Democracy’s Prisoner: Eugene V. Debs, the Great War, and the Right to Dissent

by Ernest Freeberg

In 1920, socialist leader Eugene V. Debs ran for president while serving a ten-year jail term for speaking against America’s role in World War I. Though many called Debs a traitor, others praised him as a prisoner of conscience, a martyr to the cause of free speech. Nearly a million Americans agreed, voting for a man whom the government had branded an enemy to his country.

In a beautifully crafted narrative, Ernest Freeberg shows that the campaign to send Debs from an Atlanta jailhouse to the White House was part of a wider national debate over the right to free speech in wartime. Debs was one of thousands of Americans arrested for speaking his mind during the war, while government censors were silencing dozens of newspapers and magazines. When peace was restored, however, a nationwide protest was unleashed against the government’s repression, demanding amnesty for Debs and his fellow political prisoners. Led by a coalition of the country’s most important intellectuals, writers, and labor leaders, this protest not only liberated Debs, but also launched the American Civil Liberties Union and changed the course of free speech in wartime.

The Debs case illuminates our own struggle to define the boundaries of permissible dissent as we continue to balance the right of free speech with the demands of national security. In this memorable story of democracy on trial, Freeberg excavates an extraordinary episode in the history of one of America’s most prized ideals.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Biography, American History, The United States Of America, Law

392 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2008

Reviews

[Sherry Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is dry in places, dense with names and facts, but it is worth reading for the background it gives about the peace movement before and during World War I.

[Conor O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an inspiring look at not just a man like Eugene Debs, noble as he is but something bigger than he would ever be. That is, the right of free speech. Sometimes, we forget as Americans how free speech can separate us from other less advanced countries at times. While it is scary to me to read about how so many people were jailed in prison for speaking their minds, it is a reminder to the rest of us living today that we should not take these rights for granted. There are groups like the ACLU out there that are fighting for this every single day that should be thanked and applauded. But, there are the people of the past like Eugene Debs, Upton Sinclair and many other ones who are nameless but are not forgotten. Because of them, our country knows that in this country freedom of expression, opinion and speech is something that will not ever be compromised no matter what comes be it war or a national crisis. Everyone has a voice and it is our duty to use them if necessary. Its times like these we should remember Eugene Debs and others for their fight to make America the land of the free and the home of the brave for all Americans.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear and thorough history of the Debs case.

The book is not a biography of Debs but instead looks at free speech issues before, during, and after the Great War. He looks at the speech that landed Debs in jail, pointing out that the case for sedition was a stretch. Much of the book covers Debs’ time in prison, where he won over the wardens and fellow inmates and, of course, ran for president.

It’s good book, but there could have been more analysis. Some parts of the book can be slow, especially the one on Debs’ imprisonment. Freeberg also claims that, as a result of the Debs case, “the right to free speech moved to the very center of the way Americans thought about democratic liberty, where it has remained ever since.” That seems like a stretch.

A dry and dense but interesting work.

[Viral · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and valuable look at how Eugene Debs was imprisoned for his dissent during the First World War. A bit left bashy at times, but overall a fair assessment of one of the most important socialist leaders in American history, and his important role in developing a modern understanding of the right to dissent during wartime.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book on both the socialist movement of the early 20th-century and particularly World War I and the effect of the Sedition Act on the Socialist Party and it's standard bearer Eugene V. Debs. The right to dissent became a rallying cry during the war such that a surprising number of conscientious objectors, union and political party members would be sentenced to up to ten years in prison for expressing their first amendment rights and not always in a way that violated the law that Woodrow Wilson put in place. I can certainly understand the opposition to Debs and others views with the war going on and people dying, but it was precisely that war and what these people felt was behind people dying that they were willing to go to prison and risk their lives and family for that principal.

Although post World War I was known as the era of "normalcy" as government and citizens attempted to get over the tragic loss of life, the battle for amnesty to allow these prisoners of conscience to return to life was a long drawn out battle that started from the moment they were indicted and continued, for Debs until December 25, 1921 after three years in Federal prison from West Virginia to Atlanta, GA. During this time the battle for Deb's followers resulted in a split within and the more radical would become the Communist Party and be strong for what was going on in Russia. This meant even defending Lenin and his brutal tactics. Debs would have no part of this, "He was horrified by the news that the czar and his family had been murdered, and in the summer of 1922 he sent an open telegram to Lenin, objecting to his government's plan to execute two dozen socialist from a rival faction who had been convicted of treason in a show trial. Pleading in the name of "our common humanity." Debs told Lenin that killing these men would leave a 'foul and indelible spot' on the Bolshevik's reputation, and urged him to show the world that working-class revolutionaries offered a more enlightened form of justice than their capitalist enemies." p. 305. Debs could tell from what he was hearing from Russia that America was more reasonable despite his years in a Federal penitentiary.

