Category: Eugene Victor Debs

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: “A Personal Letter to the Appeal Army” by Eugene V. Debs

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD, Starve Quietly, Phl GS Speech IA, Mar 19, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 28, 1910
Eugene V. Debs to the Appeal Army, “It All Depends on You”

From the Appeal to Reason of July 23, 1910:

A Personal Letter to the Appeal Army
—–

BY EUGENE V. DEBS.
—–

EVD Life Size Photo by Jas Soler ed small, ISR p1044, May 1910

Comrades-During the past year or more my work in the field has brought me into personal touch with most of you and I want to express to you this word of appreciation of your personal kindness and your service to the cause. You have made the Appeal the most widely circulated labor and Socialist paper in the world and given it a power which is making capitalist culprits in high places tremble with fear and misgiving. But for this power Warren would long since be in jail and along with him Wayland, myself and the rest of the Appeal staff. The order to this effect was duly issued and the papers prepared but when the time came to move the puppets were paralyzed with fear. They were palsied by the silent power of the Appeal and did not dare to defy its lightning.

This power of the Appeal created by you is the power of the rising people and the degree it registers on the indicator is the degree of their progress toward emancipation.

This power is subject to the laws of growth and decay. Daily hourly, it must advance or it must decline. It cannot remain at a standstill. The very law of its being forbids.

IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOU.

You not only created that power, YOU ARE THAT POWER!

The moral power of the Appeal, in the revolutionary movement of the people is the concrete expression of the moral power of the Appeal Army.

To the extent that you add to the moral stature and strength of the Appeal to Reason you hasten the day of deliverance from the tyranny of plutocracy.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: “A Personal Letter to the Appeal Army” by Eugene V. Debs” →

Hellraisers Journal: Newly Freed, Kate Richards O’Hare Visits with Eugene V. Debs, Imprisoned at Atlanta Penitentiary

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD, To Speak for Labor, Canton OH, June 16, 1918———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 14, 1920
Atlanta Penitentiary – Kate Richards O’Hare Visits Eugene Debs

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of July 12, 1920:

DRAMATIC VISIT PAID ‘GENE BY KATE O’HARE
—–
Two Comrades Meet in Atlanta Prison
After Long Separation;
Think of Others’ Suffering.
—–

(By the Federated Press.)

Kate Richards OHare w Children, Chg New Day, July 10, 1920, MxOrg

Atlanta, Ga., July 12.-In a visit full of dramatic incidents, Kate Richards O’Hare visited Eugene V. Debs in the federal penitentiary July 3.

Mrs. O’Hare, recently freed from the penitentiary, was ushered into the prison. The two comrades embraced.

“How glad I am to see you free, Kate,” Debs said.

“I’m not used to being free yet,” she answered. They sat down, facing each other across the table. It was a fair afternoon and the rays of the sun filtered through the steel bars of the visitors’ cell, and lighted up the features of Debs, who smiled a smile of joy to see his old friend.

“Your coming here is like a ray of sunlight to me,” said Debs. “Tell me of your prison experiences.”

“I am not thinking of myself,” Mrs. O’Hare answered, “but of little Mollie Steimer, who now occupies my cell at Jefferson City, and of her appalling sentence of fifteen years. She is a little 19-year-old girl, smaller than my Kathleen, and her sole crime is her love for the oppressed.” At Debs’ questions, Mrs. O’Hare related the story of the girl. Debs’ lashes damped and his eyes were tear-stained, his face showed the emotion in his heart.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Newly Freed, Kate Richards O’Hare Visits with Eugene V. Debs, Imprisoned at Atlanta Penitentiary” →

Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs, the Socialist Candidate for President, Greets Running Mate, Seymour Stedman

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD re SP n Working Class, Atlanta Cstn p2, May 30, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 27, 1920
Atlanta Federal Penitentiary – Debs Greets Stedman with a Kiss

From the Appeal to Reason of June 26, 1920:

EVD Kisses Stedman at Atlanta Pen, AtR p2, June 26, 1920

President Should Pardon Debs

William M. Reedy, in Reedy’s Mirror.

