Debs in Love

Comrade Gene Debs: even to those Americans who can identify the name, it sounds antiquated, conjuring up a political culture that died long ago. It is difficult today for anyone (including, and maybe especially, anyone on the left) to utter “comrade” without a touch of irony. Partly, the word is one of the linguistic casualties of the twentieth century, with its links to communism, double-speak and cold-war movies. But “comrade” also sounds strange in an American political world that lacks much sense of enduring, universal affection. The battered trade union movement can still address its members as “brothers and sisters.” So can organizations based in churches, synagogues, and mosques, as well as blac...