Excerpt from the famous Canton Speech of Eugene V. Debs ( in Canton, Ohio on June 16, 1918 )

Remembering Eugene V. Debs' Canton Speech | Howie Hawkins ... In his speech in Canton, Ohio on June 16, 1918, Eugene V. Debs criticized America's involvement in World War I and blamed capitalism for war. Excerpts from Debs' speech ["They have always taught you that it is your patriotic duty to go to war and slaughter yourselves at their command". "But in all the history of the world you, the people, have never had a voice in declaring war". "The working class who make the sacrifices, who shed the blood, have never yet had a voice in declaring war". "Why should a Socialist be discouraged on the eve of the greatest triumph in all the history of the Socialist movement?". "We have been fighting Prussian militarism since the day the Socialist movement was born". "They may put those boys in jail and some of the rest of us in jail, but they cannot put the Socialist movement in jail". ]