The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-09-29
DebS and His
Revolutionary
II eritd ge


4 ers who may have been taken
in by the Socialist Party election
campaign claim that Norman
Thomas wears the mantle of Eu-
gene DebS," and for those who wish
to enlighten the workers as to the
skeleton behind the MANTLE" it
will be highly instructive to read
1.-THE Heritage of Gene Debs," by
Alexander Trachtenberg, in the
International Pamphlet series.
DEBS AND THE A. F. OF L.
The writer shows that Debs was
a sincere and militant revolutionist
whose heritage rightfully belongs
to the revolutionary proletariat of
today, led by the Communist Party.
Debs fought on the front Line
trenches of the American class
struggle for over two generations
and was one of the organizers of
the Socialist Party in 1900. He was
a revolutionary trade unionist, I'M
compromising in his opposition to
the revolutionary policies of the A.
F. Of L., favOring organized oppo-
sition within it (and even the Or
ganization of new revolutionary
unions) and the organization of
the unorganized. Today the So
cialist Party leaders extend their
full support to the Greens and the
VOLS and have made common
cause with their policies.
AS far back as 1911 Debs warned
n against the danger of reform
ism within the Party and declared,
"All the votes of the people would
do us no good if we cease to be
revolutionary party" Then it was
Victor Berger and the numerous
petty-bourgeois journalists who
were being acclaimed socialist
leaders" overnight; today it is the
whole Socialist Party leadership Of
petty bourgeois reformists from
Morris HilIquit to Norman Thomas
and Haywood Broun.
One of the main p1anks of Nor
man Thomas and his party is pub
lie ownership of public utilities,
which, he claims, will solve all the
problems of the workers. Govern
ment ownership of public utilities
means nothing for labor under
capitalist ownership of govern
ment," said Debs.
ON REVOLUTION AND WAR
Although Debs knew the econ
onic causes of war, he did not
fully understand the. nature of
capitalist imperialism. Yet he
fought stubbornly against the i'm
perialist war and was imprisoned
for his stand on the war in 1918.
Norman Thomas, "the self-ap-
pointed successor of Debs, sup
ports the League of Nations, the
World Court and all the other i'm
perialist instruments, proclaiming
himself pacifist. He would be
the first to denounce these ringing
words OF Debs: 81 am opposed to
every war but one; am for that
war with heart and soul and that
is the worldwide war of the social
revolution. In that war I am pre-
pared to fight in any way the ruI-
ing class may make it necessary,
even to the barbados"
Unclear in many of the funda-
mentals of Marxism-Leninism-
especially the role of the state and
the dictatorship of the proletariat-
yet Debs, in contrast to the "reser-
vations" Of other socialist" lead
ers, gave his full support to the
revolution, declaring: 81 am Boil
shevik from the crown of my head
to the tips of my Shoes" and 81
heartily support the Russian Revo-
luton without reservations" Nor
man Thomas and his cronies have
long since passed the stage of
reservations" and support the
open conspiracies of the Second
International against the Soviet
Union.
ALTHOUGH Debs on many occa-
"A sions attacked the S. P. leader
ship-which was so afraid of him
that it never permitted him into
leading committees-yet he failed,
unlike G. E. Ruthenberg and others,
to split from this leadership and
organize the revolutionary work
ers into a real revolutionary party
of the proletariat. After the split
occurred in 1919, and when he left
prison in 1920, he failed to join the
Communist Party, which, as Com
rade Trachtenberg says, twas his
historic mistake" This mistake was
a direct consequence of a number
OF weak spots in his theatrical
understanding, particularly on the
question of the State.
This pamphlet will indeed help
strike the mantle from Thomas and
reveal him as the fascist $50
cialist in words, fascist in deeds,
that he is. 1t should be widely cir
culated during the election cam
paign, especially to reveal the real
nature of the Socialist Party today.
Debs was a stalwart, revolution
airy fighter and his heritage be-
longs to the revolutionary working
class, of which the Communist
Party ic the leader