Continental Democratic Party

  

National Democratic Labor Association
Chairperson	Robert Rauner
Founder	Edward Forester
Founded	10 November 1958 (1958-11-10)
Preceded by	• National Peoples' Alliance  • Student League for Industrial Democracy
Headquarters	Chicago
Membership  (2020)	189,000
Ideology	Official:  • Continentalism  • Landonism  • Democratic socialism Historically:  • Liberal democracy  • Reformism  • Anticallahanism  • Progressivism
National affiliation	National Front
National People's Congress	54 / 1,580
Seats in Republic-level chambers	96 / 2,794
Politics of the United Commonwealth Political parties Elections

The Continental Democratic Party (CDL), occasionally known as the Democrats, is a legally recognized political party in the United Commonwealth of Continentalist States, and a member of the Continentalist Party-led National Front. The party traces its lineage to the National Peoples' Alliance (1882–1921), a pre-Revolution populist party that was opposed to the Federalist Party of America. This party was one of a few minor parties that was not folded into the Continentalist Party during the Revolutionary War, however, it waned in popularity and ultimately dissolved in 1921 as per a government decree banning other parties. While prominent leaders of the Peoples' Alliance largely folded into the Continentalist Party, the Labor Front, or went into exile, the organization loosely lived on through the student-led Student League for Industrial Democracy, which had been an informal student wing of the Peoples' Alliance.

The mid 1950s saw the rise of the New Left in the United Commonwealth, as well as calls for increased democratization in the aftermath of Great War II. The Student League for Industrial Democracy splintered into several groups, the most prominent being the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) created in 1957. The following year the Continental Democratic Party was founded by Edward Forester, as another group splintered off from the Student League. The Democratic Party differentiated itself by being a more moderate advocacy group calling for democratization within a socialist lens. In the 1960 election the Democratic Party supported the election of Rupert Gardner as President. Seeking to attract the demographic interested in democratic reform, while also steering the population away from the more radical elements of the democracy movement, in 1963 the Continentalist Party incorporated the Continental Democratic Party into the National Front. Since then the Democratic Party has played a minor advisory role in the governance of the United Commonwealth, with any supposed opposition to Continentalist Party being tightly controlled. After enjoying a period of relatively high popularity in the 1960s, the death of Rupert Gardner and subsequent conservative backlash against democratic reform led to the party languishing. In the modern day the party is prominent in campaigns to energize voter participation and community outreach, and advocates for policies that promote equal opportunities.

See also

• Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth
• List of political parties in the United Commonwealth