Birth of the NPL
Disgusted with the party and at loose ends, Townley spent time in Bismarck observing the 1915 Legislature bicker over and defeat a proposal to establish a state-owned elevator. Watching an ugly, angry debate between legislators and farmers attending the North Dakota Union equity convention, Townley decided to form a new organization to represent farmers. The new organization would adopt the state ownership planks from the Socialist platform and capitalize on farmer's deep-seated mistrust of big business. Using the same recruitment techniques he pioneered with the Socialist Party, Townley built an organization that changed the face of North Dakota politics – the Non-Partisan League.
Townley was a natural-born agitator. Building on old grievances and hatred for out-of-state financial interests, Townley was a firebrand speaker. In speeches and at one-on-one meetings throughout the state, Townley may have been a profane and unpolished orator, but he spoke the farmers' language. The Non-Partisan League swept across the state like a prairie fire.
In its first 6 months, the League recruited 26,000 members. In a year there were 40,000. Long-time Socialist organizers were dropping out to join the League in droves. By 1918, the Socialist party was essentially dead in North Dakota and the Non Partisan League was the new champion of North Dakota farmers against big business.
Having learned from his days as a Socialist organizer that farmers were reluctant to renounce their party loyalties, Townley's plan was to endorse candidates in party primaries who would support the league platform but who would run on the Republican or Democratic tickets. Like the McKenzie machine, Townley intended to capitalize on the established loyalty of North Dakotans to the Republican Party.
Photographs from the collection of State Historical Society of North Dakota