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=Eugene V. Debs= BACKGROUND: Eugene V. Debs was born in in Terre Haute, Indiana, on 5th November, 1855. Both of his parents immigrated to the United States from France. At 14, he began working as a painter in railroad yards. He then became a railroad fireman, and soon after became active in the trade union movement. Debs helped found the American Railway Union, and was elected the first president of the ARU in 1893. Debs was an American union leader, and one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World. He was the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States several times. When the ARU began the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland order the U.S. Army to put a top to it. As a leader of the ARU, Debs was later imprisoned for failing to obey an injunction against the strike. While in prison, Debs educated himself about socialism. When he was released, he launched his career as the nation's most prominent socialist in the first decades of the 20th century.

PROBLEM: Debs believed that the biggest problem facing the United States was the "monstrous" system of capitalism. He thought that capitalism needed to be completely stopped, not just changed. Debs said that the working class was being oppressed by the capitalists, and they were being treated as the world's slaves. In one speech, Debs proclaimed, "Capitalism represents the material hell of want and pinching poverty of degradation and prostitution for those who toil and in which you now exist." He realized that workers in the mills, factories, mines, farms and railways did not actually have a party of their own. They were forced to vote for the parties of their masters, never realizing they were further confining themselves. His solution: the Socialist Party.

SOLUTION: Debs believed the only solution to capitalism was the Socialist Party. He became leader of the Socialist Party and began spreading socialism. He proclaimed that the Socialist Party was was the "party of progress, the party of the future." He said that socialism was the only salvation for the worker's toil. Debs ran as the Socialist Party's candidate for the presidency of the U.S. in 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920. While he didn't win, he did get the most votes for a socialist candidate in the history of the United States.

"Debs Attacks "the Monstrous System" of Capitalism." //History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web//. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. . "Eugene Debs : Biography." //Spartacus Educational//. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. []. "Eugene V. Debs." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. [].
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