The Anti-War Speech That Sent Eugene Debs to Prison

On June 16, 1918, Eugene Debs made a speech in Canton, Ohio in opposition to World War I and was arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917. He was convicted, sentenced to serve ten years in prison and disenfranchised for life. Debs appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court. In its ruling on Debs v. United States, the court examined several statements Debs had made regarding World War I. While Debs had carefully guarded his speeches in an attempt to comply with the Espionage Act, the Court found he still had the intention and effect of obstructing the draft and recruitment for the war. Below is the excerpt from his speech detailing his opposition to World War 1:

Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. In the Middle Ages when the feudal lords who inhabited the castles whose towers may still be seen along the Rhine concluded to enlarge their domains, to increase their power, their prestige and their wealth they declared war upon one another. But they themselves did not go to war any more than the modern feudal lords, the barons of Wall Street go to war.

The feudal barons of the Middle Ages, the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles. The poor, ignorant serfs had been taught to revere their masters; to believe that when their masters declared war upon one another, it was their patriotic duty to fall upon one another and to cut one another’s throats for the profit and glory of the lords and barons who held them in contempt. And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose–especially their lives.

They have always taught and trained you to believe it to be your patriotic duty to go to war and to have yourselves slaughtered at their command. But in all the history of the world you, the people, have never had a voice in declaring war, and strange as it certainly appears, no war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people.

And here let me emphasize the fact–and it cannot be repeated too often–that the working class who fight all the battles, the working class who make the supreme sacrifices, the working class who freely shed their blood and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alone declare war and they alone make peace. Yours not to reason why; Yours but to do and die. That is their motto and we object on the part of the awakening workers of this nation. 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….

You need at this time especially to know that you are fit for something better than slavery and cannon fodder. You need to know that you were not created to work and produce and impoverish yourself to enrich an idle exploiter. You need to know that you have a mind to improve, a soul to develop, and a manhood to sustain….

They are continually talking about your patriotic duty. It is not their but your patriotic duty that they are concerned about. There is a decided difference. Their patriotic duty never takes them to the firing line or chucks them into the trenches. And now among other things they are urging you to “cultivate” war gardens, while at the same time a government war report just issued shows that practically 52 percent of the arable, tillable soil is held out of use by the landlords, speculators and profiteers. They themselves do not cultivate the soil. Nor do they allow others to cultivate it. They keep it idle to enrich themselves, to pocket the millions of dollars of unearned increment….

And now for all of us to do our duty! The clarion call is ringing in our ears and we cannot falter without being convicted of treason to ourselves and to our great cause.

Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.

16 Windows at New Lots Avenue

Somewhere between 30 seconds and 30 minutes, what is there to do when one waits for the subway to arrive? Unless I am armed with reading materials, I usually stand on the platform of my elevated subway stop, looking out to the sky, over the buildings beneath and surrounding, and eventually through the individual windows within them. For all the windows, with their curtains drawn and their blinds raised, I imagine how the occupants lead their lives through the few visual clues I observe.

Unlike most other elevated subway stations in Brooklyn, at the moment the New Lots Avenue station does not have buildings butting up against the elevated platform, as most in the area are detached, single-family homes with backyards. No matter how the neighborhood evolves over time, what will remain constant is the way we live, and the activities we conduct inside our homes – whether stacked on top of one another or side-by-side.

With an opportunity to create 16 different panels in glass, at the sizes that resembles closely to the actual windows of most dwellings in Brooklyn, my proposal, 16 Windows, is to use glass to depict the lives unseen through windows but behind the blinds, engaged in common, day-to-day activities that we all can relate to.

From watering plants to watching TV, and eating breakfast to cooking dinner, the various domestic activities depicted are grouped in two categories: before and after the commute. On the Manhattan Bound platform, eight “neighbors” engaged in daytime activities will accompany passengers on their way to work. Upon their return and stepping off the Canarsie Bound train, riders descending the staircase will observe another eight “neighbors” who have already begun their evening rituals.

Whether viewed from the ground or from the platform, I believe that through these windows into the homes of our neighbors, all of us can find beauty within the often overlooked, ordinary activities that, however differently we practice them, withstand time and cross the invisible boundaries that separate us, uniting us in the shared idea of home.

– Statement by Artist Eugenie Tung

Pictures from NYCSubway with helpful link from AS.

Obama-mania

“Disgraced today throughout the four corners of the globe, America would in a single leap resume its lost grace, its capacity to inspire the imagination, that combination of myth and reality that makes it the country of all possibilities – the democracy par excellence that has such power of seduction and likeability, despite all of its gaping flaws.”

From an editorial of the French newspaper Libération (and via Ablogistan)

God I Look Good

No, seriously. Come see how good I look.

I am bearded. I am graduate student.

The Most Loathsome of 2007, and You’re On It

A new year, a new Most Loathsome List from Buffalo Beast. Not as good as last year, but man, still pretty fucking good. Some gems include:

38. Steven Moore

Charges: Mo Rocca’s evil twin and founder of the election-law-breaking PAC Club for Growth, Moore’s the Wall Street Journal’s most brazen corporate apologist and free market sycophant, who’s trotted out on TV to manicure the invisible hand every time it chips a nail squashing the poor.

Exhibit A: “If you don’t want to buy a Chinese toy, don’t buy it at Wal-Mart. But you know why people buy these things? Because they’re cheap and, for the most part, they’re pretty good products.”

Sentence: Given low-wage job test-licking all Chinese imports, incurs brain tumor, has epiphany about consumer choice and income, then more brain tumors.

And

28. The Troops

Charges: Rubes, the lot of ’em. Come back all fugly. They keep telling John McCain they want to win. They need so much support, it’s clingy and sad. Matching outfits? Kind of gay.

Exhibit A: Too cheap to buy their own body armor.

Sentence: Walter Reed.

And finally:

9. You

Charges: You believe in freedom of speech, until someone says something that offends you. You suddenly give a damn about border integrity, because the automated voice system at your pharmacy asked you to press 9 for Spanish. You cling to every scrap of bullshit you can find to support your ludicrous belief system, and reject all empirical evidence to the contrary. You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism — it’s nationalism when foreigners do it. You hate anyone who seems smarter than you. You care more about zygotes than actual people. You love to blame people for their misfortunes, even if it means screwing yourself over. You still think Republicans favor limited government. Your knowledge of politics and government are dwarfed by your concern for Britney Spears’ children. You think buying Chinese goods stimulates our economy. You think you’re going to get universal health care. You tolerate the phrase “enhanced interrogation techniques.” You think the government is actually trying to improve education. You think watching CNN makes you smarter. You think two parties is enough. You can’t spell. You think $9 trillion in debt is manageable. You believe in an afterlife for the sole reason that you don’t want to die. You think lowering taxes raises revenue. You think the economy’s doing well. You’re an idiot.

Exhibit A: You couldn’t get enough Anna Nicole Smith coverage.

Sentence: A gradual decline into abject poverty as you continue to vote against your own self-interest. Death by an easily treated disorder that your health insurance doesn’t cover. You deserve it, chump.

And more from the past on PBH:

John McCain on the 50
And yes, you’re still guilty.