Popular figures in the community highlighted Deb’s and Kelly’s similar strengths throughout this Progressive Era. Emma Goldman shows how Deb’s belief differs from the popular opinion when she states, “His belief in the people was very genuine, and his vision of socialism quite unlike the state machine pictured in Marx's communist manifesto”. The communist manifesto was centered around the ideal that all classes would be economically and socially equal. Debs, acknowledging the workers unfair and unequal treatment of the wealthy consumers, believed that society had less to do with these ideals of the Communist Manifesto obviously because society was not following the manifesto’s ideals. This quote exhibits the importance of his political voice