Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Farmer–Labor Party of Minnesota
Founded	1918 (1918)
Dissolved	1944 (1944)
Preceded by	Nonpartisan League
Succeeded by	Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
Ideology	Populism Progressivism Cooperative economics
Political position	Left-wing
National affiliation	Labor Party of the United States (1919–20) Farmer–Labor Party of the United States (1920–23; 1924–36) Federated Farmer–Labor Party (1923–24) None (1918–19; 1936–44)
Politics of the United States Political parties

The Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party (FL) was a left-wing American political party in Minnesota between 1918 and 1944. Largely dominating Minnesota politics during the Great Depression, it was one of the most successful statewide third party movements in United States history and the longest-lasting affiliate of the national Farmer–Labor movement. At its height in the 1920s and 1930s, party members included three Minnesota governors, four United States senators, eight United States representatives and a majority in the Minnesota legislature.

In 1944, Hubert H. Humphrey and Elmer Benson worked to merge the party with the state's Democratic Party, forming the contemporary Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party.

History

Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party political banner atop a car, circa 1925.

The Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party emerged from the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota and the Union Labor Party in Duluth, Minnesota, on a platform of farmer and labor union protection, government ownership of certain industries, and social security laws. In 1936 it was informally allied with the New Deal coalition and supported the reelection of President Franklin Roosevelt.

One of the primary obstacles of the party, besides constant vilification on the pages of local and state newspapers, was the difficulty of uniting the party's divergent base and maintaining political union between rural farmers and urban laborers who often had little in common other than the populist perception that they were an oppressed class of hardworking producers exploited by a small elite. A powerful pro-Communist element wanted fusion during the war as a mark of solidarity between the USSR and the USA, as partners against the Nazis. .

According to political scientist George Mayer:

The farmer approached problems as a proprietor or petty capitalist. Relief to him meant a mitigation of conditions that interfered with successful farming. It involved such things as tax reduction, easier access to credit, and a floor under farm prices. His individualist psychology did not create scruples against government aid, but he welcomed it only as long as it improved agricultural conditions. When official paternalism took the form of public works or the dole, he openly opposed it because assistance on such terms forced him to abandon his chosen profession, to submerge his individuality in the labor crew, and to suffer the humiliation of the bread line. Besides, a public works program required increased revenue, and since the state relied heavily on the property tax, the cost of the program seemed likely to fall primarily on him.

At the opposite end of the seesaw sat the city worker, who sought relief from the hunger, exposure, and disease that followed the wake of unemployment. Dependent on an impersonal industrial machine, he had sloughed off the frontier tradition of individualism for the more serviceable doctrine of cooperation through trade unionism. Unlike the depressed farmer, the unemployed worker often had no property or economic stake to protect. He was largely immune to taxation and had nothing to lose by backing proposals to dilute property rights or redistribute the wealth. Driven by the primitive instinct to survive, the worker demanded financial relief measures from the state.

The Minnesota Democratic Party, led by Hubert Humphrey, was able to absorb the Farmer–Labor Party on April 15, 1944, creating the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party.

Notable members

Notable politicians elected

The 1922 Farmer–Labor Convention, held in Minneapolis

• Governors of Minnesota who were Farmer–Labor:
  • Floyd B. Olson (1931–1936)
  • Hjalmar Petersen (1936–1937)
  • Elmer Austin Benson (1937–1939)
• United States senators from Minnesota who were Farmer–Labor:
  • Henrik Shipstead (1923–1941); later became a Republican
  • Magnus Johnson (1923–1925)
  • Elmer Austin Benson (1935–1937)
  • Ernest Lundeen (1937–1940)
• United States representatives from Minnesota who were Farmer–Labor:
  • William Leighton Carss (1919–1921, 1925–1929)
  • Ole J. Kvale (1923–1929)
  • Knud Wefald (1923–1927)
  • Paul John Kvale (1929–1939)
  • Henry M. Arens (1933–1935)
  • Magnus Johnson (1933–1935)
  • Ernest Lundeen (1933–1937); had previously served as a Republican Representative (1915–1917), also served in the Senate
  • Francis Shoemaker (1933–1935)
  • John T. Bernard (1937-1939)
• Minnesota Legislators who were Farmer-Labor:
  • Samuel H. Bellman (1935-1938)
  • John W. Cox (1935-1938)

Electoral History

Minnesota State Offices

Minnesota Federal Offices

U.S. Senate						U.S. House of Representatives
Year	Nominee	# votes	% votes	Place	Notes	Election	Leader	Votes		Seats	Position	Control
1918	Did Not Contest					1918	Did Not Contest			0 / 10		Republican
1920	No Seat Up					1920	N/A	62,332	8.34%	0 / 10		Republican
1922	Henrik Shipstead	325,372	47.10 / 100	Elected		1922	N/A	35,551	5.58%	1 / 10	1	Republican
1923 (S)	Magnus Johnson	290,165	57.48 / 100	Elected		1924	N/A	337,035	41.48%	3 / 10	2	Republican
1924	Magnus Johnson	380,646	45.50 / 100	2nd of 5
1926	No Seat Up					1926	N/A	230,758	35.03%	2 / 10	1	Republican
1928	Henrik Shipstead	665,169	65.38 / 100	Re-elected		1928	N/A	251,126	25.84%	1 / 10	1	Republican
1930	Ernest Lundeen	178,671	22.89 / 100	3rd of 5		1930	N/A	271,599	35.75%	1 / 10		Republican
1932	No Seat Up					1932	N/A	388,616	38.75%	5 / 9	4	Farmer-Labor
1934	Henrik Shipstead	503,379	49.87 / 100	Re-elected		1934	N/A	376,927	37.86%	3 / 9	2	Republican
1936 (S)	Did Not Contest					1936	N/A	462,714	42.40%	5 / 9	2	Farmer-Labor
1936	Ernest Lundeen	663,363	62.24 / 100	Elected
1938	No Seat Up					1938	N/A	338,684	31.63%	1 / 9	4	Republican
1940	Elmer Austin Benson	310,875	25.70 / 100	2nd of 5		1940	N/A	298,250	24.74%	1 / 9		Republican
1942	Elmer Austin Benson	213,965	28.21 / 100	2nd of 4		1942	N/A	151,684	19.92%	1 / 9		Republican