Debs, Eugene V. (Eugene Victor), 1855-1926

<p>Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and five times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States. Through his presidential candidacies as well as his work with labor movements, Debs eventually became one of the best-known socialists living in the United States.</p>

<p>Early in his political career, Debs was a member of the Democratic Party. He was elected as a Democrat to the Indiana General Assembly in 1884. After working with several smaller unions, including the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, Debs led his union in a major ten-month strike against the CB&Q Railroad in 1888. Debs was instrumental in the founding of the American Railway Union (ARU), one of the nation's first industrial unions. After workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company organized a wildcat strike over pay cuts in the summer of 1894, Debs signed many into the ARU. He led a boycott by the ARU against handling trains with Pullman cars in what became the nationwide Pullman Strike, affecting most lines west of Detroit and more than 250,000 workers in 27 states. Purportedly to keep the mail running, President Grover Cleveland used the United States Army to break the strike. As a leader of the ARU, Debs was convicted of federal charges for defying a court injunction against the strike and served six months in prison.</p>

<p>In prison, Debs read various works of socialist theory and emerged six months later as a committed adherent of the international socialist movement. Debs was a founding member of the Social Democracy of America (1897), the Social Democratic Party of America (1898) and the Socialist Party of America (1901). Debs ran as a Socialist candidate for President of the United States five times, including 1900 (earning 0.6% of the popular vote), 1904 (3.0%), 1908 (2.8%), 1912 (6.0%) and 1920 (3.4%), the last time from a prison cell. He was also a candidate for United States Congress from his native state Indiana in 1916.</p>

<p>Debs was noted for his oratory, and his speech denouncing American participation in World War I led to his second arrest in 1918. He was convicted under the Sedition Act of 1918 and sentenced to a term of 10 years. President Warren G. Harding commuted his sentence in December 1921. Debs died in 1926, not long after being admitted to a sanatorium due to cardiovascular problems that developed during his time in prison.</p>

<p>During the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, Eugene V. Debs was a leading advocate for socialism in the United States of America.</p>

<p>Debs was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1855. He began working in a railroad yard at the age of fourteen, working his way up to fireman on a locomotive. Debs was originally a member of the Democratic Party. He became involved in local and state politics in the 1880s, first serving as city clerk of Terre Haute from 1880 to 1884 and then as a representative to the Indiana legislature from 1885 to 1887. Over time, Debs moved away from the Democratic Party as he became more interested in helping workers gain more rights through unionization.</p>

<p>In 1893, Debs organized the American Railway Union. Unlike many unions of this era, the American Railway Union was not limited to skilled workers. Anyone who worked on the railroads was allowed to join. Debs was sentenced to six months in prison after encouraging the union to go on strike against the Pullman Company. President Grover Cleveland sent in federal troops to end the strike. It was at this time that Debs became a socialist.</p>

<p>When the Social Democrat Party formed in Indianapolis in 1900, its members nominated Debs as their presidential candidate. Debs ran for president on the Socialist ticket in 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920. In 1912, Debs obtained approximately six percent of the total popular vote. In 1920, he received approximately 900,000 popular votes, about 3.5% of the total votes cast.</p>

<p>Debs was outspoken in his opposition to U.S. involvement in World War I. He made numerous speeches on the topic, including in Ohio. A speech that Debs made in Canton, Ohio, resulted in his imprisonment. In this speech, Debs criticized the war by discussing how workers were the ones who always made the greatest sacrifices in times of war. He argued that wealthy American businessmen were profiting from the war while the working class suffered. The government charged him with violating the Espionage Act, which prohibited people in the U.S. from interfering with military service or otherwise obstructing the United States' war effort. Debs was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison, although President Warren G. Harding commuted his sentence on December 25, 1921. When Debs ran for president in 1920, he was still in prison.</p>

<p>After leaving prison, Debs suffered from poor health. He continued to promote socialist causes for the rest of his life. Debs died near Chicago, Illinois, on October 20, 1926.</p>