Federal Judge David C. Westenhaver sentenced five-time Socialist Party presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs to ten years in federal prison for violating the Espionage Act by delivering an antiwar speech in Canton, Ohio on June 16, 1918. Before sentencing, Debs delivered his famous statement: …
Eugene V. DebsSocialist Party of AmericaPresident Woodrow WilsonJudge David C. Westenhaverfree-speechstate-repressionlabor-movementprogressive-eraespionage-act
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Espionage Act into law, prohibiting interference with military operations or recruitment, preventing insubordination in the military, and preventing support of U.S. enemies during wartime. The Wilson administration, knowing many Americans were conflicted about …
President Woodrow WilsonIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW)Eugene V. DebsVictor L. BergerEmma Goldman+1 morelabor-suppressionfree-speechworld-war-iiwwstate-repression
From June 27 through July 8, 1905, two hundred socialists, anarchists, Marxists, and radical trade unionists convened at Brand’s Hall in Chicago to found the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), launching the most significant challenge to corporate capitalism and conservative trade unionism …
William "Big Bill" HaywoodEugene V. DebsMother JonesLucy ParsonsDaniel De Leon+1 morelabor-organizingdemocratic-resistanceworker-power
The U.S. Supreme Court issues a unanimous 9-0 decision in In re Debs, upholding the federal government’s use of injunctions to suppress labor strikes and affirming Eugene V. Debs’s contempt of court conviction for continuing the 1894 Pullman Strike in violation of a federal court order. …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice David Josiah BrewerEugene V. DebsFederal judiciaryCorporate interestslabor-suppressiongilded-agejudicial-captureinjunctionsupreme-court+1 more
On July 3, 1894, President Grover Cleveland deployed federal troops to Chicago to crush the Pullman Strike, marking the first time the federal government used an injunction to break a labor action. The strike began on May 11 when Pullman Palace Car Company workers walked out after the company …
Eugene V. DebsAmerican Railway UnionPresident Grover ClevelandAttorney General Richard OlneyPullman Palace Car Companylabor-suppressionstate-violencefederal-intervention
Workers at George Pullman’s railroad car manufacturing company in Pullman, Illinois—a company town where Pullman owns all housing, stores, churches, and infrastructure—launch a strike protesting wage cuts averaging 25% following the Panic of 1893 while rents and prices at company-owned …
George PullmanEugene V. DebsAmerican Railway UnionGrover ClevelandU.S. Army+1 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agepullman-strikecompany-townsfederal-intervention+1 more