Eugene V. Debs, a co-founder of the Industrial Workers of the World, was an American labor leader (IWW). He ran for President of the United States five times, each time as the Socialist Party of America’s nominee. Despite failing to realize his ambition of becoming President of the United States, he became one of the most well-known socialists in the country. He was born in the United States to French immigrants who were unable to complete his education. He began working as a painter at railroad yards before becoming a fireman after being forced to drop out of school at the age of 14. He developed a compassion for all human beings, especially poor workers, as a result of his struggles in his childhood, and he helped to create the local chapter of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (BLF), of which he later became the national secretary and treasurer. He made a name for himself throughout the years as a result of his community involvement, and he went on to become president of the newly formed American Railway Union. He had also entered politics at this point and was a devout supporter of the international socialist movement. He was an eloquent public speaker with exceptional oratory abilities.
Childhood and Adolescence
Eugene Debs was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on November 5, 1855, to Jean Daniel and Marguerite Mari Bettrich Debs. His parents were French immigrants.
He attended Terre Haute Public Schools for his early education but was unable to complete his studies. He took a job as a painter at railroad yards after being forced to drop out of high school at the age of 14.
A Career of Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Debs was called into service as a night fireman after a railroad fireman failed to show up for work in 1871. For the following three and a half years, he worked as a fireman on the run between Terre Haute and Indianapolis. He also went to night studies at a local business college.
In 1874, he resigned his position as a train fireman to work as a billing clerk for Hulman & Cox, a wholesale grocery concern. The following year, he joined Vigo Lodge, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (BLF), as a charter member and secretary, and donated his salary to the local organization.
He was an enthusiastic member of BLF, and in 1877 he was elected as a representative from the Terre Haute lodge to the organization’s national conference. He was voted associate editor of the BLF’s monthly organ, ‘Firemen’s Magazine,’ the following year.
Due to his involvement with the BLF, he became a well-known figure in the town and served as Terre Haute’s city clerk for two terms, from September 1879 to September 1883. He was also named Grand Secretary and Treasurer of the BLF in 1880.
In 1884, he was elected as a Democrat to the Indiana General Assembly and served for one term.
In 1893, he resigned as Brotherhood Grand Secretary and founded the American Railway Union in Chicago, one of the country’s earliest industrial unions. Debs rose to national fame after leading the union in a successful strike for greater wages against the Great Northern Railway in April 1894.
Later in 1894, Debs became embroiled in the Pullman Strike, which was begun by unhappy workers who built the Pullman Palace Car Company’s train cars. In the aftermath of the Panic of 1893, the corporation lowered its employees’ wages by 28%, and the workers sought the help of union members.
The Pullman Strike was a long and arduous one, with over 80,000 workers refusing to handle Pullman cars or any other railroad cars connected to them, including cars carrying U.S. mail. Because Debs was the strike’s leader, it was dubbed “Debs’ Rebellion.”
The US federal government intervened in the strike after strikers refused to show up for work, obstructing the delivery of US mail on Pullman cars. The United States Army was dispatched by President Grover Cleveland to end the strike. In the subsequent violence, an estimated $80 million worth of property was damaged, 13 strikers were killed, and many more were blacklisted.
Debs was arrested and sentenced to federal prison for taking part in the strike. Eugene V. Debs became interested in socialist beliefs while serving his prison sentence. During his six months in prison, he got a number of letters and books from socialists across the country, and he was deeply influenced by the socialist movement.
After his release from prison in 1895, he began his socialist political career and was instrumental in the formation of the Social Democracy of America. Debs joined the main faction of the Social Democratic Party of the United States, sometimes known as the Social Democratic Party, after the group split.
He joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), an international radical labor union, as a founding member in 1905. The organization was founded on the principles of “revolutionary industrial unionism,” with socialist and anarchist labor movements as allies.
He was the Associate Editor of the Girard, Kansas-based ‘Appeal to Reason’ from 1907 until 1912. Due to his convincing and forceful writing, the weekly magazine was a huge success, with a circulation of several hundred thousand copies.
Debs was an outspoken opponent of war, and in June 1918, he delivered his famous anti-war address at Canton, Ohio, opposing World War I, which was raging in Europe at the time. He was arrested and convicted of wartime espionage in federal court following the speech, and sentenced to ten years in prison.
In the years 1900, 1904, 1908, and 1912, he unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States. In 1920, while still in prison, he was nominated to run for President on the Socialist Party ticket. He received nearly a million votes, but was beaten by Warren G. Harding, a Republican. On Christmas Day, 1921, President Harding released Debs from prison, commuting his sentence to time served.
Major Projects of Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs was a well-known socialist in the United States who was well-known for his work with labor unions. He was one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and played a key part in the creation of the American Railway Union (ARU), one of the nation’s first industrial unions, after working with many smaller unions early in his career.
Personal History and Legacy
On June 9, 1885, Eugene Debs married Kate Metzel. They didn’t have any children of their own.
Debs was greeted as a hero upon his release from prison. Years of captivity, on the other hand, had deprived him of his good health, and he battled to regain it following his release. Despite his declining health, he continued to be active, giving countless talks and writing numerous articles.
In 1926, he was admitted to Lindlahr Sanitarium in Elmhurst, Illinois, and died there on October 20, 1926, at the age of 70, of heart failure.
Estimated Net Worth
Eugene is one of the wealthiest civil rights leaders and one of the most well-known. Eugene V. Debs net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.