Twentieth Century Radicalism in Minnesota Oral History Project: Interview with Arthur Borchardt

Titles: Twentieth Century Radicalism in Minnesota Oral History Project: Interview with Arthur Borchardt (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Art Borchardt was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He moved to the Twin cities in 1916. As a young man his political beliefs were influenced largely by his wife's family toward communism. He returned to Pine County to resume farming and became a local political participant and leader. He was a member of the Non-Partisan League and took a keen interest in agricultural policy formation. He aided development of the Farmer-Labor Party and served on the merger committee of the DFL. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Mr. Borchardt discusses the chapter formation and his membership in the Non-Partisan League. Activities advertised through word of mouth; postmaster was an organizer, spread word well. During World War II, he received threats and got into fights because of his German heritage. Farmers supported strikes, i.e. teamsters' strike in 1934, farmers gave them food, got no thanks. Penny sales were protest. Not many occurred in Pine County. CIO and Communist Party discussed favorably. "Red-baiting" occurred in 1930s. Benson gave speech against communism in Garrison, Minnesota but later admitted he knew nothing about it. Some people were opposed to merger of Farmer-Labor with Democrats. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: Discussion strays from questions. Some disruptive noises occur. There are at least two other speakers in this interview other than Mr. Borchardt and the interviewers, whose identities are unknown.

Dates

• 06/02/1976 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Borchardt, Arthur
• interviewer: O'Connell, Tom
• interviewer: Trimble, Steve

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 30.8
• Accession Number: AV1990.228.48
• Link to Finding Aid

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Twentieth Century Radicalism in Minnesota Oral History Project' <OH 30>

Quantity: 2 hours sound cassette 28 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 01:33:47 running time

Subjects

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