People of the Revolution and the USSR

Activity
Any Political and party leadership 1 Social movements and organizing 2
Affiliation

Most people

Any Communist Party USA (CPUSA) 1 Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) 1 Democratic Party (United States) 1 Socialist Party of America 1

All 4 affiliations

International organizations

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) 1

United States

Communist Party USA (CPUSA) 1 Democratic Party (United States) 1 Socialist Party of America 1
Position
Any Non-Bolshevik socialists 1 Marxism and communism 1
Citizenship
Any United States 2
Background(set)
Any France 21 Germany 9 Russia 9 Austria 2 Belgium 2 United Kingdom 2 United States 2 Bulgaria 1 Cuba 1 Czechia 1 Hungary 1 Ireland 1 Italy 1 Mongolia 1 Poland 1 Serbia 1 Turkey 1
Era(set)
Any

People of the Soviet Union

The last generation1985–1991 1

People of the wider world

The age of the Internationals and empires1820–1917 2 The revolutionary wave and the world war1917–1945 32 The Cold War and decolonization1945–현재 50 Scholars of this history1892–현재 43
Background: United States The age of the Internationals and empires 1820–1917 Clear all

Eugene V. Debs

Eugene V. Debs
Socialist Party of America Non-Bolshevik socialists United States United States 1855–1926 ○ Heart failure

Five-time Socialist Party presidential candidate and pioneer of industrial railroad unionism

At his 1918 sentencing he declared: "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."

The most iconic figure of American socialism and a pioneer of industrial unionism. After leading the American Railway Union through the Pullman Strike of 1894, he embraced Marxism in prison and helped found the Socialist Party of America (1901) and the IWW (1905). He ran for president five times, winning 6.0% in 1912, and from an Atlanta prison cell in 1920 he won over 914,000 votes, the high-water mark of American socialist electoral politics.

Career timeline
  • 1875Joined Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen
  • 1880–1893BLF Grand Secretary-Treasurer & magazine editor
  • 1885Indiana State Representative (Democrat)
  • 1893–1897Founder & president, American Railway Union
  • 1901Co-founder, Socialist Party of America
  • 1905Founding member, Industrial Workers of the World
  • 1900–1920Socialist Party presidential candidate (5 campaigns)
  • 1919–1921Imprisoned, Atlanta Federal Penitentiary

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Elizabeth Flynn
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Communism United States United States 1890–1964 ○ Natural causes

"East Side Joan of Arc": from the IWW's Rebel Girl to first woman chair of the CPUSA

"We are Communist leaders, proudly and avowedly. We will prove to you that we are not a criminal conspiracy but a 33-year-old working-class political party, devoted to the immediate needs and aspirations of the American people." — Summation to the jury, Smith Act trial, April 24, 1952

American labor organizer and communist. Known as the IWW's "Rebel Girl" from age 15, she led the Lawrence strike and co-founded the ACLU. Elected CPUSA's first woman chair in 1961; died in Moscow and was given a Red Square state funeral.

Career timeline
  • 1906First socialist speech, Harlem Socialist Club — arrested; joins IWW
  • 1907–1916Full-time IWW organizer — Lawrence and Paterson strikes, Missoula and Spokane free-speech fights
  • 1918Founds Workers' Defense Union to defend Espionage Act arrestees
  • 1920Co-founds ACLU; leads Sacco and Vanzetti defense campaign
  • 1936Joins CPUSA; writes weekly column for the Daily Worker
  • 1940Expelled from ACLU board for Communist Party membership
  • 1951–1955Convicted under Smith Act; serves 2 years at Alderson prison, writes The Alderson Story
  • 1961–1964Chair of CPUSA National Committee; dies in Moscow — Red Square state funeral