Farmers' Alliances

During the Gilded Age, radical collective groups were formed to level the playing field between individuals and powerful interests to whom they were beholden. In the industrial North, labor unions were on the rise. Farmers' Alliances in the South and West were formed as a sort of agrarian answer to the labor union. Farmers may not have had direct employers as the unions had. Still, they faced predatory bank loans, exploitive land owners, and excessive railroad charges, against which they united as Farmers' Alliances.

Fig.1 - Farmers Alliance Political Cartoon

Farmers Alliances Definition

The Farmers' Alliances were three separate organizations that formed a more significant movement. The organizations started to strengthen small farmers' ability to take on the economic issues they all faced but grew increasingly political. The organizations may have shared their experiences and concerns as farmers but remained separated along sectional and racial lines from the late reconstruction era in which they were formed.

Farmers' Alliances Organizations

The different farmer's alliance organizations in the West and South were created due to regional differences.

Farmers Alliances Purpose

In broadest terms, the organizations sought to deal with the economic issues faced by their members. Due to sectional differences, the specific issues the groups faced were not the same. Still, they had some things in common such as forming cooperatives to purchase necessary farming supplies at a low cost to farmers. As the organizations grew more political, they took on more of each others' issues and attempted to form alliances with urban workers on specific matters.

Fig.2 - American Farmer

Farmers Alliances History

The three prominent Farmers' Alliances all had their unique histories. Taken as a whole, they tell one familiar story of rural agriculture workers who felt taken advantage of or unheard of by an increasingly urbanized and industrialized nation. Their stories tell of people coming together as collectives to balance their interests against power structures that made them feel helpless.

The National Farmers' Alliance, called The Northern Farmers' Alliance, was founded in Chicago in 1880 by Milton George. George used his newspaper, Western Rural, to promote the group, which quickly spread throughout the Midwest. Like many radical organizations, its' popularity coincided with hard economic times. The group peaked at 100,000 members during droughts in 1883, fell sharply when climatic conditions were more favorable to farming in 1884, and rose again when crop prices fell in 1885. Initially, the group supported political ideas like income taxes before growing more radical with ideas like nationalizing the railroads. Farmers had grown especially frustrated with high railroad charges after the Civil War, as they relied on the railroads to transport their crops.

Colored Farmers' National Alliance and Cooperative Union

The Southern Alliance had banned Black Americans from membership, echoing the Reconstruction Era racial strife that permeated the South. The Colored Alliance was founded in Texas in 1887, developing from a smaller, local group founded just months before in December 1886. By 1888 the group became national, publishing a newspaper named The National Alliance. The group worked to offset the sharecropping system, which had effectively reenslaved them by creating cooperatives where members could cheaply purchase farm materials.

National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union

The Southern Alliance was founded in Texas in 1875 as the Texas Alliance. Initially, their goals were entirely economic, mainly working together to round up horse thieves and cooperatively purchase farm goods at lower costs. The organization would go through many names as it grew into a national organization before settling on the name The National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union in 1889. By 1889, the organization had grown as radically political as the other farming organizations of the time, promoting ideas like silver currency, income taxes, lower tariffs, and ending monopolies.

Fig.3 - American Farmers

Farmers Alliance Significance

Founded on economic concerns, the organizations did not provide much lasting economic change. At points, the organizations could get their farmers better deals for their crops by negotiating as a larger block, but this eventually broke down. Their most tremendous success was as a foundation for the populist political moment, bringing attention to rural issues.

The People's Party

These farming organizations provided the organizational base for farmers, who felt ignored mainly, to increase their political capital. In the late 1880s, Farmers Alliances could mobilize their membership to elect candidates that supported their views. While in office, however, many of these candidates did not carry out Farmers' Alliances goals, and neither party would adopt central farmers' issues into their party platform. This led to the formation of the People's Party in 1892 out of frustration with the two major parties. Although the party did not take the presidency, they were able to win congressional races successfully.