Socialist Party of North Dakota

Two leaders of the Fargo socialist club — Basset and a young lawyer named Arthur LeSueur — decided to establish a North Dakota state organization of the new political party.

Radical socialist ideas such as the collectivization of land were cast aside in favor of more modest economic reforms such as the establishment of state-owned grain elevators and flour mills and state-sponsored agricultural insurance to protect against natural catastrophes.

Teigan sought to greatly expand the party's size and influence through a concentrated grassroots recruiting effort targeted in the rural western part of the state.

[2] Teigan hired a paid organizer for this task, Arthur C. Townley, a formerly prosperous flax farmer who had seen his substantial operation located on the Western border of the state near the town of Beach wiped out in 1912 by early winter weather and falling commodity prices.

"[4] Townley obtained an inexpensive Ford automobile from friends and took to the road to meet with farmers, charging them high dues of $1 a month to become a member of the "Organization Department" — omitting mention of the Socialist Party in his appeal.

The state party was part of a national organization which charged dues of just 25 cents per month and was forced to function on a fraction of that amount and they objected to Townley's increasingly rogue political operation.