ON Remembrance Sunday, Theresa May will lay a wreath at the cenotaph in memory of people killed in war.

This is the same Prime Minister who is happily selling weapons to Saudi Arabia for use against civilians in Yemen.

May’s government is arming despots around the world and ploughing billions into military spending. The Tories’ savage cuts to the welfare state constitute mass violence against the British working class.

Members of the government should therefore be the last people to be taken seriously when claiming to commemorate victims of violence. But in the weird and warped world of militarised remembrance ceremonies, such hypocrisy is the norm.

After World War I, a message commonly associated with remembrance was “never again.” Now the Royal British Legion — self-appointed “custodians of remembrance” — state explicitly that wearing a red poppy represents support for the current British armed forces. Its message has crossed a line from compassion for wounded and bereaved individuals to support for an institution rooted in violence, coercion and unquestioning obedience.

Many people who wear red poppies sincerely want to remember all victims of war. The British Legion, however, is explicit in insisting that the red poppy commemorates only members of British and allied armed forces.

An estimated 60,000 British civilians died in World War II. According to the British Legion, not a single one of them should be commemorated on Remembrance Sunday.

Arguing that we should remember all nationalities on Remembrance Sunday attracts even more hostility than suggesting we should remember civilians.

I remarked on Twitter recently that I wanted to show as much concern for non-British lives as British lives. Somebody replied by saying that if that is my view then I am “not British,” that I should leave Britain immediately and abandon my British passport (he didn’t explain how I was to leave Britain without a passport).

Given the nationalism and militarism that the British Legion increasingly promotes, it’s no wonder that many people look for alternatives to red poppies.

White poppy sales have reached record levels in recent years, with sales at around 100,000 per year since 2014.

Today, we launch the white poppy campaign 2017. There are several new developments, including a White Poppies for Schools pack, a larger number of shops selling white poppies and greater use of social media to challenge the hypocrisy of government-backed remembrance events.

First produced in 1933 by the Women’s Co-operative Guild, white poppies are now distributed by the Peace Pledge Union (PPU).

The PPU is a pacifist organisation. I make no apology for being a pacifist. To me, it is the natural outworking of my rejection of the capitalist lust for profit that drives war and imperialism.

But it would be a mistake to think that everyone who wears a white poppy is a pacifist. So what does the white poppy stand for?

Today, the Peace Pledge Union has launched a brief online video in which a range of people voice their reasons for wearing white poppies. You can read and hear their views at www.ppu.org.uk.

Individuals have various motivations for choosing to wear a white poppy. Overall, however, there are three key messages behind white poppies.

First, white poppies represent remembrance for all victims of all wars. This includes civilians and members of armed forces, of all nationalities. From civilians who were bombed or raped, to conscientious objectors killed or imprisoned for refusing to fight, to soldiers sold lies of freedom and glory, we will remember them all. Indeed, the hashtag #RememberThemAll is being used on Twitter.

Second, white poppies stand for a rejection of militarism. This involves resisting attempts to glamorise, glorify or sanitise war. We won’t talk about remembering “the fallen,” as if people who died in unimaginable pain had just tripped over. We won’t pretend that everyone who ever died fighting for the British ruling class has died “for freedom.”

Third, white poppies involve a commitment to campaigning for peace. People who want to commemorate the victims of knife crime, for example, would look at how to prevent more knife crime. This logic goes out of the window on Remembrance Sunday, when those who want to commemorate the dead by working for peace are accused of being “political.”

There are very few things that are granted the privilege of being deemed “non-political,” and they are generally things that uphold the status quo. The monarchy is one of them; the British Legion’s approach to Remembrance Day is another.

As socialists and workers, we do not have to go along with the festival of hypocrisy. Wearing a white poppy is one way to indicate a commitment to peace, a rejection of militarism and a belief in remembering all victims of war, of all nationalities.

The British Legion’s approach is not about remembering, but about forgetting — forgetting the horrors of war and talking superficially about the past while refusing to learn from it. And those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.

Symon Hill is co-ordinator of the Peace Pledge Union. For more on white poppies, or to order online, visit whitepoppy.org.uk.