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Madison, Wisconsin (AP) — After 90 years, socialism is back in the Wisconsin legislature.
After taking the oath of office on Tuesday, two freshman members of Congress gave the first order to revive the socialist caucus, which has been dormant since the 1930s.
As self-proclaimed democratic socialists (a movement that’s regaining popularity in the United States with the help of younger Democrats), Rep. Ryan Clancy and Darin Madison advance their policy goals while talking to Democrats in Congress. I am planning to hold my own meeting to get it done.
But in a Republican-dominated Congress, the Socialist caucuses are a minority within a minority. It is highly unlikely that either the Democrats or the new caucuses will get their way on most issues.
Milwaukee County supervisor Clancy was still optimistic about bringing to Congress ideas he’d been pushing at the local level, such as insuring attorneys for tenants facing eviction.
“What we can do is common sense and not considered a bipartisan battle,” he said.
But, predictably, Republicans don’t see it that way.
“Socialism has failed everywhere in the world it has been tried,” said Republican Majority Leader Tyler August. “It doesn’t make our country great.”
Both Clancy and Madison hail from the Milwaukee area. Milwaukee is a city with a history as the home of some of the most prominent socialist movements in the country’s history.
In 1910, during the height of socialism in the United States, Milwaukee sent the first socialists to Congress and became the first major American city to elect a socialist mayor. Two years later, Democrats and Republicans joined forces to endorse one candidate and oust Mayor Emil Seidel. Mayor Seidel ran for Vice President from the Socialist Party.
“From Reading, Pennsylvania, to cities on the West Coast, there have been cities with prominent socialist politicians, but Milwaukee stands out,” says Philip Rocco, a professor of political science at Marquette University in Milwaukee. said.
According to the Legislative Reference Bureau, socialist politicians sat in the Wisconsin legislature as early as 1878, but most socialist legislators were elected as early as 1917, when the first Socialist caucuses were held. He was in office between 1935 and 1935.
Socialism continued to be visible in Milwaukee even after it was branded as McCarthy-era as communism was in the 1950s. Mayor Daniel Huang was elected mayor in 1916, a position he held for 24 years. Frank Seidler, his third and final Socialist mayor of the city, resigned in 1960 after serving his three terms overlapping with the Wisconsin Senate. anti-communist campaign.
The unique and pragmatic approach to socialism that made Milwaukee’s socialist mayor so popular with voters also caused friction with the Socialist Party of America, which had more ideological and revolutionary aims. Milwaukee Socialists have earned the nickname “Sewer Socialists” for their real focus on infrastructure projects and public health improvements.
This is the history of Madison and Clancy identifying themselves as Sewer Socialists in their campaigns and advertising and embracing support from the Milwaukee chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
“We want to carry on this legacy and redefine what it means to be a socialist in Wisconsin,” Madison said.
This, in Clancy’s words, means focusing on “unsexy” policies, as socialist lawmakers did in the early 1900s. At the top of the fledgling caucus’ list of priorities is addressing issues related to juvenile prisons and the prison system, improving access to childcare, and promoting the public resourceization of public utilities.
August said most of these issues would be “unstartable” for House Republicans, but that his caucus was open to working with lawmakers on the left.
Madison and Clancy said it wasn’t always easy to brand themselves as socialists, especially during the course of the campaign when socialism became a dirty word. Even in the Democratic home of Milwaukee, where challengers ran for partisan primaries, the socialist label was often difficult to sell to voters.
“I had really close people who cared about me because they knew my back would be targeted with this label,” Madison said. “They strongly encouraged me to ‘stop.’ Be a socialist inside, but don’t push it out into the world.”
Madison’s and Clancy’s victories reflected a national resurgence in the popularity of democratic socialism over the past decade, with longtime stalwarts of the movement like Sen. A younger generation was drawn to Trump-era immigration and socialist ideals. economic policy.
But Rocco said Milwaukee has once again become a uniquely fertile ground for ideology.
“This form of local government socialism stands alone not only as a possible model of government, but as a model of government that has earned the city the moniker of one of the best-run cities in the United States. It was a place that proved to me,” he said.
Leaders of the Milwaukee chapter of the American Democratic Socialists report a steady increase in membership since re-establishing the chapter in 2016. Nearly 30 years ago, the opportunity to propose legislation, even if quickly overruled by Republicans, is great.
Alex Brawer, co-chair of the group, said: “The very fact that we can now introduce legislation and put forward ideas can move the conversation. “These things are really important. am.”
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