Today in Labor History December 23, 1921: President Warren Harding issued a "Christmas amnesty," freeing Eugene V. Debs and 23 other political prisoners who had been imprisoned for their opposition to World War I under the Sedition Act. Debs was a founding member of the IWW, a socialist, and a 5-time candidate for president of the US. In the 1912 election, he won 6% of the vote. He also led the 1894 Pullman Strike of over 250,000 railroad workers.

In 2023, the U.S. launched its #WithoutJustCause campaign to seek the release of the over 1 million political prisoners around the world, ignoring/denying the fact that it has its own political prisoners, including Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier, who have been in prison through eight different presidencies. None of these eight presidents even considered granting amnesty to them. Will Biden? Not likely.

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