Eugene V. Debs Citizen and SocialistJoin now to read essay Eugene V. Debs Citizen and SocialistEugene V. Debs Citizen and SocialistNick Salvatore’s book Eugene V. Debs Citizen and Socialist provides a very detailed account of the life and times and Eugene Debs. Debs was born in Terre Haute Indiana and Salvatore emphasizes the important role that this played in Debs upbringing. Terre Haute was ripe with religious fundamentalism from its founding. Religion permeated everyday life throughout Terre Haute. Salvatore writes that, “In newspaper editorials, political speeches, civic dedications and Sunday sermons they assured the kingdom of God had already arrived and that their town was destined to become the center of the Kingdoms Midwest development.” It is striking how the ideals of the Terre Haute community based in religious fundamentalism and a strong industrial economy provided a seemingly Marxist critique of a capitalist system in the 1860’s well before Marxist ideas had widely spread to America. Terre Haute’s social construct was unique in that there was the undeniable American value of individual achievement stressed but here the role of community was necessary to achieve this. In Terre Haute it was believed that for individual prosperity the progress of the community as a whole was necessary. Salvatore explains this best himself writing, “The individual was firmly wedded to his community by both the bonds of daily life and by the expectations of future success. The ideas of individualism, self-interest and community appeared to meld.” This seemingly socialist ideology that man relies on himself and his brethren for progress and success was critical to Debs’ formation of his values and ideologies. Even the Superintendent of Terre Haute schools offered this, “If we shall limit the education of the masses and trust the education of the few for directive power and skill we must expect to be ruled by monopolies, demagogues and partisans” Throughout his life Debs constantly fell back on his Terre Hautian upbringing to reinforce his political values which separated him from the Milwaukee and northeastern socialists
It is important to understand that Debs’ always had a passionate involvement with railroad workers and would always use his experience with them as a model and inspiration for advancing his later socialist ideals. Debs began his involvement with the labor movement when he took a job as a railroad firemen in Missouri in 1870. He moved back to Terre Haute at the urging of his family and quickly joined the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen or BLF, which was the railroad firemen’s’ union in 1875. He would be associated with this union for the next 18 years. By 1875 he had built a reputation as an outstanding citizen and was named the secretary of the Vigo County BLF, this would be his entry into the field of labor organization. During this time he was closely associated with the railroad workers and saw their consistent oppression by their capitalist employers. Despite this he was dedicated to maintaining a union comprised of sober outstanding laborers who could best serve their employers. By 1879 he was elected grand secretary of the BLF and editor of the magazine. In this role he gained crucial experience in labor organizing on a larger scale and elevated his status as a effective leader in the labor movement. During this time he saw consistent wage cuts forced on these upstanding citizens and workers which began to galvanize the idea within him that the corporations were not interested in the quality of labor of their employees. Instead they were interested in only creating a profit for themselves at any cost and reducing the value of a man to his work.
Debs had not yet believed in or subscribed to socialist values at this time and as a rising figure in Terre Haute he was elected as city clerk in 1879 on the democratic ticket for two consecutive terms. He liked being closely associated with local politics and his community in this position. In 1884 he was elected as a state representative again on the democratic ticket. Debs quickly formed a distaste for politics on this level as progressive action was radically quelled by red tape and “politicking”.
He was still active as grand secretary of the BLF at this time and engaged in the national debate regarding the need for a larger all encompassing railway union in place of smaller ones to advance the needs of railway workers. He believed a larger national union would be much more effective in this role. Salvatore argues that at this time Debs’ even began to form the idea of a all encompassing union for all laborers nationwide at this time. He retired from his role in the BLF in 1891 and organized the first national industrial union in the United States in 1893, the American Railway union or ARU. He rose to the national spotlight as the leader of the ARU when they struck on the great northern railway in 1894 and had all of their demands
The Civil War
The war between the United States and Russia (1917–1921) erupted with an unprecedented war in the Far North. The War began with the signing of a treaty from France to a Treaty of Amsterdam on the Transatlantic Railway in September 1717. France demanded that the Union be allowed to carry in some 500,000 British men and that their troops also be sent to Moscow under the arms of the government of Great Britain. However, when the Russian troops broke through, France refused to grant the French any special recognition or to enter into any formal treaty, claiming the Union was merely a “mattress of power”. Since then, there has been numerous attempts at an all encompassing union for the railroads (and a number of the railways) that have served the greater public interest, such as rail service between Boston and Paris, and, more recently, railroad service between Chicago and Chicago. When the U.S. Government wanted to extend railroad access from New York to St. Louis on a national basis, they sought an all encompassing union, but were denied by the French government for many years. Debs’ argued that the French were “a bunch of f——-fucks” who wanted their war with the United States to escalate rather than end with an all encompassing union. This theory is challenged by other elements of the civil war theory, the War Labor Association, the American Railway Union or the World Government’s Association for the Advancement of the Railroads. Many of the other competing theories in the war theories assume that all workers in the United States have a union, and each one takes this position.
The War Over the Railroad
During World War I, the Union for British Columbia (AUBC) and the Canadian National Railway (CNRC) operated together to carry the railroads and their passengers. Both organizations worked closely with the federal government. Both organizations worked to achieve maximum efficiency of the system, maintaining quality and performance on all lines without regard to labor and class, and in no uncertain terms, keeping the trains running as efficiently as possible for the benefit of all passengers and freight passengers. Both railway companies used the government in order to keep the lines running as efficiently as possible, and worked to establish a competitive advantage. Unionist leaders were at first reluctant to support a union. However, in 1943 the British Union for the Advancement of the Railroads was formed. The union did not support the proposed new system by itself; it was able to demonstrate its political and electoral base by organizing a national working movement which supported the new industrial system. However, its campaign was hampered in that there was little that union leaders could do to organize their workers in the light of prevailing international conditions. Unionists were able to put forward proposals to allow their railroad workers to form unions and strike, thereby gaining their union membership. The National Association of B.C. & Quebec (NA