Chapter: 3 Page: 80
THE BENSON YEARS TOC
In November 1936, Elmer Benson became the
second, and last Farmer-Labor governor. He won in a
landslide vote; defeating Republican Martin Nelson by
225,000 votes. Two years later, the figures were
reversed. A man who had gained nationwide stature as a
two-listed champion of the people went down in smashing
defeat--and his party went with him. Neither would
gain ascendency again.
There are times when the personalities of great
leaders symbolize the movement of historical events.
Floyd Olson was a wide-open leader. He spoke the
language of thousands, capturing their indignation,
tapping their humor, leading by a slap on the back and
a "how are you, Bjorn? Stop down to my office any time,
and we'll have a chat."
Floyd Olson could thunder--and wink--at the
devil!
Benson knew only thunder. Where Olson was broad,
Benson was narrow. Where Olson was charming, Benson was
blunt. Where Olson did a two-step, Benson charged the
line, four yards and a cloud of dust.
Their styles carried over into the movement both Page: 81
did so much to build. Under Benson the Farmer-Labor
Association gained in members and strength. Loyal TOC
Association men and women were put in charge of the
state's administrative agencies. Efforts at education
on the club level were redoubled. Funds collected by
the Association were scrupulously put into the
organizational set up of the Association itself--rather
than reserved for the independent use of candidates. #3.1
Whereas Olson cultivated an "All Party"
following--welcoming Democrats, independents and
Republicans, into his campaigns, _and_ administration,
Benson saw to it that first priority went to building
up the Association. Leaders were important, but an
educated, righteous, rank and file, believed Benson, was
the first prerequisite for a strong movement.
Veterans of that movement still argue over who
was the better man. They remember the capitalist's
complaint. "Floyd Olson used to say all those things,
but this son of a bitch Benson really means them." #3.2
The Education of a Radical
Elmer Benson grew up on Minnesota's western
prairie in Appleton, Swift County. Like so many
Farmer-Labor activists, he was weaned on the strong brew Page: 82
of Midwest populism. His father, Tom, was an active
Non-Partisan Leaguer who followed Lindbergh from TOC
Lincoln Republicanism to the Farmer-Labor Movement. His
mother was the granddaughter of Talliev Olavsson
Hurstad--one of the original signers of the Norwegian
Declaration of Independence; a woman who was even more
open to new ideas than her husband. 3.3
Elmer spent a lot of time around the stove in
his father's general store listening and eventually
participating in the hot talk of Swift County's
outstanding radicals and progressives--members of the
old Populist Party, supporters of Teddy Roosevelt's
"Bull Moose" progressivism, and even an occasional
socialist or two. The Socialist Party had a chapter in
Appleton. They brought Gene Debs in for a talk one
evening--an event that caused quite a stir in sleepy
Appleton.
Benson wasted little time getting involved in
the political movement. After earning his law degree
(an experience he found extremely distasteful) and a
brief stint in the army, he returned to Appleton in 1919
to combine a career as banker with an avocation for
politics. He was an active supporter of the working
alliance between Labor and the Farmers Non-Partisan
League that resulted in the successful Farmer-Labor Page: 83
campaign in 1922. In 1924 he personally drove Burt
Wheeler, LaFollette's vice presidential candidate around TOC
western Minnesota.
Following the setbacks to LaFollette, Floyd
Olson, and Magnus Johnson in 1924, Elmer dug in to help
build a strong Farmer-Labor organization in Swift
County and throughout his Congressional district. He
did his work well. Though the town of Appleton itself
remained conservative, the county voted Farmer-Labor
in every election between 1924 and 1938. This service
established Benson as a trusted Farmer-Labor leader, one
who could be counted on to stand by the organization in
troubled times.
Benson's political philosophy developed with
experience. He subscribed to the _Nation_, _New Republic_,
and _LaFollette's Magazine_ (today called _The Progressive_).
He was greatly moved by Woodrow Wilson's _New Freedom_,
and managed to read Karl Marx's _Letters_--though he never
read any of Harx's more substantial works.
Labels are imprecise. His political ideology
as it developed during this period was an amalgam of
socialist, populist, and liberal progressive currents.
He occupied the broad middle plane of the Farmer-Labor
ideological spectrum. He believed in public ownership
of monopolies, supported the principle that government Page: 84
had an obligation to guarantee minimum economic security
to all its citizens. He favored the interests of small TOC
business and cooperatives over large corporations,
shared the populist belief in wild and woolly democracy,
and the socialist insistence on an united farmer-labor
coalition. He was a radical democrat who believed
that an educated citizenry, acting through a strong
political organization could win at least a small
measure of economic democracy.
In 1932, Floyd Olson appointed Elmer Benson
Commissioner of Banking. It was a good appointment.
Benson cleaned house on old Republican holdovers, and
put his small-town banking experience to work in setting
new, more liberal guidelines for bank solvency.
Hundreds of small-town banks were saved from shutting
down thanks to Benson. His performance produced wide-
spread good will for the Farmer-Labor administration
from an unlikely source--the usually conservative
small-town banker.
Benson soon became a favorite of those elements
in the Olson administration who ran the _Minnesota
Leader_, and kept the Farmer-Labor Association geared up
and organized. Little stories about Benson's activities
began popping up in the labor and progressive small-town
press. Floyd Olson got him to take speaking lessons-- Page: 85
an obvious preparation for the more public role that
lay ahead. By 1935, the "Association men" had decided TOC
that Elmer would be the best successor to Floyd Olson.
He was principled, absolutely loyal to the Association,
capable, and progressive. Other Farmer-Laborites might
be better known, but none could cement a loyal following
from both urban and rural constituencies as well as
Elmer Benson.
And so Olson appointed Benson to succeed Tom
Schall in the U.S. Senate when Schall died in office in
1935. Olson himself had planned to run against Schall
the following year. The decision was fateful. The
temporary senate seat put Benson in the limelight. He
received the Association's nomination for governor with
little opposition in 1936.
Section: 3.2 Tough Times in the State House
Benson's landslide victory over Nelson repre-
sented the high tide of Farmer-Labor fortunes. Riding
the crest of public appreciation for the fallen Olson,
and enjoying the tacit support of the state's Democrats
who refrained from opposing Benson in return for
Farmer-Labor endorsement of Roosevelt, the Association
tallied victories at all levels of government. Ernest Page: 86
Lundeen was elected senator; John T. Bernard, Henry
Teen, Dewey Johnson, joined Paul Kvale and Knud TOC
Wefald in Congress. Farmer-Laborites regained control
of the Minnesota House. The State Senate however
remained safely--and, as later events would prove,
_significantly_ in Conservative hands. State Senators
were not up for re-election until 1938.
Benson's victory surpassed Olson's margin of
1934 by 150,000 votes. But it did not signify an
increased mandate for the Cooperative Commonwealth
program articulated in the 1934 platform. In fact, the
'35 state convention had returned to its previous custom
of burying most references to public ownership safely in
the preamble. The specific proposals were primarily
bread and butter reform programs: a minimum wage and
workmen compensation for labor; a generous old age
pension; an extension of the mortgage moratorium;
provisions for a more equitable tax structure; and
support for consumer coops, credit unions, health,
housing, and rural electrification coops. #3.4
As an ideological statement, the 1936 platform
put the Farmer-Labor Movement on the left end of the
New Deal rather than totally outside its orbit. There
were other indications of a shift away from a radical,
third party stance. Roosevelt openly endorsed Benson Page: 87
while campaigning in Minnesota--he knew a majority
movement when he saw one. And Benson began what would TOC
become a habit in the same election. He endorsed the
New Deal. Though Farmer-Labor criticism of FDR would
escalate in '37, the leadership quietly abandoned any
lingering consideration of initiating a national
Farmer-Labor Party.
