- Thomas Van Lear
Thomas Van Lear (
April 26 ,1864 –March 4 ,1931 ) was the Socialist mayor of Minneapolis,Minnesota , serving fromJanuary 1 ,1917 toJanuary 6 ,1919 . A leader of the local machinists union, he led two unsuccessful campaigns for the mayoralty before he was elected on November 7, 1916, with over 33,000 votes. Van Lear did not win control of the city council, and SheriffOtto Langum worked closely with theMinneapolis Citizens Alliance , an anti-labor alliance of wealthy business magnates. Main planks of the Socialist platform included factory safety inspections, municipal control of utilities, and opposition to law enforcement involvement in repressing strike actions. In office Van Lear welcomed thePeople's Council of America for Democracy and Peace to Minneapolis and refused to approve an instruction that would effectively ban theIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW). The only Socialist mayor in the city's history was defeated for re-election in 1918, amid accusations that he and his supporters secretly desired a German victory inWorld War I . Van Lear was expelled from the Socialist Party in 1918 and later helped to form a local section of theNon-Partisan League that firmly supported the policies of Democratic PresidentWoodrow Wilson .References
* Millikan, William. "A union against unions: the Minneapolis Citizens Alliance and its fight against organized labor, 1903-1947". Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001. ISBN 0-87351-398-3
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