US Gov and Politics

Timeframe: 1901 - 1901

The industrial conditions in the United States, the constantly changing frontier, and the lack of class stratification had prevented the development of a strong socialist movement in the United States. However, in the late 1860’s and early 1790s, a number of branches of the First International were formed in the East, and on July 4, 1874, a Social Democratic Workingmen’s Party of North America was organized with a rather indefinite Socialist platform, becoming in 1877 the Socialist Labor Party.

The Socialist Labor Party showed much activity during the next two decades, but the attempt of its leader, Daniel De Leon, to impose too rigid a discipline upon its membership and his bitter opposition to leaders of organized labor led to a split in the party. The dissident group, under Morris Hillquit and others, joined in 1900 with the midwestern Socialists in nominating Eugene Victor Debs for president.

This was followed by a Unity Conference in 1901 at a convention in Indianapolis in 1901. The two merging groups were the Social Democratic Party of Eugene Victor Debs and the "Kangaroo" wing of the older Socialist Labor Party. The Socialist Democratic had been organized in 1898 by veterans of the Pullman strike of the American Railway Union, led by Debs, and was largely composed of American-born workers.

Timeframe: 1995 - 1995

The previous election year, in 1992, Ross Perot ran on an independent ticket, where he discovered overwhelming pockets of potential support from those disenchanted by the two established political parties. On September 25, 1995 Ross Perot announced on Larry King Live that he was determined to help form a new political party, in order to give those who supported him in 1992 a voice in future elections. Polls showed that nearly two out of every three voters wanted a new political party, including half of all Republicans and Democrats.