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I would no more teach children military training than teach them arson, robbery, or assassination.
Eugene V. Debs -
From the crown of my head to the soles of my feet I am Bolshevik, and proud of it.
Eugene V. Debs
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The truth has always been dangerous to the rule of the rogue, the exploiter, the robber. So the truth must be supressed.
Eugene V. Debs -
While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.
Eugene V. Debs -
Chicago is the product of modern capitalism, and, like other great commercial centers, is unfit for human habitation.
Eugene V. Debs -
You need at this time especially to know that you are fit for something better than slavery and cannon fodder.
Eugene V. Debs -
I do not want you to follow me or anyone else; if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, some one else would lead you out.
Eugene V. Debs -
Capitalism needs and must have the prison to protect itself from the criminals it has created.
Eugene V. Debs
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Some go to prison for stealing, and others for believing that a better system can be provided and maintained than one that makes it necessary for a man to steal in order to live.
Eugene V. Debs -
The American people can have anything they want; the trouble is, they don't know what they want.
Eugene V. Debs -
I would rather be arrested as a traitor than fight a war for Wall Street.
Eugene V. Debs -
In all the history of organized labor, from the earliest times to the present day, no body of union workingmen ever served in a more humiliating and debasing role than that in which the railway unions appear at this very hour before the American people and the world.
Eugene V. Debs -
It is when you have done your work honestly, when you have contributed your share to the common fund that you begin to live.
Eugene V. Debs -
Nothing is more humiliating than to have to beg for work, and a system in which any man has to beg for work stands condemned. No man can defend it.
Eugene V. Debs
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What can Labor do for itself? The answer is not difficult. Labor can organize, it can unify; it can consolidate its forces. This done, it can demand and command.
Eugene V. Debs -
The economic owning class is always the political ruling class.
Eugene V. Debs -
I do not oppose the insane asylum - but I abhor and condemn the cutthroat system that robs man of his reason, drives him to insanity and makes the lunatic asylum an indispensable adjunct to every civilized community.
Eugene V. Debs -
Solidarity is not a matter of sentiment but a fact, cold and impassive as the granite foundations of a skyscraper. If the basic elements, identity of interest, clarity of vision, honesty of intent, and oneness of purpose, or any of these is lacking, all sentimental pleas for solidarity, and all other efforts to achieve it will be barren of results.
Eugene V. Debs -
Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.
Eugene V. Debs -
One glance proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that these unions (railroad craft unions) are exceedingly useful to the corporations; and to the extent that they serve the economic and political purposes of the corporations, they are the foes – and not the friends – of the working class.
Eugene V. Debs
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The issue is Socialism versus Capitalism. I am for Socialism because I am for humanity. We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough. Money constitutes no proper basis of civilization. The time has come to regenerate society - we are on the eve of universal change.
Eugene V. Debs -
The prison, above all others, should be the most human of institutions.
Eugene V. Debs -
Riches are the savings of many in the hands of one.
Eugene V. Debs -
Why should the railroad employees be parceled out among a score of different organizations? They are all employed in the same service. Their interests are mutual. They ought to be able to act together as one. But they divide according to craft and calling, and if you were to propose today to unite them that they might actually do something to advance their collective and individual interests as workers, you would be opposed by every grand officer of these organizations.
Eugene V. Debs