Eugene V. Debs Reader

The Eugene V. Debs Reader

Book Release Party.Dec 17, Monday, 7 PM.

Open University of the Left 2040 N. Milwaukee Ave.,Chicago, second floor.

Open University explores the life of the legendary union leader and America's foremost socialist with a release party for the Eugene V. Debs Reader (AK Press, Second Edition). Join labor historian William Adelman for a discussion and screening of the documentary video "Eugene Debs and the Labor Movement."

Trade unionist, socialist, presidential candidate,jailed anti-war activist,co-founder of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the Socialist Party,Eugene Debs' career spanned two centuries and countless strikes. His colleagues included everyone from Jane Addams to Big Bill Haywood. "The issue is socialism versus capitalism," wrote Debs 100 years ago. "I am for socialism because I am for humanity."

Introduced by Howard Zinn and edited by William A.Pelz, The Eugene V. Debs Reader will be available at tonight's event. Join us for snacks and beverages as we welcome the new edition of this classic collection.

UIC professor emeritus William Ademan is author of Haymarket Revisited and numerous books and articles on Chicago labor history.

Debs Reader editor Bill Pelz is the author of The Spartkusbund and the German Working Class Movement(1988), Wilhelm Liebknecht and German Social Democracy(1994), and Against Capitalism: The European Left on the March (2007). His articles and book reviews have appeared in the American Historical Review,International Labor and Working Class History, German History, Sozialismus, JahrBuch, Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung, and International Labor History Yearbook among others.

"...reminds us of the powerful appeal of the socialist
idea to people alienated from the political system and
aware of the growing stark disparities in income and
wealth - as so many Americans are today."

-Howard Zinn