Today in Labor History August 18, 2021

 

Eugene V. Debs

Radio station WEVD, named for Eugene V. Debs, went on the air in New York City.  It was a talk radio station launched by the Socialist Party of America. Making use of the initials of recently deceased party leader Eugene Victor Debs in its call sign, the station operated from Woodhaven in the New York City borough of Queens. The station was purchased with a $250,000 radio fund raised by the Socialist Party in its largest fundraising effort of the 1920s and was intended to spread progressive ideas to a mass audience. A number of national trade unions and other institutions aided the Socialist Party in obtaining the station. Operation of the station was taken over by the publishing association responsible for producing the Yiddish-language social democratic daily newspaper The Jewish Daily Forward in 1932 and continued broadcasting until 1980. – 1927

This day marked the founding of the American Federation of Government Employees, following a decision by the National Federation of Federal Employees (later to become part of the International Association of Machinists) to leave the AFL. – 1932