Class and class politics in the southern Populist movement of the 1890s

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Abstract
Interpretations of the class basis and interests of the southern Populist movement of the late 19th century vary greatly. This paper presents a class‐dialectical analysis of the Populist movement that contests previous conservative, liberal, and romantic‐radical interpretations. Biographical analysis of Populist leaders in North Carolina, analyses of Populist delegations in the North Carolina state senate, and statistical analyses of legislative voting behavior suggest that elected Populist officials, though reform oriented, represented the interests of larger farmers and planters in North Carolina to the neglect of poor black and white farmers and farm tenants upon whose votes they were dependent. Their political demise was a result of this class contradiction, which was at the heart of the Populist movement.

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