*** Welcome to piglix ***

People's Party (United States)

People's Party
Leader James B. Weaver
William Jennings Bryan
Thomas E. Watson
Founded 1891 (1891)
Dissolved 1908 (1908)
Preceded by Farmers' Alliance
Greenback Party
Union Labor Party
Merged into Democratic Party
Ideology Populism
Agrarianism
Bimetallism
Political position Left-wing
Colors      Green

The People's Party, also known as the Populist Party or the Populists, was an agrarian-populist political party in the United States. For a few years, 1892–96, it played a major role as a left-wing force in American politics. It was merged into the Democratic Party in 1896; a small independent remnant survived until 1908. It drew support from angry farmers in the West and South and operated on the left-wing of American politics. It was highly critical of capitalism, especially banks and railroads, and allied itself with the labor movement.

Established in 1891, as a result of the Populist movement, the People's Party reached its zenith in the 1892 presidential election, when its ticket, composed of James B. Weaver and James G. Field, won 8.5% of the popular vote and carried five states (Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada and North Dakota), and the 1894 House of Representatives elections, when it took over 10% of the vote. Built on a coalition of poor, white cotton farmers in the South (especially North Carolina, Alabama and Texas) and hard-pressed wheat farmers in the Plains states (especially Kansas and Nebraska), the Populists represented a radical crusading form of agrarianism and hostility to elites, cities, banks, railroads, and gold.


...
Wikipedia

...