Tag: Victor Hugo

Hellraisers Journal: From International Socialist Review: “Outlook for Socialism” by Eugene Victor Debs, Part II

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote Victor Hugo To Rich n Poor, Firemens Mag p5, Jan 1883———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday September 4, 1900
“Outlook for Socialism in the United States” by Eugene V. Debs

From the International Socialist Review of September 1900:

OutLook for Socialism by EVD, ISR p129, Sept 1900
[Part II of II

-by Eugene Debs, Social Democratic Party’s Candidate for President.]

EVD crpd Nw Orln Tx Dem p3, Jan 26, 1900What the workingmen of the country are profoundly interested in is the private ownership of the means of production and distribution, the enslaving and degrading wage-system in which they toil for a pittance at the pleasure of their masters and are bludgeoned, jailed or shot when they protest—this is the central, controlling, vital issue of the hour, and neither of the old party platforms has a word or even a hint about it.

As a rule, large capitalists are Republicans and small capitalists are Democrats, but workingmen must remember that they are all capitalists, and that the many small ones, like the fewer large ones, are all politically supporting their class interests, and this is always and everywhere the capitalist class.

Whether the means of production—that is to say, the land, mines, factories, machinery, etc.—are owned by a few large Republican capitalists, who organize a trust, or whether they be owned by a lot of small Democratic capitalists, who are opposed to the trust, is all the same to the working class. Let the capitalists, large and small, fight this out among themselves.

The working class must get rid of the whole brood of masters and exploiters, and put themselves in possession and control of the means of production, that they may have steady employment without consulting a capitalist employer, large or small, and that they may get the wealth their labor produces, all of it, and enjoy with their families the fruits of their industry in comfortable and happy homes, abundant and wholesome food, proper clothing and all other things necessary to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” It is therefore a question not of “reform,” the mask of fraud, but of revolution. The capitalist system must be overthrown, class-rule abolished and wage-slavery supplanted by the co-operative industry.

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Hellraisers Journal: From Butte Daily Bulletin: Review of “Debs, His Authorized Life and Letters” by David Karsner, Part II

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD, Be True Labor Will Come Into Its Own, OH Sc p1, Nov 5, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 23, 1920
David Karsner, of New York Call, “Paints Debs with Loving Hands” -Part II

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of February 13, 1920:

EVD re Karsner Bio, BDB p3, Feb 13, 1920

[Part II of II.]

EVD, David Karsner, Debs Life n Letters, Brk Dly Egl p4, Jan 17, 1920

Debs was born in Terre Haute, Ind., Nov. 5, 1855. The sixty-five years between that date and the present day which sees him in United States penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga., are of startling significance in the social and economic history of this country.

“He was one of 10 children of Jean Daniel Debs and Marguerite Bettrich Debs, both natives of Alsace.”

“Jean Daniel Debs possessed a well-equipped library of French history as well as the works of some of the most noted French writers including Victor Hugo who was one of their favorites. Very early in his life, Eugene became acquainted with the works of Hugo and the master’s characterization of Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables,” made an indelible impression upon his mind.”

Debs in his early youth saw the Civil war, and Karsner wonders “to what extent these scenes and sounds of conflict influenced Eugene Debs to take his stand against war, but it is notable that not once during his long and varied career as a labor leader has he safe-counseled violence as means to the settlement of any dispute.”

Eugene’s school years were cut short by the necessity for earning money. At the age of 14, Debs began work in the shops and later as locomotive fireman for the Terre Haute and Indiana Railroad company. At first he received one dollar a day, but later, as fireman, was paid on a mileage basis. “Eugene’s pay envelope, which he turned over to his mother unopened, was decidedly slim.”

Debs’ first step in the organized labor movement was taken when the local lodge of the brotherhood of locomotive fireman was organized at Terre Haute on the evening of Feb. 27, 1874. He served in various official capacities as organizer. In 1892 he resigned from a position in which he was receiving $4,000 a year so that he might receive from the American Railway union a $75-a-month position.

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs, Noted Labor Leader, Gives Eloquent Address on “Labor and Liberty” in Saginaw, Michigan

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD Brush the Dust, Saginaw Eve Ns p6, Feb 6, 1899
—–

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 8, 1899
Saginaw, Michigan – Eugene Debs Speaks on “Labor and Liberty”

From The Saginaw Evening News of February 6, 1899:

LABOR AND LIBERTY
—–
Subject of Eugene V. Debs’
Address Yesterday.
—–

SOCIALISM WILL COME.
—–
Is His Belief-Urges Workingmen
to Read, Think and Study.
—–

AD re EVD Feb 5 Labor and Liberty, Saginaw Eve Ns p6, Feb 4, 1899
The Saginaw Evening News
February 4, 1899

Yesterday afternoon [February 5th] a fair-sized house greeted Eugene V. Debs, the noted labor leader, who spoke upon “Labor and Liberty” at the academy of music. Preceding the lecture the academy orchestra rendered a number of selections.

