More than 50,000 youth throughout Germany joined the second national school strike on March 5 to protest against impending compulsory military service. As the young organizers did last Dec. 5, 2025, they again reached tens of thousands of their student siblings, this time in 140 cities. They said that the largest action gathered 6,000 young people who marched from Potsdamer Platz to Oranienplatz in Berlin.

Youth protest in Berlin against conscription, March 5, 2026. “Youth fight back” and “The rich want war, the youth want a future” on homemade signs.

After the massive antiwar movements in Western Europe in the 1970s and 1980s, many governments were forced to end conscription. As in the United States, the European imperialist rulers focused on building armies based on more professional soldiers and advanced technology.

But the governments, now attempting to mobilize the working class for war against Russia, have looked toward reinstating conscription, or what in the U.S. was called the military draft. This re-militarization has awakened a fightback among German youth.

According to a March 6 report in the German daily newspaper, junge Welt, the political thrust of the protest “was unmistakably class-conscious and anti-imperialist. A recurring slogan was: ‘The rich want war, the youth want a future!’ and ‘No people, not a penny for the Bundeswehr [Germany’s armed forces]!’

Homemade signs and banners bore slogans such as ‘Dying is not on the timetable,’ [Christian Democratic Chancellor] ‘Friedrich Merz to the front!’ ‘Our only struggle is the class struggle,’ and asking that the government budget give priority to ‘Education instead of military service.’”

Speeches protested that billions of euros are being spent on arming the Bundeswehr, while the education system has been ruined by budget cuts.

To counter the pro-militarist propaganda in the corporate media, as the demonstrators marched past the Axel Springer high-rise building in the Kreuzberg neighborhood, they raised thousands of middle fingers in the direction of the headquarters of the center-right Welt and Bild newspapers. Palestinian flags and banners condemning the U.S. attacks on Venezuela and U.S. and Israeli bombings of Iran were also seen.

Older supporters also came — students, parents and some teachers and educators. A group of education professionals carried a banner reading “You won’t get [your hands on] my class.”

The next school strike against compulsory military service is announced for May 8 — the 81st anniversary of the victory over Hitler’s fascism.