Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 25, 1920 Atlanta Penitentiary – President Wilson Refuses to Release Eugene Debs
From The Atlanta Constitution of December 24, 1920:
NO XMAS PARDON FOR EUGENE DEBS FROM PRESIDENT ———-
Eugene V. Debs, socialist candidate for president, now serving a ten-year sentence in the Atlanta federal prison, will not be freed from the penitentiary Christmas day, as has been rumored, according to dispatches received from Washington Thursday night.
There has been much talk in Atlanta, centered around the belief among those who will be extended executive clemency by President Wilson on Christmas day, but it is now understood that the president has refused to extend clemency in the socialist leader’s case, believing it not consonant with public interest.
It has also been said that Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, whom friends of Debs have been inclined to hold responsible for the president’s continued refusal to cut the prison term short, actually recommended the pardon of Debs some time ago.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday December 16, 1900 “Tribute to Martin Irons” by Comrade Eugene V. Debs
From the Social Democratic Herald of December 15, 1900:
Martin Irons
It was in 1886 that Martin Irons, as chairman of the executive board of the Knights of Labor of the Gould southwest railway system, defied capitalist tyranny, and from that hour he was doomed. All the powers of capitalism combined to crush him, and when at last he succumbed to overwhelming odds, he was hounded from place to place until he was ragged and foot-sore and the pangs of hunger gnawed at his vitals.
For fourteen long years he fought single-handed the battle against persecution. He tramped far, and among strangers, under an assumed name, sought to earn enough to get bread. But he was tracked like a beast and driven from shelter. For this “poor wanderer of a stormy day” there was no pity. He had stood between his class and their oppressors-he was brave, and would not flinch; he was honest, and he would not sell; this was his crime, and he must die.
Martin Irons came to this country from Scotland a child. He was friendless, penniless, alone. At an early age he became a machinist. For years he worked at his trade. He had a clear head and a warm heart. He saw and felt the injustice suffered by his class. Three reductions in wages in rapid succession fired his blood. He resolved to resist. He appealed to his fellow-workers. When the great strike came, Martin Irons was its central figure. The men felt they could trust him. They were not mistaken.
When at the darkest hour Jay Gould sent word to Martin Irons that he wished to see him, the answer came, “I am in Kansas City.” Gould did not have gold enough to buy Irons. This was the greatest crime of labor’s honest leader. The press united in fiercest denunciation. Every lie that malignity could conceive was circulated. In the popular mind Martin Irons was the blackest-hearted villain that ever went unhung. Pinkerton blood-hounds tracked him night and day. But thru it all this loyal, fearless, high-minded working-man stood immovable.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 5, 1920 Statement from Convict 9653 E. V. Debs, Socialist Candidate for President
From The Atlanta Constitution of November 4, 1920:
Country Leaped From Frying Pan To Fire, Says Debs ———-
In Written Statement, Defeated Candidate Declares Wall Street Is Still in Saddle. ———-
(Wednesday morning Eugene V. Debs, socialist candidate for president, furnished The Constitution the following written statement in regard to the election results.)
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BY EUGENE V. DEBS.
There was never any doubt about the results of yesterday’s election. The fate of the democratic party was sealed at the Versailles peace conference. One thing was made clear by the election returns. President Wilson, Attorney General Palmer and Postmaster General Burleson now know what the American people think of their despotic administration.
But, unfortunately, the people have not profited by past experience. They need look for no improvement in conditions as the result of the election. Wall street is still in the saddle under Harding as it was under Wilson.
Politically speaking, the American people have the cheerful habit of jumping from the frying pan into the fire and back again. They seem to enjoy the diversion.
Lincoln said “If you want that thing that is the thing you want.”
Harding prays God to help him. The American people will be doing the same thing before they are through with his administration.
For President Harding will take his orders from Wall street, and his administration can be relied upon to see to it that the people get all they voted for-and then some.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 2, 1910 Chicago, Illinois – Eugene Debs Speaks on Working Class Politics
From the International Socialist Review of November 1910:
THE campaign of the Socialist party of Cook county, Illinois, was formally opened on September 18th, Eugene V. Debs being the principal speaker. A vast concourse of people were assembled at Riverview Park where the meeting took place. Below will be found some extracts from the speech of Debs, in which he emphasized the necessity of industrial unity as the only means of effective political action. Said Debs:
We live in the capitalist system, so-called because it is dominated by the capitalist class. In this system the capitalists are the rulers and the workers the subjects. The capitalists are in a decided minority and yet they rule because of the ignorance of the working class.
So long as the workers are divided, economically and politically, they will remain in subjection, exploited of what they produce, and treated with contempt by the parasites who live out of their labor.
