I’ll start with a few Eugene Debs quote
“It is infinitely
better to vote for freedom and fail than to vote for slavery and succeed.”
“Better a thousand
times that labor is divided fighting for freedom than united in the bonds of
slavery.”
“Until corporate
wealth is supplanted by common wealth
in the ownership of the nation, it will continue to write our laws and to
enforce them or now, as best pleases its owners”
In fact I want to use his words to present his case for and
against reforms. Naturally, I cherry-picked and obviously I placed them out of
context but I will still claim that it represents a unique view of how we
should practice our politics.
WHO WE ARE
“The one thing necessary is that we shall have a sound
Socialist Party, with a platform that will bear the test of critical analysis.
By this I do not mean that we shall quibble and split hairs, but that so far as
the fundamental principles of Socialism are concerned, they shall be stated
with such clearness as to silence all reasonable question as to our party being
free from the taint of compromise and in harmonious alliance with the Socialist
movement of the world.”
“The Social Democracy is a Socialist party and is pledged to
the principles of Socialism. It can not and will not fuse with any capitalist
party, by whatever name it may be called. As special allusion to the Populist
Party is made by our inquirers, let it be said that the Populist Party is a
capitalist party and the Social Democracy will not fuse with it any more than it
will with the Republican or Democratic Party. It is urged by some that we
should encourage alliance with the Populist Party because it inclines in our
direction. Their advice, if followed, would wreck our party. If Socialism is
right, Populists should become Socialists and join the Social Democracy. If
they are not ready to do this they are not Socialists, and hence opposed to
Socialism, and fusion with their party would result in inevitable disaster. The
only object of such fusion would be the securing of office — the loaves and
fishes. We are not after office, we want Socialism. We care nothing about
office except in so far as it represents the triumph of Socialism. Therefore,
be it understood, once for all, that the Social Democracy will not fuse with any
party that does not stand for pure Socialism, and there will be no departure
from this policy”
“The difference between the Republican and Democratic
parties involve no issue, no principle in which the working class have any
interest, and whether the spoils be distributed by Hanna and Platt, or by
Croker and Tammany Hall is all the same to them.
Between these parties socialists have no choice, no
preference. They are one in their opposition to Socialism, that is to say, the
emancipation of the working class from wage-slavery, and every workingman who
has intelligence enough to understand the interest of his class and the nature
of the struggle in which it is involved, will once and for all time sever his
relations with them both; and recognizing the class-struggle which is being
waged between the producing workers and non-producing capitalists, cast his lot
with the class-conscious, revolutionary Socialist party, which is pledged to
abolish the capitalist system, class-rule and wage-slavery—a party which does
not compromise or fuse, but, preserving inviolate the principles which
quickened it into life and now give it vitality and force, moves forward with
dauntless determination to the goal of economic freedom.”
“The Socialist party, the party of the working class, the
party of emancipation, is made up of men and women who know their rights and
scorn to compromise with their oppressors; who want no votes that can be bought
and no support under any false pretense whatsoever. The Socialist party stands
squarely upon its proletarian principles and relies wholly upon the forces of
industrial progress and the eduction of the working class. The Socialist party
buys no votes and promises no offices. Not a farthing is spent for whiskey or
cigars. Every penny in the campaign fund is the volutnary offerings of workers
and their sympathizers and every penny is used for education. What other
parties can say the same?”
“The workers themselves must take the initiative in uniting
their forces for effective economic and political action; the leaders will
never do it for them. They must no longer suffer themselves to be deceived by
the specious arguments of their betrayers, who blatantly boast of their
unionism that they may traffic in it and sell out the dupes who blindly follow
them. I have very little use for labor leaders in general and none at all for
the kind who feel their self-importance and are so impressed by their own
wisdom that where they lead their dupes are expected to blindly follow without
a question. Such “leaders” lead their victims to the shambles and deliver them
over for a consideration and this is possible only among craft-divided
wage-slaves who are kept apart for the very purpose that they may feel their
economic helplessness and rely upon some “leader” to do something for them…The
Socialist Party is the party of the workers, organized to express in political
terms their determination to break their fetters and rise to the dignity of
free men. In this party the workers must unite and develop their political
power to conquer and abolish the capitalist political state and clear the way
for industrial and social democracy. But the new order can never be established
by mere votes alone. This must be the result of industrial development and
intelligent economic and political organization, necessitating both the
industrial union and the political party of the workers to achieve their
emancipation”
“The Socialist party as the party of the working class
stands squarely upon its principles in making its appeal to the workers of the
nation. It is not begging for votes, nor asking votes, nor bargaining for
votes. It is not in the vote market. It wants votes but only of those who want
it-those who recognise is as their party, and come to it of their own free
will.
