Nonpartisan League

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The Nonpartisan League (NPL) was a political party in the United States . It was founded in 1915 by AC Townley and represented a socialist program. The organization came from the state of North Dakota , but was organized as a national party. At the provincial level, she also ran for elections in Canada .

history

The party was founded by farmers in 1915 primarily in response to and to protect against the interests of large mining and railroad companies operating in North Dakota. The party gained control of the state parliament in 1916 and also provided the governor with Lynn Frazier . The NPL's rapid success did not last long. With the onset of the economic crisis after the First World War , the party lost its majority in parliament. The future governor and senator of North Dakota, William Langer , left the party in a dispute with its leadership. In 1921, Frazier was the first governor in US history to be voted out of office as part of a recall process.

The party - affiliated with the Republicans when it was founded - merged with the North Dakota Democratic Party in 1956 . This still operates today under the name North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party .

literature

  • Scott Ellsworth: Origins of the Nonpartisan League. Dissertation, Duke University, Durhan, NC 1982.
  • Robert L. Morlan: Political Prairie Fire. The Nonpartisan League, 1915-1922 . University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 1955.
  • Seymour M. Lipset: Agrarian Socialism. The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in Saskatchewan; a study in political sociology . University of California Press, Berkeley 1971 (EA Berkeley 1950)