Editing Eugene V. Debs (section)

=== Socialists split with the Industrial Workers of the World ===

[[File:Eugene Debs running for president.png|thumb|right|Debs during one of his presidential campaigns]]

Although the IWW was built on the basis of uniting workers of industry, a rift began between the union and the Socialist Party. It started when the electoral wing of the Socialist Party, led by [[Victor L. Berger|Victor Berger]] and [[Morris Hillquit]], became irritated with speeches by Haywood.{{sfn|Carlson|1983|p=156}} In December 1911, Haywood told a [[Lower East Side]] audience at New York City's [[Cooper Union]] that parliamentary Socialists were "step-at-a-time people whose every step is just a little shorter than the preceding step". It was better, Haywood said, to "elect the superintendent of some branch of industry, than to elect some congressman to the United States Congress".{{sfn|Carlson|1983|p=157}} In response, Hillquit attacked the IWW as "purely anarchistic".{{sfn|Carlson|1983|p=159}}

The Cooper Union speech was the beginning of a split between Haywood and the Socialist Party, leading to the split between the factions of the IWW, one faction loyal to the Socialist Party and the other to Haywood.{{sfn|Carlson|1983|p=159}} The rift presented a problem for Debs, who was influential in both the IWW and the Socialist Party. The final straw between Haywood and the Socialist Party came during the [[1912 Lawrence textile strike|Lawrence Textile Strike]]. The decision of the elected officials in [[Lawrence, Massachusetts|Lawrence]], Massachusetts, to send police, who subsequently used their clubs on children, disgusted Haywood, who publicly declared that "I will not vote again" until such a circumstance was rectified.{{sfn|Carlson|1983|p=183}} Haywood was purged from the National Executive Committee by passage of an amendment that focused on the [[direct action]] and [[sabotage]] tactics advocated by the IWW.{{sfn|Carlson|1983|p=200}} Debs was probably the only person who could have saved Haywood's seat.{{sfn|Carlson|1983|p=199}}

In 1906, when Haywood had been on trial for his life in Idaho, Debs had described him as "the Lincoln of Labor" and called for Haywood to run against [[Theodore Roosevelt]] for president,{{sfn|Carlson|1983|p=109}} but times had changed and Debs, facing a split in the party, chose to echo Hillquit's words, accusing the IWW of representing anarchy.{{sfn|Haywood|1966|p=279}} Debs thereafter stated that he had opposed the amendment, but that once it was adopted it should be obeyed.{{sfn|Carlson|1983|p=199}} Debs remained friendly to Haywood and the IWW after the expulsion despite their perceived differences over IWW tactics.{{sfn|Haywood|1966|p=279}}

[[File:Debs Canton 1918 large.jpg|thumb|left|Debs speaking in [[Canton, Ohio]], in 1918, being arrested for sedition shortly thereafter]]

Prior to Haywood's dismissal, the Socialist Party membership had reached an all-time high of 135,000. One year later, four months after Haywood was recalled, the membership dropped to 80,000. The reformists in the Socialist Party attributed the decline to the departure of the "Haywood element" and predicted that the party would recover, but it did not. In the election of 1912, many of the Socialists who had been elected to public office lost their seats.{{sfn|Carlson|1983|p=199}}