President Wilson should order the release from prison of Eugene V. Debs. He will, if he has any place in that heart which so throbs for humanity in the abstract, for the individual man. He will, if he has any admiration for a man whose convictions defy prison and death. He will, if he has any brotherliness for another who obeys those “voices” which Wilson himself hears and obeys as Socrates did his demon. He will not doom Debs to death for his opinions based on a higher law than that of that man-made, Hobbesian God, the State. I understand that Mr. Debs is in a much weakened condition as the result of his confinement, that his physical plight is such as to make his immurement during hot weather extremely dangerous.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs, the Socialist Candidate for President, Greets Running Mate, Seymour Stedman” →

Hellraisers Journal: St. Louis Streetcar Strikers Shot Down by Sheriff’s Posse; Eugene V. Debs on Law and Order

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD, re St Louis Streetcar Strike Massacre, LW p1, June 23, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 24, 1900
St. Louis, Missouri – Streetcar Strikers Shot Down Returning from Picnic

From the Duluth Labor World of June 23, 1900:

ST. LOUIS OUTRAGE HOMESTEAD
—–

HOMESTEAD AND HAZELTON PALE
INTO INSIGNIFICANCE.
—–
Street Car Men Returning Home From a Picnic
Cruelly Shot and Murdered by Posse of Deputy Sheriffs-
Debs’ Strong Letter-Says No Strike is Ever Lost-
The Lesson is Worth the Cost.
—–

Labor Martyrs, St Louis Streetcar Strike, StL Rpb p1, June 11, 1900Labor Martyrs 2, St Louis Streetcar Strike, StL Rpb p1, June 11, 1900—–

The St. Louis street car strike is still on and will be, perhaps, for some time, as the St. Louis Transit Co. have positively refused to accept any proposition for arbitration whatever. Since then the St. Louis Central Labor Union has determined to fight the street car company to the bitter end, and adopted the following proposition for the election of a committee of 50 to form immediate organization and proceed to raise a fund of at least $100,000 to carry on the strike until it is won, the fund to be raised by an appeal to organized labor throughout the world, by personal appeals to every kind of organized bodies in St. Louis, and by such other means as may be deemed proper, closing with an appeal to the people of St. Louis to refrain from riding on the Transit cars, and to organizations, societies and associations of every kind in St. Louis, in sympathy with the movement, to make the street railway strike a special order of business at all their meetings, and to appoint committees to raise funds and continue to maintain an iron-clad boycott until the victory is won.

Mr. E. V. Debs was requested to come to St. Louis, but on account of illness was unable to do so. He however sent a very strong letter, which sums up the situation in a true light. The following from his letter will not be without interest:

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: St. Louis Streetcar Strikers Shot Down by Sheriff’s Posse; Eugene V. Debs on Law and Order” →

Hellraisers Journal: Socialists Visit Debs at Atlanta Prison to Notify Him That He Has Been Nominated for President

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD re SP n Working Class, Atlanta Cstn p2, May 30, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday June 1, 1920
Atlanta Penitentiary – Eugene Debs Accepts Nomination for President

From The Atlanta Constitution of May 30, 1920:

DEBS POINTS WAY FOR SOCIALISTS
———-
Praises Russian Russian Revolution, and
Criticises Platform When Notified of
Presidential Nomination.
—–

Expression of keen but friendly criticism of the socialist platform, as adopted in New York city, and of sentiments of sympathy with the Russian revolution, which Eugene V. Debs declared the greatest achievement of all time, were the features of the unique ceremony conducted in the federal prison in Atlanta Saturday morning, when the prisoner was formally notified by a committee of his party that he had been nominated for president by the socialists.

EVD f Prz w Sc Com Madge,ed, LW p3, June 12, 1920

Every possible courtesy was extended the committee and the aged convict by the prison authorities. There were some fifteen people present at the notification, some seven of them socialists, perhaps as many newspaper men, and a fellow prisoner of Debs-Joe Caldwell, of Rhode Island, a member of the communist party.

The exercises were held in a beautifully lighted room on the ground floor, with a nice view through the barred windows. Just before this took place. Debs met his friends in the hallway and kissed each one, four men and one woman-Dr. Madge Patton Stephens, from Terre Haute, his home town, and a friend of his family. Then, for half an hour, a moving picture man snapped all conceivable poses of the nominee and his committee.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Socialists Visit Debs at Atlanta Prison to Notify Him That He Has Been Nominated for President” →

Hellraisers Journal: Socialists Party Convention Nominates Eugene Debs, Convict 9653, for President

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD, Be True Labor Will Come Into Its Own, OH Sc p1, Nov 5, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 16, 1920
New York, New York – Socialists Nominate Convict 9653 for President

From the Washington Herald of May 14, 1920:

CONVICT 2253 MADE NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT
———-
Socialist Convention Delegates in Tears
at Mention Of Eugene V. Debs.
—–

CHEER SOVIET RUSSIA
—–
Stedman, Chicago Lawyer, Running Mate
on “Conservation Platform.”
—–

EVD Lionize Leader of Socialists, WDC Hld p1, May 14, 1920

New York, May 13.-Eugene Victor Debs, convict 2253 [9653] in Federal Prison at Atlanta, where he is serving a ten-year sentence for violation of the espionage act, today was nominated as candidate for President of the United States by the Socialist party convention. Seymour Stedman, of Chicago, attorney and close friend of Debs, was chosen as candidate for Vice President.

