Headlined to H2 10/26/12

"No War By Any Nation in Any Age Has Ever Been Declared By the People"

By Arlen Grossman (about the author) Permalink (Page 1 of 1 pages)
OpEdNews Op Eds 10/26/2012 at 03:52:10

Related Topic(s): Anti-war; Espionage Act; Eugene Debs; Socialist Party Usa; War; World War I, Add Tags Addto My Group(s)

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HISTORY LESSONS AND HEROES WE SHOULDN'T FORGET

Socialist Party leader Eugene V. Debs spoke out against World War I, and all wars, in a speech on June 16, 1918 in Canton, Ohio. Because of this speech, Debs was arrested two weeks later, charged with ten counts of sedition, and sentenced to ten years in prison under the Espionage Act of 1917. While in prison, Debs ran for president in 1921 and received nearly one million votes. He served two years, eight months in prison before having his sentence commuted (for health reasons) by President Harding in 1921.

Image: Library of Congress

Here are excerpts from his 1918 Canton speech:

"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".

"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 that fights all the battles, the working class that makes the supreme sacrifices, the working class that freely sheds its blood and furnishes the corpses, has 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."

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From his statement to the judge before sentencing:

"Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

"I listened to all that was said in this court in support and justification of this prosecution, but my mind remains unchanged. I look upon the Espionage Law as a despotic enactment in flagrant conflict with democratic principles and with the spirit of free institutions"

"Your Honor, I have stated in this court that I am opposed to the social system in which we live; that I believe in a fundamental change--but if possible by peaceable and orderly means"

P.S. The Espionage Act of 1917, though amended over the years, is still in effect. Prior to the time President Obama took office, It had been used three times for cases involving government officials providing classified information to the media. It has been used at least six times during the Obama's time in office, including against Bradley Manning. According to David Carr of the New York Times , "the majority of the recent prosecutions seem to have everything to do with administrative secrecy and very little to do with national security."

Actor Mark Ruffalo reads Debs's Canton speech :

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Arlen is a writer/blogger living in Monterey, CA. His political blog is thebigpicturereport.com. He writes a weekly quotation quiz "What's Your QQ?" (Quotation Quotient) for the Monterey County Herald, as well as a quotationquotient.com website and (more...)

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

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Related Topic(s): Anti-war; Espionage Act; Eugene Debs; Socialist Party Usa; War; World War I, Add Tags

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OpEdNews Article: Article: "No War By Any Nation in Any Age Has Ever Been Declared By the People"

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Eugene Debs spoke out against World War I, and all wars, in a 1917 speech. Because of that speech he was sentenced to ten years behind bars. Here are excerpts from that stirring speech.

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Headlined to H4 10/25/12

The Man Who Would Have Been President: Martyr for the People, Ten Year Since

By Natasha Hull-Richter (about the author) Permalink (Page 1 of 2 pages)
Life Arts 10/25/2012 at 03:22:52

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MARTYR FOR THE PEOPLE

By Natasha Hull-Richter (age 11),

When leaders wouldn't lead
And the country was in need,
Wellstone chose to take a stand
Reaching out a helping hand.

With the wisdom of a Franklin,
The eloquence of Jefferson,
The Courage of a Kennedy,
He fought for peace for you and me.

As heroic as Washington,
As honorable as Lincoln,
As inspiring as Patrick Henry,
He tried to keep us free.

And like our greatest heroes,
He stood strong against our foes;
With danger drawing near,
He refused to stop and fear.

Always putting his future last
In the votes he chose to cast,
The common people he did love
Like an angel from above

He put right high above might
And was martyred in his fight;
But for all he made us face,
The whole world's a better place.

Reprinted from Paul Wellstone's Memorial Website, Buzzflash, assorted other websites and poetry books with the permission of the author. (Originally published in 2002)

Note from Ruth Hull

On October 11, 2002, Paul Wellstone stood up to George W. Bush and the Military Industrial Complex by voting against the Iraqi War Power Resolution. On October 25, 2002 his plane crashed and exploded under circumstances indicative of murder and sabotage. It wasn't just Paul that died. They got his wife Sheila, his daughter Marcia, campaign workers and the flight crew. What a lesson for any leader daring to stand up to the defense corruption industry.

To peace-lovers and idealists who had hoped that true leadership would emerge our of D.C., Paul represented hope and a belief that anyone could succeed. Paul Wellstone is an example of what we can do when we really work to change the world. Without corporate contributions or political backing, this college professor rode around Minnesota in a green bus, meeting people and letting them know his dream for our country. Minnesotans stood up to corporations and political pressures and elected Wellstone to the U.S. Senate in a race that will always go down in history as a great people's revolution.

Paul was loved from coast to coast. Millions of Americans expected to see Paul elected President in 2004 as proof that a common but great man could remain true to the people and be elected to the top job. People went into shock as these dreams went up in smoke on October 25, 2002.

While, like many Americans, I found myself crying all night, my daughter Natasha turned her grief into the poem,"Martyr For the People."

Later, Natasha wrote a resolution calling for an independent investigation into the death of Paul Wellstone. As the Democratic Party of Orange County (CA) was about to vote on the resolution, an assistant to Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez stood up and stated point blank that Loretta was receiving contributions from Raytheon (the fatal plane's manufacturer) and that Raytheon might stop contributing to Loretta if the Democratic Party called for an independent investigation into the death of Paul Wellstone.

Life Arts 10/25/2012 at 03:22:52