June 13, 2026 will be our second annual Debs Day Dinner!

On June 16, 1918, Socialist Party leader and Presidential nominee Eugene V. Debs made a speech in Canton, Ohio, urging resistance to the military draft. He was arrested and charged with ten counts of sedition for giving the speech. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, winning nearly one million votes for President of the Unites States in 1920 while incarcerated. His sentence was commuted in 1921.

In 1958, Chicago leftists established an annual dinner in honor of Debs, who died in 1926. The event was sponsored by the Socialist Party USA and was celebrated in many cities until the decline of the (now reborn) SPUSA.

We celebrate Debs Day annually on the Saturday nearest to Debs’ historic speech.

Location to be determined.