Tag: Socialist Party of America

We Never Forget: Eugene Victor Debs Speaks at State Socialist Party Picnic Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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To speak for labor; to plead the cause
of the men and women and children who toil;
to serve the working class,
has always been to me a high privilege;
a duty of love.
-Eugene Victor Debs

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The Canton Anti-War Speech of Eugene Victor Debs
Sunday June 16, 1918

Note: clicking on the five tweets below will lead to threads with excerpts from the famous speech by Eugene Debs, 45 in all-some long, some short. Based on charges steming from this speech, Comrade Debs was later prosecuted and sent to Atlanta Federal Prison. Follow Hellraisers Journal for the rest of the story.

Comrades, friends and fellow-workers, for this very cordial greeting, this very hearty reception, I thank you all with the fullest appreciation of your interest in and your devotion to the cause for which I am to speak to you this afternoon.

Highest Duty

To speak for labor; to plead the cause of the men and women and children who toil; to serve the working class, has always been to me a high privilege; a duty of love.

Free Speech or Lack Thereof

It is extremely dangerous to exercise the constitutional right of free speech in a country fighting to make democracy safe in the world.

The Blood of Childhood

The history of this country is being written in the blood of the childhood the industrial lords have murdered.

Unpalatable Truth

And the truth, oh, the truth has always been unpalatable and intolerable to the class who live out of the sweat and misery of the working class.

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Hellraisers Journal: Ohio Socialists Annouce “Monster Picnic” in Canton; Eugene Debs Scheduled to Speak

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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And there’s Gene Debs—a man ’at stands
And jest holds out in his two hands
As warm a heart as ever beat
Betwixt here and the Jedgment Seat!
-James Whitcomb Riley
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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday June 12, 1918
Canton, Ohio – “Monster Picnic” to Follow State Socialist Convention

Eugene Debs will be the featured speaker on Sunday, June 16th, at Nimisilla Park where the Socialist Party of Ohio will celebrate the end of their state convention which will begin June 14th at Tigers Hall in Canton. “A good time all day” is promised.

From the Ohio Socialist of June 11, 1918:

EVD Photo, State Picnic, Canton June 16, OH Sc, June 11, 1918

“Monster State Picnic”

EVD, Monster State Picnic, Canton June 16, OH Sc, June 11, 1918

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Hellraisers Journal: Claude G. Bowers: “a tall, lean, long-legged man with…piercing eyes, stood on the platform…”

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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EVD Quote, Revolutionary Solidarity, ISR Feb 1918
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday June 11, 1918
Fort Wayne, Indiana – Claude G. Bowers Describes Debs on Speaker’s Platform

Following a speech given May 20th by Eugene Debs at Moose Hall in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Claude G. Bowers devoted space in his column, “Kabbages and Kings,” to give a moving description of Debs as he appeared on the speaker’s platform:

AD, EVD to spk May 20, Ft Wyn Jr Gz p13, May 19, 1918

Last week a tall, lean, long-legged man with a lean, thin, sharp face and piercing eyes, stood on the platform at the Moose hall in this city and talked for more than an hour on “Socialism and Democracy.” It was evident that the greater part of the audience was in sympathy with his ideas and more than ordinarily in love with the man. He was a socialist,-perhaps the most famous America has produced….

There was no bitterness against men. Very little mere bitterness against principles and systems. The most biting things were the flash of wit and humor. These cut like a knife but the audience laughed. The speaker was Eugene V. Debs. As an orator he is among the finest….

[Note: the entire column can be found below.]
[Inset is from The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette of May 19th.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: “I’ll Vote for Debs,” a Poem by Henry Tichenor

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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I’ll vote for Debs, for the Hope I have
That shall flood the world with its light!
-Harry Tichenor
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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday June 10, 1908
From the Appeal to Reason – A Poem for Eugene Debs

POEM, I'll Vote for Debs by Tichenor, AtR, June 6, 1908

Note: The poets name is Henry Tichenor.

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National Socialist Ticket

EVD Debs Hanford Campaign, AtR p4, May 23, 1908

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Hellraisers Journal: Charles H. Kerr on the Socialist Party Convention of 1908, Brand’s Hall, Chicago, Illinois

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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SPA & Organized Labor, Chg Conv, May 14, 1908
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday June 9, 1908
Chicago, Illinois – Socialist Party of America Stands with Labor

Socialist Party of America Button

In this month’s edition of the International Socialist Review, Charles H. Kerr gives a day-by-day account of the national convention of the Socialist Party of America, held in Chicago from May 10th until May 17th. The convention took a strong stand with organized labor, as a whole, while, sadly, side-stepping the issue of Industrial Unionism.

