Socialism according to Eugene V. Debs

[TexasTowelie]

IT’S NOT your typical presidential candidate who identifies as a socialist, but Bernie Sanders does. A poster of Eugene V. Debs, the popular Socialist Party leader of the early 20th century, hangs on his office wall as a tribute to Sanders’ self-proclaimed hero.

Like Debs, who ran for president five times, Sanders is also running for president. But that, my friends, is where the similarities end.

The socialism of Bernie Sanders—who says he’s running as a Democrat to shift the debate to the left--is fundamentally different from that of Eugene Debs, who committed his life to spreading the ideas of revolutionary socialism. Sanders is promoting something that falls far, far short of the fundamental change that Debs fought for. Sanders relegates socialism to the realm of nice ideas that can be talked about, but never really be implemented—while he accepts what little the Democratic Party is willing to concede.

For Sanders, the working class is a “constituency,” a backdrop to the political campaigns he runs and the legislative work he does. For Debs, the working class was in the foreground of everything he hope to achieve—because he believed, as a convinced Marxist, that workers have to make the fundamental and lasting transformation that he called socialism.

Read more: http://socialistworker.org/2015/07/09/socialism-according-to-eugene-debs

[rock]

1. "...who says he’s running as a Democrat to shift the debate to the left..."

I thought he was running to be president. What did I miss?

[TBF]

2. I see Bernie as the person who would do the least

amount of damage out of the folks who have declared an interest in running for president in 2016. He might even do some good. But obviously he's not a revolutionary socialist - although it is somewhat comforting that he at least knows who Eugene Debs is.

[Starry Messenger]

3. The next group will castigate SW for

honoring Debs, since running for President just legitimized US imperialism. There's always someone leftier than thou.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

4. Sanders' constituency has never just been a backdrop to his political campaigns.

I'm sorry he isn't lefty enough, but he's not the end, but simply the first step in moving towards true socialism. Only very short journeys take a single step.