Socialists were winning U.S. elections long before Bernie Sanders and AOC

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/02/12/socialists-were-winning-elections-america-long-before-bernie-sanders-aoc/


From left: Milwaukee Mayor Emil Seidel circa 1910; Burlington, Vt., Mayor Bernie Sanders in 1983; Milwaukee Mayor Daniel Hoan in 1929. (Library of Congress, Associated Press and Getty/Library of Congress; AP; Getty)

By Gillian Brockell

Feb. 13, 2020 at 7:30 a.m. EST

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, days after shrugging off concerns from other candidates at the Democratic debates that his self-described democratic socialism would be disastrous in the general election.

During President Trump’s State of the Union address earlier this month, he said “socialism destroys nations” and vowed to stop the lawmakers who want to “impose a socialist takeover of our health care system” — i.e. have endorsed Sanders’s Medicare-for-all plan.

But if it seems that the rise of socialist politicians such as Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is something new to American politics, well, it isn’t. The “Pledge of Allegiance” was written by a Christian socialist in 1892. Eugene V. Debs ran for president on a socialist ticket five times; in 1912, he got nearly a million votes.

In fact, dozens of socialists were elected to local offices across the country between 1910 and 1912. In Milwaukee, long a hub for socialist German immigrants, socialist mayors governed for decades.

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[rampartc]

1. the post wwii red scare

and deliberate muddling of social democrats with godless commies was extremely effective propaganda. repercussions persist to this day.

they really believe comrade sanders will ship them all out to reeducation camps. I don't guess it helps that I think they need a thorough reeducation.

[Donkees]

2. Meyer London

Meyer London, a Socialist Jew, was a politician who not only ran for Congress, but his economic proposals were advanced for his time, and they later were encompassed in Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal platform.

When Congressman Meyer London died in 1926, half a million New Yorkers attended his funeral. “For six hours,” the New York Times reported, “the Lower East Side put aside its duties, pressing or trivial, to do honor to its dead prophet.” Although a politician, London was so respected for his learning–even by his political opponents–that he was buried in the Writer’s Lane section of Mount Carmel cemetery, near the grave of Sholom Aleichem and other Jewish cultural heroes. London’s working-class instincts and intellectual acumen made him advocate for social legislation that later formed the heart of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal platform.

London immediately sponsored bills which Congress defeated, yet later became integral elements of the New Deal program: minimum wage, unemployment insurance and increased taxes on the wealthy. He fought for then-radical ideals such as anti-lynching laws, higher immigration quotas, and paid maternity leave. Prescient in his own day, London’s economic proposals became right for the 1930’s and 40’s, and his civil rights proposals became law in the 1960’s.



https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/meyer-london-a-jew-in-congress/

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Robert LaFollette, despite being Republican, was also considered, and supported by, socialists

[Recursion]

4. Don't forget Marcantonio (nt)

[flotsam]

5. I'll add Jasper McLevy for 24 years Mayor of Connecticut's largest city

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_McLevy