In Minnesota no radical movement could hope to succeed without the support of organized labor.
In 1918, the agrarian socialist Nonpartisan League of North Dakota recognized that to succeed in Minnesota, they would need to work with labor. The Farmer-Labor label was coined.
Between 1918 and 1936, Farmer-Labor would elect nine Representatives, four Senators, and three Governors in Minnesota.
In 1944, Hubert Humphrey and Elmer Benson brought about a fusion of the Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties: Democratic-Farmer-Labor, or DFL.
My own politics are basically liberal, with a willingness to learn from the older history of grassroots leftism in America. This is very much in line with the current goals of Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor.
The Minnesota DFL supports and works to enact the ideals and principles of the Democratic Party and strives to sustain the foundations in our Party’s grassroots history.
Overview and DFL History
This diary series strives to sustain the foundations in my political party’s grassroots history.
Common themes will be 1) the dispute about working with communists; 2) the dispute about how anti-war you can be; and 3) an absurd degree of factionalism, usually related to the previous two.
Political lessons will sometimes be learned.
Democratic-Farmer-Labor History #2
In Democratic-Farmer-Labor History #1, we saw the catastrophic 1938 defeat of Farmer-Labor in Minnesota, and a Republican win.
In line with the Popular Front strategy of the Communist International, Farmer-Labor Governor Elmer Benson had enacted a mild reformist platform, supporting the New Deal. The Republican candidate, Harold Stassen, had been easily able to match New Deal liberalism, but tar Farmer-Labor for its ties to Communism, where the charge was not entirely invented.
In 1944, Hubert Humphrey, of the locally insignificant Democratic Party, and Elmer Benson, of a Farmer-Labor Party in eclipse, led the fusion of the two. At the start, the Farmer-Labor wing had been in control.
In 1948, the Farmer-Labor wing of the new party wanted to run former vice president Henry Wallace on the Democratic-Farmer-Labor line. Harry Truman would have to run as an independent in Minnesota.
Hubert Humphrey warded off this effort, by cleanly, honestly, and decently mobilizing turnout to the caucuses. With the help of some red baiting.
Neutralist objective writing of the time would speak neutrally of left and right wings. Establishment liberal Hubert Humphrey was a right winger in his party.
In 1948, Harry Truman announced his intention to desegregate the military, by executive order. The year before, he had been the first president to address the NAACP. But at the Democratic National Convention, in Philadelphia, Truman wanted to run on a bland platform, with watered-down provisions on civil rights. He wanted a safe and cautious convention. He was afraid of losing the South.
Hubert Humphrey, mayor of Minneapolis, a Truman delegate, had another idea.
Humphrey spoke in favor of a strong minority committee report on civil rights. He spoke of setting the direction for the convention. Of setting the direction for the party. Of setting the direction for the country.
Friends, delegates, I do not believe that there can be any compromise on the guarantees of the civil rights which we have mentioned in the minority report. In spite of my desire for unanimous agreement on the entire platform, in spite of my desire to see everybody here in honest and unanimous agreement, there are some matters which I think must be stated clearly and without qualification. There can be no hedging -- the newspaper headlines are wrong. There will be no hedging, and there will be no watering down -- if you please -- of the instruments and the principles of the civil-rights program.
My friends, to those who say that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say to them we are 172 years late. To those who say that this civil-rights program is an infringement on states’ rights, I say this: The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights. People -- human beings -- this is the issue of the 20th century.
In a squeaker of a floor vote, the minority report on civil rights passed. The segregationist wing of the Democratic party walked out.
In a squeaker of an election that year, Truman defeated Dewey. This was the first year that a majority of black voters in America identified with the Democratic party, rather than with the party of Lincoln. The margin for Truman in Illinois and Ohio was less than 1%.
The realignment of the parties, which Hubert Humprey had intentionally sought to bring about, is foundational to the Democratic party we have today.
Political Lessons Learned
- An offbeat local party, joining liberals and leftists in a shaky alliance, insisting on keeping “Labor” in its name, where the red-baiting right-wingers of the local party move the national party to the left, to historic and long-lasting effect, is a pretty good one.
- Platform planks coming up from movements on the floor, overriding the cautious calculations of the presidential nominee, can be pretty good too.