Debs is a SOCIALIST and a
REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST at that.
Prepare to do your share in his defense!
-The Ohio Socialist
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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday July 3, 1918
Cleveland, Ohio – Debs Arrested Sunday June 30th
From The Ohio Socialist of July 2, 1918:
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Working Class Champion Arrested on Alleged
Violation of Espionage Law
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Deb’s Canton Speech in Demand; Officers
Diligent Search Reveals Naught
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Eugene Victor Debs, several times Socialist Party candidate for President of the United States, champion of Labor and the cause of the underdog, was arrested on an indictment drawn by the Federal Grand Jury as he was about to enter the Bohemian Gardens at Cleveland, Sunday, June 30th, where he was scheduled to address the Socialists. The indictment is based on alleged violations of the Espionage law, which it is claimed, he committed in his speech at Canton, June 16th.
An audience of three thousand people awaited Debs’ appearance at the meeting, which was addressed by Tom Clifford and John Brahtin of Cleveland, Marguerite Prevey of Akron and Harry Kritzger, agent of John Reed, who was in the city arranging a meeting which Reed will address on Wednesday, July 3rd.
When the arrest of Debs was announced to the audience it immediately showed its determination to stay in the fight to the finish. Wild applause greeted the name of Debs. A grim determination was noticeable upon the faces of every one and a spirit of sacrifice and comradeship was evident. There were no weak kneed ones there.
If it was calculated that Debs’ arrest would have a dampening effect upon Socialists it must have been a sore disappointment to those interested. Not only did the audience pledge their moral support to Debs’ defense, but when Comrade Prevey called upon it for material means it was quickly forthcoming. Nearly $1,000 was subscribed in a few minutes for a defense fund for Comrade Debs.
Comrade Debs was placed in jail and detained over night, being shown distinct courtesy by the authorities. At 9:30 Monday morning he was arraigned in Judge Westenhaver’s court, where he was formally charged with violation of the Espionage law and bail bonds filed for $10,000 for his appearance after July 30. Comrades Marguerite Prevey and Moscovitz [A. W. Moskowitz] of Cleveland furnished bonds.
Comrade Debs remained in Cleveland until Monday afternoon, when he left for his home in Terra Haute, Ind. Cleveland was the last speaking date Comrade Debs expected to fill until fall. Through the months of July and August he will refrain from participation in Socialist activities.
Debs’ Indictment Will Prove Boomerang.
The arrest and indictment of Comrade Debs will prove a boomerang to the powers which oppose Socialism. He is guilty of no violation of the Espionage law, but if the gentlemen in charge of the prosecution of his case are anxious to test the matter in Federal Court so is Debs AND SO ARE THE MILLIONS OR SOCIALISTS IN AMERICA AND THE WORLD.
This case has a national and an international bearing. Pledges from all parts of the United States and of the world are now being sent pledging support to Debs in maintaining his freedom. Debs will never see the inside of a federal prison on account of his speech at Canton.
His arrest will cement into closer units the fighters in the Socialist movement. He will be defended by the best legal talent in America. His arrest in the city of Cleveland, which has become a storm center of the various forces of modern society, comes at an opportune moment for the hastening of Socialist victories in that Congressional District where C. E. Ruthenberg is a candidate for Congress.
Will Not Repudiate.
Debs will not repudiate any statement he has made, nor any of the platforms or principles of the Socialist Party. Debs is a SOCIALIST and a REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST at that. Prepare to do your share in his defense!
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STATE OFFICE SEARCHED FOR
DEBS CANTON SPEECH
—–WASTE PAPER SEIZED AS PRIZE
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On Thursday, June 27, while the State Secretary was visiting the imprisoned comrades at Canton, her mother, Comrade Martin, was visiting the new Allison heir at the hospital, and Comrade Allison was busy at the printers, four men, carrying a search warrant for the stenographic report of Debs’ speech at Canton, June 16th, and a subpoena for the State Secretary to appear before the Federal grand jury, all from the Department of Justice, arrived at 1291 Cook Ave., Lakewood.
With no one present except the children, the state office and the state secretary’s home were searched. The minutes of the state convention were taken. These however, had already been printed in the Ohio Socialist two days before.
Inasmuch as the stenographic report has never been in the possession of the state secretary it could hardly have been found within the office or her home.
———-
[Photographs added.]
From the Hammond, Indiana, Lake County Times of July 3, 1918:
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SOURCE
The Ohio Socialist
“Official Organ of the Socialist Party of Ohio”
(Cleveland, Ohio)
-July 2, 1918
EVD Under Indictment, OH Sc p1, July 2, 1918
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/ohio-socialist/023-jul-02-1918.pdf
IMAGES
EVD Lansing MI St Jr p10, July 1, 1918
https://www.newspapers.com/image/204884278/
Hortense Allison Wagenknecht, Socialist of Ohio, Mrxorg Photos
https://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/album/index81.htm
EVD Indicted, Lake Co Tx p1, Hammond IN, July 3, 1918
https://www.newspapers.com/image/308607243/
See also:
“Temporary State Secretary Hortense [Allison] Wagenknecht”
http://www.marxisthistory.org/history/usa/parties/spusa/1919/0627-wagenknecht-ohstatesecreport.pdf
Note: “State Secretary” above should read Acting State Secretary, since the actual state secretary was her husband, Alfred Wagenknecht, then in prison at Canton.
See: Elmer Allison (brother of Hortense)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Allison
Note: re “visiting latest Allison heir”:
Gordon Norwood Allison was born June 27, 1918
https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/gordon-norwood-allison_115868527
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119298050/gordon-norwood-allison
For Name: A. W. Moskowitz
See: Bending Cross by Ray Ginger, page 359
http://ouleft.org/wp-content/uploads/TheBendingCross_BiographyofDebs.pdf
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