The Washington socialist. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1914-1915, 1915-04-29
MAY DAY AND
THE REVOLUTION
(By Eugene v. Debs)

We are again about to celebrate the
annual holiday Of the international
Socialist movement. The thrill of
May Day is even now in our veins and
our hearts beat faster as we contemp-
late the glad tidings of this day to
the workers of the world.
May Day is above all days in the
year the day of the working class; the
day of rejoicing and fraternal greet
ing; the day of high hope and lofty
aspiration; the day of national and in
ternational celebration.
Not yet have we of the United
States risen to the heights of this
grand occasion and given to May Day
its revolutionary significance as have
our comrades in European and other
nations; not yet have we grasped the
full and splendid meaning of this day
to our class and to humanity, but this
year I trust our celebration may be
worthy of the day and that this jubilee
OF the working class may respond
from coast to coast with the glad It'd
ings of the coming revolution.
May Day was not granted as boon
to the workers by their patronizing
masters to tranquilize their discomfort
but was chosen and set apart by them
selves as the day upon which to
arouse themselves from their lethargy
lift up their weary bodies from the
earth, clasp hands with their fellow
workers, and solemnly vow TO break
their letters and ~emancipate them
selves from slavery.
May Day Is henceforth emancipa-
ton day for the working class. On
this day the revolution breathes the
breath of life intc the nostrils of the
workers and the awaking pulsing
workers recruit with eager, passionate
spirit the swelling ranks Of the re-
evolutionary movement.
Each and every Industrial center
and each agricultural district should
this year join the May Day celebration
and make its observance so general
and fill it with such ardor and enthusi-
asm as to compel attention to the pro-
gram of the day and the significance of
the event. The very thought that
labor's holiday has been International
ly proclaimed and will be celebrated
by the workers of every nation on the
face of the earth; the very contem-
plation of the fine spirit of the day
and the eager greeting of comrades to
comrades and nation to nation, voiced
in every tongue known to man and
borne to us on every tide and every
breeze, Is of itself enough to thrill us
in every fiber and set every drop in
our veins tingling with the fervor of
international solidarity
On this day of the down trodden
masses the inspiring message that
Socialism brings to them must be
heard around the world. The electri-
flying shibboleth of Marx must be
echoed and re-echoed everywhere.
Workers of the world unite: you
have nothing to lose but your chains.
You have world to gain"
Unity and solidarity must be the
watchword of the day. Industrial and
political organization of the workers,
all the workers, regardless of race, sex
or creed, must be urged with all the
force and responsiveness at our COM
mand. Without organization the
struggle is vain and the cause lost.
The commonwealth of the workers
that is to be must be organized prim-
arily In the industries where they are
employed and the time to do that is
now, and May Day is the day to en-
phasize it's supreme necessity.
The political power of the workers
must also be developed thorugh the
Socialist party, the only party organ
lied and controlled by themselves; the
only party which represents their in
terests, expresses their aspirations,
and fights their battles in the war for
emancipation.
May Day, pregnant with new and
bounding life and rapture of resuruec-
ton, is the glorious harbinger of the
social revolution, the cleaning pro-
mise Of industrial freedom and social
justice to all the workers of the world.