Debs was a kindly man, who helped all and against the mores of the time he was friends to minorities and murderers. He was looked to for advice from both across the country while in prison and his fellow prisoners as he accepted people as they were and treated them with love and kindness. When he left the prison finally there is a picture of him in the book facing his former home with hat raised as "most of the two thousand convicts cheered, hollered, and called his name." p. 296.

There are many more examples of Debs that many people have never been taught. And part of why I read this book now. There is much that went on before and after 1919 that is not common knowledge and critical for us today to understand. It's not black and white, for some it was life and death, both on the political front lines and the home/job front lines. Debs and the Socialist Party were trying to make lives and their economy better in a way they felt was lacking at the time. I applaud that.

On the face of political belief alone I would not stand with Debs and his party, but in the face of denying their right to assemble and speak I would like to think that I would have stood with them on that basis. Debs already worn out from his five Presidential campaigns, including one from prison, lost weight, was diagnosed with a heart condition, and never fully recovered from his stint in prison. He even considered whether to accept amnesty from President Harding because there were others who remained in prison until the Coolidge administration. That's a lot to risk for a cause and just a small part of my admiration for Debs after reading this book.

[Dave]

While Eugene Debs was a hopeless and naïve idealist he was completely correct on the pig warmonger Woodrow Wilson. Funny how the First Amendment principles have throughout US history been proven to be more smoke & mirrors than a hardcore philosophy. We drag them out only when needed to puff up our pride in some sort of righteous idignation and then quickly kick the ideas to the curb for the sake of group-think at times when dissent and resistance are most needed. This book served as an excellent follow-up to an earlier read I had posted here titled Selling the Great War.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34...

Yes, it does get a little preachy sometimes but it is truly amazing how little of this "hidden history" is ever covered in American classrooms. The sheer absurdity of being convicted of speaking out against a war just as said war is drawing to a close and then being sent to prison for said "crime" long after that war is concluded simply in a spirit of vindicitiveness doesn't say much for our high & mighty morals of 'freedom & liberty'.

And to think... Wilson's 1917 Epionage Act is still on the books. Why, again, did we need a Patriot Act when all the authorization (and prcedent) the government needed was already there and waiting to be dusted off.

[Kenneth Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a book that deals with Eugene Debs and his run for the presidency in 1920 while in prison. He was sentenced under the sedition act passed during WW1. He was convicted for a speech made in Canton, Ohio in which he criticized America's involvement in the war. But this book is much more than that. It traces the history of the socialist movement of the war years and after. From a fairly prosperous movement to its decline after the split with the communist faction after 1919. The book also deals with the efforts of the movement to get Debs released from prison and the coalitions formed to obtain this end. One of the most important outcomes was the forming of what was to become the ACLU. The underlying issue through the book was the struggle to define the freedom granted by the 1st amendment. Worth the read.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little dry. But an in-depth look at an interesting period in US history

[Clif · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eugene V. Debs was the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party in America, running five times for the office and living to see socialism as a movement in the United States crumble long before the Great Depression reopened questioning of capitalism.

He was a humanitarian and a revolutionary, one who would never hurt a flea, but at the same time was convinced that capitalism had to be overthrown and replaced by socialism. He was of the group believing that the 1917 Russian revolution was a wonderful breakthrough for humanity that could spread across the globe. Lenin knew of Debs and approved of him. Though the history of the Soviet Union has certainly proven this rosy view wrong, Debs did not live to see it.

A tall, thin man, Debs was a standout in any crowd and his eloquence attracted many crowds, often of thousands, who were inspired by his words. The federal government did not hold a positive view of his views and in the clampdown on dissent by the Wilson administration during WW1, Debs was accused of calling for the overthrow of the government under the Espionage Act of 1917, exactly the same legislation with which President Obama hoped to convict Edward Snowden. Convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, he served a bit over two before being released by President Harding.

The tale of Debs' term in prison is remarkable and should be known by all Americans. His kind manner, engaging way of speaking and humility won him the admiration and friendship of three prison wardens. At the same time, he won the admiration of his fellow inmates who referred to him as "Mr. Debs" and insisted that all prisoners do the same. A man of honor and principle, Debs did not think himself above the convicts around him. Showing them respect, he received it back. He said they were some of the best people he had met.

