Eugene V. Debs: Trade Unionist, Socialist, and Revolutionary 45 years old

Trade unionist Eugene V. Debs was a major organizer of the American Railway Union and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). A socialist political leader, he received almost one million votes in his campaign for President of the United States in 1916, even while he was imprisoned for his opposition to World War I. Summarizing his own philosophy, he told his sentencing judge, “…Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things…while there is a lower class I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.” A young Bernard (Bernie) Sanders wrote and directed this spoken word release about Debs’ legacy in 1979, as part of his work for the American People’s Historical Society. Shortly thereafter, he began his own political career, which would take him from the mayor’s office of Burlington, Vermont, in 1981, to the U.S. Senate in 2006.

Credits

Eugene V. Debs: Trade Unionist, Socialist, and Revolutionary Cast

Name	Character
Bernie Sanders He was 37, now 83 years old	as Narrator

Eugene V. Debs: Trade Unionist, Socialist, and Revolutionary Crew

Name	Department
Bernie Sanders as Producer. He was 37 (now 83) years old	Production
Bernie Sanders as Writer. He was 37 (now 83) years old	Writing