Eugene Debs

Submitted by sfr on Fri, 2019-08-02 08:35
Character Key Number: 
354
Display Name: 
Eugene Debs
Sort Name: 
Debs, Eugene
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
No
Biography: 

In Flags in the Dust the owner of the restaurant on the Square refers to "a man like Debs" as a better candidate for President than Woodrow Wilson (122); in The Mansion, at the other end of Faulkner's career, "Eugene Debs" is among the people on the list provided by Charles Mallison of "everybody they called communists now" (237). The historical Eugene V. Debs founded the International Workers of the World (IWW), and was the Socialist Party of America's candidate for President in 1904, 1908, 1912 and 1920. In that last election - the year after the reference in Flags would have been made - Debs received over 900,000 votes.

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