Free Film: “American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene V. Debs”

Bernie inspired a generation, but who inspired Bernie? Labor organizer Eugene Victor Debs led the United States socialist movement in the early 20th century. He received almost one million votes for president in 1920, running from his cell in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, where he had been jailed for protesting World War I — when our population was one third the size of today’s! Debs was a charismatic, extremely popular figure during his lifetime but this history, like so much of our radical history, is rarely taught.

Debs famously declared: “While there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison I am not free!”

Metro Atlanta DSA and Georgia State U. YDSA are proud to present this film, produced by Yale Strom and Elizabeth Schwartz, two San Diego DSA members. Discussion will follow the film, so please plan to stay.

We also plan to have some copies available of Eugene Debs, a Graphic Biography, by DSA members Paul Buhle and Steve Max, at half price. You can order a copy at half price online from national DSA.

Admission is free, though donations to help pay for the screening fee and theater rental will be welcome.