New Union Party | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Jeffrey Miller |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Dissolved | 2005 |
| Merger of | LSR New Unionist group |
| Ideology | De Leonism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
TheNew Union Party was aDe Leonist political party based primarily in the U.S. state ofMinnesota from 1980 to 2005. Its ideology was primarily based on the ideas ofDaniel De Leon. According to De Leonist theory, militantindustrial unions are the vehicle ofclass struggle.Industrial unions serving the interests of theproletariat (working class) will bring about the change needed to establish asocialist system. A strict adherent to pacifism, the NUP denounced political violence as a method of achieving revolution.[1]
| Part ofthe Politics series on |
| De Leonism |
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Organizations |
The NUP was, like all similar organizations, based on the ideas onKarl Marx,Frederich Engels, andDaniel De Leon. Rather than insurrection, it was committed to legal, non-violent means of overthrowing capitalism. It opposed state control of the economy and instead sought direct worker control over the means of production.[2]
Many of its members were formerly affiliated with that state's section ofSocialist Labor Party of America.[3] TheNew Unionists was formed after eight members of the Minneapolis SLP resigned in protest, accusing the national SLP leadership of bureaucratic and authoritarian practices.[4] At a Unity Conference inYpsilanti, Michigan from 22 August through 24 August 1980, the similarly-mindedLeague for Socialist Reconstruction fused with the New Unionist group to create theNew Union Party.
Jeffrey Miller of Minneapolis was the editor of the party's newspaper,New Unionist, which was published from 1978 to 2005. Among the paper's columnists was longtime member Tom Dooley, who died in 2017.[5] Miller died in 2019.[6]
The New Union Party, like other De Leonist groups, ran candidates for political office and organized workers outside of electoral campaigns. In the 1980s, Jeffrey Miller was the party's nominee for three elections:
In 1999, delegates from the NUP attended an International Solidarity Conference in San Francisco organized by the local branch of theIndustrial Workers of the World andWorkers' Solidarity Alliance. It presented on the contributions of Daniel De Leon to socialist theory.[7]
The party's website isarchived by theLibrary of Congress. Party ephemera and its publications are held atWashington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections.[8]