The article by Comrade Kerr was eighteen pages long, from which we offer excerpts below.

From the International Socialist Review of June 1908:

SPA Chicago Convention May 10, ISR, June 1908

Sunday Session, May 10th:

The Convention opened at 12:30 pm at Brand’s Hall, Chicago. A complete list is given of Delegates representing forty-five states.

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Hellraisers Journal: Speech by May Wood Simons at Socialist Party Convention Brings Delegates to Tears

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Women of the World, Unite.
You have double chains to lose
and you have the world to gain.
-May Wood Simons
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday May 31, 1908
Chicago, Illinois: City of the Impoverished Men, Women and Children

From the Montana News of May 21, 1908:

Montana News, Women's Clubs, MTNs p3, May 21, 1908

Socialist Party of America Button

Extracts from the speech of May Wood Simons at the opening of the Chicago convention:

When his auditors had come back from he heights to which Wanhope had lifted them, it remained for May Wood Simons to take them down into the Valley of the Shadow. It is safe to say that such a stirring appeal to the heart of an American audience was never made before. Before Mrs. Simons had spoken for five minutes there was hardly a dry eye in the house.

The sobs of women resounded through the vast auditorium. In one of the front seats William D. Haywood, who came through his great persecution and trial at Boise without batting an eyelash-the man who did not even pale before danger and death when they menaced him and his-was crying openly.

At the press table the hardened reporters, who have seen misery in all its many forms time and again, until their very souls were calloused, were coughing suspiciously and unbidden tears were falling on the shorthand notes of the speech. It was a masterpiece of pathos, that simple description of “The State of Things as They Are.”

Plain Little Recital.

And yet there was nothing theatrical about the little statement. It did not savor of the dramatic in the least. It was just a plain little recital of fact. That was all. And yet a big six-footer just behind the writer of this article was blubbering like a baby. And he was a magazine writer, too. Not for a small magazine, but for one of the most prominent in America.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Good Will For Debs in Girard & Socialist Declaration of Principle

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD Nature's Bounty, Girard, May 16, 1908
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday May 26, 1908
Girard, Kansas – Town Throws Surprise Party for ‘Gene Debs

From the Appeal to Reason of May 23, 1908:

EVD, Girard Good Will for Debs, HdLn AtR p1, May 23, 1908Quote EVD, this fine sweet day, re Girard, May 16, AtR p1, May 23, 1908

All of Girard and half of the county assembled in the court house park last Saturday afternoon [May 16th]. A hastily improvised platform had been erected, and, to the music of bands and lusty cheering of the citizens of this little town, irrespective of party affiliation, ‘Gene Debs was escorted forward and introduced to the enthusiastic crowd by Mayor Ryan. The mayor was preceded by E. N. Richardson, who, in a few moments’ speech, voiced the sentiment of every man and woman and child in Girard when he said:

Ladies and Gentlemen-My Friends and My Comrades:-Here is a man whom you all know-many of you may not yet agree with him in his political beliefs; many of you will not vote for hem, but you all love him-you love him because you can’t help yourself; you love him because he is the most lovable man America has ever produced…

Comrade Debs had been kept in complete ignorance of the little surprise party. For a few moments he seemed overwhelmed at the expressions of good will and the smiling faces on every hand. But he quickly recovered from the slight embarrassment, and began to talk. And such a talk! As a father talks to his children, Debs talked to those gathered under the shade of the spreading elms in the court house yard. It wasn’t a wildly enthusiastic gathering, such as one would expect to see on an occasion like this. It was rather a gathering of men and women in dead earnest who realized the deep significance of the occasion and were determined to let no single word which fell from the speaker’s lips escape them. One could almost feel the spirit of the revolution-it impressed me as a counterpart of those meetings of colonial patriots just prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “Momentous and significant.” These words sum up the Girard meeting at which the citizens of this village, without a dissenting voice expressed their congratulations to their fellow townsman, nominated for the presidency by the Socialist national convention.

