The Populist Movement 1880s – 1890s and the Wizard of Oz

Dorothy is a simple country girl who lives on an impoverished farm with her aunt and uncle. Dorothy represents America: honest and kindhearted. A second suggestion is she is Mary Elizabeth Lease, known as the Kansas Tornado, was an American lecturer, writer, and political activist. She was an advocate of the suffrage movement as well as temperance but she was best known for her work with the Populist party. She had the slogan, "Raise More Hell and Less Corn". The dog, Toto, is probably a reference to the Prohibition Party, Toto being short for teetotaler. The Prohibition Party generally supported the free silver movement

                      Dorothy gets caught up in the cyclone of the free-silver movement that came roaring out of the west in 1896. Dorothy's house falls on the wicked witch of the East, leaving only the witch's silver shoes. This is the one important difference between the book and the film: In the film the shoes are ruby, but in the book they are silver. The shoes are the free-silver movement itself, which have a magical power that the munchkins, the citizens of the East, did not quite understand.

There are four witches in the story: The Good Witches of the North and South, and the Wicked Witches of the East and West. THE GOOD WITCH OF THE NORTH WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST

THE SILVER SLIPPERS The Wicked Witch of the East is clearly Grover Cleveland in Washington D.C., whose pro-gold forces were defeated at the 1896 Democratic Convention. Cleveland led the fight for the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which had provided for the limited coinage of silver.

THE IDYLLIC WEST RUINED BY THE PROFIT SEEKING, EXPLOITATIVE EASTERN DEVELOPERS The Wicked Witch of the West represents the maligned forces present in the west. And the winged- monkeys? Possibly the Plains Indians or the Chinese laborers common in the west at that time.

The Scarecrow represents the western farmers (Populists) 7

THE FARMERS LANGUISHED UNDER MOUNTING DEBT AND FALLING COMMODITY PRICES Populists were not folk heroes The were coming up with new ideas to return America to its agrarian past (negative reform) Populism represented a class movement that was based on racism, anti-Semitism and sectionalism, but not nationalism They turned to the city only for labor support

The Tin Woodsman represents the eastern workers, victims of mechanization. The suggestion is that the Eastern Industrialists have taken the heart out of the working man. Recall also that when Dorothy and the Scarecrow meet up with the Tin Man he can't move and is unable to work, and has thus joined the ranks of the unemployed. 9

William McKinley; thus Bryan had a loud roar, but no power. The Cowardly Lion represents William Jennings Bryan (1860 – 1925): Bryan, a Democrat, ran for the presidency in 1896 and lost to William McKinley; thus Bryan had a loud roar, but no power. Populists were afraid that Bryan would abandon the silver issue and, in an effort to broaden his (and the party's) appeal, focus more on imperialism and the business trusts which dominated many industries.

Bryan and the Cross of Gold “If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.” Bryan favored bimetallism 11

AMERICA’S INTERESTS IN THE PACIFIC PUT DOMESTIC ISSUES TO SLEEP The poppy field and its soporific power symbolized the foreign policy distractions brought on by the Opium Wars and the international grab for China in the late 1890s. The Populists feared that domestic policy would be ignored and their concerns not addressed.

WASHINGTON D.C.? Dorothy is told that the answer to her problems are in the Emerald City in the land of OZ (ounce?) The Emerald City is at the end of the yellow brick road; this is clearly the gold standard.

TRAVELING TO THE WIZARD’S FRONT PORCH, A REFERENCE TO THE SPOIL’S SYSTEM In the palace, Dorothy is led to her room via seven passages and three flights of stairs. This is a reference to what is called the "Crime of '73." In 1873, the coinage of the silver dollar was eliminated and this was later seen to be responsible for many of the difficulties.

The Wizard of Oz or William McKinley (1843 – 1901) 25th President of the United States (1897 – 1901) Marcus A. Hanna (1837 – 1904) 15

FRONT PORCH CAMPAIGN McKinley’s campaign of 1896 was traditional in that he never left the front porch of his house in Ohio. Those seeking his favor would come visit him and he chose not to chase William Jennings Bryan around the country. The request by the Wizard to bring the broom of the Wicked Witch may symbolize the “spoils system” of that era.

Mark Hanna, was Republican politician from Cleveland, Ohio Mark Hanna, was Republican politician from Cleveland, Ohio. He rose to fame as the campaign manager of the successful Republican Presidential candidate, William McKinley, in the U.S. Presidential election of 1896 in a well-funded political campaign. He transformed himself from a behind the scenes player into the sinister politician the populists hated. The populists believed his transformation and promises were full of hot air.

THE WICKED WITCH IS DEAD It’s significant that the Wicked Witch of the West is killed by water. Many Populist farmers who longed for the simpler times, felt that big irrigation projects and new water rights were another exploitative measure wrestling control out of local hands.