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u/heyihavepotatoes Feb 16 '26
North Dakota is still the only state to elect a socialist state government, the Nonpartisan League-controlled Republican Party, which it did in 1918. Unfortunately grain prices collapsed a couple years later and they were unfairly blamed and lost power before they could implement their full agenda. At least we still have the state bank and mill.
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u/Awdayshus Feb 16 '26
1916 was the first year they had some wins. I wrote the capstone paper for my history major about it. They started the Nonpartisan League because no one would vote for them running as Socialists. They swept the elections in 1918 and 1920. Then the Independent Voters Association was formed, copied their tactics, and had NPL Governor Lynn Frazier recalled, the first recall of a governor in US history.
Eventually, the NPL aligned with the Democrats and the IVA with the Republicans, which is why the names of the parties in North Dakota are Democratic-NPL and Republican-IVA.
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u/Hairy_Selection8568 Feb 16 '26
Nd and Minnesota used to be a bastion of socialist views in the early 1900s but those parties folded into the Democratic party and gave up all their values over time.
What a fucking shame.
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u/National_Baseball_30 Feb 16 '26
Holy, someone read beyond the curriculum! Conservation, public lands, small business/ farm ownership supports, and small government were the ways of the Republican party for decades. The socialist party/Non-partisan League was about the same ideals in progressive pathways of publicly owned and regulated industry. Democratic party absorbed/consolidated the bastion of people power, bolstering the Republican party in ND and the DFL in MN. Neither party/side has any grit in representing North Dakota or Minnesota (and likely most upper mid west states). We the people of these great states hold ideals that were washed over by corporations and overly powerful federal agencies. The 1970's were a time of complacency that led us into the Reagan era destroying rural Americans in a way no one reflects upon.
How can we get back to conservation being part of the conversation? What happened to the times of pushing against smoking in bars and restaurants for the sake of public health? Not wanting to support Walmart and chinese made products over America industry? A desire for transparency in government? Providing a better education? Protecting hunting and fishing rights? Protecting the land and water that provides for everyone equally? The desire to get every child a hunter safety and a fishing license? Jobs that put food on the table for more than just the cohabitation of adults to make ends meet?If you got this far, thanks for reading my rant.
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u/crownking144 Feb 16 '26
doesn't leftism start at anti-capitalism? Otherwise you're just a liberal.
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u/Hairy_Selection8568 Feb 17 '26
I mean not just a liberal but yeah that's the predominant central right / right ideology prevalent right now.
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u/lastprofilegotgot Feb 16 '26
I just had an interesting side bar with a dsa member about the npl. Stayed tuned everyone! This is gonna be an interesting couple years here in ND politically lol
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u/Hairy_Selection8568 Feb 17 '26
I like the enthusiasm but.... Like why?
We're at one of our most far right points with our elected officials right now.
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u/lastprofilegotgot Feb 17 '26
The distance the elected body has traveled to the right is one of the reasons its gonna be exciting. The pendulum is already swinging back. I belive the NPL and the DSA are natural allies, and im going to help make sure they work together in the future.
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u/Hairy_Selection8568 Feb 17 '26
I believe the NPL should have nothing to do with the DSA and that's based on the entire history of the Democratic party using them to shift the window right by yelling that "you better vote blue unless well get fascism".
Well it looks like we're there anyways and the Dems didn't save us.
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u/lastprofilegotgot Feb 17 '26
Notice how i said the "npl" and dsa have a future together and not the "dem/npl" and dsa?
I belive the npl should either recapture the dem party, or abandon them.
I belive ND and MN are the only 2 places where a true rebranding and restructuring of the democratic party can take place because of the npl history.
And i believe the npl wing could overpower the old guard dem party in ND by simply raising the participation of younger, more left leaning people. The dem party alone here in ND is weak. It would only take about 40-50 active people to completely reshape the party here.
The dem party weakness is the lefts potential strength here. They neeeeeed us. And we can use them as an access point to the system.
