Movement for a People’s Party (MPP) is a campaign led by former campaign staffers for the 2016 Presidential campaign of self-described “democratic socialist” U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) that is attempting to establish a progressive political party to challenge the Democratic Party from the left. The group works to build coalitions and establish state groups that will supplant the Democratic Party and eventually lead to the national implementation of their far-left platform that includes sweeping new government welfare programs and increased regulation of the economy.

MPP has opposed the use of zero carbon nuclear energy. ¹

History and Organization

Nick Brana, the former national political outreach coordinator for the 2016 Presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders campaign, founded the Movement for a People’s Party in 2017. ² It was originally called Draft Bernie for a People’s Party. ³ The campaign is a project of the non-profit People for a Working Democracy, which does not currently have any tax filings publicly available. ⁴ Movement for a People’s Party advocates a far-left platform that includes sweeping proposals touching nearly every aspect of life, including government-run single-payer health care, taxpayer-funded public college tuition, restrictions on campaign speech, an infrastructure jobs program, a $15 minimum wage, and stricter financial regulations. ⁵ The campaign proposes a four-day workweek, paid family leave, and rent control. The campaign argues that the government can create money to fund these programs. ⁶

The group also calls for an end to all coal, gas, and nuclear energy development; bans on offshore drilling and fracking;^{7 8} and protected access to abortions. ⁹

Activities

Movement for a People’s Party claims that it is building a far-left coalition that is capable of supplanting the Democratic Party on a state by state basis that ultimately culminates in “political revolution” that will “wipe away the old system and bring the people’s platform to life.” ¹⁰ So far the campaign has partnered with various labor, environmental, and anti-war groups in protests and boycotts. ¹¹

MPP participated in the September 23, 2019, Shut Down DC climate protests, stating that “MPP is not here to save capitalism, we are here to save the planet from the capitalists.” ¹²

Leadership

Nick Brana is the founder and executive director of the Movement for a People’s Party. He was the national political outreach coordinator for the Bernie 2016 campaign. He left the Democratic Party in 2017 and founded the Movement for a People’s Party, stating that “for years he watched Democratic politicians take bribes from the wealthy while they dismissed the needs of working people” and “that neither party shared his desire to help others,” ultimately concluding that “that both parties are corrupt beyond repair.” ¹³

In December of 2018, Brana was asked to join Bernie Sanders’s 2020 Presidential campaign. However, he turned them down, alleging that the Democratic National Committee had “rigged” the process in 2016 to ensure that Sanders lost and would take action in the 2020 process to ensure Sanders would lose again. ¹⁴

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

In May of 2021, MPP was one of 715 groups and businesses listed as a co-signer on a letter to the leadership of the U.S. House and Senate that referred to nuclear energy as a “dirty” form of energy production and a “significant” source of pollution. The letter asked federal lawmakers to reduce carbon emissions by creating a “renewable electricity standard” that promoted production of weather dependent power sources such as wind turbines and solar panels, but did not promote low carbon natural gas and zero carbon nuclear energy. ¹⁵

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 19 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ¹⁶ An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ¹⁷

Associated Organizations

• Poor People’s Campaign
• Woman’s March on the Pentagon
• Zero Hour
• National Democratic Independent Farm Workers Union (SINDJA)
• Answer Coalition
• World Beyond War

1. Letter from Center for Biological Diversity et. al. to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Joe Manchin, and Rep. Frank Pallone. “RE: CONGRESS SHOULD ENACT A FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD AND REJECT GAS AND FALSE SOLUTIONS.” May 12, 2021. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/energy-justice/pdfs/2021-5-12_600-Group-Letter-for-RES.pdf?_gl=1*1c9h3t8*_gcl_au*MTc3NjM3MTM1Mi4xNjg5OTU1MzAz
2. “Nick Brana.” LinkedIn.com. Accessed September 22, 2019. https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-brana-618aa652/.
3. “Nick Brana.” HuffPost. Accessed September 22, 2019. https://www.huffpost.com/author/nick-brana.
4. “Donate.” PeoplesParty.org, n.d. https://peoplesparty.org/donate/.
5. “The Case for a People’s Party.” PeoplesParty.org. Accessed September 22, 2019. https://peoplesparty.org/the-case-for-a-peoples-party/#1548710141925-17013270-d661.
6. “An Economy That Works for Everyone.” PeoplesParty.org. Accessed September 23, 2019. https://peoplesparty.org/an-economy-that-works-for-everyone/#1544489904805-4ad07e27-dd88.
7. “Respect Human Rights, Health, and Human Potential.” PeoplesParty.org. Accessed September 23, 2019. https://peoplesparty.org/respect-human-rights-health-and-human-potential/#1544580261467-aab6d5ec-d78d.
8. “Protect the Environment and Defend Biodiversity.” PeoplesParty.org. Accessed September 23, 2019. https://peoplesparty.org/protect-the-environment-and-defend-biodiversity/#1544581941720-ce1464d5-31b6.
9. “Stand for Equality and Justice.” PeoplesParty.org. Accessed September 23, 2019. https://peoplesparty.org/stand-for-equality-and-justice/#1544583277109-b0d951fa-d534.
10. “Steps to a People’s Party.” PeoplesParty.org. Accessed September 22, 2019. https://peoplesparty.org/our-plan/#page.
11. “Coalitions.” PeoplesParty.org. Accessed September 22, 2019. https://peoplesparty.org/coalition/#1553286672709-ed4dc382-8a61.
12. “Shut Down DC.” PeoplesParty.org. Accessed September 23, 2019. https://peoplesparty.org/event/shutdowndc/.
13. “Meet the Team.” PeoplesParty.org. Accessed September 22, 2019. https://peoplesparty.org/about-mpp/#1551120277777-735fc9ed-2873.
14. Brana, Nick. “Nick Brana: Here’s What I Said When I Was Asked to Join Bernie 2020.” PeoplesParty.org, February 23, 2019. Accessed September 22, 2019. https://www.forapeoplesparty.org/nick-brana-bernie-2020/.
15. Letter from Center for Biological Diversity et. al. to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Joe Manchin, and Rep. Frank Pallone. “RE: CONGRESS SHOULD ENACT A FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD AND REJECT GAS AND FALSE SOLUTIONS.” May 12, 2021. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/energy-justice/pdfs/2021-5-12_600-Group-Letter-for-RES.pdf?_gl=1*1c9h3t8*_gcl_au*MTc3NjM3MTM1Mi4xNjg5OTU1MzAz
16. “Nuclear explained.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/us-nuclear-industry.php
17. “The Science of Sustainability.” The Nature Conservancy. October 13, 2018. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/the-science-of-sustainability/