>-And then there were the Populists, who, whatever their faults,
>-consisted of ordinary folks who got deeply involved in the arcanae of
>-monetary theory and such.
>
>But the Populists were more based on rural ideology than a worker
>mobilization-- and Populism foundered on the stronger racial identity of
>many Americans over their identity as workers. The exact period of Populist
>strength coincided with the tightening of Jim Crow and the completion of
>disenfranchisement of blacks in the South.
This is all part of the "whatever their faults" - I'm no Populist. But my point was that these rubes were deeply politicized and spent time studying monetary theory.
>Nationally, workers were divided between the parties and urban workers were
>as attracted to the protectionism of the GOP as Populist rhetoric.
>
>The reality is the labor movement is more unified as a political entity
>within the Democratic Party TODAY than they ever were in the 19th century.
Yeah, too bad it's shrinking and ever-more irrelevant!
Doug