Our Labor History: Eugene Debs – A Leader for Working People

(This article appeared in the November/December 2025 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine)

November 5, 1855: American trade unionist, social and economic political activist, and cofounding member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Eugene V. Debs was born in Terre Haute, IN.

Debs’ parents were immigrants from the Alsace region of France and worked as grocers in the United States. At the young age of 14, Debs dropped out of school to work in the rail yards, where he quickly become a locomotive fi reman. He was a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (BLF) and served as grand secretary-treasurer and editor-in-chief of the union’s magazine.

After leading the BLF through the major, but unsuccessful, Burlington railroad strike, Debs recognized the need to pivot from the craft-based structure of the BLF, and in 1893 formed the first industrial union in the United States – the American Railway Union (ARU), serving as its founding president.

Debs gained national recognition leading the ARU’s 1894 Pullman Strike – a nationwide strike and boycott of the Pullman Palace Car Company, which had just cut workers’ wages. However, President Grover Cleveland intervened, issuing an injunction to end the strike with the justification that it was disrupting mail delivery and interstate commerce. Debs defi ed the injunction, leading to his arrest, imprisonment, and the dissolution of the ARU.

Left cynical about the state of the government, which sided against workers for corporate interests, Debs spent his time in prison studying the works of socialist thinkers.

Upon his release in 1895, Debs supported populist Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. After Bryan’s failed bid for the presidency, Debs realized that the needed change for everyday working-class Americans could not be achieved by either of the two major political parties. In 1898, he helped form the Social Democratic Party, which later became the Socialist Party of America following a merger with disaected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America. 

Debs was also one of 40 socialists and trade unionists who formed the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) during its founding convention in Chicago in 1905. He remained active in the early years, advocating and organizing for the Socialist movement. He ran as the Socialist Party’s candidate for U.S. president five times between 1900 and 1920, promoting workers’ rights, women’s suFrage, and abolishment of child labor. Debs’ final run for president occurred during a 10-year prison sentence for denouncing World War I under the Espionage Act. He campaigned for free speech and against political repression.

On Christmas Day 1921, President Harding commuted his sentence. Debs spent his remaining years advocating for peace, prison reform, and social justice until he passed away in October 1926. ■

Mark Dimondstein to Lead Eugene V. Debs Foundation

Retiring APWU President Mark Dimondstein has accepted an o er to serve in a part-time, voluntary role as president of the Eugene V. Debs Foundation, based in Terre Haute, IN. Dimondstein will serve the remaining two years of a vacant three-year term. Since 1962, the foundation has promoted the legacy and relevance of American trade unionist and political activist Eugene Debs. The Debs’ residence became a museum owned by the foundation in 1964 and has since served as a revered memorial site for individuals, unions, school groups, and other organizations to honor Eugene Debs. Each year, the foundation presents its Annual Debs Award to an individual or organization that best exemplifies the spirit and legacy of Eugene Debs. This year’s award was presented to Senator Bernie Sanders.

“I’m honored to serve as the next president of the Eugene V. Debs Foundation,” said Dimondstein. “It is fitting that I had a Eugene Debs poster hanging in my office,” he continued. “His vision for labor and working people is the same one that I have, and I firmly believe that we must keep history alive so we can prepare for the battles ahead.”