How Did Eugene Deb's Threat To Socialism?
“With faith and hope and courage we hold our heads erect and with the dauntless spirit marshal the working class for the march from Capitalism to Socialism, from Slavery to Freedom, from Barbarism to Civilization.” Eugene Debs said this at his opening speech delivered as candidate of the Socialist party for president in Indianapolis on September 1, 1904. Debs, and one of his influencers Karl Marx, were said to be the creators of American Socialism. Socialism is defined as, “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” This means that it is an economic system where everyone in the society equally owns the factors of production.
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Eugene Deb’s idea of socialism was a threat to democracy in the United States because it took away people’s constitutional rights, gave the government too much power, and would ultimately lead to tyranny. First, if a socialist president were to be elected in America, it would take away many of the citizens constitutional rights. In a socialist government, every citizen must go through the government to make certain decisions like buying property or getting a job. People have much more freedom in a capitalistic society because they can make decisions without government oversight. Also, in a socialist society everyone is paid the same amount of money no matter what job they have. This will lead to people having no incentive to work a job that takes hard work and higher levels of thought. If everybody makes the same amount of money, nobody feels the need to get a higher education and have an occupation that, in a capitalist society, would pay more than a job requiring a lower level of education. Nobody would become a surgeon or a lawyer because it requires more school, and is would provide the same salary as a person who is employed at a fast food restaurant. In addition to this, if someone were to sit at a desk all day and play video games, they would be getting paid
Eugene Deb’s idea of socialism was a threat to democracy in the United States because it took away people’s constitutional rights, gave the government too much power, and would ultimately lead to tyranny. First, if a socialist president were to be elected in America, it would take away many of the citizens constitutional rights. In a socialist government, every citizen must go through the government to make certain decisions like buying property or getting a job. People have much more freedom in a capitalistic society because they can make decisions without government oversight. Also, in a socialist society everyone is paid the same amount of money no matter what job they have. This will lead to people having no incentive to work a job that takes hard work and higher levels of thought. If everybody makes the same amount of money, nobody feels the need to get a higher education and have an occupation that, in a capitalist society, would pay more than a job requiring a lower level of education. Nobody would become a surgeon or a lawyer because it requires more school, and is would provide the same salary as a person who is employed at a fast food restaurant. In addition to this, if someone were to sit at a desk all day and play video games, they would be getting paid