Three in One: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

Debs' "Statement to the Court" is basically a master class in balancing the elements of ethos, pathos, and logos. (A+, Eugene.)

In his famous opening paragraph, he powerfully sets himself up as a moral and ethical person. He begins by being all humble when he says that he is "not one bit better than the meanest on earth" (1).

And then he establishes how he's united with every downtrodden person on the planet: "...while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free" (1).

You can't get much better than that in establishing yourself as a soulful, principled guy.

The next section of the speech is where he really lays on the pathos. First he briefly mentions the difficulties of his own boyhood:

At fourteen I went to work in a railroad shop; at sixteen I was firing a freight engine on a railroad. I remember all the hardships and privations… (4)

But more than his own struggles, Debs paints a powerful picture of the sufferings of the men, women, and children laborers in America. He speaks of:

[…] the women who for a paltry wage are compelled to work out their barren lives; of the little children who in this system are robbed of their childhood.. (5)

Toward the end of this section, Debs really lays the emotion on thick when he speaks of:

[…] vast numbers of our people who are the victims of poverty and whose lives are an unceasing struggle all the way from youth to old age, until at last death comes to their rescue and lulls these hapless victims to dreamless sleep. (6)

Oof. That's bleak.

But now that he has his audience focused on their emotional response to the plight of the workers, Debs switches into logos, making his case for why the workers will turn to Socialism and why this system will lift them to a brighter future.

He outlines the core beliefs of Socialists when he says,

I believe, as all Socialists do, that all things that jointly needed ought to be jointly owned—that industry…out to be the common property of all, democratically administered in the interest of all. (7)

He emphasize the "multiplied thousands of others" who share his beliefs and are "spreading with tireless energy the propaganda of the new social order" so that "this minority will become the triumphant majority and, sweeping into power, inaugurate the greatest social and economic change in history."

Stirring stuff.

After making the logical case for why Socialism will win out in the end, Debs switches back into a combination of pathos and ethos to conclude his remarks. He wants "no immunity" for himself, as he sees himself as at the edge of "the dawn of a better day for humanity" (13).

He relates a parable about sailors looking to the Southern Cross constellation to guide them when seas are rough and uses this as a metaphor for where he and the Socialist movement now stand. "Let people everywhere take heart of hope," says Debs at the close, "for the cross is bending, the midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning" (15).

The implication here is that this hope for the future is what will sustain Debs (and his followers) through the dark night of prison.