THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION

1. Its story

When the First World War ended the British soldiers who had survived began to come home. Many were chronically ill or permanently disabled. Instead of the heroes’ welcome they had been promised, they now faced unemployment, homelessness and poverty. Some of them got together in protest groups. This was not what the government wanted to see. So in 1921 the British Legion was founded, to unite and support ex-soldiers (and managed by ex-army officers, with close links to the government). Its symbol is the red poppy, and its main fund-raising activity is the sale of artificial poppies (made in its own factory by disabled ex-servicemen and women) every November. It is a major charitable organisation, granted a royal charter in 1925 and the title ‘Royal’ on its 50th anniversary.

The charter of the Royal British Legion lists some admirable aims: ‘to promote unity amongst all classes, to make right the master of might, to secure peace and goodwill on earth, to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy and to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual service and helpfulness’. In the 1920s and 1930s it put some of these into action by linking up with ex-service organisations in other countries – including some who had been on the opposing side in the war – and supporting the foundation of the League of Nations. In the 1930s, the British Legion’s chiefs called on German ex-servicemen to work with them for peace: ‘Who is there in any nation who wants another gigantic orgy of hate?’ When the British government tried to stave off war by agreeing to the transfer of Czech territory to Germany, the British Legion offered 10,000 of its members to act as neutral observers during the handover.

Events overtook them. The Legion’s friendly overtures to Germany were quickly abandoned when the Second World War began. Over two thirds of the British Legionaries now proved their loyalty to the British state by working in ‘civil defence’ jobs across the country. But since the war the Legion’s international links have continued, through its membership of the World Veterans Federation, a non-governmental organisation founded in 1950 with the creed ‘None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war’ – though the history of warfare since 1950 suggests that it is surviving victims of war who might be the most eloquent speakers.

In fact, both the WVF and the British Legion work on behalf of some of the victims of war: they support not only injured ex-servicemen and women but also their dependants. There’s no doubt that their help is real and necessary. But it is funded not by the government (whom one might expect to be responsible for the care of troops they order to war) but by donations, sponsorship and, particularly, the money raised by the annual Poppy Appeal – over £21.7 million in 2003.

Advertising of the Poppy Appeal has sometimes been controversial, even offensive. In 1989, it featured a photomontage showing German soldiers with Nazi banners marching past the Houses of Parliament. Accompanying slogans told how British forces had stood ‘between us and oblivion’. ‘They gave their all to stop the seemingly unstoppable.’ Rather like terrorism today, the Nazi threat of the 1940s was used to create a sense of fear – and to encourage poppy sales.

But in November 1989 the Berlin Wall was being pulled down, the Soviet Union was about to break up and the Cold War to end. Since then, Poppy Appeal campaigns have concentrated on individual cases: ex-soldiers and their families who have benefited from British Legion funds or from the care provided in the BL’s 7 residential homes. The Legion’s annual ‘Festival of Remembrance’, held in the Royal Albert Hall and shown on national television, has become less militaristic (though still packed with uniforms).

What it means >