Mark Ruffalo reads Eugene Debs

[pengiswoof]

Why the hell is this loser reading Debs?

[unorthodoxtrotsky]

Today is November 5 and it's Eugene V. Debs' birthday.

[ffinfinity1]

Beautiful, just Beautiful.

[CrazyShip42]

Im a republican and he still goes down as one of my idols

[artemis12061966]

100,00 Americans were killed in WW1 , who did not have to die .

[ffinfinity1]

@artemis12061966 and 60 million died in WW2, as a result of WW1.

[JesusComrade555]

This is going into my favorites, I have never heard a more true speech

[Brigadier42]

Eugene V. Debs is my personal hero...HE was the greatest American...

[cinephilefromhell]

I could imagine Ed Harris as Eugene V. Debs in a film.

[BillSalem]

Before ED finished the speech the police arrested him. And for the crime of uttering these words he was imprisoned for 3 years.

Don't speak to me of Freedom of Speech in America. It only applies to the obscenely rich. The Right has made America into a Totalitarian Plutocracy even as they scream about Freedom. There's no Free Market though the crooked banksters pay it lip service. They continue exploiting the poor; themselves not paying taxes, but dumping taxes on the backs of the poor.

[HeavenandHell1776]

We need a Eugene Debs in these times

[basscataz]

workers, workers, workers, platitudes, platitudes, psycho-narcissistic, and may i say, a bad reading anyhow. even Zinn would dissaprove

[nora4154]

Great !! thank you for letting us share it.

[REVLIBPARTY]

its not his documentary that got him on a terror list, its this speech, as he believes in it, as comrade debs did, like debs, in these times of war, you have to pay the consequences for speaking out. what democracy?

[newtube2601]

When will Americans wake up and realize that we are not a nation divided by class. The socialistic ideas of class struggle have outlived their time. In modern democracies the monopoly of power remains with those who would think for themselves rather than have others tell them what to believe. If the average person wants true political power they simply have to wake and seize it. The "subject class" marches off to war while the people are asleep at the wheel.

[TThirdplaneTT]

Well done. Likely further left of me, but the spirit of this rings so true. "The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has noting to gain and all to lose". Again I like the spirit of it, but not always true. It seems WW2 was a war the US had to get invloved in.

[moonshiny74]

This speech is just as true today as it was when Debs bravely delivered it nearly 100 years ago. We need more people like Debs in this world.

[afaultytoaster]

eugene debs was just another puppet of the stalinist bureaucracy of unionists. his anti-war rhetoric is a mask to enslave the working class under a different master, his own elitist vanguard. true socialism will sweep away these menshevik traitors just as surely as the capitalist overlords they unknowingly serve. they will be first against the wall

LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL PROLETARIANISM, DEATH TO MENSHEVIK TRADE UNIONISTS AND THEIR DIVISIVE POLITICKING

[Jharen1231]

I could not possibly agree more!

[Tony2826]

Euegene Debs is a personal hero of mine.

[PersephoneSwimming]

mark ruffalo did not prepare enough, and i'm a big fan of his. i'm disappointed in his performance. could have been and should have been awesome but it is only mediocre but actually it's still also awesome just for being what it is. i just want to go back in time and meet EVDebs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lonefir]

The master class has always declared the wars and the subject class always fights them..

[PrisonerNumber9653]

a great American hero!

[TerryDavid57]

Let the Elites not reason why but let the Elites and their sons and daughters do and die. Amen!

[domapusic]

this speech rings so true as if it was made yesterday not a 100 years ago

[MultiSmartass1]

Eugene Debs is probably one of the few socialists that still gets mentioned in US history books.

He is probably one of the more fascinating political candidates and historical figures in US history.

Debs learned socialism in prison and got over a million votes when he ran for President-pretty damn good for a third or ancillary party candidate.

Debs comments here are utterly correct especially about war.

Working people are the cannon fodder for countless US wars including Iraq.

[falstaffswims]

One self-defeating sad person has disliked this. There will always be self-loathers, among the oppressed, because it makes them feel vicarious participation in the power of their oppressors. Pity them, and educate them. And, against the most privileged, corporate class: FIGHT BACK MERCILESSLY!

[PersephoneSwimming]

@falstaffswims ummm, maybe they hit it by accident lol i've done that sometimes...

[Zeppelinfan25]

Socialist must unite. We could end corrupt capitalism in the United States and give the power to the people.

