———-
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday November 6, 1919
Eugene V. Debs: “Be true to yourselves and your class.”
From The Ohio Socialist of November 5, 1919:
Cincinnati O. Oct. 23. 1919.
DEAR COMRADE WAGENKNECHT:-
I visited Gene yesterday accompanied by attorney Castelton [Samuel Castleton] and found slightly improved, he is still in the hospital and will in all probability remain there because of his health. He is no longer obliged to work in the clothing shop as the Warden recognized he must get better air and rest. Every one about the prison appreciates and loves “our Gene,” many prisoners would gladly serve his time for him if they could. The prisoners in the tuberculosis section raise flowers and frequently send him boquets.
He is cheerful and optimistic, the split in the Party is to him an evidence of growth. He said,
Parties will split, but the movement for working-class emancipation never splits, the rank and file in all the Parties are honest and will get together in their own good time.
Tell them to carry on the work for liberation of all political prisoners. All of us will be released when the working-class present a united front. We must see to it that the financial interests are not permitted to overthrow by force the liberties so dearly bought and paid for by the blood of the workers.
They must understand that this government was founded on the theory of the right of its citizens to advocate change if the existing system does not provide safety and security for the people. The Declaration of Independence states this principle clearly, any group of people that interferes with this fundamental right is in conflict with the spirit and purpose of the revolutionists who were ready to die rather than live under the autocracy of King George.
It is the mission of the workers to rid the world of the industrial autocrats who are more oppressive than the political autocrats ever dared to be. The workers have been robbed and starved in their interests, they are the 20/0 who control 70/0 of the wealth. The men and women who feed, clothe and house the world, must control the world. They must systematize and organize industry in their own interest instead of for the 20/0, thereby abolishing the conflict between nations and classes.
From behind prison bars I can hear the rumblings. I can feel the heart throbs of the working-class in their efforts to free themselves from their fetters. I understand and I reach out to the men in the steel mills and the miners, the railroad shops, to the workers every-where. I am with you in spirit, be true to yourselves and your class, the day is not far distant when Labor will come into its own.
With this message, Gene Debs sends greetings to his comrades urging unity of all revolutionary organizations.
Fraternally
Marguerite Prevey.———-
[Photograph of Debs added from page 2 of this issue. Drawing of Marguerite Prevey by Art Young added. Emphasis added.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCE
The Ohio Socialist
(Cleveland, Ohio)
-Nov 5, 1919
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/ohio-socialist/092-nov-05-1919-ohio-soc.pdf
IMAGE
M Prevey by Art Young, Liberator p18, Oct 1919
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/1919/10/v2n10-w20-oct-1919-liberator.pdf
See also:
Note: for brief bio of Prevey with photo, see:
Ohio Socialist of Nov 19, 1919, p2
See this source also for “Three Parties” -SPA, CLP, CP
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/ohio-socialist/094-nov-19-1919-ohio-soc.pdf
Handwritten letter from Prevey to Debs, Nov 17, 1921:
http://visions.indstate.edu:8080/u?/evdc,7901
Summary of same:
https://digital.library.in.gov/Record/WV3_evdc-7901
Letters of Eugene V. Debs: 1919-1926
-ed by James Robert Constantine
University of Illinois Press, 1990
(search: castleton)
https://books.google.com/books?id=R_PtAAAAMAAJ&dq=editions:2_Y6WPKi1g8C
Note: re Split in Socialist Party of America, see:
“The Chicago Conventions”
-by Max Eastman-Drawings by Art Young
From:
The Liberator
(New York, New York)
-Oct 1919
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/1919/10/v2n10-w20-oct-1919-liberator.pdf
From:
The Liberator Internet Archive
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We Have Fed You All For a Thousand Years – Bruce Brackney