At the close of the address a group of little children, bearing baskets of flowers and wreaths, and their little faces suffused with smiles, marched to the platform and literally smothered their friend with roses. Tears came to the big brother’s eyes as he gathered the little ones to him. An hour later, I passed ‘Gene sitting on the curb with a dozen bright haired lassies clinging to his arms and shoulders! Mark my words: “You can pin your faith to the man loved by children.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Town of Girard Honors Eugene Debs, Socialist Party Nominee for President of United States

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Friends, you need never be afraid
to put your confidence in a man
whom the children and the dogs love.
-E. N. Richardson
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Hellraisers Journal, Monday May 25, 1908
Town Square, Girard, Kansas – Most Famous Citizen Celebrated

Upon learning that Eugene Debs had received the presidential nomination of the Socialist Party of America, the citizens of Girard, Kansas, arranged a celebratory meeting in the town square as a surprise for their most famous and most beloved resident. Mr. Debs did not attend the convention in Chicago and was, therefore, on hand to enjoy the festivities.

From The Girard Press of May 21, 1908:

Eugene V Debs, EVD, Girard Prs p8, May 21, 1908

DEBS JOLLIFICATION MEETING.
—–
Band, Flowers, and Hand Shaking.

Saturday afternoon [May 16th] the citizens of Girard, regardless of political affiliations, held a meeting in honor of Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist nominee for President of the United States. It is not often that a town or community has the honor of being the residence of a nominee for the Presidency, and Girard comes to the front in having this honor, as Mr. Debs has been a citizen of our city for the past year.

The Frontenac band was engaged for this occasion and furnished music in the public square, where a speaker’s platform had been erected. The meeting was at 3 o’clock, and up to this time Mr. Debs had been kept in ignorance of what was going to happen, and was not apprised of the same until a committee waited upon him and escorted him to the park.

E. N. Richardson made the opening talk, in which he paid a glowing tribute to the nominee. He then introduced Mayor W. H. Ryan, who is a candidate for governor on the Democratic ticket, and who, after a few remarks, introduced Mr. Debs.

In Mr. Debs’s introduction he said that his residence in our city had been the most pleasant, and that he felt as much at home in Girard as he did in the town of his birth. He complimented the Girard people upon their hospitality and the good fellowship that existed toward him. He talked at length, and was heard to the end by a large audience.

At the close of his speech a bevy of little girls bearing baskets of flowers went to the platform and presented their floral offerings, after which there was handshaking and congratulations.

———-

[Paragraph breaks added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Socialist Party Nominates Debs for President, Happy Gathering at Girard Follows Convention

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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And there’s Gene Debs—a man ’at stands
And jest holds out in his two hands
As warm a heart as ever beat
Betwixt here and the Jedgment Seat!
-James Whitcomb Riley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday May 24, 1908
Girard, Kansas – Socialists Celebrate with Comrade Debs

From The Fort Scott Tribune and Monitor of May 15, 1908:

Eugene V Debs, EVD, Girard Prs p8, May 21, 1908

Chicago, May 15-The socialist convention [Socialist Party of America] at 2 o’clock this morning named Eugene V. Debs as candidate for president; Benjamin Hanford of New York, vice president. Caleb Lipscomb of Sedalia, Mo., was placed in nomination for vice president and received one vote.

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[Photograph added.]

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A Pleasant Evening in Girard with Comrade Debs,
Thursday May 21, 1908

“A Living Exemplification of Gentleness and Kindness”

Following the Socialist National Convention at Chicago, numerous home-bound delegates made their way to Girard to visit the Temple of the Revolution, the home of The Appeal to Reason, and to meet the comrades who serve the Cause of Socialism through that aggressive disturber of plutocracy, among whom is our gallant standard-bearer, Eugene V. Debs.

On Thursday (May 21, 1908) several of the old war horses happened in together. As they were to remain until the midnight trains, the word was passed along for the assembling of the clan. The body of Girard Socialists, as a whole, breathe the spirit of brotherhood, and since it has been their exceeding good fortune to have Comrade Debs in their midst there has been a living exemplification of gentleness and kindness by one whose soul has enlarged to embrace all humanity. Whenever it is known that Debs is to be present there is a turn-out of old and young. Hence, on this occasion, when they came to meet the comrades from other states the greeting to the gallant and gracious Debs was full of fervor on all sides.

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