[jennyworman]

Wall Street then, Wall street now

[lennhart]

Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes blew it with a false analogy when he compared Debs' opposition to U.S. entry into WWI with yelling fire in a crowded theater. What Holmes failed to realize is that NOT yelling fire when there really is one is much, much worse! Today --millions of Americans are JUSTIFIED IN YELLING FIRE!!!

[ProsperityGlobal]

Does anyone think that Eugene Debs was a reincarnation of Thomas Paine?, if you study them they were quite similer.

[MononofuBlood]

Anyone else embarrassed at having Mark Ruffalo read something by Debs?

[bjarczyk]

It's a shame that all celebrities are reading out a "peoples" history of the us. But hey if that's what it takes to get people to read more zinn then whatever.

[MononofuBlood]

Oh, I didn't necessarily mean that it was a shame because he's an actor. I said it because the guy is a "truther". I would hate that his reading Debs would lead conspiracy theorists to quote mine him (Debs) to try to further their "cause".

[ddean1987]

@bjarczyk idk about that. i think it's cool that they get actors to speak. they get actors with more real leftist political beliefs (danny glover, viggo mortensen) who can speak very well and might be able to give a more authentic protrayal and capture the emotion better. kind of theatric in a way. that's my guess but i could be wrong.

[contrarian23]

We need a Debs today. A true American hero. His life and his many collected writings and speeches should be required reading in every school in America.

[Brian4186]

Where is the Debs of the 21st century? We need someone much like Eugene Debs now more then ever....who can fill his shoes? The more things change, the more they stay the same. Obama moves our illegal war from one country to another....he is nothing more then G.W. with a tan.

[bjarczyk]

Imagine if there was an election called for whether to go to war or not! We would have to have mass rioting to win that right.

[Musashikhan]

haha, right. I always use that in conversations over our democracy. When did we vote on war?

[siryourbrains]

Imagine if there was an election about whether to go to war with Iraq in February 2003. It would have won by a huge margin, and then Bush (and now Obama) would claim that they have the right to keep killing because they have a mandate from the people. The real problem is the media in this country.

[ibrahimtamerm]

No question the media is a problem in the United States. However, I'm reluctant to say anythiung is the problem. Lobby groups for example. The impotence of our congress to complete the fairy tale checks and balance we were taught. Which brings me to our education system that breeds ignorance capable of being manipulated by such a crass media. We definitely have issue to sort out as a nation. And there is plenty of room to work.

[Largehippo]

The Iraq war was the most protested American war in history. Yes, there was less media coverage than the Vietnam protests, but they were larger, and more numerous.

A 2003 election would not have been a landslide. If it did pass I agree that it would be because of media disinformation... but there are many who aren't deceived.

[plummer90715]

@siryourbrains Yes sir, you are absolutely right. The media is corporate owned and must do as their overlords commnand. The question is, who profits from war? Not us the working class, I love that speech by Debs, the words are powerful and profound. The speech Debs gave is nearly 100 years old, but it sounds so familiar, freedom this and democracy that, all bullshit to have us fight in the interest of the wealthy and elite. We most unite ourselves and put a stop to this or it will end all of us.

[EADGGuy]

Funny how history repeats itself. It makes me wonder how much longer the working class of our time will allow the "Barons of Wallstreet" to hold them in contempt. More importantly, who will be the Debs of our day to stand up for the working class and be willing to go to jail for merely exercising the right to free speech?

[abby495]

Long live the memory of Eugene Debs a great man. Humanism is the only way.

[Safsaf13]

Even better. Debs was a Socialist. It's time we reclaim that tradition in this country and look to Debs for inspiration.

[abby495]

The Republicans the elitist ignorants wouldn't let that happen. They would grab their guns and start some kind of retard revolution.

[NassimHarameinVedas]

@abby495 - Kurt Vonnegut quoted and wrote about him . . .

"As long as there is a lower class I am in it; As long there is a criminal element I am of it; As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free"

- Eugene Debs

[Egggbutt]

Of course, there is much more to this speech than the 4:31 clip here, but this was well done.

[elea1885]

debs was ahead of his time, no doubt.

[phatcrackerr]

How very applicable and relevant in today's bogus war on terror. Debbs was a great man, as well as a great American.

[imnotsam]

Debs was an interesting cat. Cool to see this video of Mark reading his speech.

[velveticepick]

Amazing.

[poshnosh1917]

Sweetness itself. And how relevant.