The Working Class History of SEK

Appeal to Reason

At the turn of the twentieth century, Girard became one of the most important centers of socialist publishing in the United States. The Appeal to Reason, founded by Julius A. Wayland, grew from a small Midwestern paper into a national force. At its height, it reached a circulation of more than 700,000, making it the most widely circulated socialist newspaper in United States history.

The paper connected the struggles of coal miners in southeast Kansas to broader national debates about labor rights, corporate power, and democratic control of industry. Writers such as Upton Sinclair contributed investigative reporting and political commentary that helped shape Progressive Era reform movements. From its offices in Girard, the Appeal turned a small prairie town into a nerve center of American socialism.

The Amazon Army and the Coalfield Strikes

Southeast Kansas was not only a publishing hub but also a battleground for labor struggle. In 1921, during a bitter miners’ strike, a group of women marched in solidarity with union workers in what became known as the “Amazon Army.” Armed with brooms, kitchen utensils, and fierce determination, they confronted strikebreakers and demanded fair treatment for their families and communities.

These women were connected to organizing networks tied to the United Mine Workers of America, which had deep roots in the coal towns surrounding Pittsburg and Frontenac. The Amazon Army symbolized how socialist politics in southeast Kansas extended beyond formal party structures and into everyday community life. Wives, mothers, and daughters were not passive observers but active participants in class struggle.

Their march became one of the most memorable episodes in Kansas labor history, illustrating the depth of working class solidarity in the region.

Eugene V. Debs in Girard

During the decade of the 1900s, Eugene V. Debs lived in Girard and worked on the Appeal to Reason. Already a nationally known labor leader, Debs used the paper as a platform to articulate a vision of democratic socialism rooted in worker control and political participation.

Debs was the Social Democratic Party candidate for President of the United States in 1900. He ran again on the Socialist Party of America ticket in 1904, 1908, and 1912. In 1908, he kicked off his presidential campaign from the steps of the Crawford County courthouse in Girard, underscoring the town’s symbolic importance to the movement.

In the election of 1912, Debs received 901,000 votes, roughly 6 percent of the national total. That year he carried Crawford County, one of only four counties nationwide that he won. For a brief moment, southeast Kansas was not just influenced by American socialism but stood at its electoral forefront.