“Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.”
The Canton, Ohio Speech, Anti-War Speech (1918)
Context: And now for all of us to do our duty! The clarion call is ringing in our ears and we cannot falter without being convicted of treason to ourselves and to our great cause.
Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.
Yes, in good time we are going to sweep into power in this nation and throughout the world. We are going to destroy all enslaving and degrading capitalist institutions and re-create them as free and humanizing institutions. The world is daily changing before our eyes. The sun of capitalism is setting; the sun of socialism is rising. It is our duty to build the new nation and the free republic.
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Eugene V. Debs 108
American labor and political leader 1855–1926Related quotes
“Treason is a charge invented by winners as an excuse for hanging the losers.”
This is actually from the musical play 1776 (1969) by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone, in which Franklin is portrayed as saying this.
Misattributed
“Another serious charge against Jesus was that of treason to his country.”
Source: Jesus or Christianity: A Study in Contrasts (1929), p. 27
Context: Another serious charge against Jesus was that of treason to his country. His admonition to refrain from hatred and retaliation and instead to love the Romans seemed to the patriots of the day nothing less than disloyalty and treachery to his native land... There is little doubt as to what would have happened to an American citizen early in 1918 if he had arisen in a Liberty Loan mass meeting and pleaded for the immediate cessation of hostilities and protested against the hatred being manifested toward the Germans.
“Denounce treason and uphold the cause of the Union.”
As quoted in Indiana in the Civil War Era, 1850–1880: History of Indiana III https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0871950502 (1995), by Emma Lou Thornbrough. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, p. 102
Former Vice President Convicted Of Treason, Sentenced To Death, AP News, en-US, 2018-07-09 https://www.apnews.com/984b27b0479c90a4cb47a13106ad8120,
"The War Is Over" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/war-is-over.html from Tape from California (1968)
Lyrics