Eugene V. Debs Quotes
When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right.
He was convicted and served three years in Federal prision.
Eugene V. Debs, 1855-1926, Indiana State Legislator (Democrat), Socialist Party Presidential Candidate, Labor Union Leader, Founder of the First Industrial Union, The American Railway Union, Address at his sedition trial, Cleveland, September 12, 1918
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Khrushchev did not originate this quotation. It was first stated by Lenin. See {620087}.
This statement is referring to the custom of women covering their eyes whenever a man who they did not know passed them. Turks did not ever use Burkas the way some other Muslim countries do, but they wore headscarves and covered their eyes when a strange man appeared. This was a shocking statement in a sexist Islamic culture. Although the process of modernization and reform in Turkey was relatively bloodless, Ataturk was prepared to and did use force to defend it. This and many others made the role of women not only uniquely equal in the Islamic world, but women were suddenly elevated to the level of most Western nations and in voting rights were ahead of most. He used his own family to set an example. See {584503}.
Tragically, the world paid a terrible price for the German upheaval before the better world finally emerged.
During the nineteenth century the “Majority” and the “silent majority” were references to the dead.
This appears to have been the earliest political use of the phrase, “Great Society.”
Vladimir Lenin. In 1957 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev used the first sentence of this quotation in a speech to the Supreme Soviet. See {240121}. He did not say that he was quoting Lenin, but many of the delegates probably knew this.
Majority public opinion does not always prevail in a modern democracy as there are Constitutional limits on the prerogatives of the majority. Also leadership has played a strong role in America’s development where strong leaders have been able to do the right thing despite contrary public opinion.
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.