If as the Socialist candidate for president I were seeking
office and the spoils of office I would be a traitor to the Socialist party and
a disgrace to the working class.
To be sure we want all the votes we can get and all that are
coming to us but only as a means of developing the political power of the
working class in the struggle for industrial freedom, and not that we may revel
in the spoils of office.
The workers have never yet developed or made use of their
political power. They have played the game of their masters for the benefit of
the master class-and how many of them, disgusted with their own blind and
stupid performance are renouncing politics and refusing to see any difference
between the capitalist parties financed by the ruling class to perpetuate class
rule and the Socialist party organized and financed by the workers themselves
as a means of wresting the control of government and of industry from the
capitalists and making the working class the ruling class of the nation and the
world.”
OUR TASK
“The mission of Social Democracy is to awaken the producer
to a consciousness that he is a Socialist and to give him courage by changing
his conditions… I don’t fear the man that says I don’t agree with you. The only
thing in this world that I fear is ignorance.”
“The working class
alone made the tools; the working class alone can use them, and the working
class must, therefore, own them.
This is the revolutionary demand of the Socialist movement.
The propaganda is one of education and is perfectly orderly and peaceable. The
workers must be taught to unite and vote together as a class in support of the Socialist party, the party that represents
them as a class, and when they do this the government will pass into their
hands and capitalism will fall to rise no more; private ownership will give way
to social ownership, and production for profit to production for use; the wage system
will disappear, and with it the ignorance and poverty, misery and crime that
wage-slavery breeds; the working class will stand forth triumphant and free,
and a new era will dawn in human progress and in the civilization of mankind.”
“I am not here, my brothers, to ask you, as an economic
organization, to go into politics. Not at all. If I could have you pass a
resolution to go into politics I would not do it. If you were inclined to go
into active politics as an organization I would prevent such action if I could.
You repre sent the economic organization of the working class and this
organization has its own clearly defined functions. Your economic organization
can never become a political machine, but your economic organization must
recognize and proclaim the necessity for a united political party. You ought to
pass a resolution recognizing the class struggle, declaring your opposition to
the capitalist system of private ownership of the means of production, and
urging upon the working class the necessity for working class political action.
That is as far as the economic organization need to go. If you were to use your
economic organization for political purposes you would disrupt it, you would
wreck it. But I would not have you renounce politics…Workingmen in their organized
capacity must recognize the necessity for both economic and political action. I
would not have you declare in favor of any particular political party. That
would be another mistake which would have disastrous results. If I could have
you pass a resolution to support the Socialist party I would not do it. You
can’t make Socialists by passing resolutions. Men have to become Socialists by
study and experience, and they are getting the experience every day.
There is one fact, and a very important one, that I would
impress upon you, and that is the necessity for revolutionary working class
political action.
No one will attempt to dispute the fact that our interests
as workers are identical. If our interests are identical, then we ought to
unite. We ought to unite within the same organization, and if there is a strike
we should all strike, and if there is a boycott all of us ought to engage in
it. If our interests are identical, it follows that we ought to belong to the
same party as well as to the same economic organization. What is politics? It
is simply the reflex of economics. What is a party? It is the expression
politically of certain material class interests. You belong to that party that
you believe will promote your material welfare. Is not that a fact? If you find
yourself in a party that attacks your pocket do you not quit that party?
Now, if you are in a party that opposes your interests it is
because you don’t have intelligence enough to understand your interests. That
is where the capitalists have the better of you…No man can serve both capital
and labor at the same time. You don’t admit the capitalists to your union. They
organize their union to fight you. You organize your union to fight them. Their
union consists wholly of capitalists; your union consists wholly of workingmen.
It is along the same line that you have got to organize politically. You don’t
unite with capitalists on the economic field; why should you politically?”
