Monday was Labor Day, and this September marks the 100-year anniversary of a famous court speech by a man who fought for the working class his entire life.
Eugene Debs was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1855. He became a railway worker after dropping out of high school. Debs soon rose to president of the American Railway Union. There, he led a strike that paralyzed train traffic before getting the union’s demands were met.
Debs also joined a boycott of Pullman railcars after the Pullman company cut employee wages, which landed him in jail.
He was a state politician in Indiana before going on to run for president four different times, once from prison, under the Socialist Party of America. In 1912, he garnered 13.4 percent of the vote in Arizona, one of his best showings that election and beat Willim H. Taft in the state.
He also spoke out against World War I. After one such speech in Canton, Ohio, he was arrested and charged with inciting disloyalty to the country.
In September 1918, Debs defended himself in court and delivered an impassioned, two-hour speech standing up for the working class. His defense failed, his appeal was rejected at the state supreme court, and Debs received a 10-year prison sentence. He served several years before being commuted by President Warren Harding.