There is an irony here. Under the leadership of
Elmer Benson, the Association reached new heights of
militancy in pursuit of increasingly _reformist_ goals.
While the reforms were critical, _ground breaking_ in
the 1930s, the radical vision of economic democracy, of
the Cooperative Commonwealth, was seldom articulated.
In the heat of battle, immediate needs superseded
ultimate ends. The pragmatic commitment to reform
resulted in the abandonment of efforts to build a
national movement for more basic change. #3.5
On January 5, 1937, Elmer Benson delivered his
inaugural address. It was the longest inaugural ever
delivered in Minnesota, an encyclopedia of reform
proposals carefully spelled out, logically and forcefully
presented. To most Farmer-Laborites it was a symphony.
The Republicans heard it as a declaration of war.
Even a selective accounting shows the breadth Page: 88
of the Farmer-Labor reform program.
TOC
- A two-year extension on the mortgage
moratorium for farmers.
- A technical assistance program to assist and
promote cooperatives.
- Union wages for state employees.
- The creation of a state commission on youth.
- Free transportation for rural high school students.
- Repeal of the criminal syndacalism laws
(remember the Wobblies?)
- Creation of a state housing agency.
- The development of a state owned cement plant.
- Increased benefits for the disabled, people
on relief, and the aged.
- A constitutional amendment enabling the state
to produce and sell electrical power to
municipalities.
- A state liquor dispensary.
- New provisions in the state's unemployment
benefits--including benefits for striking
workers. #3.6
Although more comprehensive than the messages
forwarded by Floyd Olson, the Benson inaugural was cut
from the same cloth. Creativity was the order of the
day. In speeches, party platforms, articles in the
_Leader_, the spirit of "social pioneering" of building
the new day, was evident. It was a time when being a
"liberal" was a good thing; almost a "radical" thing;
when the creation of new government programs represented Page: 89
triumphs rather than intrusions, when organizing
cooperatives was a small, but powerful act of creating TOC
a new economic system; when people's political outlook
changed almost overnight--yesterday a powerless worker,
today a trade unionist and Farmer-Laborite to boot!
Few of Benson's proposals became law, however,
despite their support in the Farmer-Labor controlled
House of Representatives: an extension of the mortgage
moratorium, renewal of decreased interest rates on
rural credit loans, seed loans to farmers, and the
extension of workmen's compensation to state employees
were able to run the gauntlet of the conservative
senate. In his speech to the Association faithful at
the annual Lincoln Day dinner, Benson summed up the
session this way:
The slaughter of liberal measures would have
set a record for the South St. Paul stockyards.
The conservatives can now ask you to return
them to office because they administered fatal
poison to a state labor relations act, the
anti-lobby bill, and measures to prohibit the
importation of thugs and strikebreakers during
labor disputes, permit municipalities owning
power to extend their lines, limit the hours
of work for women in industry to forty-four in
any one week, full transportation of rural
high school pupils, pass state aid to schools
in full, and provide adult education. The
casualty list is a formidable one.
This is a record which should make any
reactionary's bosom swell with pride and I will
aid them in seeing to it that voters Page: 90
are made quite thoroughly acquainted with that
record. #3.7
TOC
The lynch pin of the Farmer-Labor program was
the governor's proposal on taxes. Benson submitted a
set of tax measures that had the combined goal of
raising revenues to pay for needed services, and shifting
the tax burden from workers, small businessmen, and
farmers, to those most able to pay--the wealthy and
large corporations. Benson made no secret of his class
allegiance.
The House passed the legislation in full. The
legislation
1. Completely removed the state tax levy
from homes and homesteads up to the value
of $4,000.
2. Taxed the net income of individuals and
corporations on a graduated basis so that
a large share of local school taxes would
be replaced by state income tax revenues.
3. Increased taxes on accumulated wealth,
including the mining companies, so that
the state budget could be balanced.
4. Increased taxes on the chain stores. #3.8
What followed was a battle between the large
business interests in the state, their backers in the
Senate and press, and the Benson administration. The
issue was a supreme test of the survival of the new
administration. Benson was proposing a significant
shift of the tax burden onto the wealthier classes of Page: 91
Minnesota. Unlike most "tax reform" measures proposed
in the national or state legislatures, there were no TOC
backdoor handouts hidden in the package.
The conservative senate played a skillful game.
It ignored the tax legislation sent over from the House
until just days before the closing of the session. Then
the senators proposed their own tax bill--an elaborate
package that raised only 1/3 of the revenue proposed by
the governor, and did absolutely nothing to equalize the
tax burden. Inevitably the delayed action led to
deadlock, and a special session of the legislature. The
tax fight moved to center stage, and the Farmer-Labor
Administration was set up to take a sound thrashing in
the arena of public opinion.
On the face of it, the tax package had both
science and justice on its side. The entire set of
measures had been prepared well in advance and backed
by the kind of statistics and tables that characterize
tax policy today. Projected tax revenue was balanced
with projected expenditures. New tax sources were
researched to ensure that the bite did not exceed the
ability to pay of the sources in question: corporations,
utility companies, chain stores, the sheltered incomes
of upper income tax payers. And who could argue with
the equity of easing exorbitant tax burden on those Page: 92
least able to pay, through a judicious sharing of the
load? TOC
But science and justice are not always the
winners in politics. As the joint committees of the
House and Senate met to resolve the impasse, the Twin
City press ran article after article denouncing the
Farmer-Laborites for dragging their feet on the Senate's
sincere effort to compromise. Leaders from big business
descended on the capital to aid their spokesmen in the
Senate: Charles Fowler from Northern States Power, Mr.
Montague representing the Steel Trust; Aleck Janes,
Great Northern Railroad; and Aaron Youngquist, Minnesota
Power and Light. They warned, and the press picked up
the warning--that the Farmer-Labor Association was
driving business from the state. They played upon the
fears of workers, and the prejudices of the same small-
town businessmen whose interests the Farmer-Labor forces
were trying to protect.
Benson struck back with stubborn fury. He
cancelled most appointments, conferred daily, hourly,
with the embattled House committee, issued statements,
made speeches. In the end a compromise was reached;
slight increases in taxes on iron ore, private utilities,
and other businesses and an exemption from property
taxes on homesteads for the first $4,000 of appraised Page: 93
value--though the effect of that measure was cleverly
delayed to ensure that the tax payers would not gain TOC
full benefits until _after_ the next election.
Benson wasn't the only person in the state
lobbying for the tax bill. On April 5th 2,000 people
calling themselves the People's Lobby spent a day at
the Capitol putting in a word of their own. The lobby
represented a broad section of the Farmer-Labor rank
and file: contingents from the Workers Alliance, the
Timberworkers and other C.I.O. unions, the Farm Holiday
Association, and Farmer-Labor clubs from around the
state. After a harmonious session with a friendly
House of Representatives, the Lobby members spent part
of an afternoon giving the Senate tax committee a hard
time. A smaller group of about 200 Workers Alliance
members spent the night in the Senate Chamber. Press
reports to the contrary, the only drunks were two
Republicans who couldn't resist the opportunity to make
a speech on behalf of Franco.
Governor Benson himself addressed the Lobby that
morning.
