Eugene V. Debs: “Liberty” Speech

The American trade union leader, orator, and Socialist Party activist Eugene V. Debs was a master at showing what might have appeared to be radical political ideas to be as American as apple pie. A student of history as well as politics, Debs regularly invoked the memory of the Founding Fathers to gain acceptance for his policy suggestions. Motivated by an unyielding sense of justice, he often tried to shame authorities into doing what was right for laborers. Whether addressing audiences at a labor rally or on the campaign trail, Debs invariably came back to a sharp critique of the American political system, touting the virtues of socialism. His goal as a politician was not necessarily to win elections but instead to inspire listeners by his own example and to win converts to the socialist cause. In a country with no socialist legacy—unlike many European countries where socialism was established—it was quite remarkable that Debs had any success at all as a politician. That success was due in no small part to the power of Debs’s oratory and prose.