The Socialist Party was winning elections in early 1900s and proved a strong opponent to the Dems & GOP, especially when combined with unions and strikes. I believe an independent party is needed yet again.
The Socialist Party was on track to become a major party in US politics until many anti-war socialist and union leaders were jailed during the World Wars (in particular, horrible laws like Sedition Act of 1918).
More or less, the final nail in the coffin was FDR's New Deal, which was largely based on demands from the Socialist Party platform. It was a compromise to "save capitalism", in FDR's words -- keep capitalism by creating a social safety net to reduce tensions.
The fact that FDR's New Deal was based on Socialist Party policy I think shows the influence that independent politics and union organizing can have. There's no incentive for the establishment to listen if they think they have your vote captured.
Unfortunately, the success of the New Deal convinced many activists that the way forward was within the Democratic Party, and so after FDR, the Socialist Party splintered and never recovered.
Some of the ex-Socialist Party activists included Michael Harrington who wrote "The Other America" about poverty in US, who eventually thought the future was the Democratic Party and so created what eventually became the Democratic Socialists of America to lobby within the party.
In the 1940s there was a Progressive Party offshoot of the Democrats that wanted to continue FDR's policy after neoliberals came into the Democratic Party. The effort was unsuccessful and prompted a shift toward more right-wing pro-corporate policy that continues to today.
In particular, the battle within the Democratic Party came to a head in the '60s during the civil rights movement, as more conservative neoliberal elements of the party fought civil rights legislation while progressives pushed hard for it.
This resulted in a very hostile and decisive 1968 convention. After several leaders (Kennedy, MLK, etc.) were assassinated earlier in the year, the anti-war movement protested the convention as party leadership moved to suppress anti-war sentiment and nominate their candidate.
The rough convention and the loss of their candidate Humphrey that year resulted in party officials making a number of changing, including what became the idea of "superdelegates".
This has lead to an atmosphere where the Democratic Party has been captured by neoliberal interests that put rules in place that generally uphold their own power and interests. In the past, this sort of power grab was challenged by unions and independent parties.
Unfortunately unions have generally been in decline since that time period and have not had enough support for effective organizing or strikes. Some unions have even become too "cozy" with the Democratic Party establishment and business interests and not much of a challenger.
The Socialist Party and Progressive Party of old disbanded, but many members joined the civil rights and anti-war movements. The environmental movement also grew during the '60s after Rachel Carson's groundbreaking book, among others.
There was some hope at first of pushing the Democratic Party as had been done with FDR, but some members began to realize that without independent politics like had been done in the past, this was much harder to actually make happen.
In the 1980s, some of these activists from the civil rights, anti-war, and environmental movements started talking about forming a new independent party: a Green Party, based on the success of the German Green Party and Green Parties starting to form around the world.
You can see these elements as part of the Green Party's 4 pillars: social justice (civil rights), peace (anti-war), ecology (environmental), all tied together with a demand for grassroots democracy, for the right of the people to self-govern.
The Green Party, being a movement for a decentralized democratic system, walked the talk. It started as a small group of small state parties in the late '80s and early '90s. More regionalized, running candidates for local office.
Early Green Party members approached Ralph Nader about running for president and he agreed, running for president in 2000. Since Ralph Nader was a well-known activist, this helped get the Green name out and form more state parties.
Around this time, again decentralization!, some Green Party chapters were formed primarily for electoral work, and some formed around activism. There were discussions to merge these chapters into a single Green Party of the US.
This is why modern local Green Parties typically see themselves as both activists and electoral organizations, something that follows the tradition of the Socialist Party more so than the Dems or GOP.
Ralph Nader's run in 2000 allowed the Green Party of the US to be officially formed out of the old Association of state Green Parties, and become recognized as a national party by the FEC. So officially GPUS is less than 20 years old.
