and injustice.
Many among us will feel upset and terrified of the draft and of combat, but will feel, as they did during the pandemic, or during the Ukraine war, or any other atrocity that's been visited upon us in recent years, that this is the way things are. You are powerless to stop it.
And that's an even more frightening lie than this heroism bullshit.
If you're powerful enough to "protect your country", you're powerful enough to say no.
(and since I've used songs in this article, and since it's #threetunetuesday, I say thank you @ablaze, and here's one more.)
Well the letter arrives and glistens a mother's eyes
She wonders where when and why
She could have tucked him in his bed
With a kiss on the cheek and his head
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
If you are interested in the criticism of propaganda in WW1 you might be interested in poets such as Wilfred Owen. Try Smile Smile Smile which scathingly responds to an image in the paper of smiling, wounded soldiers. Many of his poems aimed to distil the very truth of war in contrast to any notion of heroism or patriotism and were all written in a year before he died himself in battle.
They used to give men white feathers in Australia if they didn't go, perhaps the same in UK - a symbol of cowardice. It was a different time, also, I suppose - the threat of Nazi Germany loomed very large.
The notion of heroism HAS to be sold to get people to sign up for the war machine. These days, however, we do have the power to find out the political motives behind war and unite to find alternatives. Yet still violence lurks darkly in the heart of man, and blind allegiances to whatever identity they feel is worth dying for, and an inability to critique the myths they are fed.
We should have the right to conscious objection, and I am sure even if there was compulsory conscription in, for eg, the UK, I don't doubt there would be a lot more support of objectors, and a lot more cracking down on protest from the powers that be.
Sounds like a fascinating read.
I know Owen! I was just thinking of him while writing this!
It did. But then again, Nazism and Hitler himself were tolerated (and even encouraged) to an extent in Europe (not sure about Australia)... Until they weren't. Suddenly it's this big threat we need you to die preventing. It's interesting to me that very few voices said fuck you, you played with him until now, you solve it. But you are right, of course, it's a lot easier to investigate and make yourself knowledgeable now (which makes it all the more criminal that so many don't).
I feel so, too. I hope so, at least. Then again, I look at the recent conscription in Ukraine where women and kids were allowed to flee, but men forced to stay behind and fight. Obviously, a lot of them still got over the border and good for them. But just, a lot of the propaganda you were hearing about these men losing their lives and about Zelensky and all of it really still permeated this die for your country, be a hero narrative. I think as long as that narrative survives and remains so prevalent, the chances of a real change are slim.
From an outsider, female Australian perspective, it seems that countries like Ukraine have quite a strong nationalism that seems to go hand in hand with male heroism. I could be totally off the mark here of course. I couldn't see inner city Melbourne boys signing up, but country towns might be a different story! And then of course it's the difference between educated and non educated. The way, for example, Australia doesn't support an arts degree the way they'll fund other degrees, because they don't need a heap of critical thinkers protesting against governments.
I'm not at ALL saying you need an Arts degree to be a critical thinker, of course, or to be educated. I hope I've made myself clear here haha!
For Australia, I think it was a chance to prove themselves on a world stage, and of course at that time they were running to support a country they were still very much tied to and part of. I think it frustrates a lot of Australians that we get drawn into wars that have nothing to do with us. It's all about money and allegiances of course.
Couldn't agree more.
Glad you know Owen. I just love his poetry so much - it's so darn powerful and he certainly fulfilled his aim of distilling war into poetry.
Dulce et decorum est - it is sweet to die for ones country. Read Owens poem of the same name which refutes this notion beautifully. I challenge you not to weep.
I hadn't read it in ages, thank you! Probably the only kind of "war literature" I could get behind. To think of all those boys who lost their lives - how can you not cry?
(Considering that Eric Bogle, the original composer, is Aussie you might already know this. I love this version. I remember I was having dinner in a pub in Dublin and the band started playing this quietly in the other room. I couldn't stop crying. Felt so surreal in a way. So silly on the one hand to start crying in public over a song. Even sillier and stranger to be sat there enjoying my life when this misery still goes on. Obviously age-restricted because you can die in wars if you're under 18, but can't watch it.)
I can't watch the video for some reason! If it's the band played waltzing matilda, I can cry on demand thinking about it. My English granddad used to sing it and my Dad, who only served five months in Vietnam and didn't even fight (though he was given his cancer via chemicals used out there) cries when he hears this song.
This is another very famous Australian war song - we all know it. The place names at the start are all war training grounds. When you listen to the start of this it reminds me of Wilfred Owen's The Send Off with the men going off and no one realising how they were going to come back, if at all.
Dont' you think it's typical of us to understand all this through poetry and literature, @honeydue?
This one is a more modern Aussie hip hop version of I was Only 19 which is also superb. In some ways you could argue that songs like this also glorify war heroes, but they don't - they're trying to explain the terrible ruin of war on men's lives.
This is a fascinating write up though but I wonder how people like your grandfather were safe during WW2 and you mentioned that he did not fight