The Illinois Solidarity Party was an American

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. It was named after

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

movement in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, which was then widely admired in Illinois, which has a very large

Polish-American Polish Americans () are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 8.81 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.67% of the U.S. population, ...

population, especially around

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The party was founded in 1986 by Senator

Adlai Stevenson III Adlai Ewing Stevenson III (October 10, 1930 – September 6, 2021) was an American attorney and politician from Illinois. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the United States Senate from 1970 to 1981. A member of the prom ...

in reaction to the Democratic Party's nomination of two followers of

Lyndon LaRouche Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspiracy ...

in the race for high state offices: Mark Fairchild, who was running for

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

, and Janice Hart, who was running for

Illinois Secretary of State The secretary of state of Illinois is one of the six elected executive state offices of the government of Illinois, and one of the 47 Secretary of State (U.S. state government), secretaries of state in the United States. The Illinois secretary of ...

. Stevenson, a Democratic candidate for Illinois Governor, did not want to run alongside anybody associated with LaRouche's organization. There are a number of explanations as to how LaRouche's followers became nominees. Some believe that it simply boiled down to the names of the LaRouche candidates, which sounded less "ethnic" than those of their opponents,

George E. Sangmeister George Edward Sangmeister (February 16, 1931 – October 7, 2007) was an American politician and United States Representative from Illinois. He originally represented Illinois' 4th congressional district, before it was renumbered as the 11th ...

and

Aurelia Pucinski Aurelia Marie Pucinski (born April 29, 1947) is a judge on the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District. She previously served as a trial judge and clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Her second term expires in 2030. Early life Bor ...

. Hart's victory over Pucinski was likely helped by a voter reaction to Pucinski, whose father,

Roman Pucinski Roman Conrad Pucinski (May 13, 1919 – September 25, 2002) was an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician from Chicago, Illinois. He was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from 1959 to 1973 ...

, was a prominent opponent of Chicago Mayor

Harold Washington Harold Lee Washington (April 15, 1922 – November 25, 1987) was an American lawyer and politician who was the 51st mayor of Chicago. In April 1983, Washington became the first African American to be elected as the city’s mayor at the age of ...

. Many criticized the Democrats for their failure to inform voters exactly who the candidates were, which allowed campaigning efforts in rural areas to be very effective. "LaRouche Democrats" claimed that the Democratic Party, especially Chairman Charles Manatt, was under the influence of the Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

. LaRouche maintained that the population voted for his followers to take the party back from elitist bankers. In any case, most analysts, including Stevenson himself, agreed that the whole ordeal confused voters and helped the Republican Party's James R. Thompson win the election. The "Solidarity Democrats" and the LaRouche supporters blamed one another for the subsequent years of Republican control in Illinois state government. Stevenson left politics and went on to become an

investment banker Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by unde ...

. The Solidarity Party continued to exist, completely unaffiliated with Stevenson, after the 1986 incident. In the

1987 Chicago mayoral election The Chicago mayoral election of 1987 saw the re-election of incumbent Democrat Harold Washington. Partisan primaries were held on February 24, followed by the general election on April 7, 1987. Washington defeated Ed Vrdolyak, the leader of th ...

Edward Vrdolyak Edward Robert Vrdolyak (; born December 28, 1937), also known as "Fast Eddie", is a former American politician and lawyer. He was a longtime Chicago alderman and the head of the Cook County Democratic Party until 1987 when he ran unsuccessfully ...

ran for Mayor of Chicago on the Illinois Solidarity Party ticket, which provided the major opposition to incumbent

, Chicago's first African-American mayor, losing to Washington by a final tally of 53%–43%. Its continued existence afterward made it an easy target for other small political parties to "take over" whenever necessary. One such group was the

New Alliance Party The New Alliance Party (NAP) was an American political party formed in New York City in 1979. Its immediate precursor was an umbrella organization known as the Labor Community Alliance for Change, whose member groups included the Coalition of Gr ...

(NAP), which was largely unknown in Illinois but still managed to run some of its candidates for local offices. The NAP founder

Lenora Fulani Lenora Branch Fulani (born April 25, 1950) is an American psychologist, psychotherapist, and political activist. She is best known for her presidential campaigns and development of youth programs serving minority communities in the New York City ...

campaigned as a Solidarity Party

presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...

candidate in 1988 and 1992.

References

THE 1986 LAROUCHE ELECTION DEBACLE IN ILLINOIS

Etext of LaRouche Book: The Ugly Truth About the ADL

Brooks’ fraudulent arguments aren’t worth ignoring anymore

* ttps://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/08/us/chicago-re-elects-washington-as-mayor.html CHICAGO RE-ELECTS WASHINGTON AS MAYOR - The New York Times {{IllinoisPoliticalParties 1986 establishments in Illinois Factions in the Democratic Party (United States) Political parties established in 1986 Political parties in Illinois Regional and state political parties in the United States Political parties disestablished in 1992

See also

References