industry got the tariff, the railroads got their subsidy and the corporations got their judicial support. The myth of the free market was just that; the Populists exposed the most powerful and fraudulent myth of the US system and for that they are as relevant today as they were in the 1890s. Cheated as they were by a system that preached a free market ethos but practiced a moneyed stake in the railroads, banks, and national markets, the Populists sought an abolition of the banking system, the nationalization of transportation, the prohibition of subsidies to corporations, (while at the same time seeking their own subsidies) and the prohibition of corporate ownership of natural resources. They were undoubtedly concerned with their own economic future. But at the same time, and this I think must be their legacy, they also were ahead of their time when it came to political reform. Not only did they argue for direct democracy, the belated and virtuous destiny of the Declaration of Independence, but they also led the vanguard for campaign reform that is the crux of modern politics. It is a mixed legacy to be sure. But the Populists illuminate many of the problems that reform groups tackle in the United States. Whether co-opted, ignored, isolated, or buried by a Marxian step in American economic history, the Populists were influential far beyond their Electoral College count or the legislation posthumously passed. The Populists of the 1890s may have lost the battle, moreover, but to historians, they paved the way for political and economic reform. If radical reform groups learn from the Populists mistakes and mobilize workers in the north as well as the south and west, they, we, may win the war as well. The Populists embody the contradictions and spirit of the west as we have learned in this class. Their spirit should not be buried in some blind belief in historical destiny. Events would have been different had the Populists rea...