GPUS is founded as a confederation of state parties -- in some sense there is no "THE Green Party" as much as 50 different state Green Parties that meet regularly in national convention to discuss issues and ensure we're all working toward the same shared goals and values.
Technically though there's less than 50. Greens have ballot access in 45 states, and active state parties in a little less than that. So there is definitely room to grow. But from a small association in 1990s to 45 states today, there has been some definite progress too.
For comparison, Greens are catching up to the Libertarian Party in terms of ballot access and candidates, even though the Libertarian Party has existed for about twice as long as the Greens.
That growth also occurred during a time period when union membership and activism went down drastically, some in some sense keeping the party spirit alive during that time is a good sign in itself. We're seeing the murmurs of a new movement growing again finally since 2016.
So the long history lesson is that: union organizing + independent political parties historically seems to get the job done in the US. But we haven't really had that combination since the 1960s as unions and party membership has dropped off dramatically.
Clearly, from then until today, the lack of resistance has seen a massive implementation of neoliberal policy under both Republican and Democratic administrations -- social net cuts (dismantling the New Deal), deregulation of finance and business, expansion of wars, military.
Deregulation and expansion of wars means not only the huge direct economic and human life costs, but also the growing damage and cost to our environment, to the planet as a whole as climate change grows.
Much as was done about 100 years ago, we need to organize. Workers need to join unions to start flexing economic muscle on business leaders. Form new unions if needed, don't settle on today's unions if they don't represent your interests.
Similarly, we need to flex political muscle against today's political leaders that aren't working for people and planet. Workers should also join a political party that represents their values, and I offer your local Green Party as the best choice.
The Green Party has its roots in struggle for civil rights, for the environment, and against war. A #GreenNewDeal would empower local business and unions and create jobs that help people and fight climate change, as well as demand more democracy with electoral reform.
We can't let fear conquer us any longer. Unions make us strong so we don't have to fear business, and similarly, a strong Green Party means we don't have to fear Republicans, or the Democrats that enable them.
The Socialist Party was never a particularly huge party but it won many local mayor positions, some state positions, and even a couple in Congress -- and that was enough to be a wake-up call to FDR that he had to do something.
I think we have to keep the same attitude. We have our set of demands, the Green Party platform and Green New Deal, and we invite all others to join. But we won't compromise on the important principles. We won't vote for Democrats that destroy the planet out of fear any longer.
Either political leaders can be like FDR, and come to compromise with US, or Greens will continue to grow until become the largest party in the US. It's their choice, but we won't take no for an answer on our principles, for people and planet over profit.
So please join your local & state Green Party. Donate if you can -- many such as @GreenPartyofPA have a sustaining membership to support candidates and activism. Consider volunteering for activism or campaigns, and consider running for office yourself! Local offices especially.
Greens already win local offices pretty regularly around the country, but media focuses on state and especially federal races. Don't do that. Change starts grassroots in your neighborhood. Run as a Green for your local mayor or city council or school board.
Those "small" offices have a tremendous amount of influence over the daily lives of your neighbors. You can do a lot of good in those positions, and the more we win them and bring our Green platform to the people, the more voters we will win over, the more our movement grows.
The "major" parties are so focused on national politics that they've left their local committees and base to rot. Local groups don't feel heard. There is a HUGE opportunity for Greens to win and expand from there to state and national politics, just as the Socialist Party did.
If you are in a union (and if not, you should be!), start asking union members and leadership about the union endorsing the Green platform and the Green New Deal, if not outright endorsing Green candidates for at least local office. Unions and parties must work together.
Ask your union membership to get in touch with the Green Party. Talk to @GreenPartyofPA @AlleghenyGreens or your local chapter wherever you are. Let's talk about how we can better collaborate because I know we share goals and values.
So that's our pep talk I guess. History shows unions + independent parties win big change. So let's do that again. Grow unions to demand democracy at work, while growing Green Party to demand more democracy in government. We can win together if we are bold and fearless.
.@threadreaderapp unroll please