You are here to enlist for better, decent
government, not just for a few months, but
for the rest of your lives. I hope that when
you go to the legislature tomorrow that your
speakers will announce in no uncertain terms,
that this is not a pink tea party. It is Page: 94
all right to be dignified, _but in a fight
like this its all right to be rough sometime_. TOC
Tell the legislature what is expected of them,
and tell me, too.
I don't know how radical you people are and I
don't care. I hope you do a good job of it
tomorrow and I know that you will. The most
important thing this legislature can and ought
to do is pass tax legislation that will make
the wealthy pay their just share of the taxes.
It is time for the people to become aroused.
The great majority of the people-- 95 percent or
more--are ordinary, plain, common folks. These
are the people that are producing the wealth,
keeping our government going, and if we would
use our common sense, we would make this
country, the finest, happiest place in the
world to live in. #3.9
The whole episode was blown up beyond proportion;
a speech in the Floyd Olson tradition was portrayed by
the press as an incitement to violence. While the tax
fight, more than any single Benson initiative,
contributed to the mobilization of the Republican/Big
Business opposition, the People's Lobby came to
symbolize the growing polarization of Minnesota politics.
The tax fight set the tone for the entire Benson
administration. Within three months of riding a land-
slide into office, the administration was in deep
trouble. True, pitched battles between Senate and the
governor were common occurrences during the Olson
regime. In fact, the '35 legislative session, with
conservative majorities. in both houses, had been even
more unpleasant than the '36 session. Nor were the Page: 95
exit threats of big business a new item either. But the
public was expecting more than continued warfare between TOC
the branches of its state government. And Benson,
unlike Olson, had neither the charm nor the disposition
to smooth over relationships with the more progressive
sections of the business community. #3.10
Section: 3.3 The Communist Party Joins the
Farmer-Labor Association
The big battles on the legislative front were
accompanied by changes within the Association itself--
changes that would eventually undermine the unity of the
organization precisely at the time when a unified
response was most necessary to combat the assault of
the state's conservative forces. The most crucial
development was the increased participation of the
Communist Party in the life of the Association.
The Communist Party was born out of the great
split in the house of socialism that occurred with the
Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The failure of the old
socialist parties that made up the Second International
to keep the proletariat from butchering each other in
World War I contrasted sharply with the success of
Leninism in the Soviet Union. In the U.S., as in Europe,
Lenin's call to form a new, worldwide revolutionary Page: 96
cadre, the Third Internationale, was answered with the
formation of the Communist Party--the C.P.U.S.A. TOC
During the 20s, the C.P. suffered, as did the
socialist movement as a whole. The International's
membership dropped from 887,745 in 1921, to 328,716 in
1931. In the U.S., the Party faced the new decade with
only 7,000 members. In Minnesota, the Party was
strongest among the Finnish people. #3.11
But the 30s were a different story. Later,
historians would call it the "Red Decade." Most, no
doubt, used the term with genuine relief happy that
had been only a decade after all. In Minnesota
Communists organized dirt farmers in the central and
northern counties, unemployed people in the Twin Cities,
Duluth and the Iron Range, and workers in the basic
industries that formed the nucleus of the emerging
C.I.O.
They started party units in all sorts of
unlikely places: Moose Lake, Askov, Crookston, Isle,
Cushing, Waseca, Motley, Little Falls, Austin, and St.
Cloud. Rochester had _two_ units, and the Twin Cities
and Duluth had over a dozen between them. #3.12
When it came to organizing, the Party had no
peers. Working in small groups in shops, farm
organizations, student associations, and civil rights Page: 97
organizations, Party members led day to day struggles
while creating new organizations to meet the immediate TOC
needs of the people. These organizations were viewed
as "transmission belts to the masses"--as Clarence
Hathaway, one of Minnesota's outstanding Party members
used to put it. #3.13 The phraseology was ineloquent (an
unfortunate characteristic of much Party writing) but
the concept worked well in practice. By 1935, the
C.P.U.S.A. had tripled in membership; by '39 it tripled
again. An organization which had begun the decade with #3.14
the 7,500 members ended it with 90,000.
In Minnesota, a bright spot for Party activity,
growth was more than proportional. Thousands of
Minnesotans were either members _of_ or worked closely
with the Communist Party--a fact that foes, both
Republican and Democrat, would put to good use against
the Farmer-Labor Party. Max Kampelman, a Humphrey
apologist listed five categories of people the Communist
Party "controlled" through its presence in mass
organizations:
1. The Party member--under complete
discipline to the C.P.
2. The fellow traveler--like a Party member
except s/he didn't have the guts to carry
a card.
3. The sympathizer--translate "dupe." Page: 98
4. The opportunist--goes along with the TOC
Communists to advance own interests.
5. The liberal--"well-meaning"--agrees with
some of the Party's goals; too "wishy-
washy" to "stand up to the Communists." 15
In the language of the Congressional
Investigating Committees and media shows like "I Led
Three Lives," Communist participation in broad based
organizations became "subversion," or "infiltration"--
Hathaway's transmission belt, a conveyance to treason.
There is another interpretation. People by the
thousands joined or worked with the Communist Party
because it offered at the time a believable political
alternative to increasing misery. Take Clara Jorgenson.
She and her eight brothers and sisters grew up on a
farm outside of Askov in Pine County. Much of the county
was forest land stripped of trees. The logging industry
had left behind their legacy early--thousands of acres
of half-barren, low productive land. The soil was
sandy, the landscape dotted with peat bogs. Not much
good for farming. The family survived by raising
rutabagas, potatoes, and chickens. #3.16
Clara was introduced to the Party in 1933 when
her brother-in-law Pete joined up. Pete was approached
by a "cadre" named Miller; one of the Party's Midwest
farm organizers. Miller talked Pete into joining a
truckload of farmers who were leaving from Yellow River Page: 99
for a C.P.-sponsored conference on farm problems in
Chicago. The Party had its best speakers at the TOC
Conference. "A guy like me was bound to be impressed."
Pete signed on the dotted line soon after, and Clara
followed. "I joined because he did. I didn't know
nothing about Communism."
What Clara, Pete, and thousands of farmers _did_
know was that they were in trouble. All across the
state farmers were organizing. Where Communist
organizers like Len Harris, Reino Tontala, and Jimmy
Flowers arrived on the scene, small chapters of the
United Farmers League were established to fight farm
disclosures and rally for legislation benefitting the
small farmer. Where chapters of the larger and more
ideologically diverse Holiday Association existed, Party
members were encouraged to work within it rather than
start up rival organizations. Pete was elected president
of the Pine County Holiday Association in 1935, as an
open Communist. "People weren't so afraid of the word
'Communist' then."
Indeed, the Pine County Chapter had forty
stalwart members during the second half of the decade.
They read their _Daily Worlds_, an occasional Party
pamphlet, and discussed their work in organizations
the Farmer-Labor Association, and Holiday. Occasionally Page: 100
they would bring in a movie and invite people from
around the country to attend like Paul Robeson, or TOC
sponsor socialist dramas like Maxim Gorky's _Mother_.
The conversion of dirt farmers to Communist
Party members is simple enough to understand. In a time
of crisis many people were willing to join a militant
organization that offered hope. Art Borchard was a C.P.
member who doubled as Pine County chairman of the
Farmer-Labor Association during the Benson years. He
recounted the story of a converted Klu Klux Klan member
who migrated North. Said the organizer to Borchard:
"I'll sign 'em up, and you can weed 'era out." #3.17
Mary Andreeson lived in a neighboring county.
