Two Pieces by American Socialist and Union Leader, Eugene V. Debs

Eugene V. Debs was one of the great leaders of the working class movement in America, a radical trade unionist and socialist. I found these two pieces, Why You should Vote for Socialism, and Industrial and Social Democracy, on YouTube. In them, Debs argues that only socialism can save American workers from the grinding poverty, brutality and exploitation of modern capitalist production, and attacking progressives, Democrats and Republicans as providing no solutions for working Americans. The tracts were written in the first years of 20th century, before FDR’s New Deal gave Americans some limited welfare benefits, and his make work policies boosted employment during the Depression. The Democrat party also did much to introduce some welfare provision in America in the late 1960s, with the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid by Lyndon Johnson. His comments nevertheless have renewed significance with Hillary Clinton’s rejection of anything even remotely progressive or ‘left-wing’ in order to pursue the Corporatist Republican vote.

And the speeches also apply over this side of the Atlantic, where the working and lower middle classes are being forced into poverty through zero-hours contracts, benefit cuts and attacks on workers’ rights. Quite apart from a highly unfair tax structure that seeks to reward the very rich and shift the tax burden to the poor.

Why You Should Vote for Socialism

Industrial and Social Democracy

Tags: 'Industrial and Social Democracy', 'Why You Should Vote for Socialism', Corporate Power, Democrat Party, Eugene Debs, F.D. Roosevelt, Great Depression, Hillary Clinton, Lower Middle Class, Lyndon Johnson, Medicaid, Medicare, New Deal, Republican Party, Tax, the Rich, Welfare Cuts, Workers' Rights, Working Class, Zero Hours Contracts