Sanders Campaign Has Echoes of Upton Sinclair’s 1934 Gubernatorial Bid

FEATURING LANCE SELFA – Tuesday night’s Presidential primary races in 5 states dealt a blow to the upstart campaign of Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination. The Vermont Senator lost 4 out of 5 races leading the press to pronounce his candidacy virtually dead. Sanders has had to contend with a persistently pro-Clinton press corps and the internal opposition of the establishment Democratic Party in getting as far as he has. Still, a new poll by George Washington University found that Sanders remains the most popular candidate nationwide. There are still more than a dozen primary races to go including the large prize of California in June.

Today we turn to history to examine lessons from another time that a progressive candidate attempted to push the Democratic Party to the left and had to deal with the party’s unenthusiastic response: the 1934 California gubernatorial race of Upton Sinclair.

Read Lance’s article HERE.

Lance Selfa, contributor to the International Socialist Review, author of The Democrats: A Critical History. He recently published an article entitled Upton Sinclair and the Democrats’ dirty tricks.