In an unpublished autobiography she described her first
meeting with Communists. It must have been a typical
invitation.
As we drove into the yard at Harland's both Fred
and I felt more than just a little nervous, because
this was a big milestone in our life. We did
not so much realize it at the time, but now,
when we write this story of our lives we can
see it much more clearly.
The meeting became very interesting, also very
confusing. The member of the district committee
who came up from Minneapolis spoke for almost
an hour and a half. He explained the causes
of the Depression. He also spoke about the
contradictions of the capitalist system and the
meaning of surplus value. Try to imagine what
that meant to us who had never before in our
lives even heard or thought about contradictions, Page: 101
in any system, or the meaning of values, except
the price of beef. TOC
After the main speaker, Harland spoke very
briefly and he told us about the need of
organizing leadership in every community in
this struggle against foreclosures and
evictions. He said that wherever there was a
struggle for justice and progress, that was
where Communists should be.
He said much more, but what he said was
something we could understand because we had
seen Communists like Harland in action before. #3.18
The story of Pete, Clara, John Borchard, and
Mary Andreeson was repeated in a hundred variations
across Minnesota. Jenny Mayville joined the Party as a
result of her experience in the Unemployed Councils in
Minneapolis. #3.19 Jimmy Flowers was introduced when he
joined with a construction crew that was putting up the
locks at the Ford Dam. The first day on the job he was
confronted by a detachment from the Unemployment Council,
picketing on behalf of the Building and Trades. Flowers
found he was part of a scab crew! The Building and
Trades Union provided their unemployed supporters a
bowl of soup in exchange for services at the lock.
Flowers opted for the soup, and within weeks was a
member of the Communist Party. #3.20
With the exception of a short-lived courting
in 1924, the Party stayed out of the Farmer-Labor
Movement until 1935, and on an official level at least,
was openly hostile to it. In 1929, this hostility Page: 102
increased when Stalin declared, and the Comintern (the
official Congress of the 3rd International) ratified the TOC
"Third Period" doctrine. National Communist Parties
were instructed to break off any ties they had developed
with reformist political movements, trade unions, and
mass organizations. The economic collapse that was
plunging the world into the Great Depression was
supposed to make revolution an immediate possibility.
With capitalism on its last leg, there was no room--
or need--for cooperation with other organizations. The
Party itself would operate through organizations of its
own creation, Trade Union Unity League in the labor
movement, the Unemployed Councils, the United Farmers
League, would lead the proletariat and their rural allies
to revolutionary victory. #3.21
The "Third Period" doctrine was only the most
sectarian manifestation of what had been the Party's on-
again off-again attitude to other, generally progressive
organizations. By the early '30s, Communist cadres were
finding it difficult to live up to the line developed in
none too democratic a fashion in Moscow. What sense did
it make in Minnesota for the C.P. to go down to the state
capitol and sing nasty little ditties against Floyd
Olson, when he and his Party were busy winning the
respect of the working class and farmers with decisive Page: 103
action on their behalf? #3.22 Why oppose the
Farm Holiday
Association when thousands of farmers were joining up TOC
to fight against foreclosures, and demand a sane
agricultural policy from the government? And what good
did it do for local Party workers to peddle the _Daily
Worker_ with its projections of a "Soviet America," when
the Farmer-Labor Party's "Cooperative Commonwealth" was
a more attractive outline of a new society?
Tactical day to day necessity combined with
international objectives to bring about a new coopera-
tion between Farmer-Laborites and Communists in the
mid-thirties. In April 1935, the Comintern proclaimed
a new political direction for the international
Communist movement. Revolution was no longer just
around the corner. Fascism _was_. National Parties were
instructed to make alliances with all organizations
willing to support reforms _within_ the capitalist system,
while forging a "united front" that would oppose the
rise of fascism at home and abroad.
A major motive of the Comintern, which by now
was almost totally subservient to the Soviet Union's
national interests, was the extreme vulnerability
U.S.S.R. to attack by Hitler. Stalin needed allies in
the labor and social democratic parties of France,
Britain, and the United States. Since the Communist Page: 104
movement, even with its recent growth, did not have the
strength to make a revolution, better to unite, to save TOC
democracy from the fascist scourge, and, in the process,
forge a Western alliance against the axis powers. #3.23
In Minnesota, the results of this new policy
were not long in coming. Hundreds of C.P. cadre joined
Farmer-Labor clubs and were active in the 1936 campaign
on the F.L. ticket. In the Minneapolis mayoral
elections of 1937, Communist Party members campaigned
vigorously for Farmer-Labor candidate Kenneth Haycraft.
Haycraft had won the Party's endorsement against
incumbent Tom Lattimer the previous Spring. Lattimer,
a Farmer-Laborite himself, had stirred up a hornets'
nest in the Association by using city police to break
the strike at Strutwear Knitting Mills. Nevertheless,
he retained a reluctant following among A.F.L. unionists
who refused to recognize the Haycraft endorsement in
part, at least, because of the conspicuous presence of
Communists at the nominating convention. The Haycraft-
Lattimer split proved advance notice of splits to come. #3.24
Following his narrow primary victory over
Lattimer, Haycraft faced George Leach, a retired Major
General who had served three terms as mayor of Minneap-
olis during the '20s. On the weekend before the
election, C.P. members hit the streets with a special Page: 105
edition of the _Sunday Worker_ especially devoted to the
Minneapolis municipal races, and loudly supported TOC
Haycraft. It was hardly a tactic designed to quiet
rumors of Communist involvement in the Association. #3.25
Leach won the election handily.
On the state level, the Party became the
staunchest supporters of the Benson left wing of the
Farmer-Labor Association. Party organizers used their
influence in the C.I.O. and Workers Alliance to throw
three organizations behind Benson. The columns of
_Midwest Labor_, the state C.I.O. journal which was edited
by C.P. activists, were filled with praises for Benson,
Johnny Bernard, and the Farmer-Labor Movement as a
whole. #3.26
In a few short years, the Communist Party had
made a great transformation. Slogans about "social
fascists" progressives who didn't agree with the Party)
and building a "Soviet America," were replaced by
efforts to carve a niche for itself in the mainstream
of the American reform tradition. Communists celebrated
Lincoln's birthday with a zeal formally reserved for
that of Lenin. And no more touching rendition of the
National Anthem was ever delivered than that of the
assembled Communists in Madison Square Garden, 1937. #3.27
The enthusiastic entry of the Communist Party Page: 106
into the ranks of the Farmer-Labor Association caused
problems that balanced, in part at least, the benefits TOC
of their skilled and committed participation. There
were elements in the Association that were downright
anti-Communist. Veteran A.F.L. leaders like Bill
Mahoney had been burned in the early days of the
Association when the C.P. first joined the fledgling
Farmer-Labor effort to promote the establishment of a
national Farmer-Labor Party. The Communist Party did
some fancy maneuvering that got Mahoney in trouble with
the rural elements of the new Association in Minnesota,
and literally destroyed the coalition nationally. The
Party left the Association as quickly as it entered it,
and Mahoney vowed never to work with the Communists
again. #3.28
The more basic objective of A.F.L. leaders to
the C.P. resulted from its leadership in the emerging
C.I.O. The industrial union movement, as detailed in
a later chapter, presented grave competition to the
A.F.L. unions--competition that often meant loss of
membership, and revenue to the A.F.L. For C.I.O. leaders
of any kind to occupy positions of high counsel in the
Farmer-Labor Association was anathema to many leaders
of A.F.L. unions. #3.29
Opposition to Communist involvement came from Page: 107
another wing of the Association as well, the small-town
businessmen and "free enterprise populists" who TOC
followed Olson into the Farmer-Labor Party because
"something had to be done," but recoiled at the full
complement of Farmer-Labor economic and social programs.
