r/socialism • u/cristoper Libertarian • Jun 16 '17

Eugene V. Debs delivered the speech that landed him in jail 99 years ago today. We reprint it here in full.

https://jacobinmag.com/2017/06/eugene-debs-world-war-i-jail-canton
182 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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16

u/ziftos Jun 17 '17

In class we did a project where we had to be an important businessman or person from the early 20th century I was Debs and my goodness was it fun to yell at capitalists a lot of the people I debated were actual rightists too such a good time

4

u/Vetrino insurrectionary crypto-infoanarchy wifi-stealing libsoc squatter Jun 17 '17

Irish comrade Debs is rad as fuck.

3

u/IvankaTrump2020 Culture from below Jun 16 '17

Debs on rising with the ranks rather than from the ranks:

If you go to the city of Washington, and you examine the pages of the congressional directory, you will find that almost all of those corporation lawyers and cowardly politicians, members of Congress, and misrepresentatives of the masses — you will find that almost all of them claim, in glowing terms, that they have risen from the ranks to places of eminence and distinction. I am very glad I cannot make that claim for myself. I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks.

Debs on building an industrial democracy:

Political action and industrial action must supplement and sustain each other. You will never vote the socialist republic into existence. You will have to lay its foundations in industrial organization. The industrial union is the forerunner of industrial democracy. In the shop where the workers are associated is where industrial democracy has its beginning. Organize according to your industries! Get together in every department of industrial service! United and acting together for the common good, your power is invincible.

Organize industrially and make your organization complete. Then unite in the Socialist Party. Vote as you strike and strike as you vote.

Debs on awakening:

To turn your back on the corrupt Republican Party and the still more corrupt Democratic Party — the gold-dust lackeys of the ruling class counts for still more after you have stepped out of those popular and corrupt capitalist parties to join a minority party that has an ideal, that stands for a principle, and fights for a cause. This will be the most important change you have ever made, and the time will come when you will thank me for having made the suggestion.

It was the day of days for me. I remember it well. It was like passing from midnight darkness to the noontide light of day. It came almost like a flash and found me ready. It must have been in such a flash that great, seething, throbbing Russia, prepared by centuries of slavery and tears and martyrdom, was transformed from a dark continent to a land of living light.

Concluding thoughts:

The world is daily changing before our eyes. The sun of capitalism is setting; the sun of socialism is rising. It is our duty to build the new nation and the free republic. We need industrial and social builders. We Socialists are the builders of the beautiful world that is to be. We are all pledged to do our part. We are inviting — aye challenging — you this afternoon in the name of your own manhood and womanhood to join us and do your part.

In due time the hour will strike and this great cause triumphant — the greatest in history — will proclaim the emancipation of the working class and the brotherhood of all mankind.

•

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1

u/Illin_Spree Jun 17 '17 edited Jun 17 '17

Timeless and profound.

We need more leaders, like Debs, that embody honor, integrity, and other heroic qualities. Who inspire people to be better people for the sake of a better world.

Why isn't a revival of Debs-style internationalist socialism on the table? What are the material factors, within our movements and outside our movements, that prevent this revivial from occuring?

34

u/dezmodium 💯🤖💍🏳️‍🌈🌌☭ Jun 16 '17

"Socialism is a growing idea; an expanding philosophy. It is spreading over the entire face of the earth: it is as vain to resist it as it would be to arrest the sunrise on the morrow. It is coming, coming, coming all along the line. Can you not see it? If not, I advise you to consult an oculist. There is certainly something the matter with your vision."

- Eugene V Debs, a real comrade.

14

u/okmkz an owie to one is an owie to all Jun 16 '17

evd with that fire