The Daily Beast has this lengthy story about Lyndon LaRouche. The story is triggered by the news that LaRouche prefers Martin O’Malley for President. LaRouche founded the U.S. Labor Party in 1973, but in 1979 he dissolved it and became a Democrat. He is age 93.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
In 1980, Lyndon LaRouche had an half-hour ad that was opposite “Saturday Night Live”. I could not tell the difference between the two.
Also, a question. Did the US Labor Party lead to the downfall of the Socialist Labor party? By that I mean by taking state ballot positions and votes they would have otherwise gotten in 1976 because of voter confusion between the two parties?
Michael- I seriously doubt it.
No, the Socialist Labor Party declined for reasons unrelated to the US Labor Party. The phenomenon of several parties using the same word in their names was not new in the U.S. The Socialist Labor Party and the Socialist Party had been running against each other 1898 on. Also the Socialist Workers Party started running candidates under that name in 1938.
I would say the Socialist Labor Party declined because the membership just became exhausted from petitioning. The SLP hadn’t polled enough votes in any state to remain on the ballot automatically since it lost its party status in New York in 1906. So every two years in some states, and every four years in others, they would be out on the street, always volunteers, working hard. After 80 years it just couldn’t be sustained any more.
Richard-
The LaRouche organization has run congressional and senate candidates in every election for at least 3 decades. Have any of them ever won an election?
PEACE
Many times LaRouche supporters have won Democratic primaries, but they never won the general election. LaRouche supporters have been elected to Democratic Party party office, and in 1996 two were even elected as delegates to the national Democratic convention. But the party refused to seat them.