William Alfred Peffer, from Kansas, the first Peoples Party United States Senator, wrote this analysis of Populism for the Chicago Tribune in 1899 where it was published as a series and forgotten. Almost a century later its republication establishes it as an anti-fusion insider\u27s view of what happened to the Populist Party. Editor Peter Argersinger is the author of Populism and Politics: William Alfred Peffer and the Peoples Party and a professor of history at University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Socolofsky, Homer E.

English

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University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
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Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 
1993 
Review of Populism: Its Rise and Fall. 
Homer E. Socolofsky 
Kansas State University 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly 
 Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons 
Socolofsky, Homer E., "Review of Populism: Its Rise and Fall." (1993). Great Plains Quarterly. 762. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/762 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an 
authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
BOOK REVIEWS 
Populism: Its Rise and Fall. By William A. Peffer. 
Edited with an introduction by Peter H. 
Argersinger. Lawrence: University Press ofKan-
sas, 1992. Index. 208 pp. $25.00. 
William Alfred Peffer, from Kansas, the first 
Peoples Party United States Senator, wrote this 
analysis of Populism for the Chicago Tribune in 
1899 where it was published as a series and 
forgotten. Almost a century later its repub-
lication establishes it as an anti-fusion insider's 
view of what happened to the Populist Party. 
Editor Peter Argersinger is the author of Popu-
lism and Politics: William Alfred Peffer and the 
Peoples Party and a professor of history at Uni-
versity of Maryland, Baltimore County. 
Argersinger's introduction provides an ex-
cellent contemporary examination of condi-
tions that brought on the Peoples Party and 
includes a well organized bibliography. Ar-
gersinger identifies his minimal editing with 
brackets and provides in footnotes vignettes of 
leading political figures mentioned by Peffer 
and corrections of Peffer's misstatements. Pef-
fer is easy to identify in the political cartoons 
Argersinger has included-his belt-length beard 
was distinctive even in an era when male facial 
hair was normal. 
Peffer describes what happened to Populism 
and almost invariably he shows the effect of his 
political affiliation prior to his allegiance to the 
Peoples Party. Peffer, a Republican state legis-
lator in the 1870s and in 1880 a presidential 
elector, was an editor on a succession of T 0-
peka papers and later the Kansas Farmer. He 
encouraged farmer activism in the Farmers' 
132 
Alliance and later in the Peoples Party. He 
played a big role in the Alliance campaign of 
1890 that brought Alliance domination to the 
Kansas legislature and the replacement of three-
term United States Senator John James Ingalls 
with Peffer. Peffer's frequent speeches and volu-
minous writings early identified the new reform 
movement as "Pefferism" in the minds of many 
writers. 
Politics exerted a dominate influence among 
the males only voters of the late nineteenth 
century. Political speeches frequently extended 
for two or three hours to the delight of the 
onlookers, and voter turnout at elections was a 
greater proportion of the electorate than at any 
time before or since. The Republican party of 
that era was generally the do-something party, 
while the Democratic party, in a strong effort to 
preserve state's rights, opposed increase of fed-
eral power in any way. 
As a mish-mash of quarreling groups, indi-
vidual Populists had ties with the dominant 
Republican or Democratic parties or with third 
party groups such as the Greenbackers, Prohibi-
tionists, or Union Laborities. Their agreement 
might be on economic issues but aligning with 
a new party did not eliminate past political 
feelings. For example, Peffer could never quite 
accept fusion ties with the Democratic party, 
which enabled Populists to win elections. Fu-
sion, to Peffer, brought the downfall of Popu-
lism and is the major theme of this work. 
HOMER E. SOCOLOFSKY 
Department of History 
Kansas State University 


Review of Populism: Its Rise and Fall.

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 1993 Review of Populism: Its Rise and Fall. Homer E. Socolofsky Kansas State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly  Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Socolofsky, Homer E., "Review of Populism: Its Rise and Fall." (1993). Great Plains Quarterly. 762. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/762 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. BOOK REVIEWS Populism: Its Rise and Fall. By William A. Peffer. Edited with an introduction by Peter H. Argersinger. Lawrence: University Press ofKan-sas, 1992. Index. 208 pp. $25.00. William Alfred Peffer, from Kansas, the first Peoples Party United States Senator, wrote this analysis of Populism for the Chicago Tribune in 1899 where it was published as a series and forgotten. Almost a century later its repub-lication establishes it as an anti-fusion insider's view of what happened to the Populist Party. Editor Peter Argersinger is the author of Popu-lism and Politics: William Alfred Peffer and the Peoples Party and a professor of history at Uni-versity of Maryland, Baltimore County. Argersinger's introduction provides an ex-cellent contemporary examination of condi-tions that brought on the Peoples Party and includes a well organized bibliography. Ar-gersinger identifies his minimal editing with brackets and provides in footnotes vignettes of leading political figures mentioned by Peffer and corrections of Peffer's misstatements. Pef-fer is easy to identify in the political cartoons Argersinger has included-his belt-length beard was distinctive even in an era when male facial hair was normal. Peffer describes what happened to Populism and almost invariably he shows the effect of his political affiliation prior to his allegiance to the Peoples Party. Peffer, a Republican state legis-lator in the 1870s and in 1880 a presidential elector, was an editor on a succession of T 0-peka papers and later the Kansas Farmer. He encouraged farmer activism in the Farmers' 132 Alliance and later in the Peoples Party. He played a big role in the Alliance campaign of 1890 that brought Alliance domination to the Kansas legislature and the replacement of three-term United States Senator John James Ingalls with Peffer. Peffer's frequent speeches and volu-minous writings early identified the new reform movement as "Pefferism" in the minds of many writers. Politics exerted a dominate influence among the males only voters of the late nineteenth century. Political speeches frequently extended for two or three hours to the delight of the onlookers, and voter turnout at elections was a greater proportion of the electorate than at any time before or since. The Republican party of that era was generally the do-something party, while the Democratic party, in a strong effort to preserve state's rights, opposed increase of fed-eral power in any way. As a mish-mash of quarreling groups, indi-vidual Populists had ties with the dominant Republican or Democratic parties or with third party groups such as the Greenbackers, Prohibi-tionists, or Union Laborities. Their agreement might be on economic issues but aligning with a new party did not eliminate past political feelings. For example, Peffer could never quite accept fusion ties with the Democratic party, which enabled Populists to win elections. Fu-sion, to Peffer, brought the downfall of Popu-lism and is the major theme of this work. HOMER E. SOCOLOFSKY Department of History Kansas State University 

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