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Deny it as may the cunning capitalists who are clear-sighted enough to perceive it, or ignore it as may the torpid workers who are too blind and unthinking to see it, the struggle in which we are engaged today is a class struggle, and as the toiling millions come to see and understand it and rally to the political standard of their class, they will drive all capitalist parties of whatever name into the same party, and the class struggle will then be so clearly revealed that the hosts of labor will find their true place in the conflict and strike the united and decisive blow that will destroy slavery and achieve their full and final emancipation.

Eugene V. Debs#22

WorkPoliticsClass struggleUnityEmancipation

About this quote

What does it mean?
The current struggle is fundamentally about class, and workers must unite to defeat capitalist parties.
In plain terms
Workers must recognize this is a class fight and unite to win freedom.
What can you take from it?
Unity and class awareness are necessary to overcome systemic power.

Where it applies

  • union formation
  • political campaigns
  • solidarity building

Putting it to work

  • educate workers on class interests
  • unite across partisan divides

Questions to consider

  • How do workers unite across differences?
  • What stops class solidarity?

Another view

It assumes unity is easily achievable despite diverse worker interests.

More from Eugene V. Debs

  1. The Republican and Democratic parties, or, to be more exact, the Republican-Democratic party, represent the capitalist class in the class struggle. They are th…

    Permalink to quote #21
  2. Ignorance alone stands in the way of socialist success. The capitalist parties understand this and use their resources to prevent the workers from seeing the l…

    Permalink to quote #23
  3. The capitalist class is represented by the Republican, Democratic, Populist and Prohibition parties, all of which stand for private ownership of the means of p…

    Permalink to quote #20

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