The economic unity of the workers must first be effected before there can be any progress toward emancipation. The interests of the millions of wage workers are identical, regardless of nationality, creed, or sex, and if they will only open their eyes to this simple, self-evident fact, the greatest obstacle will have been overcome and the day of victory will draw near.
The primary need of the workers is industrial unity and by this I mean their organization in the industries in which they are employed as a whole instead of being separated into more or less impotent unions according to their crafts.Industrial unionism is the only effective means of economic organization and the quicker the workers realize this and unite within one compact body for the good of all, the sooner will they cease to be the victims of ward-heeling labor politicians and accomplish something of actual benefit to themselves and those dependent upon them. In Chicago where the labor grafters, posing as union leaders, have so long been permitted to thrive in their iniquity, there is especially urgent need of industrial unionism, and when this is fairly under way it will express itself politically in a class conscious vote of and for the working class.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 26, 1900 Wheeling, West Virginia – Eugene V. Debs Speaks at Arion Hall
From The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer of October 25, 1900:
SOCIALISTIC DOCTRINE PROPOUNDED ————— By Eugene V. Debs to a Large Crowd At Arion Hall Last Evening. ——-
HE EXPLAINS HOW AN UTOPIA ——- Can Be Established in This Country. Would Make Radical Change in Present Conditions. ———
Eugene V. Debs, candidate for president on the Social Democracy ticket, addressed a large audience at Arion hall last night. Most of his hearers were of another political persuasion, however, attracted out of mere curiosity. Seated on the stage were the men prominent in socialist circles in this city. Mr Debs’ eloquence is well known and this fact alone was sufficient to attract a large crowd. He advanced nothing new along the line of socialism. Harry Leeds, the local socialist, acted as chairman of the meeting. He said they represented a body of workingmen whom strikes and lockouts had almost taken away their rights as American citizens. He said they were an embryonic party and they needed funds. He asked the audience to contribute to the campaign fund and before introducing Mr. Debs the hat was passed around the audience for contributions. Mr. Leeds introduced Eugene V. Debs, who was applauded as he stepped to the front of the stage.
Mr. Debs began by saying that a mighty social revolution was in progress. The world was gradually becoming co-operative instead of competitive. The social demoralization of the world was passing away. He would not appeal to the prejudice of his auditors. His sole purpose would be to appeal to their reason.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 25, 1920 Atlanta Federal Penitentiary – Norman Hapgood Interviews Eugene Debs
From the Appeal to Reason of October 23, 1920:
Did you ever enter the strong gates of a prison? Has your mind ever pictured the sinking heart of a man who hears those heavy iron doors clank behind him? Wife and child, perhaps, are shut from him in the outer world. And inside? The lost are there, the despairing, the destroyed. Leave hope behind, ye who enter. And yet it is not as bad as it was, some centuries ago. The harmonious and austere building at Atlanta is infinitely superior, in what happens inside of it, to the prisons of Lincoln’s day. God knows it is bad enough.
Partly, it is bad because we in truth do not know what to do with certain types of dangerous depravity. Give us time, a century or two, and we may learn the alphabet of treating such aberration. Granted we are ignorant about crime — what about prisoner 9653? Why is he in this place?
To see prisoner 9653 we go only so far as a reception room, and Eugene V. Debs, four times nominee of a great party for the Presidency, now No. 9653, steps forth eagerly to meet me. How warm his grasp! How pure and sunny his smile! How his face carries the record of his 40 years of service, of forbearance, of hope of a great belief.
Debs’ Warm Cordiality.
We sit down on opposite sides of a long table. Debs’ lawyer is there and so is the prison attendant. Neve mind; Debs doesn’t mind. He leans across, his face alight, his speaking and delicate hands at play. He will not let me get in my question. His warm cordiality prevents. He knows I am not a Socialist and that I am not going to vote for him. He knows all about it. But what is that to him? I am a human being, which is enough. But there is more. I have recently chosen the unpopular course on a great subject — Russia — and Debs knows all about that also, and pours out an overgenerous appreciation until, afraid of that man at the end of the table, who is responsible for the allotment of time, I see a chance to turn the switch and I suddenly ask the most dangerous question I know.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 26, 1920 -Mother Jones News for August 1920, Part II Found in Washington, D. C., Opining on Women, the Ballot, and Labor Struggles
From The Washington Times of August 29, 1920:
SEES CURE IN RIGHT VOTING ——- Victory Futile, Says 90-Year-Old Leader, If “Ownership of Bread” is Lost. ——-
“No nation can ever grow greater or more human than its womanhood and I am not expecting the millennium as a result of woman’s privilege to vote,” said Mother Jones, noted woman leader, here today.
I am anxious to see women stand aide by side with men in developing the human family, but all of the ballots in the world will not change conditions for the people’s welfare unless attention is focused upon the disease causing the trouble.
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