> Goodwyn's book is a very simplistic take on a rather complicated subject.
Hmm. Goodwyn is simplistic but you've got this one by the balls.
I'm afraid it is your post which is simplistic, by mechanically cataloging statements out of historical context. Watson is a perfect example of an evolution which ended in racist debacle, but had a very different historical build-up. You could probably write a similar paragraph which dismisses with equal fallaciousness the American labor movement, or American socialism.
There were significant black populist organizations, some organized with the cooperation of the white counterparts.
> Southern populists were far from anti-racist. . . .
> This is all from a quite excellent book, "Blacks and the Populist
> Revolt" by
> Gerald Gaither (Univ. of Alabama Press, 1977). Clearly, Bourbon Democrats
I haven't read this book, but I have read Goodwyn and recommend it. The furthest thing from simplistic that I can imagine.
MBS