The Labor–Farm Party of Wisconsin (also Wisconsin Labor and Farm Party, or LFP) was an independent left-leaning political party in the state of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. In 1984, William Osborne Hart, one of the party's founders, intended to run for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

and failed due to a

Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over original actions, appeals from lower courts, and regulation or administration of the practice of law in Wisconsin. Location The Wi ...

deliberation. This, as well as other factors, led to the party's dissolution.

History

The party was active in Wisconsin politics during 1982–1987. The party was formed "in reaction to the resurgence of conservatism as a political force in the 1980s". Its platform demanded larger government intervention with regard to factory and farm operations, protecting farmers' and workers' welfare, and shared civil rights concepts with members of the "Rainbow Coalition" of feminists, the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

lobby, as well as included other notions. Before the 1984 presidential election, the LFP wanted for William Hart, one of the party's founders, to run as a presidential candidate. This failed due to a Supreme Court of Wisconsin decision, and Hart subsequently resignation from the party. The party concentrated its efforts in an attempt to defeat

Les Aspin Leslie Aspin Jr. (July 21, 1938 – May 21, 1995) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the U.S. representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district from 1971 to 1993 and as the 18th United States Secretary of Defens ...

in 1986, then Wisconsin's 1st congressional district Representative. The Labor and Farm Party was generally not successful, a reason which led to its dissolution in 1987. However,

Lucille Berrien Lucille Berrien is an activist from Milwaukee. She was good friends with fellow Open housing advocate James Groppi. She ran for mayor of Milwaukee in 1972, becoming the first African-American woman to do so, but lost the race to incumbent Henry ...

ran for

State Treasurer of Wisconsin The State Treasurer of Wisconsin is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Thirty-six individuals have held the office of State Treasurer since statehood. The incumbent is Sarah Godlewski ...

in 1990 with the LFP, but lost to

Cathy Zeuske Cathy Susan "Cate" Zeuske (born December 4, 1958), is an American Republican politician who served as the 31st State Treasurer of Wisconsin and 9th Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. She was also elected to four terms in the Wisco ...

. Several party members then went on to form the Progressive Party and the

Wisconsin Green Party The Wisconsin Green Party (WIGP) is one of five recognized political parties in the state of Wisconsin and is an active member of the Green Party of the United States. History The Wisconsin Green Party emerged in the late 1980s when several i ...

in the 1990s. After Hart's resignation, Kathryn Christensen became its de facto head. Mary K. Baum ran for minor offices in 1986 on its ticket and for

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Labor-Farm Party of Wisconsin Political parties in Wisconsin 1982 establishments in Wisconsin