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American Socialist (2020)

Throughline

NPR

Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.616.4K Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2022

⏱️ 63 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's been over a century since a self-described socialist was a viable candidate for president of the United States. And that first socialist candidate, Eugene V. Debs, didn't just capture significant votes, he created a new and enduring populist politics deep in the American grain. This week, the story of Eugene V. Debs and the creation of American socialism.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This message comes from the podcast, Bad Rap, the case against Diddy. ABC News, legal contributor

0:06.2

Brian Buckmire covers the rise and fall of Diddy, the allegations, and his defense, with real-time

0:12.1

updates straight from the courtroom. Find Bad Rap, wherever you get podcasts. Right now, a lot of people

0:19.5

are exhausted from the grind, and many of them haven't had a choice.

0:24.0

We're seeing historically high inflation, waves of resignations and labor strikes, and a supply chain that's cracking under the pressure.

0:32.3

So today, we're bringing you a story from our archives.

0:35.8

It's about a man who was facing a similar world.

0:38.8

Eugene Debs.

0:40.2

He saw the power that the working class people of America had to change the course of history.

0:45.3

And he tried to unite them in a movement against capitalism.

0:49.0

He believed the U.S. could only thrive if we built something together.

0:58.8

Thank you. could only thrive if we built something together. Let the wealth of the nation belong to all the people and not just the millionaires.

1:06.9

The ruling class has always taught and trained you to believe it to be your patriotic duty to go to war and to have yourself slaughtered at their command.

1:16.6

But in all the history of the world, you, the people, have never had a voice of declaring war.

1:23.6

We need in this country and throughout the world an economic system in which we produce

1:31.8

goods and services for the use of all and not's the voice of Bernie Sanders.

1:51.9

But it's not a clip from one of his presidential rallies or stump speeches,

1:55.8

or even from his time in the Senate or his mayor in Vermont.

1:59.2

In fact, they aren't even his words.

2:01.6

He was reciting a speech by Eugene V. Debs.

2:05.6

My political heroes was not a politician.

2:09.6

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an extraordinary leader.

...

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