More imbued with the ideology of individualism, by both
training and economic position, the shopkeepers and
professionals of rural Minnesota were the most
susceptible to anti-Communist propaganda. They would
form the primary constituency for the right wing revolt
within Farmer-Labor ranks in 1938. #3.30
Controversy about Communist participation in the
Association spread to all sections of the organization
during the Benson administration. Even the staunchest
left wingers had to consider the question--if only
because of the political hay it provided the' opposition
come election time. The democratic socialist wing of
the Association, men like Howard Y. Williams and Henry
Teigen who had spearheaded the Cooperative Commonwealth
program in '34, were skeptical of the Communists
commitment to the "democratic road" to socialism. The
Farmer-Labor Association, after all, had always
maintained that radical reform could and _would_ take
place through parliamentary action. How did this square
with the Communists continued (though now muted)
adherence to the Leninist belief that a "dictatorship Page: 108
of the proletariat" was a necessary stage in the
socialist transformation of society? #3.32
TOC
As basic as these issues were in the long run,
however, the majority of the Association leaders around
Benson were united on the immediate priorities of the
reform movement--priorities enunciated in the Farmer-
Labor platform and shared by the Communists. Purging
the organization of its Communist members was out of the
question. It would split the most active sections of
the Association, and bring the Movement to an abrupt
halt. Unity had to be preserved. The charges of
Communist infiltration would be countered by exposing
their intent. Hadn't the Association _always_ been red-
baited?
The "Communist issue" was only _one_ of the
tensions that would crack the Association open in 1938.
As mentioned earlier, the competition between the A.F.L.
and C.I.O. shook the traditional labor base of the
Association. There were internal squabbles over
membership representation within the Association. Rural
people grumbled about big labor domination. The Central
Labor Unions (A.F.L.) in both Minneapolis and St. Paul
complained about the domination of small "paper
organizations": foreign language clubs, economic
organizations, and ward clubs that had more Page: 109
representation in the organizational set up than big
unions with 1,000 or more members. It was the issue of TOC
representation that sparked the faction fight between
the A.F.L. Lattimer forces and the "official" Farmer-
Labor-Haycraft forces in the critical 1937 mayoral race
in Minneapolis. #3.32
There was also the perennial problem of
patronage--who gets the jobs. Under Benson, local
Association organizations were given the right to suggest
qualified Farmer-Laborites for government jobs. Where
Olson had bought off opposition by appointing
Republicans, Democrats, and less committed Farmer-
Laborites to government jobs, Benson saw that loyal
Farmer-Laborites were rewarded for their service to the
movement. This practice helped solidify the core of the
Association, but left thousands of nominal Farmer-
Laborites out of the action. #3.33
Political differences arose, naturally, over a
whole host of issues. Orville Olson, Elmer Benson's
Director of Personnel, and member of the Association
brain trust recalls his work carrying the message to the
far reaches of the Farmer-Labor coalition during the
'36-38 period.
I think we were too hard on the small-town Page: 110
people. We didn't give them enough credit.
We didn't believe they could learn. We were TOC
in too big of a hurry. . . .
I remember traveling to some of the small
towns and rural clubs and talking about the
Spanish Civil War--how we had to support
Spain in the fight against fascism. Of
course, this was true. But we hammered on
it too hard. It was something many people
didn't want to hear. . . . #3.34
Even as the Association grew, there developed an
ever widening gap between the politics of the most active
and educated members and the less involved. Benson and
the coterie of left leaning intellectuals and ';Movement"
veterans who staffed the administration and
Association itself had built a strong grassroots politi-
cal organization. But they did it at the expense of
creating a gulf between the organization proper and the
majority of Minnesotans who loosely affiliated with the
Association, or voted for its candidates, but were not
active in day-to-day affairs. As the class struggle
continued on its sharp and cantankerous course in '37
and '38, that gulf became a chasm.
Section: 3.4 Defeat!!
In the election of 1938, the Farmer-Labor
Association reaped the whirlwind. Historians rank the
battle as the meanest, dirtiest, and hardest fought
contest since Charles Lindbergh and his Non-Partisan Page: 111
legions took on Governor Burnquist in 1918. But the
election fight itself was only the final working out TOC
of the conflicts that had characterized the Association
since Benson's inauguration: conflicts between the
movement and the state's business elite; and conflicts
_within_ the Farmer-Labor constituency itself. It was
as if all the antagonisms boiled up in a gigantic
eruption, and when the elements resettled, the Farmer-
Labor Association was reduced once again to the status
of second political party in Minnesota.
It is impossible to isolate one single cause of
this dramatic reversal. A major insurrection within the
F.-L. movement, the continued inability of the New Deal
(and by implication of the Farmer-Labor Administration)
to lick the Depression, the new willingness of the
Republican Party to adopt the reform program of the
Farmer-Labor Association, the effective use of anti-
Communist and anti-Semitic propaganda, and the almost
universal opposition of the big city and small-town
press were all factors in the defeat.
The insurrection within the movement was led by
Hjalmar Petersen, the ambitious editor of the _Askov
American_. Hjalmar gathered forces on the fringe of the
Association to challenge Benson in the '38 primary.
Petersen had made a name for himself as floor leader of Page: 112
the income tax bill that passed the state legislature
in 1933. He was nominated Lieutenant Governor in '34 TOC
and survived the hard fought "Cooperative Commonwealth
campaign" as Floyd Olson's running mate. Petersen had
his eyes on the governorship, and became permanently
embittered when Olson failed to use his influence to
see that he got it. #3.35
Most Farmer-Labor accounts of the struggle
between Hjalmar Petersen and Elmer Benson cast the
events as a great morality play; principled righteous-
ness vs. vain ambition; Farmer-Labor Progressivism vs.
small-town reaction. Although melodramatic, the casting
is not too far from the mark. Petersen's politics swung
wildly over the years--from left wing Farmer-Laborite
to Republican. Ironically, the Communist Party favored
Petersen in the initial rounds of his struggle to
succeed Floyd Olson in 1936. Hjalmar's personal
secretary, Lillian Schwartz, was an active Party
member. #3.36
Petersen was a staunch supporter of the move to
organize a national third party to oppose Roosevelt in
'36. One story has it that a leading labor leader from
St. Paul nominated him for Lieutenant Governor in
gratitude for his strong support of the city's workers.
Hjalmar had sent a truckload of rutabagas from Pine Page: 113
County to feed some strikers. #3.37
TOC
In January 1938, Petersen announced his
intention to challenge Benson in the Farmer-Labor primary.
The themes he sounded served both himself and the
Republicans well. Hjalmar charged that the Farmer-Labor
Administration was dominated by a small clique of
"Mexican Generals," behind the scenes operators who were
neither representative of or responsible to the public.
He sounded the alarm against government by political
patronage, charging that Governor Benson had allowed his
administration to run on the spoils system. Most
damaging of all, he accused the Administration of truck-
ing with the Communists.
