Talk:Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party

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Untitled[edit]

The Further Reading citations were found here: American Communism and Anticommunism:A Historian’s Bibliography and Guide to the Literature. Reproduced here without annotations. DJ Silverfish 17:01, 17 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the link. I've replaced the copyrighted list with the link you provided.--Appraiser (talk) 15:18, 10 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Should probably be titled "Farmer-Labor Party"[edit]

As the article correctly points out, the FLP was not strictly a Minnesota phenomenon. This article should be titled "Farmer-Labor Party" with a redirect for the existing name. Please comment if you agree or disagree. Isaac R (talk) 19:35, 23 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There's already a very detailed article about the national movement; oddly enough, it's to be found under Farmer-Labor Party. This article is about the folks in Minnesota. --Orange Mike | Talk 18:57, 14 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Purging the communists?[edit]

How is it that the FLP's roots in the American communist movement are completely expunged from this article? It was no secret in the early 20th century It's a secret in the early 21st? Has it been subjected to Damnatio memoriae? It's history, people, don't revise it. 173.69.173.130 (talk) 16:52, 12 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There were socialists in the FLP; that's no secret. What deep hidden knowledge about the CP are you claiming has been ignored? --Orange Mike | Talk 17:59, 12 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I know I'm about a decade late to add my two cents, but, although the FLP technically had an anti-communist clause (prohibiting Leninists from becoming members) in its constitution, the Communists did enter the FLP and played a major role in the organizing activities of the FLP, and their involvement was an instrumental part of the FLP's downfall. After the rise of Hitler (which was enabled by the incapacity of the KPD, on the one hand, and the SPD and centrist democratic parties in Germany, on the other hand, to work together), Stalin reevaluated the relations of Communist parties in bourgeois democracies, and ultimately sent the order down through the Comintern that Communists were to forge alliances with non-Leninist parties in bourgeois democracies as necessary to prevent the rise of fascism in those countries. By 1938, the entry of Communists into the FLP had become a major enough issue that Hjalmar Petersen ran a red-baited primary challenge against Elmer Benson. After Benson won the Farmer-Labor primary, the FLP was unable to mend the divide that the primary challenge had caused, and in the meanwhile the Republican Party of Minnesota (it should be noted that it was the party itself, not the Stassen campaign) picked up Petersen's red-bait (only the Republicans used "Communist" as a dog whistle for "Jew," which... the FLP did have a disproportionate number of Jews among its ranks, and at the time Minneapolis was perhaps the most antisemitic city in the country, so that, unfortunately, turned out to be a pretty potent strategy). Meanwhile, the Trotskyists (who were never friendly with the FLP to begin with, reasoning that it wasn't far enough to the left) were so put off by the presence of CPUSA members in the Farmer-Labor Movement, that the Trotskyists leveraged their influence in the Minnesota Federation of Labor to deny the FLP the MFL's support in the 1938 election. In the end, all of this resulted in Benson losing by what still to this day stands as the greatest landslide in the history of Minnesota gubernatorial elections, the Liberal Caucus losing control of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and the FLP losing four (out of five) of its seats in the United States House of Representatives.–MNTRT2009 (talk) 22:05, 4 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Erroneous Name[edit]

As far as the convention of naming goes, this article should not be titled "Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party", as that was NOT the party's name. As expressed in the Preamble to the 1934 Platform, the name of the political party was the "Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota." Alternately, the name of the permanent organization of the Farmer-Labor Movement in Minnesota (which handled ongoing organizing activities between elections) was the "Farmer-Labor Association." Strictly speaking, however, there was never a party named the "Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party."--MNTRT2009 (talk) 00:36, 28 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]