“The education of the people, not the few alone, but the
entire mass in the principles of industrial democracy and along the lines of
social development is the task of the people to be emphasized and that task –
let it be impressed upon them – can be performed only by themselves.
The cultured few can
never educate the uncultured many. All history attests the fact that all the
few have ever done for the many is to keep them in ignorance and servitude and
live out of their labor.
To stir the masses, to appeal to their higher, better
selves, to set them thinking for themselves, and to hold ever before them the
ideal of mutual kindness and good will, based upon mutual interests, is to
render real service to the cause of humanity.”
REFORMS
“There is but one issue that appeals to this conquering
army-the unconditional surrender of the capitalistic class. To be sure this
cannot be achieved in a day and in the meantime the party enforces to the
extent of its power its immediate demands and presses steadily onward toward
the goal. It has its constructive program by means of which it develops its
power and its capacity, step by step, seizing upon every bit of vantage to
advance and strengthen its position, but never for a moment mistaking reform
for revolution and never losing sight of the ultimate goal. Socialist reform
must not be confounded with so-cared capitalist reform. The latter is shrewdly
designed to buttress capitalism; the former to overthrow it. Socialist reform
vitalizes and promotes the socialist revolution….There is no hope under the
present decaying system. The worker who votes the Republican or Democratic
ticket does worse than throw away his vote. He is a deserter of his class and
his own worst enemy, though he may be in blissful ignorance of the fact that he
is false to himself and his fellow workers, and that sooner or later he must
reap what he has sown…The Socialist party presents …points out to them clearly
why their situation is hopeless under capitalism, how they are robbed and
exploited”
“While I believe that most of these “reformers” are honest
and well-meaning, I know that some of them, by no means inconspicuous, are
charlatans and frauds. They are the representatives of middle class interests,
and the shrewd old politicians of the capitalist parties are not slow to
perceive and take advantage of their influence. They are “Socialists” for no
other purpose than to emasculate Socialism. Beaten in the capitalist game by
better shufflers, dealers, and players, they have turned “reformers” and are
playing that for what there is in it. They were failures as preaches and
lawyers and politicians and capitalists. In their new role as “reformers” they
dare not offend the capitalist exploiters, for their revenue depends upon their
treason to the exploited slaves over whom they mourn dolefully and shed
crocodile tears.
I respect the honest effort of any man or set of men,
however misguided, to better social conditions, but I have no patience with the
frauds and quacks who wear the masks of meekness and in the name of
“brotherhood” betray their trusting victims to the class that robs them without
pity and riots in the proceeds without shame.”
“It is a question of human freedom versus human slavery.
This question is as old as the race, but for the first time
in human history the issue is stripped of all subterfuge and the exploited
class have the political power in their own hands to accomplish by peaceful
means their own emancipation.
No longer can the political harlots of capitalism betray the
workers with issues manufactured for that purpose. The beating of tariff
tom-toms, the cry for control of corporations, the punishment of “malefactors
of great wealth,” the wolf cry of civic righteousness under capitalism, will
not avail the politicians in this campaign.
Neither will the purely political issues of direct
legislation, the recall, direct election of senators, or the economic reforms
promised, of old-age pensions, minimum wage, industrial insurance and welfare
of labor, about which the politicians of capitalism are now so much concerned,
bring aid or comfort to them, for the people know that all of these are a part
of the program of Socialism and that they are only seized upon by designing men
who are not Socialists in an effort to deceive the people and prolong the reign
of capitalism….The Socialist party offers the only remedy, which is Socialism.
It does not promise Socialism in a day, a month, or a year, but it has a
definite program with Socialism as its ultimate end.”
CONCLUSION
“The largest possible expression of the social spirit should
be fostered and encouraged in the Socialist movement. In spite of the
hindrances which beset us in our present environments and relations, we may yet
cultivate this spirit assiduously to our increasing mutual good and to the good
of our great movement.
In our propaganda, in the discussion of our tactical and
other differences, and in all our other activities, the larger faith that true
comradeship inspires should prevail between us. We need to be more patient,
more kindly, more tolerant, more sympathetic, helpful, and encouraging to one
another, and less suspicious, less envious, and less contentious, if we are to
educate and impress the people by our example and by the results of our
teachings upon ourselves, win them to our movement, and realize our dream of universal
freedom and social righteousness.”
