Eugene V. Debs Quotes
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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.
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Chicago is the product of modern capitalism, and, like other great commercial centers, is unfit for human habitation.
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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.
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The protection the government owes you and fails to provide, you are morally bound to provide for yourselves.
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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.
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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.
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Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.
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Capitalism needs and must have the prison to protect itself from the criminals it has created.
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If I were hungry and friendless today, I would rather take my chances with a saloon-keeper than with the average preacher.
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No war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people.
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A prison is a cross section of society in which every human strain is clearly revealed.
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Speaking of myself, I was made to realize long ago that the old trade union was utterly incompetent to deal successfully with the exploiting corporations in this struggle. I was made to see that in craft unionism the capitalist class have it within their power to keep the workers divided, to use one part of them to conquer and crush another part of them. Indeed, I was made to see that the old form of unionism separates the workers and keeps them helpless at the mercy of their masters.
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The workers are the saviors of society, the redeemers of the race.
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Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.
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The most heroic word in all languages is REVOLUTION.
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The prison, above all others, should be the most human of institutions.
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A man should take to himself no discomfort from an opinion expressed or implied by his adversary, but it is difficult, and oftentimes humiliating to attempt to justify the kindness of one's friends.
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I may not be able to say all I think; but I am not going to say anything I do not think.
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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.
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We want a system in which the worker shall get what he produces and the capitalist shall produce what he gets.