The week in history

Wednesday, November 17, 1993 - 11:00

On November 5, 1855, the great US socialist Eugene Debs was born in Terra Haute, Indiana. Debs was to play a leading role in the formation of the American Railway Union (ARU), and was jailed in 1894 for his part in an ARU strike against the Chicago Pullman Palace Car Company. Debs was introduced to the ideas of Karl Marx and socialism in prison, and on leaving he founded the Social Democratic Party, which in 1901 became the Socialist Party. Debs was arrested and jailed for sedition because of his opposition to World War 1. In 1920, Debs ran for president on the Socialist ticket from his prison cell, and received nearly 1 million votes.

From Green Left Weekly, November 2, 2005.

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From GLW issue 647