Eugene V. Debs Quotes
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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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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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It is when you have done your work honestly, when you have contributed your share to the common fund that you begin to live.
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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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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.
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No war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people.
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The general public knows practically nothing about the prison and appears to be little concerned about how it is managed and how prisoners are treated.
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Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.
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The American people can have anything they want; the trouble is, they don't know what they want.
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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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A prison is a cross section of society in which every human strain is clearly revealed.
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The prison, above all others, should be the most human of institutions.
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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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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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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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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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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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The workers are the saviors of society, the redeemers of the race.
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The most heroic word in all languages is REVOLUTION.
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The rights of one are as sacred as the rights of a million.