Jean Tilsen Brust, August 31, 1921 (Elgin, Minn.) - November 24, 1997 (St. Paul, Minn.)
VP candidate for Independent (aka Workers League Party) (1984)
Running mate with nominee: Edward Winn (1937-1995)
Popular vote: 2,632 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
The Workers League Party was formed in 1966. Many members had come from the Socialist Workers Party but did not share the pro-Castro views of the SWP. 1984 was the first time the League entered the arena of Presidential politics although they had run candidates for other offices in the 1970s. Most of their activity was centered in the region of the industrial Rust Belt which in 1984 was in the midst watching the industrial age being transformed into the information age, displacing thousands of workers.
The Workers League Party could be characterized as Trotskyite, international in outlook, and hard line in not working with mainstream parties. In some ways they filled the void left by the Socialist Labor Party in presenting an uncompromising Marxist (and anti-Stalinist) alternative for voters in 1984.
Presidential candidate Edward Winn was a bus mechanic for the NYC Transit Authority. VP nominee Jean Brust was only on the ballot in Illinois, one of three running mates for Winn although Helen Halyard appeared to be the official choice. Brust was a veteran of the Party and counted among the founding members. Winn and Brust were listed as "Independent."
They called for nationalization of the banking system and redistribution of the assets in order to fight unemployment and restore cuts to social programs, 30 hour work week with 40 pay, $100 billion public works program, socialized medicine, elimination of the CIA and FBI, and US withdrawal from NATO.
The Workers League Party attained ballot status in six states. The Party earned a total of 10,801 votes in the US (0.01%). The Winn/Brust combination in Illinois accounted for 2,632 of those votes, 0.05% of the total for that state.
Election history:
1976 - US House of Representatives (Minn.) (Workers Party) - defeated
1978 - US Senate (Minn.) (Workers Party) - defeated
Other occupations: defense plant worker (WWII), meat packinghouse worker, teacher, union activist, author
Buried: ?
Notes:
Her husband Bill Brust (1919-1991) ran as the Workers League candidate for Minnesota Governor in
1986.
Daughter of Jewish immigrants who had fled Russia.
Had originally been a member of the Socialist Workers Party until 1964.
The Workers League was called the Workers Party on the Minnesota ballot in the 1976-1978 races.
