Eugene V. Debs Quotes
In the Middle Ages when the feudal lords ... 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 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.
This was one of the statements that he was jailed for during WWI.
Eugene V. Debs, 1855-1926, Socialist Party Candidate for President, Founder, American Railway Union Speech, Canton, Ohio, 1918
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Debs was jailed for sedition for this speech.
Just before the outbreak of hostilities of WWI. The German Social Democratic Party was a minority party in Germany and the majority was very anxious to go to war.
At the time, the Russians and the Nazis had a pact and were allies so the Russians did not want the U.S. in the war. When the Russians changed sides, the Communist party line reversed itself and military of other aid to Russia was advocated as well as direct entry into the war. See {598503} for additional communist slogans of the day.
In his economic view, managers, accountants, attorneys, owners, shareholders, landlords, were all supported by the workers who have to support themselves and all the others.
This quotation and other material were so radical and inflammatory that Calhoun wrote and published this anonymously.
Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) ("Wobblies") and five times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States. Through his presidential candidacies as well as his work with labor movements, Debs eventually became one of the best-known socialists living in the United States.
