v.
born Nov. 5, 1855, Terre Haute, Ind., U.S.
died Oct. 20, 1926, Elmhurst, Ill.
U.S. labour organizer.
Debs left home at age 14 to work in the railroad shops. As a locomotive fireman, he became an early advocate of industrial unionism, and he became president of the American Railway Union in 1893. His involvement in the Pullman Strike led to a six-month prison term in 1895. In 1898 he helped found the U.S. Socialist Party; he would run as its presidential candidate five times (190020). In 1905 he helped found the Industrial Workers of the World . Debs was charged with sedition in 1918 after denouncing the 1917 Espionage Act; he conducted his last presidential campaign from prison, winning 915,000 votes before being released by presidential order in 1921.
Eugene V. Debs.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.