(1855-1926) Terre Haute, Indiana

Eugene V. Debs was born in a wooden shack in Terre Haute, Indiana on February 5, 1855. At age 16 he became a locomotive fireman, stoking fires on the early prairie railroads. His years working on the railroad affected him so deeply that when the local of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was organized in 1875 Debs played an active role. He became secretary of the local at the Buffalo Convention of 1878. He was made Associate Editor of the Fireman’s Magazine; two years later he became Grand Secretary and Treasurer of the entire union and Editor in Chief of the magazine.

Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute:
http://www.djdinstitute.org/debs.html

Eugene V. Debs internet archive:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/debs/

University of Kansas:
http://www.cc.ukans.edu/kansas/pullman/texts/debs.html

Louis Proyect Essay on the importance of Debs:
http://csf.colorado.edu/pen-l/2000I/msg01983.html

Special Collections and Archives at Pittsburg State University (links):
http://library.pittstate.edu/spcoll/ndxevdebs.html

Audio excerpts of Debs:
http://www.ibiscom.com/vodebs.htm