Why can we not differ without denouncing each other?
Why can we not give those with whom we differ credit for
being as honest as ourselves?
Why can we not reason with those with whom we disagree in a
decent spirit instead of treating them with ridicule and contempt?
Personally I have equal respect for all who stand four
square for the working class and for the overthrow of the capitalist system,
whether they be socialists, communists, anarchists, or IWWs. I don’t find it
necessary to hate and denounce them because their method differs from mine.
They may be right. I don’t think they are, but I have been mistaken a good many
times in the past and am just as apt to be so now as anyone else .We certainly
find a large measure of common ground for all these groups if we have the right
spirit and seek to convince and win over by argument instead of offending and
driving away by abuse…I hope we may have a more decent, tolerant, and truly
revolutionary spirit in our attitude toward those with whom we differ in the
movement, and that we may devote our whole time and energy in organizing the
workers into one industrial union and one political party for the gigantic
struggle which confronts them and which they must win, or remain in slavery.
The most effective way to answer those who sneer at political action is with
silence when argument fails. Let them alone and stick to your work of education
and organization!”
If a bona fide labor party cannot be organized at Chicago
then I hope that no party at all will issue from that conference. Better far no
party than a nondescript imitation of one, composed of so-called progressive
and reform elements, more or less muddled, discordant, and wholly lacking in
clear aim, definite object, and concerted purpose. A “third party” of such a
nature would at best align the dwindling “little interests” against the “big
interests,” seek to patch up and prolong the present corrupt and collapsing
capitalist system, and failing utterly to effect any material change or achieve
any substantial benefit would finally fizzle out and add one more to the list
of “third party” fiascoes…
A political party today must stand for labor and the freedom
of labor, or it must stand for capital and the exploitation of labor. It cannot
possibly stand for both any more than it could for both freedom and slavery…
I want to see the workers of this nation rise in the might
of their intelligence and demand a party of their own, free, eternally free
from the paralyzing putridities of the parties of their silk-hatted,
wealth-inflated, job-owning and labor-exploiting masters—a party with a
backbone and the courage to stand up without apology and proclaim itself a
Labor Party, clean, confident of its own inherent powers, bearing proudly the
union label in token of its fundamental conquering principle of industrial and
political solidarity, and challenging the whole world of capitalism to contest
the right of this nation to own its own industries, to control its own economic
and social life, and the right of the toiling and producing masses to own their
own jobs, to enjoy the fruits of their own labor, and to be the masters of
their own lives.
I am suspicious of those who admit that we must have a labor
party but object to having it called by its right name. It should be a matter
of pride and certainly not of shame to a labor party to have its true title
nailed to its masthead. If not, why not? Shall we fear to keep out many who
would otherwise join? That is the very reason the party should be known for
what it actually is as well as what it actually stands for. We must bear no
false label, carry no false banner, nor seek support under any false pretense
whatsoever.
We must stand avowedly, face front, for labor—for the people
who produce, who render needed service, and who are useful and necessary to the
world.
Let me make it clear that I am not wanting another socialist
party organized. We already have one and that is enough. Neither do I want
another capitalist party organized, having already two, more than enough. A
middle-class party, by whatever name, would still be a capitalist party, for
while it might champion “little interests” against “big interests,” with a sop
to labor, it would still stand for the capitalist system and the perpetuation
of wage-slavery.
If a genuine labor party is organized at Chicago I shall not
expect the platform to go the limit of radical demands but shall be satisfied
with a reasonable statement of labor’s rights and interests as well as its
duties and responsibilities, doubting not that with the progress of the party
its platform will in due time embrace every essential feature of the working
class program for deliverance from industrial servitude.
The Socialist party can, should, and I have no doubt will
join such a party wholeheartedly, becoming an integral part of its structure,
reserving, however, its autonomy unimpaired and using all its powers and
functions in building up, equipping, promoting, and directing the general
party.”
I’ll end with another final Debs quote
“Now I believe that it
is impossible to compromise a principle, and the Socialist Party is committed
to a certain principle. To compromise principle is to court death and disaster.
It is better to be true to a principle and to stand alone and be able to look
yourself in the face without a blush, far better to be in a hopeless minority
than to be in a great popular and powerful majority of the unthinking.”
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