By Pamela Pollack-Fremd
(Photo: Elizabeth Schwartz)
SAN DIEGO — American Socialist: The Life & Times of Eugene Victor Debs, a documentary created by Yale Strom, is an excellent introduction to a man who had a great effect on the life of all who labor to survive. Debs spent his whole life speaking, writing, organizing and representing those who had no voice in society and little influence or control over their own lives.
Debs was born in Terra Haute, Indiana in 1855 to a solidly middle-class family; his father owned a grocery store. While still a teenager, he left school and began working on the railroad. He joined the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and later was instrumental in the founding of the American Railway Union (ARU). In 1894 when the Pullman Palace Car Co. decided to decrease their workers’ wages, the workers went on strike. The ARU decided to boycott handling all Pullman cars. This strike was broken up by the U.S. Army and as a leader of the ARU, Debs was convicted of defying a court injuction and jailed for six months. In prison he read a lot, became a socialist, and spent much of the time talking to and considering the needs of his fellow inmates. Debs was very popular in prison.
Debs spent the rest of his life trying to make the world a better place according to his Socialist ideals. He ran for the U.S. Congress from Indiana during his first stay in prison. He helped found the Socialist Democratic Party and ran as its candidate for President many times. He was an excellent speaker, who used Judeo-Christian metaphors to enlighten and encourage his listeners. He believed that peace and cooperation was the best way for humans to interact with each other. And, of course, this point of view got him in trouble again.
Leading up to World War 1, Debs was very much opposed to that war. He urged resistance to the military draft. In 1918 Debs was arrested and convicted under the Sedition Act and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In 1921, President Harding commuted his sentence. The harsh conditions in prison had affected his health. He spent much of the rest of his life in a sanatorium and died in 1926.
Debs had and has many admirers and followers. Despite being in prison and in the sanatorium he continued to communicate and influence the world. His main idea that peace and cooperation should be the cornerstone of human relations would help make our current world a better place, if this ideal were adapted and pursued. This new documentary by Yale Strom does an excellent job reminding us who Eugene V. Debs was and what he stood for.
The documentary is showing at Media Arts Center San Diego, Digital Gym May 13, 15, and 16.
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Pollak-Fremd is a retired ESL teacher and a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.