responding to big business:
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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. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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