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View Full Version : The Anti-war Speech That Earned Eugene Debs 10 Years in Prison




disorderlyvision
03-11-2010, 01:41 PM
Anti-war portions of Debs' speech

Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. In the Middle Ages when the feudal lords who inhabited the castles whose towers may still be seen along the Rhine concluded to enlarge their domains, to increase their power, their prestige and their wealth they declared war upon one another. But they themselves did not go to war any more than the modern feudal lords, the barons of Wall Street go to war.

The feudal barons of the Middle Ages, the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles. The poor, ignorant serfs had been taught to revere their masters; to believe that when their masters declared war upon one another, it was their patriotic duty to fall upon one another and to cut one another's throats for the profit and glory of the lords and barons who held them in contempt. And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose--especially their lives.

They have always taught and trained you to believe it to be your patriotic duty to go to war and to have yourselves slaughtered at their command. But in all the history of the world you, the people, have never had a voice in declaring war, and strange as it certainly appears, no war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people.

And here let me emphasize the fact--and it cannot be repeated too often--that the working class who fight all the battles, the working class who make the supreme sacrifices, the working class who freely shed their blood and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alone declare war and they alone make peace. Yours not to reason why; Yours but to do and die. That is their motto and we object on the part of the awakening workers of this nation. If war is right let it be declared by the people. You who have your lives to lose, you certainly above all others have the right to decide the momentous issue of war or peace....

You need at this time especially to know that you are fit for something better than slavery and cannon fodder. You need to know that you were not created to work and produce and impoverish yourself to enrich an idle exploiter. You need to know that you have a mind to improve, a soul to develop, and a manhood to sustain....

They are continually talking about your patriotic duty. It is not their but your patriotic duty that they are concerned about. There is a decided difference. Their patriotic duty never takes them to the firing line or chucks them into the trenches. And now among other things they are urging you to "cultivate" war gardens, while at the same time a government war report just issued shows that practically 52 percent of the arable, tillable soil is held out of use by the landlords, speculators and profiteers. They themselves do not cultivate the soil. Nor do they allow others to cultivate it. They keep it idle to enrich themselves, to pocket the millions of dollars of unearned increment....

And now for all of us to do our duty! The clarion call is ringing in our ears and we cannot falter without being convicted of treason to ourselves and to our great cause.

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.

full speech
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/debs-speech.htm

1836er
03-11-2010, 02:10 PM
I would highly recommend reading chapter 1, entitled "Congress Shall Make No Law (Unless it Really Wants To): Woodrow Wilson and Freedom of Speech," from Thomas Woods' and Kevin Gutzman's Who Killed the Constitution? The Federal Government vs American Liberty from World War I to Barack Obama.

On a somewhat related note, while Debs was absolutely right in regard to the issue at hand and his prosecutuion was entirely unjust and unconstitutional, his understanding of medieval history, politics, and economics was severely lacking. Of course, what else would you have expected from America's preeminent socialist?

Anti Federalist
03-11-2010, 02:20 PM
America died in a decade:

1910 - 1920

jmdrake
03-11-2010, 02:28 PM
Never heard of this guy before to day. :(

axiomata
03-11-2010, 02:39 PM
Never heard of this guy before to day. :(

If you would have attended public schools you would have.

BuddyRey
03-11-2010, 08:12 PM
A great speech by a confused man is a great speech nonetheless!

emazur
03-11-2010, 08:52 PM
If you would have attended public schools you would have.

Not sure if you're being sarcastic here (I'm guessing so). I did attend public schools and of course got a horrible education (especially in American Govt.) and never heard of Debs. After living overseas for a while and returning to the US I wanted to know more about my country so bought a used textbook (suitable for high school or college) from the library from 75 cents. Debs was in there (and also in the pretty standard history textbook I bought)
http://imgur.com/e4NTI.jpg

MN Patriot
03-11-2010, 08:56 PM
You guys find interesting websites. Here is another gem from The Memory Hole (http://www.thememoryhole.org/edu/school-mission.htm):

The Educational System Was Designed to Keep Us Uneducated and Docile

William Torrey Harris, US Commissioner of Education from 1889 to 1906, wrote:

Ninety-nine [students] out of a hundred are automata, careful to walk in prescribed paths, careful to follow the prescribed custom. This is not an accident but the result of substantial education, which, scientifically defined, is the subsumption of the individual.

Reason
03-11-2010, 09:44 PM
I had never heard of Eugene Debs either...

FreedomRings
03-11-2010, 10:12 PM
Ron Paul mentioned Eugene Debs in his CPAC speech.

YouTube - Ron Paul At CPAC 2010 Part 2 - Ron Paul 2012! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahQM0tITG4U&feature=related)

disorderlyvision
03-11-2010, 10:35 PM
I remembered Debs because I thought it was cool that he ran for president from prison. That always stuck with me.

1836er
03-11-2010, 10:43 PM
I don't remember the name of the Congressmen off hand... but I recall there was a Republican congressmen jailed by the Adams administration in the late 1790s for violating the first Sedition Act (the one that prompted Jefferson and Madison's Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions)... who I believe won re-election from jail.

EDIT: the Congressman's name was Matthew Lyon (Vermont)

KCIndy
03-11-2010, 11:18 PM
Ron Paul mentioned Eugene Debs in his CPAC speech.



I listened to that speech live as Ron Paul spoke at CPAC.

As soon as he mentioned Debs, I thought, "uh-oh..." I really figured the neocons would really try to beat him up with that quote.

So far, though... nothing.

Guess the neocons haven't heard of Debs, either! :D

Promontorium
03-12-2010, 02:28 AM
Well, I suppose if you are frequent to opine your disagreements with war, he's a good person to be familiar with. But I'd hardly call anyone poorly educated if the name isn't in muscle memory.

If everyone should be expected to remember everything they've ever read, and everything you think they should have read, we'd all be expert etymologists, endocrinologists, gynocologists, statisticians, politicians, obstetricians, choreographers, stenographers, and geographers. We could all do all jobs and recall all tales and there would be no undesired unemployment. Rainbows would have 3 extra colors on them, and we'd all be able to smell into the visible spectrum. Dogs and cats living together... mass perfection!

Baptist
03-12-2010, 03:00 AM
Rand Paul has mentioned Debs on numerous occasions: "a perennial socialists candidate, Eugene Debs....."

I learned about Debs in American History 101, in passing in another history class, and in passing in Con Law class.