"Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things,
and I made up my mind that I was not
one bit better than the meanest on the earth.
I said then and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it;
while there is a criminal element, I am of it;
while there is a soul in prison, I am not free." | Quote by: | Eugene Debs
(1855-1926) American labor and political leader, five-time Socialist Party of America candidate for US President |
Source: | 1919, at his sentencing hearing for making a speech June 16, 1918 in Canton, Ohio in opposition to World War I. Debs was arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917. He was convicted, sentenced to 10 years in prison and disenfranchised for life. President Harding commuted his sentence in 1921. |
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