Debs, Eugene (1855–1926)

ONE OF THE premier labor leaders in American history, Eugene Debs was also one of the most controversial politicians of his era. He ran for president five times, organizing his final campaign from a prison cell. Debs was born on November 5, 1855, to immigrant parents in Terre Haute, Indiana. From an early age he worked on the railroads and eventually served as editor of Locomotive Fireman's Magazine before becoming involved in politics. He was elected national secretary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and in 1884, was elected to the Indiana State Legislature as a Democrat. Debs concentrated on his work with the unions, and in 1893 organized the American Railroad Union (ARU).

The following year he organized a strike against the Great Northern Railway during which the company gave in to most of the union's demands. The ARU also participated in the 1894 strike called against the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago. This time the strikers [Page 163]were met serious resistance in the form of an injunction, issued at the behest of President Grover Cleveland and his Attorney General Richard Olney, and a small army of federal troops that were sent by the president into Illinois. Refusing to bow to federal pressure and honor the injunction against the strike, Debs was arrested and charged with contempt of court. The noted attorney Clarence Darrow defended Debs, but the labor leader was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison. During his incarceration, Debs read prodigiously and became increasingly disgusted with the American political system as it existed. After his release he became a socialist and in 1898 helped form the Social Democratic Party, which was renamed the Socialist Party in 1901. He became the party's most visible and eloquent spokesman and editor of the Socialists' primary publication, Appeal to Reason.

Eugene Debs was a leading American socialist and ran for president of the United States five times.

Debs represented the Socialists as their presidential candidate in 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920. In 1905, he helped organize, and was an early supporter of, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). As America became involved in World War I, he made appeals to pacifism and, in 1918, was arrested for making anti-war speeches in violation of the recently passed Espionage Act. He was convicted, sentenced to 10 years in prison, and disenfranchised for life. He appealed the conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, but in Debs v. United States (1919), the High Court ruled against him. Prison failed to silence Debs, and he continued to produce letters and newspaper columns from his cell at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia.

Debs launched his final presidential bid from behind bars in 1920 with a platform that included improving the conditions for industrial workers, political reform aimed at expanding the American electorate, and significant welfare legislation. He garnered almost a million votes, the best showing of any of his campaigns. Debs received a presidential pardon from Warren G. Harding in 1921, and returned to Indiana. He continued to write, but ill health forced him to retire from active political agitation. Debs died on October 20, 1926 and was buried in Terre Haute.

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