2-377-988 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

Eugene Victor Debs, American Union leader, addressing a crowd, 20th century. Debs (1855-1926) was instrumental in the founding of one of the first trade unions in the United States, the American Railway Union, in 1893. He was of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Debs ran for President of the United States on behalf of the Social Democratic Party in 1900, and the Socialist Party of America in 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920.