Something unique happened when Debs was released with a picture in the book to show it happening. Making his way on foot away from the prison, of the typical gigantic multistory fortress design, Debs turned to wave goodbye to the inmates who had crowded to the bars to see him depart. They raised a cheer for him so loud that it could be heard a half mile away. This expression of friendship and respect by those society thought of as human refuse, understandably reduced Debs to tears. Reading about this took my breath away while at the same time saddening me at the knowledge that few Americans know of this event.

Debs called prison a "deformatory", a school for depravity and a place where guards enjoying absolute power over the inmates would be cruel as a result. Has there been any change in the 104 years since? He wrote a book about his prison experience, Walls and Bars that I intend to read.

Ernest Freeberg provides a running account of the turbulent time in America over Debs lifetime including the people who did so much to promote socialism, an uphill battle, as corporate America did all it could to fight unions. Freedom of speech is central to the book. How the First Amendment was interpreted by the Supreme Court is covered in detail along with how citizens viewed it, thinking it worthless as was the case in the violent reactionary activities of the American Legion. The infamous raids conducted by Wilson's Attorney General Palmer on suspected subversives show how little the First was valued during the war, as Wilson's Postmaster General was banning radical publications from the mail, continuing it after the war ended.

Showing what one person can do, we read of Lucy Robins whose belief that socialism was best advanced by working within the system, rather than overthrowing it as Debs envisioned, had her winning the support of Samuel Gompers, the head of the American Federation of Labor.

Democracy's Prisoner is a very enjoyable look at the America of the early 20th century of the all but forgotten part played by Debs when the socialist movement reached its peak of popularity in the US. Capitalism has since taken over the world delighting with the things it has produced. Other political ideologies have been swept away, yet the unsustainability of the endless growth capitalism demands will have the final say. No alternatives are on offer.

[Lucas Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books just aren't hitting this Spring they way they were at the start of the year. I purchased this book years ago in my first flush of interest after learning about Debs a little more (reading the Canton Speech instead of just mentioning it) because I felt like most biographies of Debs seemed old, out of print, or too expensive (Excited about the new Debs biography by Shawn Gude being published later this year!) It had languished on my shelf for years and I was excited to read it finally.

Debs' 1918 arrest for giving an anti-war speech in Canton, OH is the animating event of the book, and there is a lot of Debs throughout, but I still didn't really feel like the book was about him in a fundamental sense. The book is more properly about the Amnesty movement that came into being after Debs' arrest. But the focus on Debs seems to have detracted from the main argument of the book. Tracing the origins of the ACLU or a figure like Clarence Darrow, or even Lucy Robins, with a central chapter or two about the Debs case might have allowed the thesis to develop more fully. In many ways, I felt like the book spent too much time downplaying Debs' political program among many of his admirers. The Amnesty movement, in a sense, domesticated Debs and allowed him to transition from a "Dangerous man," to an "American Dreamer." There is a repeated emphasis that most of the Americans who supported amnesty, DID NOT support socialism, so on and so forth. It just feels like the book should be less focused on Debs if it works so hard to focus on the people who supported him but did actually support him.

All that said, I liked some the analysis of the breakdown of the Socialist party while Debs was in jail. Communists to the left, the AFL to the Right, and Debs in the middle. The author seems most admiring of Debs when he is a tragic figure. There is really something to this. Eugene Debs has the qualities of a folk hero. In a better world, there would be a musical review of his life at places like Dollywood that children see from a young age. So, while I wasn't in love with this book, believing that a better version of the book was possible, I still appreciate learning so much about an often mentioned, little understood figure in American history.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Well researched and well written

[Dave Hirsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly inspiring. The book gives great context and a ton of information.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very pertinent to today / but oh so many facts. Not light reading.

[Algernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those who feel that American politics have grown irredeemably pernicious in the Bush-Obama era, the era of the Patriot Act and persecution of journalists and whistleblowers escorted by triumphal nationalism, might be surprised to plunge into Freeberg's detailed narrative of the World War I years and note how familiar are the key legal and political battles. The book, published in 2008 at the end of the George W. Bush presidency, does not point out the parallels - they announce themselves. Indeed, the Espionage Act under which Debs was convicted for giving an anti-war speech is still in force and has been used lately by President Barack Obama to prosecute whistleblowers.

The key period covered by the book is the imprisonment of Socialist politician Eugene Victor Debs for a 1918 speech criticizing the United States government prosecution of World War I. The punishment of dissent, not only by government power but also by vigilante groups and aided by a war-loving national press, leads to a prolonged amnesty movement for Debs and other prisoners of conscience, including a Debs presidential campaign conducted while the candidate was in an Atlanta prison cell. There is detailed coverage of the repressive policies of President Woodrow Wilson (a Democrat) and his Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer of the notorious Palmer Raids, and the Red Scare of World War I. The presidency passes to the Republican, Warren Harding, who eventually releases Debs - as an act of mercy rather than an act of justice.

