Union Perspectives

As Trump sniffs around for a war to start, I thought it would be a good idea to remind people of one of the best speeches against war given by Eugene V Debs, who was imprisoned for speaking our against World War I. During one of his recent rallies, Trump encouraged his followers to join the military and show their patriotism … In part, here is Debs’ speech: “War throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. In the Middle Ages, when feudal lords, who inhabited the castles and whose towers may still be seen along the Rhine, colluded to enlarge their domains, to increase their power, their prestige and their wealth. They declared war upon one another. But, they, themselves, did not go to war any more than the modern feudal lords. The barons of Wall Street go to war. The fuels barons of the Middle Age, the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles. The poor, ignorant serfs had been taught to ...

Labor the world over at this time has no friends in this corporate world, and there is no political part that will support labor because unions don’t have the kind of money politicians are looking for. The political parties now side with Wall Street, corporations, big banks and lobbyists for this is where the money and political power is and where laws can be written—laws that will make them more money. One only has to look at the U.K., France, Ukraine, Spain, Greece, Turkey, South America, and, of course, here in the U.S. where labor laws have been shot full of holes and probably do more harm than good. Now is the time for a revolution of minimum wage workers, students burdened by student loans, all labor unions, people on Social Security, veterans, minorities and all the rest of us to band together to bring voter pressure on the Democrats, if not them, then a new people’s party because what we have now is not working for either party, Democratic or GOP. Are we in the U.S. reverting b...