Organize Now to Study Political Questions.

• Author: Follette, Belle Case La
• Position: LA FOLLETTE'S MAGAZINE, JANUARY 1929

Following the November elections, there is much comment in the press on the subject of political reorganization, especially on the part of the minority. At the recent annual session of the intercollegiate conference of the League for Industrial Democracy, Paul Blanshard, associate editor of The Nation, said: "We should start over again to form a political movement along the lines of the La Follette movement of 1924. Although it could not be based primarily upon the labor unions, it would rally a great many labor sympathizers and farmers. The important planks of such a party would be concerned with the public ownership of electric power, the reduction of armaments, social insurance, and farm relief.

"We cannot build in this country a party which duplicates the structure of the British Labor Party, because in Great Britain the unions are relatively much more powerful and class conscious. Since we cannot depend primarily on labor union support, the new party should be based on progressive individuals from every class in American society."

At the conference of progressive women in Milwaukee prior to the September primary, Elizabeth McCormick, of Superior, formerly president of the Wisconsin State Teachers Association, and alternate delegate to the Kansas City Republican Convention, made an earnest plea for permanent organization and continued study of political questions. She urged progressive women, whatever...