Upon the stage, besides the speaker of the afternoon, were seated Mayor Baum, W. D. Mahon of Detroit, president of the Amalgamated Street Railway Employes, James F. Welch, president of the Central Labor union of this city, and the presidents of the various unions of Saginaw.

At the appointed hour C. E. Lewn, president of the Barbers’ union, introduced Mayor Baum, who in turn in a few brief words expressed his pleasure at being able to present to the audience the speaker of the afternoon, Eugene v. Debs. Mr. Debs spoke eloquently and entertainingly. Indeed, his remarks evoked applause from every portion of his audience, which was composed largely of employers and business men. He said:

There are those who view with widespread alarm the proposition of self-government. There are those who fear the sun of the republic is to set in universal gloom. But I am persuaded that the grand old ship of state will breast all the storms and billows and safely reach the haven port. The social system is in the process of dissolution. A new system of order is evolving from competitive chaos. We stand upon the eve of the greatest change the world has ever seen. Lamentable is the fact that the man who works longest and hardest has the least to show for his labors.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones News for November 1918 -Favorite Authors: Voltaire, Hugo, and Thomas Paine

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones re Hugo, Montgomery WV, Aug 4, 1912~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 21, 1918
Mother Jones News for November 1918
-American Revolutionary, Thomas Paine, Among Favorite Authors

From The New Appeal of November 30, 1918:

Mother Jones and Debs

J. A. Wayland, of AtR, 1895-1912

This morning’s mail has brought The New Appeal Book Dept. orders for Voltaire’s “Candide” from Mother Jones and Eugene V. Debs. Mother Jones writes:

I want Voltaire’s greatest work, “Candide.” You know he is a very great writer. He and Victor Hugo and Thomas Paine were my favorites when the late J. A. Wayland and I used to sit up at night and talk these great writers over.

Mother Jones knows that Voltaire’s “Candide” is worth reading. Do you? If you don’t, then be sure to order this beautifully printed and exquisitely bound edition, which we are selling, postpaid, for only 80 cents. This is a low price and cannot remain that low very long. But we will fill your order if we receive it in the near future.

[Photograph added.]

Ad for Voltaire’s Candide:

Appeal Books, Voltaire, AtR p1, Nov 30, 1918

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs for Social-Democratic Herald: “The Social Democratic Party and Labor Day”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD, Modern Wage Slave, Terre Haute May 31, 1898, Debs-IA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday September 9, 1898
Eugene Debs on Labor Day: “This day is consecrated to the working class.”

From The Social-Democratic Herald of September 3, 1898:

The Social Democratic Party and Labor Day

EVD, New Time Magazine, Feb 1898

It is eminently fitting that The Herald, as the representative of the Social Democratic Party, should show due recognition of Labor Day. This day is consecrated to the working class, and the Social Democratic Party is the party of that class.

What shall be said of labor’s holiday and its opportunities? The interrogatory is inviting. Much can be said and will be said, but only that is worth of consideration which provokes inquiry or challenges reflection.

Where the day is given wholly to sports, most of which do no rise above the “greased pig” level, its significance is lost. For such as these, Labor Day means nothing except a few hours’ release from slavery. I would not have solemnity the order of the day, I would not deny a due share of pleasure and recreation, but above all, the central object of this day, that of discussing the rights and duties of the working class, and considering ways and means of emancipation from the bonds of capitalism, should be the commanding feature of every program and impressed upon the minds of all.

The capitalist class are immensely pleased to see Labor Day turned into a cheap circus and given entirely to “horseplay.” They command the day and contribute to its observance and smile upon the antics of their slaves.

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Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason: Victor Hugo speaks to the poor, “after in vain having implored the rich….”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote Victor Hugo, Letter to Rich, Debs Firemens Mag, Jan 1883
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal: Sunday July 10, 1898
Victor Hugo: “Not to be a slave is to Dare and Do.”

