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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Wisconsin: crucible for a new American left | John Nichols | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk #wiunion

Wisconsin: crucible for a new American left | John Nichols | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Wisconsin: crucible for a new American left

Though socialism has been written out of US history, this new movement is reconnecting with America's great radical tradition

Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin
Protesters attend the rally for the returning Democratic senators at Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin. Photograph: Steve Apps/AP

Last Saturday, I pulled on a heavy jacket and a good pair of gloves and headed south of my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, to meet up with some farmers. Many of them had done their chores before dawn and then brought their tractors to the edge of our state's capital city.

It was cold and windy. We could barely hear my friend Joel Greeno, a dairy farmer from the far west of the state who had put out the call to members of the Family Farm Defenders and Wisconsin Farmers Union,