You..ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones

Tuesday April 14, 1903
Eugene V. Debs on the Socialist Party and the National Civic Federation

Victor Berger

When the battle between the right and left wings broke out at the Socialist Party Executive Committee meeting last January, Debs was unyielding in his opposition to the National Civic Federation. He accused Victor Berger of having been seduced by a trade union movement dominated by Mark Hanna and other capitalist. The National Civic Federation, he asserted, was an unfit bedfellow for socialist. While Debs believes that socialist should continue to work within the craft unions, he maintains that they should not compromise their class-conscious principles in order to gain votes at union conventions.

And no, I'm not talking about the past anti-labor ties like former COS Rahm Emanuel who called labor unions "f-ing retarded" and condescendingly opined about "where are they going to go?" if they expect more from Democrats. No, I'm not talking about the NAFTA and China PNTR hatchet man that helped crush US industry before he became mayor of the President's home town of Chicago attacking the teacher unions that helped elect this President. And I'm not talking the former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and JP Morgan Executive that also worked with Rahm and the Clinton administration to pass NAFTA either.

Of course, there still are plenty of anti-labor ties to choose from such as Jeffrey "China! China! China!" Immelt who serves as chairman of his outside panel of economic advisers while retaining his post as chairman of the board and CEO of the GE; the non tax paying conglomerate that outsourced its X-ray division from Wisconsin to China. Of course I don't need to which brings me to the main point of this piece.

(h/t Rick Pearlstein)