[A pair of democratic socialists have formed the state’s first
socialist caucus since the 1930s.]
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SOCIALISM IS BACK IN THE WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE  
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John Nichols
January 11, 2023
The Nation
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_ A pair of democratic socialists have formed the state’s first
socialist caucus since the 1930s. _

Daniel Hoan, one of three Socialist mayors who have led the city of
Milwaukee. He served as mayor from 1916 to 1940, Robert Sennecke /
ullstein bild via Getty Images

 

When a pair of newly elected Democratic legislators from
Milwaukee—the city that elected three Socialist Party mayors in the
20th century—took seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly last week,
they promptly announced that they would be forming a socialist caucus.

“We wanted to make sure that we were uplifting bolder ideas and
solutions,” said Darrin Madison
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democratic socialist who won a competitive Democratic primary in
August before his victory in November. “That’s something that
democratic socialists have always done in Wisconsin.”

Madison’s fellow Assembly Democrat Ryan Clancy
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has been a high-profile member of the Milwaukee county board for
several years, said, “It’s important that we do this. We are both
Democrats and we are both democratic socialists. We’ll often vote
with our Democratic colleagues, but we also think it’s important to
emphasize that we have a socialist perspective.”

Having outspoken socialists in the Wisconsin assembly is going to
require some adjustment for the conservative Republicans who have
dominated the chamber for more than a decade.

“Most of them never met a socialist, and they’re like, ‘Oh, you
eat human food. You wear kind of normal clothes,’ ” joked Clancy.
“It’s blowing some of their minds.”

But he’s quick to remind his colleagues that having socialists in
the Wisconsin legislature is nothing new.

In fact, Madison and Clancy are renewing one of Wisconsin’s most
distinctive political traditions.

Socialists formed the main opposition party
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the Wisconsin legislature of a century ago. While Republicans
dominated the state Assembly and Senate, a robust caucus of Milwaukee
Socialists made up the second-largest grouping in both chambers
through most of the 1920s. Democrats were barely a presence.

The legislature that convened in 1923 had three Socialists in the
Senate and 10 in the Assembly
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The Democrats had no senators and just one assemblyman.

The Socialists were such a vital force in the legislature
that Governor John Blaine
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Republican from Boscobel, often worked with them when he wanted to get
around more conservative stalwarts within his own party. The state’s
senior senator Robert M. La Follette ran for the presidency in 1924
with support from the Socialist Party
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its former presidential candidate, Eugene Victor Debs
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The US representative from Milwaukee through most of the 1920s was a
Socialist, as was the city’s mayor, Dan Hoan
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Socialists would remain a significant presence in the Wisconsin
legislature well into the 1930s—so much so that when Republican
Philip La Follette was elected governor in 1930, he chose a Socialist
senator from Milwaukee, Thomas Duncan
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as his executive secretary. Only with Franklin Roosevelt’s landslide
victory in the 1932 presidential race did Democrats finally displace
the Socialists as Wisconsin’s main legislative opposition party, and
even then Socialists held several seats until the party linked up with
the state’s independent Progressive Party. Socialists continued to
serve as mayors of Milwaukee until Frank Zeidler stepped down in 1960.

While a handful of Wisconsin legislators in the ensuing years
identified as democratic socialists and ran with the support of
Milwaukee’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter—which
enthusiastically backed Clancy and Madison when they ran as Democrats
last year—this legislative session will be the first since the
mid-1930s when socialists have formed a caucus.

The renewal of socialist fortunes is not unique to Wisconsin. Ever
since the 2016 and 2020 presidential bids of longtime democratic
socialist Bernie Sanders, socialists have been on a winning streak in
local and state elections across the country. Dozens of democratic
socialists
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serve on city councils and school boards and in legislative chambers
from Maine to California. So it shouldn’t be all that surprising
that Milwaukee, a city with so much socialist history, has seen a
left-wing resurgence.

Clancy believes socialists can renew their influence on Wisconsin
policy-making.

“Wisconsin socialism, specifically, is the least sexy socialism out
there,” he said. “It’s about sewers and infrastructure, and
that’s important to remember. When you look at the history of what
Socialists in Milwaukee and Wisconsin accomplished, it’s a reminder
that you can focus on equity issues that really matter to people and
have an impact.”

Clancy had done that on the Milwaukee county board, prioritizing
projects such as providing legal protection for tenants facing the
threat of eviction.

“I label a lot of what we did on the county board, and what I expect
we’ll do in the legislature, as harm reduction,” he said. “We
can start by talking about harm reduction in a capitalist system, as
opposed to systemic change. But that doesn’t mean we won’t be
talking about the need for systemic change.”

The Assembly socialists know they’ll face resistance from
colleagues—including some Democrats who have encouraged Clancy and
Madison to downplay their ideology.

But Madison thinks the time is right to highlight the “s”-word.
When he was running for the Assembly last year, he said, he found
there were advantages to identifying as a socialist. “Surprisingly,
it brought more people into the campaign. Even some Republicans backed
me because they saw me as an independent voice. I know Republicans
throw out the term ‘socialism’ all the time to provoke fears in
folks. But when I talk to Republicans in person, I hear them say,
‘Look, I know you’re sincere in trying to work for the
people.’”

That’s the key, Clancy explained. “There’s a lot of interest in
socialism, especially coming off the pandemic. A lot of what
socialists want to accomplish is the practical stuff that makes
government work for people. It’s so practical that we think the
Republicans might steal some of our ideas, and we’re fine with
that.”

_JOHN NICHOLS is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and
the author of the new book Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic
Profiteers: Accountability for Those Who Caused the Crisis
[[link removed]] (Verso).
He’s also the author of The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic
Party: The Enduring Legacy of Henry Wallace’s Anti-Fascist,
Anti-Racist Politics
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from Verso; Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse: A Field Guide to the Most
Dangerous People in America
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from Nation Books; and co-author, with Robert W. McChesney, of People
Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless
Democracy
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_Copyright c 2023 THE NATION. Reprinted with permission. May not be
reprinted without permission
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Distributed by PARS International Corp
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_Please support  progressive journalism. Get a digital subscription
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The Nation for just $24.95!_

* socialists
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* Wisconsin
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* Milwaukee
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* U.S. history
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* Democrats
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