Debs' legacy lives in 21st century.
By John Chambers
With his bald head, modest suits, bow tie and an 1855 birth date, Eugene Debs may not seem like edgy, 21st-century material.
But last year, more people than ever bought T-shirts bearing his image.
"They want to stand out and express something," said Charles King, secretary of the Terre Haute-based Debs Foundation.
Apparently, Debs' legacy as a crusader against social injustice didn't die when he did in 1926. In fact, in 2004, the foundation sold more T-shirts, 1920 campaign buttons, photographs, posters and key rings than ever before. And that's probably because the 2004 presidential race between George W. Bush and John Kerry included debate over a war raging overseas, King said.
"The political and social issues reminded people of the things that Debs represented and warned against," King said. "It does show there's always a currency to the issues that Debs devoted his life to."
Those causes are depicted on those red-and-black T-shirts, with the words "Peace, Equality, Justice" circled around Debs' face.
And Debs' influence even had a small but direct impact on that 2004 campaign. The Socialist Party that Debs led as its presidential candidate in five elections still adheres to that Terre Haute native's philosophy.
In a pre-election interview with the Tribune-Star, that party's 2004 presidential candidate, Walt Brown, said of Debs: "His legacy in the Socialist Party is very alive. His idea was that if you treat people right, they're more productive."
While Brown's 10,834 votes were the most for a Socialist Party candidate since 1976, that total fell far short of the nearly 1 million votes Debs drew in 1912.
In his eventful life, Debs went from serving as the Terre Haute city clerk and a state representative to organizing the nation's first industrial union, speaking around the nation about working-class causes, and running for president. In two of those elections, Debs topped 900,000 votes. And he conducted his 1920 campaign from the federal prison in Atlanta, where he was jailed under the wartime espionage act for making an anti-World War I speech in 1918 at Canton, Ohio.
That irony is captured on those campaign buttons sold by the foundation. It includes a photograph of Debs outside his cell, surrounded by the phrase "For President: Convict No. 9653."
The T-shirts sell for $20. The buttons cost $2. And the posters range from $3 to $5 to $20.
But, King emphasized, the not-for-profit foundation "barely makes any money off that. That's not what we're about. It's the exposure."
That peak in sales of Debs merchandise, as well as foundation memberships, includes mostly out-of-town visitors to the www.eugenevdebs.com Web site and to his former home, the Debs Museum, at 451 N. Eighth St.
Debs' legacy also draws the attention of historians and authors. The special collections wing of Indiana State University's Cunningham Memorial Library has 15,000 Debs-related items. And three writers who have sought information from that Debs collection are working on books - one about the 100 most important political speeches of the 20th century; another on the sedition trial that landed Debs in prison; and a third on Debs' role in the 1894 Pullman strike.
Life Magazine chose Debs as one of its 100 most important Americans of the 20th century. And the bold speech Debs made at his trial illustrates why he was so unique, said David Vancil, the head of the special collections wing in Cunningham Library at Indiana State University.
"He had a lot of backbone," Vancil said. "He stood up for his principles, and he paid the price."
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HE SAID IT
"Too long have the workers of the world waited for some Moses to lead them out of bondage. I would not lead you out if I could; for if you could be led out, you could be led back again. I would have you make up your minds there is nothing that you cannot do for yourselves."
From an address on Industrial Unionism delivered at Grand Central Palace. New York City, Dec. 18,1905.
Source: www.EugeneVDebs.com