Eugene V. Debs

Eugene Victor Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American <a href="/facts/Socialism/U2kVoPaA">socialist</a>, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the <a href="/facts/Industrial_Workers_of_the_World/5Pyhrypn">Industrial Workers of the World</a> (IWW), and five-time candidate of the <a href="/facts/Socialist_Party_of_America/NL9pcEbM">Socialist Party of America</a> 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.
Early in his political career, Debs was a member of the <a href="/facts/Democratic_Party_(United_States)/MNe3nDrL">Democratic Party</a>. He was elected as a Democrat to the <a href="/facts/Indiana_General_Assembly/yCAmYCr0">Indiana General Assembly</a> in 1884. After working with several smaller unions, including the <a href="/facts/Brotherhood_of_Locomotive_Firemen_and_Enginemen/j5WaYSCg">Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen</a>, Debs led his union in <a href="/facts/Burlington_railroad_strike_of_1888/SjdINMS1">a major ten-month strike against the CB&Q Railroad in 1888</a>. Debs was instrumental in the founding of the <a href="/facts/American_Railway_Union/lmFkzA9T">American Railway Union</a> (ARU), one of the nation's first <a href="/facts/Industrial_unionism/axhoq1e8">industrial unions</a>. After workers at the <a href="/facts/Pullman_Company/BWUR1Rm4">Pullman Palace Car Company</a> organized a <a href="/facts/Wildcat_strike/5WaGXSWa">wildcat strike</a> 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 <a href="/facts/Pullman_Strike/ejc3zDa8">Pullman Strike</a>, affecting most lines west of Detroit and more than 250,000 workers in 27 states. Purportedly to keep the mail running, President <a href="/facts/Grover_Cleveland/4TPPTvRN">Grover Cleveland</a> used the <a href="/facts/United_States_Army/WACWBEK9">United States Army</a> 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.
In prison, Debs read various works of socialist theory and emerged six months later as a committed adherent of the <a href="/facts/Marxism/sgnnLfax">international socialist</a> movement. Debs was a founding member of the <a href="/facts/Social_Democracy_of_America/wHR8f4Az">Social Democracy of America</a> (1897), the <a href="/facts/Social_Democratic_Party_of_America/M61pDDWB">Social Democratic Party of America</a> (1898) and the <a href="/facts/Socialist_Party_of_America/NL9pcEbM">Socialist Party of America</a> (1901). Debs ran as a Socialist candidate for President of the United States five times: <a href="/facts/1900_United_States_presidential_election/xgIGUfcJ">1900</a> (earning 0.6 percent of the popular vote), <a href="/facts/1904_United_States_presidential_election/y0tSGTt0">1904</a> (3.0 percent), <a href="/facts/1908_United_States_presidential_election/V66oKATM">1908</a> (2.8 percent), <a href="/facts/1912_United_States_presidential_election/KTI0HH74">1912</a> (6.0 percent), and <a href="/facts/1920_United_States_presidential_election/F4BVuWa5">1920</a> (3.4 percent), the last time from a prison cell. He was also a candidate for <a href="/facts/United_States_Congress/mJlU46K7">United States Congress</a> from his native state <a href="/facts/Indiana/VRnvjXoQ">Indiana</a> in 1916.
Debs was noted for his oratorical skills, and his speech denouncing American participation in <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a> led to his second arrest in 1918. He was convicted under the <a href="/facts/Sedition_Act_of_1918/DkgMAfxw">Sedition Act of 1918</a> and sentenced to a 10-year term. President <a href="/facts/Warren_G._Harding/v9zaPPvS">Warren G. Harding</a> <a href="/facts/Commutation_(law)/Qg5Ynz07">commuted</a> his sentence in December 1921. Debs died in 1926, not long after being admitted to a <a href="/facts/Sanatorium/ISurvlms">sanatorium</a> due to cardiovascular problems that developed during his time in prison.

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Eugene V. Debs