Eugene Debs
Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926) was an American Socialist leader and candidate for president.
Debs was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, Nov. 5, 1855; he lived there all his life. He went to work as a locomotive fireman in 1870; in 1875 he helped form a lodge of the brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and in 1880 he was made national secretary and treasurer of the brotherhood, as well as editor of its magazine. From 1879 to 1883 Debs also served as city clerk of Terre Haute, and in 1884 he was elected for a term in the Indiana state legislature.
A persistent critic of the organization of labor by crafts (such as locomotive firemen), Debs in 1893 created the American Railway Union to include all workers, even those belonging to other usions. Established unions denounced it as "dual unionism," but with the severe Depression of 1893 underway, worlerrs were angry and wanted an aggressive union. When the Pullman factory strike erupted in Chicago in 1894, the ARU organized the workers, but Pullman refused to negotiate with them. The ARU then called for a boycott of railroads using Pullman cars (which most did), even though the ARU had no grievances against the railroads. The result was a nationwide strike that was especially severe west of Detroit, as violence broke out in many cities. President Grover Cleveland intervened and obtained a court order to end the strike (because it was disrupting the mails). Debs and the ARU refused to obey. Debs was held in contempt of court for violating the federal injunction and sentenced to six months in jail. The sttrike and the ARU collpased.
Long interested in socialism in the abstract, Debs read widely on the subject while in prison, and in 1897 he transformed the remnants of the ARU into the Social Democratic Party of America, later called the Socialist Party of America. The Party was splintered and Debs was one of the few leaders with an appeal to both the conservatives (who wanted municipal ownership), the ethnic Germans, and the radicals who wanted to destroy capitalism. Debs ran for president of the United States on the Socialist ticket five times, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920. In 1912 he polled over 900,000 votes, nearly 6 percent of the total cast. In 1920 his vote again exceeded 900,000 although he was at the time serving a federal prison sentence.
Debs led the anti-war wing of the Socialist party and called for young men to avoid the draft, a federal crime. Indicted for violation of the Espionage Act in 1918, Debs was convicted and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, but at Christmas 1921 he was released by President Warren Harding. Debs then campaigned against prison conditions. He died in Elmhurst, Ill., Oct. 20, 1926.
Bibliography
- Ginger, Roy
- Salvatore, Nick