We Never Forget: Eugene Victor Debs Speaks at State Socialist Party Picnic Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs, We Never Forget
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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.

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.

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.

Kin to All Who Toil

I am kin to all that throbs…regardless of nationality, race, creed, color or sex, every man, every woman who toils…is my comrade, my brother and sister…to serve them and their cause is the highest duty of my life.

If War Is Right

If war is right let it be declared by the people. You who have your lives to lose, you certainly above all others have the right to decide the momentous issue of war or peace.

Respectability

If ever I become entirely respectable I shall be quite sure that I have outlived myself.

Call One Another Comrade

And this is the high purpose of every Socialist on earth…clasping hands across national boundary lines…calling one another Comrade, the blessed word that springs from the heart of unity and bursts into blossom upon the lips.

Never Beat Retreat

The heart of the international Socialist never beats a retreat.

Proxy

You cannot do your duty by proxy.

Slavery and Cannon Fodder

You need at this time especially to know that you are fit for something better than slavery and cannon fodder.

The Great Majority of Mankind

You need to get in touch with your comrades and fellow workers and to become conscious of your interests, your powers and your possibilities as a class. You need to know that you belong to the great majority of mankind.

Be Somebody

It is an awful thing to be nobody. That is certainly a state of mind to get out of, the sooner the better.

You Tramp in the Mud

In the Republican and Democratic parties you of the common herd are not expected to think….They ride in carriages at the front where the band plays and you tramp in the mud, bringing up the rear with great enthusiasm.

Vote as you strike and strike as you vote.

Organize industrially and make your organization complete. Then unite in the Socialist Party. Vote as you strike and strike as you vote.

The Clarion Call Is Ringing

The clarion call is ringing in our ears and we cannot falter without being convicted of treason to ourselves and to our great cause.

Join Us and Do Your Part

We are inviting—aye challenging you this afternoon in the name of your own manhood and womanhood to join us and do your part.

In due time the hour will strike and this great cause triumphant-the greatest in history-will proclaim the emancipation of the working class and the brotherhood of all mankind.

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SOURCE

Debs Internet Archive
E. V. Debs
The Canton, Ohio Speech, Anti-War Speech
https://www.marxists.org/archive/debs/works/1918/canton.htm

IMAGES

EVD, Canton June 16, 1918, 1
https://socialistworker.org/2018/06/15/the-speech-that-made-debs-convict-no-9653

EVD, Canton June 16, 1918, 2
https://www.akrondsa.org/debs/

EVD, Canton, June 16, 1918, 3
https://socialistworker.org/2018/06/04/a-speech-that-resonates-100-years-later

See also:

DocsTeach
Speech Given by Eugene V. Debs in Canton, Ohio
6/16/1918
This primary source comes from the Records
-of District Courts of the United States.
National Archives Identifier: 2641497
Full Citation: Speech Given by Eugene V. Debs in Canton, Ohio; 6/16/1918; Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21.
https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/speech-given-by-eugene-v-debs-in-canton-ohio

Debs, a leading member of the Socialist Party, gave an anti-war speech on June 16, 1918 in Canton, Ohio.

He was later indicted on June 29, 1918 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern (Cleveland) Division of the Northern District of Ohio for violating the Espionage Act of 1917.

Debs was convicted by a jury on September 12, 1918, and sentenced to federal prison. He appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court of the United States.

On April 12, 1919, the Supreme Court confirmed the court’s verdict and Debs was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

In December 1921, President Warren G. Harding commuted Debs’ sentence to time served and he was released.

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Mark Ruffalo reads Eugene Debs

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