1. Responding to Big Business: Unions and the Populist Party

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Homestead Revealed Inequality Economic Power of the Capitalists (Plant Closures, Pinkerton Detectives) State Militia Sided with Capitalists Immigration Provided Plenty of Strikebreakers

5. One Response: American Federation of Labor Samuel Gompers-- Former Socialist Central Leadership for Craft Unions 1886: 50,000 Members; 1906: 1.6 Million Workers

6. 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

7. The Rise and Fall of the Populist Party Farmers in the Age of Big Business

8. 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.

9. Problems Facing Farmers Low Prices for Output, High Interest Rates Railroads (Rates 4 Times Higher than Eastern Manufacturers) Farmers under attack (“Hayseed” Stereotype)

10. Primary Populist Solution: Monetary Reform & Inflation

11. 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!!!

12. Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory Frank Baum, 1900

13. Was Silver and Inflation a Viable Long-term Solution? A. Yes B. No

14. Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory Frank Baum, 1900 Symbolism of Characters

15. What Was the Color of Dorothy’s Shoes? A. Ruby Red B. Silver C. Gold

16. Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory Frank Baum, 1900 Symbolism of Characters Dorothy’s Shoes

17. Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory Frank Baum, 1900 Symbolism of Characters Dorothy’s Shoes

18. Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory Frank Baum, 1900 Symbolism of Characters Dorothy’s Shoes

19. Wizard of Oz as Populist Allegory Frank Baum, 1900 Symbolism of Characters Dorothy’s Shoes Wizard and End of Story

20. Back to Reality: Formation of the Populist Party Early Forerunners: The Grange and the Farmers Alliance.

21. Back to Reality: Formation of the Populist Party Early Forerunners: The Grange and the Farmers Alliance. The People’s Party (1890).

22. 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.

23. Pivotal Election of 1896 William Jennings Bryan, Cross of Gold Speech Fusion Ticket with Demos, Populists

24. Pivotal Election of 1896 William Jennings Bryan, Cross of Gold Speech Fusion Ticket with Demos, Populists William McKinley, Republicans

25. Why Bryan Lost in 1896 Little Appeal to Many Industrial Workers Little Appeal to Middle Class