Author Archives: theorganizernewspaper

Chapter Four           Labor, in the decade of the 1870s, pursued independent political action in a loose alliance with monetary reformers known as Greenbackers.  The basis for the electoral coalition was a shared criticism of the existing system of banking and finance which seemed to be designed to concentrate wealth in the hands of the businessContinue reading “Greenback-Labor’s Struggle for a Just Monetary System”

Chapter Five             “We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political and material ruin.  Corruption dominates the ballot box, the legislatures, the Congress and touches even the ermine of the bench.  The people are demoralized. … The newspapers are subsidized or muzzled; public opinion silenced; business prostrate, ourContinue reading “The People’s Party: an Insurgent Party of Farmers and Workers”

Chapter Six           Over time, there is a great variance in the extent to which workers are willing to challenge their traditional inferior/dependent position in society and to resist actively economic exploitation.  Some eras are noted for combativeness on the part of labor, while at other times apparent worker timidity and passivity seem to prevail. Continue reading “The Grassroots Labor Parties of 1919-1920: A Missed Opportunity for Labor”

Chapter Seven The Fruits of the Failure to Implement the United Front Strategy             For advocates of a class-based political realignment in the United States, the most disorienting challenge to the Democrats’ and Republicans’ two-party political-monopoly is Robert LaFollette’s 1924 so-called “Progressive Party” campaign.   A common misconception holds that this constituted the high-water mark inContinue reading “LaFollette’s “One Man Show” in the 1924 Presidential Election”