Georgia Olive Cozzini

Georgia Olive Cozzini, February 14, 1915 (Springfield, Mo.) – October 10, 1983 (Milwaukee, Wis.)

VP candidate for Socialist Labor Party (1956, 1960)

Running mate with nominee: Eric Hass (1905-1980)

Popular vote (1956): 44,300 (0.07%)
Popular vote (1960): 47,522 (0.07%)
Electoral vote (1956): 0/531
Electoral vote (1960): 0/537

The campaign (1956)

Eric Hass was nominated for a second time, and for the next two elections his running mate was Socialist Labor Party activist Georgia Cozzini of Milwaukee.

Cozzini's acceptance speech included: "Outside the Socialist Labor Party, there may be surprise over a woman being nominated on the national slate. But it is not as a woman that I accept the nomination! It is as a member of the only political party-- the only organization that represents the interests of the majority-- the working class. For the major economic struggle today recognizes neither division nor difference as to sex or race. This is the struggle between the working class and the capitalist class over the division of the products of labor."

The 1956 SLP platform is yet another long essay, which is the Party's style. The key paragraph that demonstrated the SLP remained the Party of De Leon purists would be this:

The Socialist Labor Party declares that the only alternative to social ruin and possible atomic war is the abolition of capitalism and all forms of class rule and the establishment of Socialism. We must add that bona fide Socialism has nothing in common with the bureaucratic despotism which, despite  the "collective leadership" that has replaced Stalin's one-man rule, masquerades as "Socialism" in Soviet Russia. Nor does Socialism mean "making the politician the boss." Socialism, as Karl Marx conceived it, as Daniel De Leon, the great American Marxist, developed it, and as advocated by the Socialist Labor Party, is a society of industrial democracy in which the factories, mills, mines, railroads and land, etc., are  owned collectively by all the people, where production is carried on for use instead of for sale and profit, and where the industries are operated and administered democratically by the workers themselves, organized in Socialist Industrial Unions.

A government ruling provided equal time for the third parties on television networks, making Corzzini one of the first SLP candidates to be televised. She was well spoken and articulate, although like most politicians of the era had not learned how to effectively play to the camera in this emerging technology. JFK would teach all the others how to do that in 1960.

The SLP had a stronger election result than any other political party of the Left in 1952. On the Ballot in 15 states, they finished with the highest percentages in Washington (0.65%), Colorado (0.50%), New Jersey (0.27%) and Massachusetts (0.24%). In King County, Wash. (i.e. Seattle) they polled 1.37%.

The campaign (1960)

The 1960 SLP platform thesis statement, offering the Party's version of socialism as an alternative to nuclear self-destruction:

The overriding issue of the 1960 campaign is SOCIALISM and SURVIVAL V. CAPITALISM and CATASTROPHE! This conclusion is based on a sober and realistic appraisal of a situation that actually exists and from which no one can hide. The whole human race  is poised on the razor edge of nuclear catastrophe. As each day ends with the missiles resting on their launching pads, the  danger is so much greater that the next will witness the outbreak, by accident or design, of a suicidal nuclear war.

This was not an exaggerated concern. 1960 was the first election I can remember. In school we had three drills each with their own special siren: fire, earthquake, and nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 only heightened the sense of urgency felt by younger people. As these little Boomers turned voting age, the SLP enjoyed a brief small spike in election results.

The SLP held steady with a similar national finish to the 1956 results. Top states out of 16 with recorded votes for SLP: Washington (0.88%), Colorado (0.38%), and Illinois (0.22%).

Election history:
1942 - Governor of Wisconsin (Independent Socialist Labor) - defeated
1944 - Governor of Wisconsin (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1946 - US Senate (Wis.) (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1948 - Governor of Wisconsin (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1957 - US Senate (Wis.) (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1958 - US Senate (Wis.) (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1962 - US Senate (Wis.) (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1970 - Governor of Wisconsin (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1974 - Governor of Wisconsin (Socialist Labor) - defeated

Other occupations: door-to-door encyclopedia sales, "housewife," community activist

Buried: cremated, ashes spread at a lake in Bayfield County, Wis.

