_For the Education of the Workers
by the Workers_
Published by
The People's College
Fort Scott, Kansas
1917
¶ He who aspires to master the art of expression must first of all
consecrate himself completely to some great cause and the greatest cause
of all is the cause of humanity. He must learn to feel deeply and think
clearly, to express himself eloquently. He must be absolutely true to
the best there is in him, if he has to stand alone.
¶ Such natural powers as he may have should be cultivated by the study
of history, science and literature. He must not only keep close to the
people but remember that he is one of them, and not above the meanest.
He must feel the wrongs of others so keenly that he forgets his own, and
resolve to combat these wrongs with all the power at his command.
¶ The most thrilling, inspiring oratory, the most powerful and
impressive eloquence is the voice of the disinherited, the oppressed,
the suffering and submerged; it is the voice of poverty and misery, of
rags and crusts, of wretchedness and despair; the voice of humanity
crying to the infinite; the voice that resounds throughout the earth and
reaches Heaven; the voice that awakens the conscience of a race and
proclaims the truths that fill the world with life and liberty and love.
--EUGENE V. DEBS.