Question

According to eugene v. debs’s speech to the jury before sentencing under the espionage act (1918), what did socialists in the united states strive for?

Answer 1

Eugene V. Debs discusses how socialists in the US strive for financial and social equality among all US citizens. Debs describes how American society can be extremely unfair, as some individuals are born into wealthy families and never have to work a day in their life while other individuals work extremely hard their entire lives just to survive.

This is why Debs, and socialists in the US in general, strive for a system in which the government has more control of the means of production and the economy in general. Debs argues that all things in the US are jointly used and that it only makes sense for the government to be involved in making sure these resources are spread out equally to citizens.