Notes:
Family moved to Milwaukee, Wis. in 1924.
Georgia Olive Purvis married Artemio Cozzini in 1936.
Joined the SLP in 1939.
One of her opponents in the 1944 Governor's race was George Nelson, Socialist Party of America VP
 nominee from 1936.
The winner for the 1946 US Senate race was Joe McCarthy.
The winner for the 1957 and 1958 US Senate races was William Proxmire.
The winner for the 1962 US Senate race was Gaylord Nelson.
The winner for the 1970 and 1974 Governor's race was Patrick Joseph Lucey, later the 1980 National
 Unity Party VP nominee

George A. Nelson

George A. Nelson, November 15, 1873 (Polk County, Wis.) – May 4, 1962 (St. Croix Falls, Wis.)

VP candidate for Socialist Party of America (1936)

Running mate with nominee: Norman M. Thomas (1884-1968)

Popular vote: 187,910 (0.41%)

Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

As the Socialist Party of America continued their slow downward spiral to oblivion, the once mighty third party nominated Norman Thomas for President on his third run for the office, and in a bid to appeal to agrarian and Midwest voters, George A. Nelson of Wisconsin was tapped as the running mate.

At the SPA convention, the delegates voted to seek cooperation with labor groups in creating a broader based party, but they drew the line at working with the Communist Party USA in forming a united front against fascism and rejected the appeal of the CPUSA to unite in a joint effort.

The SPA itself was still going through major generational, philosophical, political, and personality conflicts. A significant number of old guard right wing Socialists split away and in 1936 were forming their own group, the Social Democratic Federation of the United States of America. They endorsed Roosevelt in 1936, a nod to just how far one of the major parties had integrated the SPA's past platforms into mainstream politics.

On the other end of the spectrum, the SPA absorbed a wave of new members when the Workers Party of the United States dissolved in 1936. These were mainly Trotskyists and rather than transitioning into one happy Big Tent the SPA was becoming increasingly factionalized and dysfunctional.

Thomas and Nelson ran a very energetic campaign, and sometimes it seemed that they were running against Lemke's Union Party more than were against FDR. Although Thomas warned the country against the fascist and antisemitic leanings of the Union Party, the more militant wings of the SPA itself included paramilitary uniformed followers (blue shirts, red ties) with their own special salute (raised arm, clenched fist). It was the political fashion of the era.

With votes recorded in 38 states, the SPA only cracked 1% in New York with 1.55%. Nelson's home state of Wisconsin was next with 0.84% and it went downhill from there. As meager as their national result of 0.41% was, in the five presidential elections remaining for the SPA they would never again finish with a percentage as high.

Election history:
1921-1922 - Wisconsin State Assembly (Republican)
1925-1928 - Wisconsin State Assembly (Republican)
1926 - Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly during Special Session (Republican)
1934 - Governor of Wisconsin (Socialist Party of America) - defeated
1938 - Lt. Governor of Wisconsin (Farmer-Labor Progressive Federation) - defeated
1942 - Treasurer of Wisconsin (Socialist Party of America) - defeated
1944 - Governor of Wisconsin (Socialist Party of America) - defeated

Other occupations: miner, machinist, dairy farmer, author, school clerk, University of Wisconsin Regent, Delegate to the Republican National Convention 1928

Buried: Milltown Cemetery (Milltown, Wis.)

Notes:
Son of Danish immigrants.
Found enough gold during the Yukon Gold Rush of 1898 to purchase a farm in Wisconsin.
Joined the Social Democratic Party in 1899.
Was born under the name George A. Nielsen, but it was changed when he was in school "to enable
 his Irish teacher to keep it straight."
Was considered a "Progressive Republican" in the 1920s.