United StatesWho was Eugene V. Debs?
Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926) was a railroad worker and union official from Terre Haute, Indiana, who founded the American Railway Union in 1893 as one of the first industrial unions in the United States. After leading the 1894 Pullman boycott and serving six months in jail for violating a court injunction, he turned to socialism and helped found the Socialist Party of America in 1901. He ran for president five times between 1900 and 1920, winning about 6 percent of the vote in 1912. In 1918 he was convicted under the Sedition Act for an antiwar speech.
Political views
Advocated industrial unionism, organizing all workers in an industry together rather than by craft, and helped found the Industrial Workers of the World in 1905.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCalled for the nation's industries to be socially owned and operated by workers for the benefit of the whole people, replacing private ownership and competition.
Source: marxists.orgArgued in his 1918 Canton, Ohio speech that the master class declares wars while the subject class fights them.
Source: marxists.orgOpposed a 1910 Socialist Party proposal to exclude certain immigrant groups, calling it unsocialistic and defending the right of the oppressed to come to the United States.
Source: marxists.orgDenounced racial prejudice, including among fellow socialists, and treated the struggle of Black workers as part of the class struggle.
Source: marxists.orgRan for president from federal prison in 1920 and received more than 900,000 votes.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Legacy
Debs remains a central figure for American socialists, labor activists and civil libertarians, who admire his advocacy for industrial workers, his opposition to war and his willingness to go to prison for his views. His conviction, upheld by the Supreme Court, is often cited in debates over free speech in wartime, and President Warren Harding commuted his sentence in 1921. Critics, including business leaders and political opponents of his time, regarded his opposition to the draft as unlawful obstruction during war and his program of public ownership as a threat to property and economic growth. His national vote share never exceeded about 6 percent.
In their words
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.