Radicals in the convention experienced their second defeat at the hands of the conservatives when an attempt to substitute the left wing platform, declaring for a soviet form of government in the United States, was defeated by a vote of 74 to 55.

Swept by an emotion which brought tears to their eyes, the delegates sprang to their feet at the first mention of the name of Debs, whose nomination was proposed by Edward Henry, of Indiana. For thirty minutes delegates and visitors shouted and gesticulated, sang [the “Internationale”] and cheered…..

[Emphasis added.]

Note: The Herald is using “Convict 2253,” the number given to Debs at Moundsville Prison. When Debs was transferred to Atlanta in June of 1919, he became “Convict 9653.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Socialists Party Convention Nominates Eugene Debs, Convict 9653, for President” →

Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs: “Pious Pickets of Capitalism Prostitute Religion in the Service of Mammon.”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD, Religion n Socialism, AtR p2, Apr 23, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 25, 1910
Eugene Victor Debs on the Pious Pickets of Capitalism

From the Appeal to Reason of April 23, 1910:

EVD on Prostitution of Religion, AtR p2, Apr 23, 1910—–

EVD, crpd, Ipl Ns p16, Jan 21, 1910It may be set down as a rule that the gentry who constitute the self-appointed protectorate over the domain of religion and who charge socialists with being infidels and socialism with attacking religion are themselves hypocrites who are profiting by the ignorance and superstitions of the people and who use the cloak of religion to conceal their evil practices. Their pretended solicitude for socialism is a sham. What they really fear is not that religion will be destroyed, but that hypocrisy and false pretense will be discovered.

Those pious misfits who do not know what real religion is are one in raising the cry against socialism in the name of religion. Most of them have never read a chapter of socialist economics and are utterly ignorant of what socialism really means, or else, knowing what it means, deliberately misrepresent it to receive the “well done” and the stipend from their masters.

It is so much safer for the average clergyman to speak against socialism than for it, so far as his charge is concerned, his income and his position in society. Some of them are by reflex so imbued with the hostility for socialism of the capitalists who pay their salaries that they deem it their special duty to denounce socialism as an attack upon the church and a conspiracy against religion. Of course they speak in the name of religion, the religion of Jesus Christ, the homeless wanderer who sympathized and associated with the poor and lowly, and whose ministrations were among the despised sinners and outcasts.

These pious pickets of capitalism prostitute religion in the service of Mammon. Of all men on earth they are the least fit to speak in the name of religion. They have no religion or they would not serve in such a degenerate role.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Eugene V. Debs: “Pious Pickets of Capitalism Prostitute Religion in the Service of Mammon.”” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Social Democratic Herald: Acceptance Speech of Eugene Victor Debs, March 9, 1900

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
Share

Quote EVD, Proud Socialists SDP Conv, SF Cls Strgl p4, Mar 17, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 26, 1900
Indianapolis, Indiana – Eugene Debs Accepts Nomination for President

From the Social Democratic Herald of March 24, 1900:

DEBS’ SPEECH OF ACCEPTANCE

[Social Democratic Party Convention
Indianapolis, March 9th]

SDP Campaign, EVD n Job Harriman, SF Call p2, Mar 9, 1900—–

Mr. Chairman and Comrades:— A few moments ago your committee advised me of the great honor conferred upon me by this convention in making me one of the standard-bearers of the party in the great campaign upon which we are now entering. Never in all of my life was I so profoundly impressed with the conviction that there is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will. Yesterday [March 8th, Third Day of Convention] I left this hall under the solemn belief that I could not, under any possible circumstances, accept the nomination tendered me with such enthusiastic unanimity. But with your united voices ringing in my ears, and your impassioned appeals burning and glowing in my breast, and your eyes searching the very depths of my soul, I was soon brought to realize that in your voice in behalf of socialism there was the supreme command of Duty—that I could not disregard it and decline the nomination without proving myself wholly unworthy of the confidence which inspired it.

I felt that I could not decline the nomination, tendered me under such circumstances, without being guilty of treason to the cause we all love so well; and so I come to you this afternoon, obedient to the call voice by your committee, to say that I accept your nomination, and with it all of the responsibilities that the great trust imposes; and with my heart trembling upon my lips, I thank the comrades, one and all, for the great honor your have conferred upon me. I also thank you for having nominated as my associate and colleague so true a socialist, so manly a man as Comrade Job Harriman, and let me assure you that we will stand together, side by side, in the true spirit of socialism, and joining hands, will bear aloft the conquering banner of the Social Democratic Party of America.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Social Democratic Herald: Acceptance Speech of Eugene Victor Debs, March 9, 1900” →