Daniel De Leon Quotes


Each man has an equal social right to multiply his power of motion by all the social factors of civilization. Private property in any of these factors is inconsistent with this fundamental right; it must, obviously, prove a source of economic despotism and industrial slavery.”


Context

The issue of public or private ownership and control of technology is not only a product of the information age where equal access to computers, the Internet were argued as a political necessity. But there were those who made the same argument a century earlier about the new technology of the times—machines.


Citations

Daniel DeLeon, 1852-1914, Author and Socialist leader, “Social Character of Machinery,” Editorial, The People, New York, September 9, 1894

Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations

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Daniel De Leon
Daniel De Leon
  • Born: December 14, 1852
  • Died: May 11, 1914
  • Nationality: American, Dutch
  • Profession: Editor, Marxist Theoretician, Union Organizer

Daniel De Leon (/də ˈliːɒn/; December 14, 1852 – May 11, 1914), alternatively spelt Daniel de León, was a Curaçaoan-American socialist newspaper editor, politician, Marxist theoretician, and trade union organizer. He is regarded as the forefather of the idea of revolutionary industrial unionism and was the leading figure in the Socialist Labor Party of America from 1890 until the time of his death.[2] De Leon was a co-founder of the Industrial Workers of the World and much of his ideas and philosophy contributed to the creations of Socialist Labor parties across the world, including: Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance.