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If it had not been for the discontent of a few fellows who had not been satisfied with their conditions, you would still be living in caves. Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.

Eugene V. Debs

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Eugene V. Debs
Age: 70 †
Born: 1855
Born: November 5
Died: 1926
Died: October 20
Peace Activist
Political Leader
Politician
Trade Unionist
Terre Haute
Indiana
Eugene Victor Debs
Eugene Debs
Convict Number 9653
inmate number 9653
9653
Convict No. 9653
Life
Civilization
Agitation
Conditions
Stagnation
Progress
Discontent
Born
Caves
Living
Fellows
Stills
Satisfied
Still
Intelligence
Would
Intelligent
Mainspring

More quotes by Eugene V. Debs

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One glance proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that these unions (railroad craft unions) are exceedingly useful to the corporations and to the extent that they serve the economic and political purposes of the corporations, they are the foes – and not the friends – of the working class.
Eugene V. Debs
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Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.
Eugene V. Debs
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I do not oppose the insane asylum - but I abhor and condemn the cutthroat system that robs man of his reason, drives him to insanity and makes the lunatic asylum an indispensable adjunct to every civilized community.
Eugene V. Debs
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A prison is a cross section of society in which every human strain is clearly revealed.
Eugene V. Debs
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I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.
Eugene V. Debs
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From the crown of my head to the soles of my feet I am Bolshevik, and proud of it.
Eugene V. Debs
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When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks.
Eugene V. Debs
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Nothing is more humiliating than to have to beg for work, and a system in which any man has to beg for work stands condemned. No man can defend it.
Eugene V. Debs
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The issue is Socialism versus Capitalism. I am for Socialism because I am for humanity. We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough. Money constitutes no proper basis of civilization. The time has come to regenerate society - we are on the eve of universal change.
Eugene V. Debs
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Too long have the workers of the world waited for some Moses to lead them out of bondage... I would not lead you out if I could for if you could be led out, you could be led back again. I would have you make up your minds there is nothing that you cannot do for yourselves.
Eugene V. Debs
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The class which has the power to rob upon a large scale has also the power to control the government and legalize their robbery.
Eugene V. Debs
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In all the history of organized labor, from the earliest times to the present day, no body of union workingmen ever served in a more humiliating and debasing role than that in which the railway unions appear at this very hour before the American people and the world.
Eugene V. Debs
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Thousands of years ago the question was asked: Am I my brother's keeper? That question has never yet been answered in a way that is satisfactory to civilized society.
Eugene V. Debs
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If the people would but analyze the human equation of a prison they might better account for the crimes that are visited upon them in cities, towns, and hamlets, ofttimes by men who graduated with an education and equipment for just that sort of retributive service from some penal institution.
Eugene V. Debs
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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.
Eugene V. Debs
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I may not be able to say all I think but I am not going to say anything I do not think.
Eugene V. Debs
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It is when you have done your work honestly, when you have contributed your share to the common fund that you begin to live.
Eugene V. Debs
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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.
Eugene V. Debs
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The general public knows practically nothing about the prison and appears to be little concerned about how it is managed and how prisoners are treated.
Eugene V. Debs
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The master class has always declared the wars the subject class has always fought the battles.
Eugene V. Debs