Eugene V. Debs was the president of the American Railway Union (ARU), which represented about one-third of the Pullman workers and which had concluded a successful strike against the Great Northern Railway Company in April 1894. When the ARU voted to support the Pullman workers, the Pullman Strike became a national action, and Debs became its de facto leader. Although he cautioned against the violence that broke out, Debs received a six-month prison sentence for contempt of court (for violating the injunction issued against the strike) that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in In re Debs (1895). During his incarceration he embraced socialism.