blindpig
03-22-2016, 04:26 PM
Socialist Sunday School
by Eugene V. Debs
Published in Socialist News [Cleveland], vol. 1, no. 40 (Sept. 4, 1915), pg. 3.
Every child is a potential revolutionist.
Whether he becomes one in fact will depend upon
his intellectual environment and training during
the formative period of his career.
Every wealth producer, every wage worker,
ought to be in revolt against the system that robs
him, and, if he was, the capitalist system would
not last overnight. The reason the workers of this
and every other nation on earth are not in open
revolt against the system that robs them is that the
beneficiaries of capitalism control every avenue
of information and education from the cradle to
the grave.
In schools, both public and private, the child
of the worker is taught to revere the institutions
of capitalism. Six days in the week, through the
school, the press, and the spoken word, a perfect
deluge of capitalist philosophy and hypocrisy is
poured upon the innocent and plastic mind of
the child of the worker. On Sunday the church
and the Sunday school perform their service for
capitalism, and the child-mind is doped with the
false morals of the master-class — all in the sacred
name of religion.
All the institutions of capitalism, including
the state, the church, the press, the schools, and
even the places of amusement, conspire to poison
the receptive mind of the child of the worker.
The Socialist father and mother who neglects
the opportunity offered in the Socialist Sunday
School to checkmate this work of capitalism in
the mind of the child neglects the noblest work
in the entire field of Socialist propaganda.
The hope of the future is in the child of today.
Teach him the songs of the revolution, and,
above all, teach him the revolutionary character of
Jesus — the worker; teach him the religion of Love
and Human Brotherhood; teach him to despise
war and the fomenters of war.
Inculcate in the mind of the child a love for
and a pride in his class, for “as the twig is bent
the tree’s inclined.” If the Socialists of today will
attend to the training of the child, tomorrow will
take care of itself. Let us by all means utilize the
Socialist Sunday School in the noblest cause that
ever challenged the mind of man.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/debs/works/1915/0904-debs-socialistsundayschool.pdf
by Eugene V. Debs
Published in Socialist News [Cleveland], vol. 1, no. 40 (Sept. 4, 1915), pg. 3.
Every child is a potential revolutionist.
Whether he becomes one in fact will depend upon
his intellectual environment and training during
the formative period of his career.
Every wealth producer, every wage worker,
ought to be in revolt against the system that robs
him, and, if he was, the capitalist system would
not last overnight. The reason the workers of this
and every other nation on earth are not in open
revolt against the system that robs them is that the
beneficiaries of capitalism control every avenue
of information and education from the cradle to
the grave.
In schools, both public and private, the child
of the worker is taught to revere the institutions
of capitalism. Six days in the week, through the
school, the press, and the spoken word, a perfect
deluge of capitalist philosophy and hypocrisy is
poured upon the innocent and plastic mind of
the child of the worker. On Sunday the church
and the Sunday school perform their service for
capitalism, and the child-mind is doped with the
false morals of the master-class — all in the sacred
name of religion.
All the institutions of capitalism, including
the state, the church, the press, the schools, and
even the places of amusement, conspire to poison
the receptive mind of the child of the worker.
The Socialist father and mother who neglects
the opportunity offered in the Socialist Sunday
School to checkmate this work of capitalism in
the mind of the child neglects the noblest work
in the entire field of Socialist propaganda.
The hope of the future is in the child of today.
Teach him the songs of the revolution, and,
above all, teach him the revolutionary character of
Jesus — the worker; teach him the religion of Love
and Human Brotherhood; teach him to despise
war and the fomenters of war.
Inculcate in the mind of the child a love for
and a pride in his class, for “as the twig is bent
the tree’s inclined.” If the Socialists of today will
attend to the training of the child, tomorrow will
take care of itself. Let us by all means utilize the
Socialist Sunday School in the noblest cause that
ever challenged the mind of man.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/debs/works/1915/0904-debs-socialistsundayschool.pdf