From the Appeal to Reason of July 9, 1898:

VICTOR HUGO’S LETTER TO THE POOR

Victor Hugo, St L Dsp p2, May 22, 1885

Shall I now speak to the poor, after in vain having implored the rich? Yes, it is fitting. This, then, have I to say to the disinherited: Keep a watch upon your formidable jaw. There is one rule for the rich—to do nothing, and one for the poor—to say nothing. The poor have but one friend, silence. They should use but one monosyllable: Yes. To confess and to concede-this is all the “rights” they have. “Yes” to the judge. “Yes” to the king. The great, if it so please them, give us blows with a stick; I have had them, it is their prerogative, and they lose nothing of their greatness in cracking our bones. Let us worship the sceptre, which is the first among sticks.

If a poor man is happy he is the pickpocket of happiness. Only the rich and noble are happy by right. The rich man is he who being young has the rights of old age; being old, the lucky chances of youth; vicious, the respect of good people; a coward, the command of the stout-hearted; doing nothing, the fruits of labor.

The people fight. Whose is the glory? The king’s. They pay. Whose is the magnificence? The king’s. And the people like to be rich in this fashion. Our ruler, king or croesus, receives from the poor a crown apiece and renders back to the poor a farthing. How generous he is! The colossal pedestal looks up to the pigmy superstructure. How tall the manikin is! He is upon my back. A dwarf has an excellent method of being higher than a giant; it is to perch himself upon the other’s shoulders. But that the giant should let him do it, there’s the odd part of it; and that he should honor the baseness of the dwarf, there’s the stupidity. Human ingenuousness.

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Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs on John Brown, “the bravest man and most self-sacrificing soul in American history.”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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John Brown by EVD, AtR, Nov 23, 1907

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday November 25, 1907
Eugene Debs on John Brown: “He resolved to lay his life on Freedom’s alter.”

From the Appeal to Reason of November 23, 1907:

JOHN BROWN: HISTORY’S GREATEST HERO
—–

BY EUGENE V. DEBS.
—–

John Brown, ab 1846, by A Washington, wiki

The most picturesque character, the bravest man and most self-sacrificing soul in American history, was hanged at Charleston, Va., December 2, 1859.

On that day Thoreau said: “Some eighteen hundred years ago Christ was crucified. This morning, perchance, Captain Brown was hung. These are the two ends of a chain which is not without its links. He is not ‘Old Brown’ any longer; he is an Angel of Light… I foresee the time when the painter will paint that scene, no longer going to Rome for a subject; the poet will sing it, the historian record it, and with the landing of the Pilgrims and the Declaration of Independence it will be the ornament of some future national gallery, when at least the present form of slavery shall be no more here. We shall then be at liberty to weep for Captain Brown.”

Few people dared on that fateful day to breathe a sympathetic word for the grizzled old agitator. For years he had carried on his warfare against chattel slavery. He had only a handful of fanatical followers to support him. But to his mind his duty was clear, and that was enough. He would fight it out to the end, and if need be alone.

Old John Brown set an example of moral courage and of single-hearted devotion to an ideal for all men and for all ages.

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Hellraisers Journal: The Everett Martyrs “were of the earth’s disinherited, the down-trodden, reviled and shunned.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Don’t Mourn, Organize!
-Joe Hill

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday December 13, 1916
From the Seattle Union Record: Red Flowers for Martyred Workers

In this week’s edition of the Union Record, Wilbur Maitre Fairbanks offers his view of the funerals held on Saturday, November 18th, for Fellow Workers Felix Baran, Hugo Gerlot and John Looney, who were murdered by Sheriff McRae and his gang of deputized company gunthugs on November 5th, a day which will go down in history as Everett’s Bloody Sunday.

IMPRESSIONS MADE BY FUNERAL
OF MURDERED WORKERS
—–

Everett Massacre, Funeral Gerlot, Looney, Baran, Nov 18, 1916, WCS

Over that crowd at Ninth and Union as it formed itself into line of march behind the dead hung Hugo’s “seven jaws of misery-night, solitude, nakedness, weakness, ignorance, hunger and thirst.” The night of despair, the solitude of social contempt, weakness against brutal persecution, ignorance of the reason for today’s despair and of what the abuse and degradation of tomorrow might be, hunger and thirst for just a place on God’s footstool whereon to live, to hope, to labor and to love.

Those men, every one, were of the earth’s disinherited, the down-trodden, reviled and shunned. Sorrow beat the requiem of that death march. A sepulchre and a tomb-one for those yet living, the other for the dead. Yet, tragically portentious as was that spectacle, there were those upon the curb who smiled, jested and even sneered. (Praises, be, these were few in number!)

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