The Farmer-Labor Association by its
constitution, does not admit to membership
those who believe in the overthrow of
government by force. Yet the present state
administration has eagerly placed on its
payrolls men and women who for years have
been active in the Communist Party. Men
who damned and cursed Governor Olson are
enthusiastically accepted by our present
governor. Such betrayal of the trust placed
in him has well nigh destroyed the faith of
thousands of Farmer-Laborites and independent
voters who in past campaigns have supported
our cause. It is this alignment with the
Communists that caused thousands of Farmer-
Labor voters to leave our party in the 1937
Minneapolis city election ....
Let me cite an example. The Communist campaign
manager in the sixth ward in the 1937 city
election has been engaged by the state
administration in the Highway Department, and Page: 114
incidentally drives around in a state owned
car, campaigning for the re-election of the TOC
governor. After bitterly opposing Governor
Olson in 1934, and in 1937 seeking to defeat
a Farmer-Labor aldermanic candidate, and to
elect a Communist, he becomes one of the
administration henchmen ....
I abhor the Communist teachings of overthrow
of government by revolution, and the destruction
of the church. I would rather be defeated without
the support of this un-American element than
elected with it. I will not bargain with those
seeking to lead us from the principles of our
party and our departed leaders. My concern is
the fate of our party and the fate of the great
liberal movement in Minnesota. We must purge
our party of Communists--those borers from
within--if we intend to keep it a Farmer-Labor
party. #3.38
The Petersen challenge to Elmer Benson was no
joke. Petersen managed to gather potent support for
his candidacy. His attack on the "Mexican Generals" was
an effective rallying cry for disgruntled Farmer-
Laborites--small-town conservatives, disappointed job
seekers, angry A.F.L.'ers, and anti-Communists.
Hjalmar could count on a substantial Republican
crossover vote as well. He could also count on money,
significantly the kind of money usually reserved for the
Republicans. The corporate leadership of U.S. Steel
and Northwestern Bank Corporation were big contributors
to the Petersen campaign kitty. #3.39
Hjalmar ran with vigor. His efforts sent
ripples through the entire Association In Districts 2,
6, and 7, Benson supporters passed resolutions affirming Page: 115
the Association's traditional law forbidding Communist
participation. They sought to remove the stigma of TOC
Party involvement in the movement once and for all.
Hennepin County, District 5, struck in the opposite
direction. The convention passed a resolution calling
for the expulsion of any member who failed to support
the Farmer-Labor platform, and Farmer-Labor endorsed
candidates. Hjalmar Petersen's name did not come up
in the debate, but the target of the rules change was
clear. #3.40
This attempt at party discipline--a move one
Association member happily described as "the best
possible example of centralist democracy" provided an
opportunity for criticism that the hostile Minneapolis
dailies were only too happy to exploit. The _Tribune_
branded the action, "Farmer-Labor Fascism," and the
_Journal_ pontificated:
The powers that control Minnesota's dominant
party have got a long way from the principles
of democracy when a convention, representing a
small minority of dues paying members assumes
the right to force its decisions on the rank
and file and to discipline any party members
who appeal to the people in the primary.
The Farmer-Labor Party has been in power in the
state for seven years. In that period it has
moved away from its democratic tradition to
show the old parties "cards and spades" in
such things as discipline imposed on rank and Page: 116
file from above. Seven years in power have
brought a marked change in spirit--perhaps TOC
that is what is the matter--too much power,
for too long a period. #3.41
The campaign was an old fashioned shoot-out,
and the results embarrassingly close: _Benson_, 218,000,
_Petersen_, 202,205. Petersen swept the small towns and
villages, carrying 51 counties to Benson's 36. Benson's
strong showing in St. Louis County (Duluth and the Iron
Range) and the continued loyalty of the state's farmers
provided the margin. And while even conservative
analysts admitted that 1/4 of the Petersen vote was
Republican crossovers, the Benson margin was anything
but overwhelming. #3.42
If the results of the Farmer-Labor primary had
been a shock to Association regulars, the Republican old
guard got a surprise in _their_ intra-party contest as
well. Young Harold Stassen, the eloquent lawyer from
South St. Paul had upset Martin Nelson, mainstay of the
party establishment. The choice was a fortunate one
for the Republicans. Stassen was bright, untainted by
the discredited conservative policies of earlier regimes,
and good on the soapbox. He was a perfect candidate to
carry a Republican reform banner, and that's exactly
what he did.
The Republican party waged two campaigns in Page: 117
1938. One, led by Stassen himself, took the high road.
The other, neither acknowledged nor repudiated by the TOC
candidate, plumbed the depths of anti-Communism and
anti-Semitism.
The strategy behind Stassen's high road campaign
was simple: embrace the essential Farmer-Labor Program,
but promise to deliver it without the conflict and
corruption that allegedly characterized the Farmer-Labor
administration. Stassen understood that most Minnesotans
had accepted the liberal tenets of the Farmer-Labor/New
Deal reform vision. He also knew that thousands were
tired of the class struggle, had it up to the eyeballs
with People's Lobbies, C.I.O. labor militance, and
populist attacks on fat cat monopolies and fascist
dictators. What had all the fire brand rhetoric, and
barn burning militance accomplished? The Great
Depression still lingered on. In fact, the economy
seemed to be getting _worse_.
So Stassen gave the people a liberal program
and the hope that he could lead the state to a new era
of class harmony and humane, efficient government. In
Hibbing he promised the workers aggressive action to
reduce unemployment. In Minneapolis he pledged never to
call out the National Guard in defense of an employer.
He flatly stated his opposition to the sales tax (a Page: 118
reversal of traditional Republican tax policy) and even
allowed as to how the Steel Companies should be socked TOC
with higher taxes on iron ore! #3.43
Stassen's most popular issue was Civil Service
reform. Hjalmar Petersen had done an effective job
portraying the Benson administration as a vast
patronage operation--heavily staffed with incompetent
officials appointed solely on the basis of their
loyalty to the Farmer-Labor machine. Stassen promised
to clean out the "radicals and racketeers" who infested
state government and replace the patronage system with
a modern, up-to-date Civil Service program. It was a
pledge that the big city press enthusiastically
backed. #3.44
While Stassen was busy cutting up the Farmer-
Labor constituency with his highly potent brand of
reform Republicanism, allies in the darker recesses of
the party were conducting a vicious campaign that
combined the traditional Republican red-baiting of
earlier years, with the worst barrage of anti-Semitism
in the state's history.
The architect of this "second" campaign was
Ray P. Chase, dean emeritus of the Republican old guard.
Chase had been elected state auditor in 1920 and got
trounced when he ran against Floyd Olson in 1930. In Page: 119
1932 he was elected to Congress and two years later was
defeated after voting consistently against the New TOC
Deal. For the rest of his life, Chase devoted himself
to the collection and dissemination of information on
corruption, mismanagement, and Communist activity in
government. #3.45
The vehicle for Chase's watchdog activities was
the Ray P. Chase Research Bureau. The bureau was
financed by some of Minnesota's top business elite:
George Gillette, President of Minneapolis Moline; J. C.
Hormel, the meat packet; James Ford Bell, Northwestern
Bank; Colonel Robert McCormick, owner of the Chicago
Tribune; and George Belden of the Citizens Alliance.
Its expressed purpose was to "block the efforts of the
present governor and his Communistic Jewish advisers to
perpetuate themselves in power and to block ef-
forts to imitate and promote in Minnesota the Soviet
plan of social ownership of key industries .... "
Chase set about to accomplish his purpose
through "research"--both legal, and extralegal. Files
were stolen from the State Relief Department. Informa-
tion was gathered on Farmer-Laborites who were known or
suspected Communist Party members. Left wing activity
at the University of Minnesota was especially well
documented. Dean Edward Nicholson supplied voluminous Page: 120
information on the dangerous student radicals of the
day--including one Eric Sevareid, a leader in the fight TOC
against compulsory military training.
