California

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Bullough, William A. "The Steam Beer Handicap: Chris Buckley and the San Francisco Municipal Election of 1896." California Historical Quarterly 1975 54(3): 245-262.  Renegade Democrat Christopher A. Buckley infiltrated the Populist party and placed his candidates on its ticket.  Suspicion of collusion between Buckley and Republican John D. Spreckels came to light, and Buckley's candidates were roundly defeated, marking the emergence of the professional man in politics. American History and Life, 13A:6905

Griffiths, David B. "Anti-Monopoly Movement in California, 1873-1898." Southern California Quarterly 1970 52(2): 93-121.  Reform parties and associations, including the People's Independent Party (1873-79), the International Workingmen's Association (Socialist, 1881-86), the San Francisco Nationalist Club (Bellamy Socialists, 1889-90), and the Populist Party (1891-98), were antimonopolistic and opposed to the Southern Pacific Railroad, the most powerful political and economic force in California.  Each movement suffered from factionalism.  Despite their failures, many of their ideas were later promoted by California Progressives. America: History and Life, 8:2288

Hall, Tom G. "California Populism at the Grass-Roots: The Case of Tulare County, 1892." Southern California Quarterly June 1967 49(2): 193-204.   Populists in Tulare County, California, were a diverse lot.  They all were opposed to the large, corporate farmer, the land speculator, and the alien land company.  Likewise, they advocated public ownership of the railroads.  Tulare County Populists were small farmers led by rural editors and other professional men, frequently supporters of previous third-parties. America: History and Life, 5:920

Kane, Ralph J. "The Paradox of California Populism." North Dakota Quarterly 1971 39(3): 34-46. Finds California Populism split between urban, socialist-oriented, and rural, capitalist-oriented groups. Because California was generally prosperous in the 1890s and farmers were largely entrepreneurial in outlook, they were not attracted to the monetary or conspiratorial theories of Plains-State Populism.  Urban Populists, leaning toward socialism, worked uneasily with their rural counterparts. California Populism more resembled Progressivism than other varieties of Populism. America: History and Life, 9:2385

Kauer, Ralph. "The Workingmen's Party in California." Pacific Historical Review. 13:278‑291. September 1944.  Populists and workingmen.

Magliari, Michael Frederick. "California Populism, A Case Study: The Farmers' Alliance and People's Party in San Luis Obispo County, 1885-1903." Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Davis, 1992.  DAI, 53, no. 09A, (1992): 3345.  The Populist movement did best in rural regions that (1) entered into distant cash markets via rail, river, or ocean transportation after the Civil War, (2) heavily depended on a single cash crop suffering steady price decline, (3) where insufficient crop yields prevented farmers from compensating for falling prices, (4) a large percentage of small landowning farmers laboring under heavy mortgage burdens, (5) a large percentage of farmers with previous experience in rural organizations and political insurgency, (6) the presence of one or more abusive monopolies that controlled credit, transportation, or marketing services required by farmers, (7) unresponsive Democratic and Republican party whose leaders aligned themselves with urban and corporate interests, and (8) recent and rapid settlement that precluded the development of strong communities and social institutions prior to the onset of hard times.

_____. "What Happened to the Populist Vote? A California Case Study." Pacific Historical Review 1995 64(3): 389-412.  Quantification.  Old Populists fragmented into important elements of the Socialist Party, the Democratic Party, and the progressive movement in San Luis Obispo County. America: History and Life, 33:10033

_____. "Populism, Steamboats, and the Octopus: Transportation Rates and Monopoly in California's Wheat Regions, 1890-1896." Pacific Historical Review 1989 58(4): 449-469.  Among the California wheat growers, Populist strength varied directly with the grip of the Southern Pacific,  Populist strength was severely diluted by the presence of water transport. America: History and Life, 28:3949

McCanse, Mabel. "The People's Party of California, 1892‑1894." M.A. thesis, Stanford U, 1925.

