Ray Ginger's absolutely authoritative biography of the great man, Eugene Debs, deserves as wide a reading audience as can possibly be achieved. In this marvellous, well-written and well-researched book, the life and times of Eugene Debs are made accessible to the people of today (or rather, 1947, but it is equally readable now), and thanks to the Haymarket Books reprint Debs can continue to inspire all men of good will even now.
The book describes every detail of Debs' life: his upbringing in a petty bourgeois merchant household in Terre Haute, IN, where he was taught the German and French romantic classics by his father (the name Eugene Victor comes from Eugène Sue and Victor Hugo), his first jobs and union involvement on the Vendalia railway, his early leadership in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, his subsequent higher and higher promotions in the union ranks, holding office in Terre Haute in between, then the formation of the American Railway Union, the general strike and destruction of the same, his periods in prison and conversion to Marxism, and finally his political career in the Socialist Party where he made himself immortal in the annals of radical history by winning 6% of the vote in 1912, and also being the only person in American history to win a significant amount of votes while in prison (1920).
Some of these events may well be known to many Americans, but many of them probably are not, and all depict the absolute humanity, loyalty, intelligence, cordiality, and charity of Eugene Debs. Indeed sometimes it is astounding how one man could unite so many virtues and be so utterly uncorruptible, leading one to become suspicious whether Debs' reputation is not exaggerated, but fortunately biographer Ray Ginger is always careful to substantiate the claims when true (which is almost always) and to apply criticism where deserved.
Less known in general perhaps, even to people with an existing knowledge of radical history, are the many connections Debs had with other important people of his time: Lincoln Steffens, Robert Ingersoll, Victor Berger, John Altgeld, Susan B. Anthony, and even a short conversation with Warren Harding in the White House. Debs was never much of a theoretician, and did not read any of Marx' own works (though he knew the popularizers like Kautsky), but he had an infallible sense of the failures of both extreme left sectarianism and excessive reformism in radical movements and labor unionism, and it is rare in the course of this history of Debs' union activities that one can conclude he made the wrong decision. Moreover, much unlike many radicals today, Debs had a supreme capacity for personal love and charity, and was capable of opposing the political decisions and strategies of many other union activists without in any way lessening his personal loyalty or affection for them, or blaming them in person for their views. While an inveterate opponent of all capitalism, he was at the same time by no means a rabid sectarian, and could make himself loved and respected even by his enemies - once he so effectively inveighed against a railroad director in his own office that the director started offering him high level jobs in the company!
Debs of course made American political history, not just with his prison campaign in 1920, victim to Woodrow Wilson's political terror; but also with the first campaigning train tour through America (the "Red Special"), with the highest percentage of votes in a Presidential election any left-wing candidate has ever received, and last but not least with his fierce opposition to American participation in World War I, when all tides were against him. This alone would make him a hero of socialism. But he equally deserves recognition for his remarkable goodness in his personal dealings: he refused all offers of careering and high wages, refused all attempts of union federations to lavish gifts or praise upon him, and was known for giving away large amounts of his money even when he could not afford it. When the ARU collapsed under the military terror of the American government, he personally took all the debts of the union on him, which it took him 18 years to pay off. He was even loved by all the inmates of the Atlanta prison during his stay there. Add to this his visionary and consistent support for the rights of women, blacks, and immigrants, when such things were radical even among radicals, and Eugene V. Debs indeed is nothing but an example to us all. If I had but one-tenth of the quality of Debs, I would have much to be proud of.
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