Quotes from 'American Socialist: the Life and Legacy of Eugene V. Debs'

Shawn Gude has recently had a book published: American Socialist: the Life and Legacy of Eugene V. Debs. I recently read the book: it's a clearly and exhilarating book about Debs, a person who is often cited as a working-person's hero by people like Noam Chomsky and Bernie Sanders; he was lauded by contemporaries like W. E. B. Du Bois and was one of the reasons for why socialist unions and laws for worker rights increased substantially at the start of the 1900s. To me, Debs is a clear example of how constant struggle is required to change things, especially where one or a handful of people hold extreme wealth while many people who labour under their jackboot starve. The rest of this post consists of quotes from the book, which I recommend with all of my heart. Always on the road, speaking in packed labor halls and auditoriums crammed with men and women still carrying the scent of a twelve-hour day, Debs had transformed into a labor agitator whom workers regarded as one of their own.…