PEOPLE'S PARTY CONVENTION (POPULIST) MASSACHUSETTS 1898 UNUSED POSTAL CARD

Description

SCARCE MASSACHUSETTS CONVENTION 1898 OF PEOPLE'S PARTY (POPULIST)
PART OF A NATIONAL MOVEMENT.  (see below)
Dr. P. P. Field. Secretary   Geo. F. Washburn, Chairman
to be held in Naomi Hall  724 Washington St.  Boston, Mass.
Very Fine printed postal card.   Unused.
add .00 for 1st class/Insured to U.S....
The
People's Party
, also known as the
Populist Party
or simply the
Populists
, was a
left-wing
[2]
agrarian
populist
[3]
late-19th-century political party in the United States. The Populist Party emerged in the early 1890s as an important force in the Southern and Western United States, but collapsed after it nominated
Democrat
William Jennings Bryan
in the
1896 United States presidential election
. A
rump faction
of the party continued to operate into the first decade of the 20th century, but never matched the popularity of the party in the early 1890s.
The Populist Party's roots lay in the
Farmers' Alliance
, an agrarian movement that promoted economic action during the
Gilded Age
, as well as the
Greenback Party
, an earlier third party that had advocated
fiat money
. The success of Farmers' Alliance candidates in the
1890 elections
, along with the conservatism of both major parties, encouraged Farmers' Alliance leaders to establish a full-fledged
third party
before the
1892 elections
. The
Ocala Demands
laid out the Populist platform: collective bargaining, federal regulation of railroad rates, an expansionary monetary policy, and a Sub-Treasury Plan that required the establishment of federally controlled warehouses to aid farmers. Other Populist-endorsed measures included
bimetallism
, a graduated
income tax
,
direct election of Senators
, a shorter workweek, and the establishment of a
postal savings system
. These measures were collectively designed to curb the influence of monopolistic corporate and financial interests and empower small businesses, farmers and laborers.
In the
1892 presidential election
, the Populist ticket of
James B. Weaver
and
James G. Field
won 8.5% of the popular vote and carried four Western states, becoming the first third party since the end of the
American Civil War
to win
electoral votes
. Despite the support of labor organizers like
Eugene V. Debs
and
Terence V. Powderly
, the party largely failed to win the vote of urban laborers in the
Midwest
and the
Northeast
. Over the next four years, the party continued to run state and federal candidates, building up powerful organizations in several Southern and Western states. Before the
1896 presidential election
, the Populists became increasingly polarized between "fusionists," who wanted to nominate a joint presidential ticket with the Democratic Party, and "mid-roaders." like
Mary Elizabeth Lease
, who favored the continuation of the Populists as an independent third party. After the
1896 Democratic National Convention
nominated
William Jennings Bryan
, a prominent bimetallist, the Populists also nominated Bryan but rejected the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in favor of party leader
Thomas E. Watson
. In the 1896 election, Bryan swept the South and West but lost to Republican
William McKinley
by a decisive margin.
After the 1896 presidential election, the Populist Party suffered a nationwide collapse. The party nominated presidential candidates in the three presidential elections after 1896, but none came close to matching Weaver's performance in 1892. Former Populist voters became inactive or joined another party. Other than Debs and Bryan, few politicians associated with the Populists retained national prominence.
Historians see the Populists as a reaction to the power of corporate interests in the
Gilded Age
, but they debate the degree to which the Populists were anti-modern and
nativist
. Scholars also continue to debate the magnitude of influence the Populists exerted on later organizations and movements, such as the
progressives
of the early 20th century. Most of the Progressives, such as Theodore Roosevelt, Robert La Follette, and Woodrow Wilson, were bitter enemies of the Populists. In American political rhetoric, "populist" was originally associated with the Populist Party and related left-wing movements, but beginning in the 1950s it began to take on a more generic meaning, describing any
anti-establishment
movement regardless of its position on the
left–right political spectrum
.