Its historical detail slows down the narrative pace but it still held me right up to the epilogue. In particular, this will be of interest to students of the First Amendment, as momentous consequences turn on legal reasoning with respect to freedom of speech and expression.

[Adam A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good old Gene Debs...

You know, until I read this book, my opinion of him was that he was just another thorn in the side politico with just enough charisma to get his name in the books.

Part of this has some basis in fact, because the man was unwavering and uncompromising and it's easy to take him as a bit one dimensional; he lived and breathed his Socialism. As it turns out - as Freeberg wonderfully explains - that is exactly why you want to learn about Gene.

Freeberg takes what probably is the most telling episode of Debs' life and unfolds it in a way that - even if you've no interest in socialism - you can access his thinking and even his stubborness. Gene Debs isn't just some political loudmouth, he's the guy next door and what's more, he's the guy next door willing to go to jail for speaking his mind.

I came away from this book with such deep admiration for this guy, I could totally understand his cult of personality at the time. He was a political rock star! And rightly so. And it takes an unflinching, equally stubborn writer to get this story right.

Freeberg's description of the man and the events of his time put me right in the middle of it all. What's more, the account doesn't look for unwarranted sympathy: the facts are laid out pretty darn plain.

As a fan of post civil war/industrial revolution America and the class struggels of the time, I recommend this book for anyone looking for a fair characterization of not just Debs, but the working class movement in the early part of the 20th century.

Too bad there weren't six stars!

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book turned out to be even better than I had hoped it would be. I was expecting a straight forward biography of Eugene Debs and I got it, but on top of that Freeberg treats the reader to an in-depth discussion of the restrictions placed around political dissent during WWI and the way in which Debs’ imprisonment came to symbolize the curtailment of free speech. Following the proposal of the Espionage Act, Freeberg shows the disagreements that were already being formed by this dissent-suppressing law. Subsequent to the bill’s passing, Freeberg uses Debs’ imprisonment and appeal to discuss the different contemporary interpretations of the First Amendment while underscoring the importance of the general public in accepting the interpretation of the lawyers and judges. Another interesting aspect of this book was the way in which it detailed the dismemberment of the Socialist party largely as a result of the suppression of the radical press during WWI. Similarly, Freeberg shows the epitome of the political hysteria of the time that was the Red Scare and the Palmer raids while also discussing the backlash that these cause and the help it gave to the movement to release the political prisoners of the Espionage Act. Overall this book gives a very intimate look at the era surrounding WWI and the impact it had in destroying the Socialist Party while also setting up the discussion that would eventually solidify the rights assured by the First Amendment.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have long loved Eugene Debs. After reading this book, I love him even more. He fought for workers' rights, for free speech, for improved education and living conditions for the poor, and for prison reform. He was a fiery speaker who got a 10 year prison sentence for suggesting that America's entry into World War I was not the will of the people. But everyone who met him loved him. The key witness against him at his trial came to regret testifying against Debs. The prison wardens respected him and gave him special privileges. His fellow prisoners loved and respected him. The Attorney General sneaked him out of prison to meet with him in Washington, D.C. This book was a very well written account of not just Debs, but America's struggle to interpret what free speech and loyalty really means.

[George Parks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Window into this era of US history. Impressive details on the Espionage Act. Great narrative on a forgotten but critically important American Figure "Eugene Debs" who was thrown in jail by the Woodrow Wilson for protesting WWI and expressing criticism of Wilson's policies. Ironically the socialist party, which Debs was part of, and Wilson's progressive Democrats shared many ideals and objectives, yet there were clearly no sacred cows when it came to punishing dissent. The book cites this event as reminding, or refreshing (perhaps temporarily) American's desire to preserve their civil liberties originally fought for by our founders.

[Ataylor999 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent in-depth study of one of America's premier, if sometimes misguided socialists. Debs commitment to his ideals led to his becoming the cause celebre for Oliver Wendell Holmes's reversal of thought and ultimate courageous stance for freedom of speech.

[Jacob Dougherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good analysis of the time Debs spent in prison, and a good lesson for our times. A little preachy at times when it attempts to relate Debs's time to the modern era.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mainly became interested in Debs while reading Zinn and other histories of dissent. This is a great collection of writings for anyone looking for a concise collection of his writings of the war.

[Wayne Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

repeating of history - we're doomed