contact us | site guide | search  » Reading Guide •  Link RESOURCE MENU » Reading Guide Link Reading Guide 4. People's Party convention, Nebraska, 1890 The Populist Party Platform [Omaha Platform], 1892 "A vast conspiracy against mankind has been organized on two continents," wrote Ignatius Donnelly in the National People's Party platform, "and it is rapidly taking possession of the world." Donnelly was referring to the consolidation of economic and political power that was victimizing farmers and workers alike. In response to this consolidation farmers formed alliances, workers unions. Although the fit was not perfect, the two joined forces in 1892 to form, in Omaha, the National People's Party. According to the populists, greed and privilege had upset the balance between work and reward. Producers, who raised crops and made products, were being impoverished, while nonproducers, who raised rates and made deals, were becoming rich beyond reason. The Omaha Platform is the Party's founding document. Ironically, the year of the Party's founding was also the time of its greatest achievement. In the election of 1894 it lost control of Western states it had won in 1892. Fusion with the Democrats in 1896 cost the Party its identity and many of its supporters. Many of the Platform's proposals proved more durable than the Party itself; they were enacted as progressive reforms under Theodore Roosevelt and as elements in the New Deal. In the end the Party's cultural impact may have been more important than its political, for it articulated and legitimized an alternative way of seeing America, a vision more "real" because it emanated from "the people," as opposed to the "sham" version promulgated by the major parties. 3 pages. Discussion questions How does the Platform locate itself within the American political tradition? What is the Platform's overarching demand? What values underlie the Platform? What vision of America is implied in it? How does the People's Party define itself against the two major parties? How does the union of farmers and workers, called for in the Platform, differ from coalescence of corporate power, which the Platform opposes? » Link Topic Framing Question   •  How did Americans respond to the shifts in economic and political power that occurred during this period? Toolbox: The Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870-1912 Memory | Progress | People | Power | Empire Contact Us | Site Guide | Search Toolbox Library: Primary Resources in U.S. History and Literature National Humanities Center Web site comments and questions, contact: nhc_ed@nationalhumanitiescenter.org Copyright © 2005 National Humanities Center. All rights reserved. Revised: May 2005 nationalhumanitiescenter.org