12. Keeping Out of Politics             

Source:  Southern Mercury (Dallas, TX), August 20, 1891

Political affiliation was almost akin to church membership during the late nineteenth century.  Committing farmers to issues that neither mainstream party would accept was the first step to weaning them from old party loyalties.  Only when they realized that their old party would not support their interests was it possible to recruit them into the People's Party.  For Populists the realization came earlier in the Plains States, where the Republican Party showed insensitivity to their concerns.  At first, southern Democrats attempted to coopt the Alliance movement, hoping they could mute some of the Alliance's more radical ideas while drawing western Alliancemen away from the GOP.  The 1891 southern legislative sessions, however, were highly disappointing to many Alliancemen, who then joined their western counterparts in the Populist Party.

For more on Farmers' Alliance educational efforts, see:

Clevenger, Homer. "The Teaching Techniques of the Farmers' Alliance: An Experiment in Adult Education." Journal of Southern History. 11(4): 504‑518.

 Mitchell, Theodore R. Political Education in the Southern Farmers' Alliance, 1887-1900. 242 p. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1987.

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