McGreevy, John T. "Farmers, Nationalists, and the Origins of California Populism." Pacific Historical Review 1989 58(4): 471-495.  The Nationalist movement in California was stronger than in the rest of the nation.  Nationalists called for a classless society in which the competitive economic system would be abandoned in favor of industrial cooperation and government control of production.  At first, farmers were attracted to the movement, but gradually they turned to cooperatives as a means whereby their goals could be better realized.  America: History and Life, 28:3952

Petersen, Eric Falk. "The End of an Era: California's Gubernatorial Election of 1894." Pacific Historical Review 1969 38(2): 141-156.  The candidates of the Populist, Republican, and Democratic parties addressed themselves to the four basic issues of the day: the depression, State expenditures, currency, and railroad regulation.  Populist influence peaked with this election.   Democrats win in Republican landslide year with Populist help. America: History and Life, 9:1019

Ray, William W. "Crusade or Civil War? The Pullman Strike in California." California History 1979 58(1): 20-37.  The impact of the strike in California included the calling out of federal and state troops for the first time to maintain order, electoral successes by Populist candidates, and violence and sabotage by desperate ARU members. America: History and Life, 17A:2939

Rogin, Michael W. "California Populism and the System of 1896." Western Political Quarterly. 22(1):179‑96. March 1969.  Analyzes Populist electoral support, 1892‑1896, and effects of 1896 election.  America: History and Life, 11A:6844

_____ and John L. Shover. Political Change in California: Critical Elections and Social Movements, 1890-1966. 231 pp. Contributions in American History, No. 5. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1970.  Ch. 1, pp. 3‑34, "California Populism," based heavily on Walters's dissertation, U.C. Berkeley. 

Saxton, Alexander. "San Francisco Labor and the Populist and Progressive Insurgencies." Pacific Historical Review 1965 34(4): 421-438.  Analysis of voting behavior of labor in San Francisco for the Populist and Progressive periods. America: History and Life, 14A:2729

Shaffer, Ralph. "Radicalism in California, 1869‑1959." 412 p. Ph.D. dissertation, U of California, Berkeley, 1962.  Dissertation Abstracts, September 1963:1155.  Radicals used more conservative Populists to advance their ends.

Spooner, Edward. "The Origin, Rise, and Decline of the People's Party in Sonoma County, 1890-1898." Master's thesis, Sonoma State University, 1988.  147 pages.

Taggart, Harold F. "California and the Silver Question in 1895." Pacific Historical Review. 6:249-69. September 1937. 

_____."Election of 1898 in California." Pacific Historical Review. 19(4): 357‑68. November 1950.  Populism failed in California.  Decline of Populism; where and why it failed. 

_____. "The Free Silver Movement in California," Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford U, 1936.

_____. The Party Realignment of 1896 in California." Pacific Historical Review. 8:435-52. December 1939. 

_____. "The Senatorial Election of 1893 in California." Pacific Historical Review. 8(4):435‑53. December 1939.  Valuable for California Populism. 

_____. "Thomas Vincent Cator: Populist Leader." California Historical Society. 30:311‑318. December 1948. 31:47‑55. March 1949.

Walters, Donald E. "The Feud Between California Populist T. V. Cator and Democrats James Maguire and James Barry." Pacific Historical Review. 27(3):281‑98. August 1958.  Failure to win a mass urban following exposed California Populism to extravagantly personal, venal and doctrinaire leadership and policies, as illustrated in Cator's vendetta against the pro-labor Maguire. America: History and Life, 0:5289

_____. "Populism in California, 1889‑1900." Ph.D. dissertation, U of California, Berkeley, 1952.  The standard for California Populism.

_____. "The Period of the Populist Party." In The Rumble of California Politics, 1848-1970, edited by Royce D. Delmatier, Clarence F. McIntosh, and Earl G. Waters, eds., pp. 99-124. New York: Wiley, 1970.  Derived from Walters's dissertation.