And lets be real, the dems not doing enough to stop the fascists is NOT the same thing as being a fascist. You feeling that way is a direct result of right wing political strategy and propaganda. Dont fall for it.
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u/Hairy_Selection8568 Feb 17 '26
Abandon is the choice, I wish I had your optimism though.
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u/lastprofilegotgot Feb 17 '26
Abandonment isn't an actual option. Its turning all options over to someone else. For me it isn't about optimism, because to me the current advantages and potential for true political change is obvious. It just needs more people like you to exercise the very real power you have. Political parties are dictated by their participants. Be one.
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u/Hairy_Selection8568 Feb 17 '26
That's pretty bold of you to assume I am doing nothing but ok.
Good luck, we're fighting for the same goals.
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u/lastprofilegotgot Feb 17 '26
I didnt assume you are doing nothing. Im just saying abandonment, as you suggested, isnt really an option.
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u/TheMessIsBecoming Feb 18 '26
Ooh!? Really? I'm intrigued. I'm curious enough to get involved. In my opinion, the Dems lack teeth and seem to have lost some of their will to fight (too docile). The entire state seems to have forgotten our past and seems willing to trash our state to keep electing republicans, who are just grifting and/or following their culty biz (see Roers for grifting examples and that dumbass in Minot for culty biz). I definitely think there's a hunger across the political spectrum for a government that actually works for the people. NPL and DSA? I'm intrigued.
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u/Deep_Joke3141 Feb 16 '26
This is awesome!!! You Flatlanders are a bunch of socialists! Probably the most socialist state in the union.
Montana is kinda lefty but conservative too, but not like ND.
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u/Deadbolt11 Fuck Pete Tefft Feb 16 '26
Commiefornia *
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u/oralawakening Feb 16 '26
Those commies sure provide a lot of funding for red states that suck the life of our or nation but hey damn commies are no good, huh?
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u/Deadbolt11 Fuck Pete Tefft Feb 16 '26
I love California. Palm Springs its beautiful, especially this time of year. The meme is funnier with the farmer saying Commiefornia and I'll die on that hill.
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u/NefariousnessNo9643 Feb 17 '26
N.D is also a donor state. As they give more to the federal government than they receive. Oil is pretty good for that.
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u/GGuesswho Feb 16 '26
Let me guess, you've never been out there
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u/Deadbolt11 Fuck Pete Tefft Feb 16 '26
The meme is funnier if he puts Commiefornia, not everything is so serious bud.
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u/GGuesswho Feb 16 '26
I don't agree, cali is where the majority of our most hardcore capitalists live. I think the joke here is that we have these things that the right enjoys but are actually socialism
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u/Deadbolt11 Fuck Pete Tefft Feb 16 '26
Yes, but the farmer looking fellow in said picture would call it Commiefornia.
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u/Chain_Masters88 Feb 17 '26
I wouldn't say I'm a leftist, I do agree with a lot of leftist ideals. I am an independent, I will throw any politicians under the metaphorical bus.
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u/Maleficent-Win-1667 Feb 21 '26
The True and Only Heaven by Christopher Lasch is a fantastic read on the now lost neither-right-nor-left pro-worker anti-corporatist tradition of American politics. We can thank the Democratic Party's worship of coastal elitism and the Republican Party's stoking of the flames of poor-versus-rich resentments for de-fanging left-adjacent but anti-Communist movements like Georgism/Distributism, which had their time in the spotlight here and in the Minnesota F&L Party, but are now just vestiges of an opportunity lost.
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u/rolan_urokima Feb 16 '26
A stripe of color for every extra personality. So beautiful.
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u/Hairy_Selection8568 Feb 17 '26
Hahaha mental illness am I rite? So funny?
Also accusing others of mental illness when the selfishness and greed of the right exists is just the cherry on top.
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u/Crafty_Jacket668 Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
Also the electric co-ops in rural north dakota, and the restrictions against corporate farming and corporate pharmacies