Responding to Big Business:

Unions and the Populist Party

Workers Need Countervailing Power of Unions

Bargain as a large group with strike as a potential weapon;

Provide insurance and other benefits;

Organization of political power; lobbying and perhaps political party.

Unequal Match:Homestead Strike, 1892

Homestead, PA: Large Carnegie Steel Plant

In 1892, Andrew Carnegie and William Frick Cut Wages.

Union (Amalgamated) Protested; Carnegie and Frick Locked Out Union.

Documentary Explains What Happened.

Homestead Revealed Inequality Economic Power of the Capitalists

(Plant Closures, Pinkerton Detectives)

State Militia Sided with Capitalists Immigration Provided Plenty of

Strikebreakers

One Response: American Federation of Labor

Samuel Gompers--Former Socialist

Central Leadership for Craft Unions

1886: 50,000 Members; 1906: 1.6 Million Workers

Pragmatic Exclusion:“Pure and Simple Unionism” Reformist; Accepted Industrial

Capitalism Craft Unionism: Skilled Workers;

Craft Autonomy; Economic Goals Exclusive: Anti-Immigrant Exclusive: Accepted Segregation Exclusive: Against Working Women

The Rise and Fall of the Populist Party

Farmers in the Age of Big Business

Some Preliminary Definitions A populist: Somebody who

appeals directly to the people.

Populist Party: Specific political party concentrated in the Plains States and the South in the 1890s.

Problems Facing Farmers

Low Prices for Output, High Interest Rates

Railroads (Rates 4 Times Higher than Eastern Manufacturers)

Farmers under attack (“Hayseed” Stereotype)

Primary Populist Solution: Monetary Reform & Inflation

Why Farmer Smith Supported Free Silver and Silver Standard Imagine Farmer Smith Produces

Grain Worth $2,000 Per Year and Has Mortgage of $2,000.

Silver Doubles Money Supply and Prices Rise 100 percent.

Farmer Smith Now Makes $4,000 per year. PROSPERITY!!!

Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory

Frank Baum, 1900

Was Silver and Inflation a Viable Long-term Solution?

A. Yes

B. No

Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory Frank Baum,

1900 Symbolism of

Characters

What Was the Color of Dorothy’s Shoes?

A. Ruby Red

B. Silver

C. Gold

Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory

Frank Baum, 1900

Symbolism of Characters

Dorothy’s Shoes

Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory

Frank Baum, 1900

Symbolism of Characters

Dorothy’s Shoes

Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory

Frank Baum, 1900

Symbolism of Characters

Dorothy’s Shoes

Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory

Frank Baum, 1900

Symbolism of Characters

Dorothy’s Shoes Wizard and End

of Story

Back to Reality: Formation

of the Populist Party Early

Forerunners: The Grange and the Farmers Alliance.

Back to Reality: Formation

of the Populist Party Early

Forerunners: The Grange and the Farmers Alliance.

The People’s Party (1890).

Back to Reality: Formation

of the Populist Party Early Forerunners:

The Grange and the Farmers Alliance.

The People’s Party (1890).

Presidential Election of 1892: 9 percent of the popular vote.

Pivotal Election of 1896

William Jennings Bryan, Cross of Gold Speech

Fusion Ticket with Demos, Populists

Pivotal Election of 1896 William Jennings

Bryan, Cross of Gold Speech

Fusion Ticket with Demos, Populists

William McKinley, Republicans

Why Bryan Lost in 1896

Little Appeal to Many Industrial Workers

Little Appeal to Middle Class