Talk:Eugene V. Debs/GA1

GA Review

Good Article review

• The introduction would benefit from an additional paragraph, and/or from a more chronological approach (instead of fame and Pullman Strike in the first paragraph, then early political views, switch to Socialism, and post-Pullman imprisonment in the second.) The first paragraph should summarize what Debs is best, then the second and third could be pre- and post-socialism, respectively. This would make clear (as it is not clear in the current intro) that his involvement in the Pullman Strike and his early role as a labor leader occurred before he became a socialist.

I've split the paragraphs and elaborated a bit. Mastrchf (^t/_c) 20:51, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

• The article does not indicate much about how Debs became influential as a Socialist; it just jumps straight to his candidacies. If it was the first candidacy that put him on the socialist map, that should be explained. Since he thought unionizing was more important than the electoral process, what was he doing on the organizing front prior to 1905? The founding of the IWW probably deserves its own subsection.

Clarified, started own paragraph. Mastrchf (^t/_c) 23:05, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

• The IWW split jerks the reader around, chronologically. It starts by stating "Eugene Debs was uncomfortable with the apolitical stance of some within the IWW", but without giving the reader any indication of time period, and the last thing discussed with mention of time was the 1912 election. Then it backtracks to the founding of the IWW, then forward again to 1908. Also, the discussion of the of split mostly leaves Debs out, making it seem like a marginally-relevant aside for this biography. It reads like its sources: more focused on Haywood than Debs.

I've clarified this and put more of a perspective on Debs, relating on the split and his loyalties both to Haywood and the IWW and the Socialist Party. Mastrchf (^t/_c) 21:30, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

• The 1917 Espionage Act and the accompanying Red Scare need to be discussed in order to contextualize Debs' prosecution.

I've expanded upon this. Mastrchf (^t/_c) 22:51, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

In terms of the GAN criteria:

• It's well-written.
• It seems to be factually accurate, although for moving on to Featured Article status, I think it needs to rely mainly on scholarly biographies and journal articles.
• As noted above, to meet the broad coverage criterion, it needs more discussion of a) his role as a union founder and leader, and b) the broader context of his second imprisonment.
• It seems neutral, stable and well-illustrated. The 1918 speech photo should be moved, since the adjacent text is not about that period.

I'm putting the Good Article nomination On Hold for the time being. Please let me know when you'd like me to take another look at it.--ragesoss (talk) 00:09, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

Just notifying that I'm copying this into the dedicated GA review link, and that I should be able to work with your requests sometime later this week. Mastrchf (^t/_c) 16:04, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

GA passed

Very nice work. You've addressed all my concerns quite nicely. I made a few more minor changes (I think the speech image is too good to leave out altogether).--ragesoss (talk) 00:57, 29 July 2008 (UTC)