Eugene V. Debs: Trade Unionist, Socialist, Revolutionary 1855-1926

Trade unionist Eugene V. Debs was a major organizer of the American Railway Union and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). A socialist political leader, he received almost one million votes in his campaign for President of the United States in the 1912 and 1920 elections, even while imprisoned for his opposition to World War I. Summarizing his own philosophy, he told his sentencing judge, “…Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.” A young Bernard (Bernie) Sanders wrote and directed this spoken word release about Debs’s legacy in 1979, as part of his work for the American People’s Historical Society. Shortly thereafter, he began his own political career, which would take him from the mayor’s office of Burlington, Vermont, in 1981 to the U.S. Senate in 2006. A complete transcript of the recording is included in liner notes.

Track Listing

101	Introduction Bernard Sanders	01:42
102	An Overview of Eugene V. Debs Bernard Sanders	03:43
103	Debs View of America Bernard Sanders	01:26
104	Why Support the Socialist Party? Bernard Sanders	01:41
105	Democrats, Republicans, and Capitalists Bernard Sanders	04:02
201	The Early Background of Eugene Debs Bernard Sanders	01:15
202	The Formation and Fall of the American Railway Union Bernard Sanders	03:55
203	Internalizing Socialist Thought Bernard Sanders	02:04
204	Debs for President Bernard Sanders	02:22
205	The Speech That Sent Debs to Jail Bernard Sanders	03:15
206	The Last Days of Eugene Debs Bernard Sanders	02:20