Eugene Debs was a ripe old sixty-three years old when he was sentenced to ten years in prison for his Canton, Ohio, speech criticizing the war. In those days, sixty was not the new forty…it was more like the old eighty.
The issue of the passage of time was very much on his mind when he made his "Statement to the Court." Time was not on his own side, but he very much wanted to believe that time was on the side of the Socialist movement—his life's work.
Questions About Time
- What sections of the speech indicate Debs' wistful feelings about the passage of time?
- Why is Debs so agitated about the way the passage of time impacts workers?
- Why does Debs feel that time is on the side of the Socialist movement?
- Debs died in 1926 with the American Socialist party in serious decline. Ninety years later, a presidential candidate talked openly about Socialism. Has time been on Debs side after all?
Chew on This
The old expression "It's always darkest before the dawn" could certainly be applied to Eugene Debs and his "Statement to the Court."
The passage of time has deeply affected the way people judge socialism as a political ideology, especially the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the reforms that have come to Socialist economies elsewhere.