Having experienced yesterday the faux outrage at SOCIALISTS that don't really exist in the government I have devoted today to reading the biography of an actual American Socialist, Eugene V. Debs, founder of the American Socialist Party, four times candidate for President of the United States, laborer, organizer, journalist, and convict. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for speaking in defense of conscientious objectors in WWI. So much for freedom of speech.
I believe that his statement to the judge at his trial is the most eloquent political statement ever made by an American after Jefferson and Lincoln:
"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."
A simple man from Terre Haut, Indiana who left an extraordinary legacy, Debs is representative of a whole group of late nineteenth and early twentieth century progressives responsible for many things we take for granted - like the forty hour work week, paid holidays, child labor laws, collective bargaining rights, and a concern for social welfare and equity. The idiots at the march yesterday could only associate socialism with Hitler and Stalin - neither of whom were really socialists.
And by the way, Debs was Kurt Vonnegutt's lifelong hero. Pretty good fan club.
No comments:
Post a Comment