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Veterans Day

By VVAW

Fight the Rich, Not Their Wars
U.S. Out of Panama
Jobs or Income Now
Decent Benefits for All Vets

Like others of our national holidays, Veterans Day has not been neglected by the class of people who run this country. Along with days like Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day, and the Fourth of July, it's a time for them to carry on about the glory of fighting for "our" country, to wave the flag for national honor, and to try to raise some enthusiasm for another war.

One thing is clear--they sure aren't holding Veterans Day for vets. If that was their interest, they would give vets some of the things we need, like an adequate GI Bill with checks on time, decent care in VA hospitals, union jobs at union wages. Instead, on Veterans Day the give us some speeches by tired political hacks, some more speeches by decaying leaders of the American Legion and VFW all decked out in their beanies, an off-key rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" by a member of the Legion Auxialliary, and, if we're especially lucky, maybe a parade! None of these do a damn thing to pay the landlord or help feed our families; instead, they're designed to get us ready to go fight for the rich once again.

Veterans Day grew out of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles at 11 in the morning on the 11th of November in 1918, bringing to an end the first World War. Then, like now, a government willing to "honor" the vet by talking about his great contribution to keeping the world safe for democracy, was not willing to give a promised bonus (which led to the Bonus March in 1932 where 25,000 vets and their families moved into Washington, DC until they were finally driven out at the bayonet points of the U.S. military).

But the empty "honor" is not the only similarity between then and now. World War I was fought because a bunch of greedy capitalist countries were trying to redivide the world. Germany, a rapidly rising capitalist power, had missed out on the earlier feast where the imperialist powers like Britain and France had gobbled up countries around the world to set up their colonial empires. When Germany tried to grab its piece of the world pie, war quickly followed.

Today the names have changed but the need for capitalist thugs to grab more and more remains the same. The U.S. and the Soviet Union stand face to face in country after country around the world--in Africa, in the Middle East, in Europe. Both countries are driven by the need for more markets, more cheap resources, more cheap labor--more and more profits--and the political control which makes all these things possible. When one of the superpowers slips, the other is ready to leap in. And so while the leaders of the tow countries talk about detente, hold arms control talks and declare their intentions only to go to war if attached, at the same time they build new weapons, spend huge amounts of money on their military forces, and try to prepare their people to go off to fight and die for the profits of the country's rulers.

That's what Veterans Day is all about. Pushed closer and closer to the brink of war, the U.S. bosses know they have to build a spirit of nationalism and pride in order to get the people behind them for the next war. They can remember 5 years back in the closing days of the Indochina War when their military was in a state of near collapse, officers were being shot, orders refused; on the streets at home millions turned out to say Get Out of Vietnam; and in Indochina small, politically determined countries beat back all the technological marvels the U.S. government could throw at them. And the bosses know that when they have to go to war again, they're going to have to make people forget all this resistance to build support for their venture. It's for sure that they aren't going to go out and fight the war themselves, and they're going to try like hell to keep their sons out of it. So, once again, they have to huff and puff up some kind of war enthusiasm among the millions of working people who will actually have to do their dirty work for them.

Veterans Day gives them a chance to drum up this enthusiasm. Many people listen when veterans speak, and the leaders of groups like the Legion and VFW, owned body and soul by the ruling class, do all they can to make war sound good to the American people.

VVAW's experience over the past several years in going out to Veterans Day parades or ceremonies across the country is that there are hundreds of thousands of people who will not buy the lies which are put out on Vets Day. To underline our experiences and point to the real cause of the next war, we carry banners which say FIGHT THE RICH, NOT THEIR WARS! And in response to the attempt of the country's rulers to have us forget what happened in Indochina, we say WE WON'T FORGIVE, WE WON'T FORGET!

One of the schemes of the rich to build national pride is speeches about "our canal" in Panama (see article on page 1). Many members of VVAW have already seen what it means when U.S. troops, commanded by U.S. business interests, occupy another country--that's what we were doing in Vietnam. And so we counter the "Keep Our Canal" statements of the VFW with U.S. OUT OF PANAMA--not in the year 2000 like Carter's treaty seems to call for, but RIGHT NOW!

Among the things not talked about on Veterans Day are things that vets actually need--what we don't need is empty honor, costly parades, ceremonies serving only the purpose of the rich who sent us off to fight their wars and then threw us away. So, on Veterans Day, VVAW chapters point to some of the needs of vets. We demand JOBS OR INCOME NOW!

We demand DECENT BENEFITS FOR ALL VETS! We need a larger and longer GI Bill for those who are going to school, no more cuts in disability payments, adequate care in VA hospitals instead of the butcher-shops which many VA hospitals have become.

For sure what vets don't need is another war; we have no interest at all in seeing our sons or brothers go off to protect the profits of the rich. And so we go head-to-head with the Legion leaders and the rich they're fronting for, and say: TO HELL WITH THEIR NATIONAL HONOR; WE WON'T BE USED AGAIN!