In all fairness to the Republicans, the anti-
Semitism that erupted in the general election had its
roots in the Hjalmar Petersen campaign. In his attack
on Communists and "Mexican Generals" Hjalmar singled
out JeWish officials like Abe Harris, editor of the
_Minnesota Leader_, Roger Rutchick, Benson's personal
secretary, and Art Jacobs, administrative assistant to
Harold Barker, Farmer-Labor Speaker of the House. When
challenged, Petersen denied he was campaigning against
Jews as such. But his emphasis did attract support
from prominent anti-Semites like Luke Rader, a Christian
evangelist from Minneapolis whose pamphlet, _The Sinister
Menace of Communism to Christianity_, called upon all
Christians to support Petersen against Benson and his
Jewish Communist advisers. Anti-Semitic reaction from
rural areas was strong enough to cause real concern in
Farmer-Labor circles. #3.46
Ironically, Chase's diligent work also resulted
in a pamphlet: "Are They Communists or Catspaws--A Red
Baiting Article." It opened:
This is the story of the self-styled "Great Page: 121
Liberal," Elmer A. Benson, governor of
Minnesota, innocent Elmer, who says that he TOC
doesn't know any Communists or anything about
Communism.
Of course Communists are "Great Liberals"
also. They talk like Elmer, use the same
language, cuss out America in the same way,
and preach the gospel of Marx, Lenin, and
Stalin just as he does.
But there is a difference and if you cannot
see it you are a Red Baiter and lower than
a horse thief. Even then you are not as low
as men who panhandle scrub women for 90 cents
a month to held pay a governor's campaign
expenses--not that low--but you are pretty
putrid.
Why is red baiting vile? Nobody knows. It
is one of life's mysteries.
Communists, "The Great Liberal" and all other
radicals bait America and everything
American--the country, its founders, ideals,
traditions, institutions, government,
constitution, laws, courts, churches,
industries, opportunities, purposes, destiny.
In their opinion, everything American is wrong,
while Russia is Paradise. And they feel free
to say so. They deem it their inherent right,
guaranteed them by the constitution which they
propose to destroy, to attack everything
American blatantly and eternally.
Another trait common to radicals is that they
arrogate to themselves all virtues and
ascribe to their opponents all vices. If an
American dares to question their philosophy,
views, arts, or motives they become hysterical.
Some of them even pound the desk and swear.
But all of them, without exception, scream Red
Baiter! Red Baiter! It seems to be the
countersign of the fraternity of radicals--
or maybe the distress symbol.
Since radicals love the phrase, we accept
it and present this factual, Red Baiting
article to the people of Minnesota to help
them determine whether or not Communistic Page: 122
philosophy is making progress in this state
under our present state leadership. #3.47
TOC
Following this taunting introduction, Chase
treated his readers to 60 pages of "information " on the
Jewish-Communist menace in Minnesota, and in particular,
the Benson administration's role in it. He outlined how
the state was really run by Jewish administrators and
publicists; how the Communist Party was heavily involved
in supporting the "Farmer-Labor experiment"; how Elmer
Benson used public money to attend a Communist-led peace
rally in New York, and delivered the main address at a
"Free Tom Mooney" rally in San Francisco. Mooney was a
political hero to thousands of people around the country
He had been in jail since 1916 for allegedly dynamiting
a Preparedness Day rally in San Francisco. Communists
hailed Benson's appearance at the rally as a courageous
act of progressive statesmanship "Catspaws" saw it as
another example of Communist collaboration.
The pamphlets effect on the voters, by itself,
is impossible to calculate. But Chase didn't limit
himself to the publishing effort. With the help of the
well-connected Cyrus McCormick, Chase managed to secure
the services of Congressman Martin Dies, who agreed to
hold hearings in late October on Communist influence in
the Farmer-Labor Party. Thirty witnesses presented
testimony on Communist participation--most of it
distorted. By the time Farmer-Laborites were able to Page: 123
respond, it was too late. #3.48
TOC
The double-barreled Republican attack proved too
much for Benson and the Farmer-Labor Association. Loyal
Association members fought a hard grassroots campaign.
Twenty-thousand members in 3,747 voting precincts were
given some sort of organizational responsibility.
Every week the state was covered with literature sent
out by truck from the Precinct Captains Bureau. #3.49
Detailed leaflets set forth the Farmer-Labor program,
countered charges that businesses were fleeting the
states and summed up the accomplishments of the Farmer-
Labor Administration. #3.50
Benson himself toured the state to big crowds.
In his kickoff speech at Appleton he defended the
Farmer-Labor record and challenged Stassen's claim to the
mantle of liberalism.
Having failed to accomplish their objectives
by means of the red scare and the scare about
industries leaving the state, Republicans are
now saying they believe in everything the New
Deal and the Farmer-Labor Party stands for--
but ask that they be assigned the job of seeing
to it that the program be carried out ....
We thus find my Republican opponent in the
ludicrous pose of wearing a fake shield and
sword of progress while bound on his feet
are the packing house enemies of the Farmer,
Citizens Alliance enemies of the worker,
and monopoly business enemies of the independent
merchant.
There were many progressive measures which the Page: 124
liberal House passed but which could not run the
gauntlet of Senate reaction. These included a TOC
measure to permit municipalities owning power
plants to extend their lines; a 44 hour week
bill for women in industry; full transportation
for rural high school pupils; state aid to
schools in full; an adult education bill;
a housing act which would have enabled the
state to have secured millions of dollars
from the federal government on public housing
projects.
That is why my Republican opponent refuses to
defend the record of his party. That is why
he says what the Republicans did while in office
is not an issue in this campaign. That is why
he calls the Farmer-Labor Party a machine
instead of a rank and file movement of the
people. That is why he says that the Farmer-
Labor Party is controlled by a handful of
selfish, radical bosses, when he knows that
there are no bosses in a movement democratically
organized such as the Farmer-Labor Party.
They tell you they are trying to get back
into power to put our Farmer-Labor program
into effect; we know they are trying to get
back into power to kill that program forever. #3.51
Benson, however, did not succeed in making
Stassen the issue. The press was almost 100 percent
behind Stassen. They built up the Stassen image--the
new "Floyd B. Olson"--and kept readers well-informed
about charges of Communist infiltration, graft, and
Benson's bad temper. Things got so bad that fifty-one
newspaper reporters felt compelled to publish their own
version of the campaign in a pamphlet called
"Deadline." #3.52
The opposition of the press hurt Benson badly. Page: 125
So did the opposition of another opinion-making
institution, the Catholic Church. The hierarchy was TOC
not happy with the Benson attitude toward the Communist
issue. As an international institution, Church
leadership understood full well the international
challenge of Communism. Young Bishop Sheen, already a
leading Catholic publicist, was sent to Duluth where he
denounced Farmer-Labor Congressman John Bernard from
the pulpit. Bernard, a close ally of Elmer Benson,
had won the Church's everlasting wrath for casting the
one vote against the arms embargo to democratic (anti-
Franco) Spain in 1937. #3.53
In the Twin Cities names were not mentioned,
but faithful Catholics were forbidden to do anything
that "might aid the Communist cause" in Minnesota. The
implication to thousands of Catholics was quite clear. #3.54
In retrospect, it was only the magnitude of
the Farmer-Labor defeat that was surprising. The Benson
landslide of '36 was reversed. Stassen received
678,839 to Benson's 387,263. Benson lost every county
except six. He lost St. Paul and Minneapolis by 1/3--
strong indication that the A.F.L.-C.I.O. split had
seriously hurt the movement's strong working class base.
