The Cult of The Poppy

The nuances and hidden implications of the Remembrance Day symbol

It’s November, and it seems one cannot go a minute without seeing a poppy. No, Britain hasn’t just become the world’s reddest and most boring garden centre. Instead, the nation is in the throes of a militarist stupor disguised as patriotism. That’s right: Britain is celebrating its favourite floral cult – the cult of the poppy — and everyone in even a remotely important public-facing role must participate. News anchors, TV pundits, politicians, even whole football teams — all must wear the poppy, lest they, like Irish Footballer James McClean, receive literal death threats for their vestimentary choices. 

To be sure, the poppy is meant to be a mostly benign symbol of remembrance, originally a reminder of the British soldiers who fought in WWI. Of course, Allied victory could not have been achieved without the help of French, American, Italian, Russian, and Japanese soldiers who also laid down their lives. And it shouldn’t be forgotten that among the many ‘British’ soldiers were countless citizens of colonies the British Empire still held on to, many of which they continued to brutally repress till well after WWII. 

Unfortunately, like with many of the country’s other favourite cults — football, the NHS, and Princess Diana — behind a polished and much beloved image lies an ugly truth that perhaps just isn’t worth celebrating. It’s not just the truth that the British state and its soldiers have been complicit in the slave trade — as much as racists love to remind us that Britain ‘ended it’ — and that they have been engaged in numerous acts of genocide in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Kenya, and that they have waged brutal colonial campaigns all over Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific. Nor is it simply that, in the last 30 years alone, British soldiers have brutally repressed Catholics in the North of Ireland and tortured innocent civilians, including children, in Iraq and Afghanistan. After all, this is par for the course when it comes to British ‘military’ action abroad. 

But it’s also because, even at home, the oppressive force of the poppy has left its rotten mark. Multiple people have been arrested across the UK for burning poppies, and others, whether they be public figures or regular members of the public, continue to feel pressured to wear the poppy in social and work settings lest they be branded unfeeling traitors. One campaign in 2014 even urged Muslim women to wear “poppy hijabs,” truly showing how far poppy-worshipping madness had gone. The poppy became a literal article of faith, one intended to provide a visible proof of how British a person really was. But even those whose outlook on the British military is far more positive have come out against the poppy. British veterans have, for example, lodged collective complaints about the garish and performative nature of the poppy as well as its function as a propaganda tool used to drum up support for many of Britain’s more regrettable military interventions. 

Moreover, the poppy-pin making industry is a truly sordid business. In 2018, it was reported that both the Royal British Legion and Lady Haig's Poppy Factory held contracts with the British government, which involved exploitative use of prison labour. Under this contract, inmates at HM Prison Ford were earning just £10 a week making poppies. At a different prison, one former member of The Independent Monitoring Board, a body which scrutinises inmates’ welfare, described the work as "mind numbing" and "akin to mental torture.” 

So, even if your motivations are entirely benign and your only aim is to support the armed forces, you can do a lot better than wearing the symbol of a death cult to which Britain has already sacrificed many of its own people and countless others. Consider, perhaps, donating directly to local veterans’ associations. Or you can also take a crack at campaigning against the many wars and very culture of militarism which has duped so many young Brits into handing over their lives for what have often — though, granted, not always — been unjust causes.

And, if you really are that keen on pinning a flower to your shirt, may I recommend an Easter lily to remind others not just of the poppy-red blood that British soldiers once shed on the emerald fields of Ireland, but of the many other injustices that Britain and its ‘brave’ soldiers have been, are, and will likely be complicit in, whether it’s their often less-than-tacit support of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza or their own ongoing occupation of Six Counties.

Illustration by Zoe Small