To speak for labor; to plead the cause
of the men and women and children who toil;
to serve the working class,
has always been to me a high privilege;
a duty of love.
-Eugene Victor Debs
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The Canton Anti-War Speech of Eugene Victor Debs
Sunday June 16, 1918
Note: clicking on the five tweets below will lead to threads with excerpts from the famous speech by Eugene Debs, 45 in all-some long, some short. Based on charges steming from this speech, Comrade Debs was later prosecuted and sent to Atlanta Federal Prison. Follow Hellraisers Journal for the rest of the story.
Comrades, friends and fellow-workers, for this very cordial greeting, this very hearty reception, I thank you all with the fullest appreciation of your interest in and your devotion to the cause for which I am to speak to you this afternoon.
Eugene Victor Debs, Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918
-Excerpts from speech follow; for full speech see:https://t.co/6XPmSuRjm0 pic.twitter.com/7hjMfNJFq8— WE NEVER FORGET (@LaborMartyrs) June 16, 2018
Highest Duty
To speak for labor; to plead the cause of the men and women and children who toil; to serve the working class, has always been to me a high privilege; a duty of love.
Free Speech or Lack Thereof
It is extremely dangerous to exercise the constitutional right of free speech in a country fighting to make democracy safe in the world.
Eugene Victor Debs, Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918
PART II-Excerpts from speech follow; for full speech see:https://t.co/6XPmSuRjm0 pic.twitter.com/PAoo6AYyJo— WE NEVER FORGET (@LaborMartyrs) June 16, 2018
The Blood of Childhood
The history of this country is being written in the blood of the childhood the industrial lords have murdered.
Unpalatable Truth
And the truth, oh, the truth has always been unpalatable and intolerable to the class who live out of the sweat and misery of the working class.