The only good news came from the farm districts. The
militant farmers of west and central Minnesota voted Page: 126
Farmer-Labor as faithfully as ever.
TOC
In 1938, the lines were drawn in Minnesota.
The conflict was etched in a way that remains
uncharacteristic of American politics. On the one side
stood the Farmer-Labor forces; the most militant
Association forces, the great majority of the C.I.O.
unions, the die-hard farmers of western and central
Minnesota, the 30,000 members of the Workers Alliance,
the cadre of the Communist Party itself. On the other
side, stood the big business interests, the small-town
and big city press, the hierarchy of the Catholic
Church, and a revitalized Republican Party. In the mid-
dle stood the "swing vote": A.F.L. or unorganized
workers, small business people, professionals, men and
women in all walks of life, who had supported the
Farmer-Labor ticket for the past six years, but whose
allegiance was based on performance rather than
ideology. It was this "independent vote" that swung
solidly to the Republican side--leaving the Farmer-
Labor Movement with its solid--and impressive core, but
little else.
Section: 3.5 Footnotes: to Chapter 3 Page: 127
3.1 James M. Shields, _Mr. Progressive_, TOC
Minneapolis: T. S. Denison, 1971, pp. 133-134.
3.2 "Interview, Jimmy Flowers, Fall 1976.
3.3 Material for the summary of Benson's early
life and career taken from Shields, pp. 13-44.
3.4 Farmer-Labor Platform, 1936. Available in
Minnesota Historical Society Library.
3.5 The most dramatic evidence for this change can
be found in comparing the editorial stance of the
_Minnesota Leader_ of '34 and '35, with that of the
_Leader_ during the Benson years. The _Leader_ is on
microfilm in the periodical section of the Minnesota
Historical Society.
3.6 _Minnesota Leader_, January 9, 1937.
3.7 Copy of speech on file in the library of the
Minnesota Historical Society.
3.8 Material for section on the tax fight is
taken from R. M. Aalbu's pamphlet, "Deadlocked," 1937.
Available at Minnesota Historical Society.
3.9 Quoted in _Midwest Labor_, April 10, 1937.
3.10 Shields, pp. 85-86. See #3.1
3.11 For an excellent history of the Third
International see, Fernando Claudin, _The Communist
Movement: From Comintern to Corninform_ (New York: Monthly
Review Press, 1975).
3.12 Material from assorted issues of _Northwest
Communist_, available at the Minnesota Historical Library
in a folder on miscellaneous pamphlets, brochures on the
Communist Party.
3.13 Clarence Hathaway, "On the Use of Transmission Page: 128
Belts to the Masses," the _Communist_, May 1931. A copy
of the article is on file 'in the Hathaway papers at the TOC
archives section of the Minnesota Historical Society.
3.14 For a superb summary of Party growth during
this period see, Joseph R. Starobin, _American Communism_
In Crisis (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972)
pp. 20-50.
3.15 Max Kampelman, _The Communist Party vs. The
C.I.O._ (New York: Praeger, 1957) p. 5.
3.16 Personal interview with Clara and Pete
Jorgenson, Fall 1976.
3.17 Personal interview with Art Borchard, Fall
1976.
3.18 Unpublished rough manuscript of Mary Andreeson's
autobiography. It's in my collection of '30s documents.
3.19 Personal interview with Jenny Mayville, Spring
1977.
3.20 Personal interview with Jimmy Flowers, Fall
1976.
3.21 Joey Feinglass, "The Communist Party and the
C.I.O.," unpublished paper. Available in my personal
collection.
3.22 Interview, Jim Flowers.
3.23 Feinglalss, pp. 7-26.
3.24 The Haycraft-Lattimer battle was widely noted,
even at the time, as a serious split for the Association.
See Elmer Davis, "Minnesota Worry Go Round," _Colliers_,
99:26, June 26, 1937. For the Trotskyst point of view
see Farrell Dobbs, _Teamster Politics_ (New York:
Pathfinder Press, 1975) pp. 93-97.
3.25 _Sunday Worker_, June 6, 1937.
3.26 See _Midwest Labor_ 1937-38, on file in the
periodical room of the Minnesota Historical Society.
3.27 Starobin, p. 38. See #3.14
Page: 129
3.28 See Youngdale, _Populism: A Psychohistorical TOC
Perspective_ (Port Washington: Kennikat Press, 1975)
pp. 177-187.
3.29 The official A.F.L. attitude toward C.I.O.--
and the Communist Party involvement in it--is well-
documented in the _St. Paul Union Advocate_ and _Minneapolis
Labor Review_ available on microfilm at the Minnesota
Historical Society.
3.30 Election returns from 1938 show that Benson
lost the small-town vote overwhelmingly.
3.31 See Teigen and Williams papers on file at the
Minnesota Historical Society.
3.32 The charge that the C.P. organized "paper
organizations" to increase its influence was a common
complaint among A.F.L. leaders. In addition to
references in the A.F.L. papers, see Arthur Naftalin,
pp. 194-196. See #1.2
3.33 Personal interview with Tony Puglissi, Summer
1977.
3.34 Personal interview, Orville Olson, Spring
1977.
3.35 For an excellent account of Petersen's role
see Hyman Berman, "Political Anti-Semitism in Minnesota
During the Great Depression," _Jewish Social Studies_,
Vol. XXXVIII, Summer-Fall 1976, pp. 250-257.
3.36 Ibid., p. 252.
3.37 Interview with Sander Genis on file at the
Minnesota Historical Society.
3.38 Hjalmar Petersen papers, Box 10, Minnesota
Historical Society.
3.39 Berman, p. 255.
3.40 _The Minneapolis Journal_, May 16, 1938.
3.41 _The Minneapolis Journal_, May 17, 1938.
3.42 Shields, pp. 175-176. See #3.1 Page: 130
3.43 See Arthur LeSeuer Papers, Box 7, for clippings TOC
on Stassen's speeches during the '38 campaign.
3.44 See Hjalmar Petersen Papers, "Political
Scrapbook," 1938 campaign, Vol. 8, and LeSeuer Papers,
Box 7, for clippings on the Civil Service issue.
3.45 Berman, pp. 257-262. See #3.35
3.46 Berman, pp. 255-257. See #3.35
3.47 Ray P. Chase, "Are They Communists or
Catspaws," p. 3. Available at the Minnesota Historical
Society Library.
3.48 See Berman, p. 262. See #3.35 For the Farmer-Labor
Association's response, see _The Minnesota Leader_,
October 22,
3.49 For an account of F.L. campaign efforts see
Shields, pp. 181-197. See #3.1
3.50 See Farmer-Labor Association Miscellaneous
pamphlets for campaign brochures, on file in the
Minnesota Historical Society Library.
3.51 Quoted in Shields, pp. 190-193. See #3.1
3.52 Ibid., pp. 210-211.
3.53 Interview with John Bernard, Spring 1977.
3.54 Shields, pp. 215-216. See #3.1
Next Chapter -- Chapter 4 The Farmer-Labor Association:
Education for Rank and File Democracy.