The People’s Party: How the South Gave Birth to Populism

Populist Platform 1892

Episode 19: Farmers and the Rise of Populism

A New History of the American South

Dr Edward Ayers (2018)

Film Review

Following Reconstruction, the majority of southern farming communities fell into deep economic crisis stemming from the Long Depression (1873-1876).

Ayers links the Long Depression to US banks’ demand for a return to the gold standard (after years on relying on government-issued Greenbacks). However he fails to make clear that this move was accompanied by bank lobbying to withdraw Lincoln’s Civil War greenbacks from circulation. This, in essence, returned the function of money creation to private banks.* They, in turn, responded by drastically shrinking the money supply, sinking the country into deep depression.

Ayers also describes how farmers (nationwide) began organizing in the 1870s to try to improve their living conditions. The first groups they formed were greenbackers groups and farming cooperatives. The latter allowed them to buy seed, animals and equipment in bulk, and to cut out middlemen by running their own gins, stores, and warehouses.

America’s first populist movement started in Texas in 1878 as the Farmers Alliance, which sent out farmer-lecturers throughout Texas and other parts of the South, Midwest and West to educate farmers and workers about bank corruption. When banks, railroads, grain elevators and supply merchants secretly conspired to bankrupt the farmers cooperatives, the Alliance formed the People’s Party.

Although Ayers neglects to mention it, the main platform of the People’s Party was a call to end the ability of private banks to create money.

In 1892, the Populist candidate for president won 1 million votes. In the 1894 election, the party elected state officials in a number of states, including South Carolina.

In 1896, the Populist Party essentially self-destructed by joining with the Democratic Party to support Free Silver candidate William Jennings Bryan. He was defeated by William McKinley.


*Contrary to popular belief, money used to run the global economy isn’t issued by governments but by private banks. Although most people think banks only loan out money they hold on deposit, loans are actually  created out of thin air via a bookkeeping entry.  Because this is where roughly 97% of money comes from, private banks have ultimate control over the amount of money in circulation. They exert enormous political power by shrinking the money supply to cause depression and expanding it to cause inflation. See How Banks Invent Money Out of Thin Air, Stripping Banks of Their Power to Issue Money and 97% Owned
**Free silver advocates called for expanding the money supply by through unlimited production of silver coinage (by the government), reducing the monopoly private banks enjoyed via money creation. Even before the world went off the gold standard in 1971, banks generally issued far more money than they held in gold reserves (by law, they issued $9 for every $1 they held in gold).

Can be viewed free with a library card at Kanopy.

https://pukeariki.kanopy.com/video/farmers-and-rise-populism

Just to let people know I’m moving to Substack and Telegram after several readers informed me I’ve been censored from WordPress Reader feed. The link to my Substack account is https://stuartbramhall.substack.com/. The link to my Telegram channel is https://t.me/themostrevolutionaryact I’ll continue to publish on WordPress as long as I’m able, but if my blog suddenly disappears you’ll know where to find me.

Who were the First Populists?

Populist Party - The BodyProud Initiative

A Skeptics View of American History

Episode 11 Misconceptions About the Original Populists

By Gerald Stoler PhD (2012)

Film Review

In this lecture (in my view the least accurate), Stoler traces the history of America’s original populists, ie The People’s Party (aka The Populist Party). The latter flourished in the 1890s.

Stoler incorrectly states the Populists’ primary demand during the 1892 presidential election was to increase the money supply via unlimited silver coinage. According to Lawrence Goodwyn in The Populist Moment, this was only a secondary campaign issue. According to Goodwyn, the Populists main demand was to end the creation of money by private banks by abolishing the national banks created under the National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864.*

Had they captured the presidency and congress, they would have directed the US Treasury (as stipulated in the US Constitution) to take over from private banks in issuing legal tender treasury notes.

The Populist Party grew out of a period in which most of the US population still lived on farms, and in which most farmers borrowed in the spring to pay for fertilizer, seed and farm machinery and repaid their loans after the fall harvest. The 1880s and 1890s were a period of severe deflation (ie inadequate money in circulation), in which a drop in crop prices made it extremely difficult for farmers to repay their debts.

Stoler also fails to correctly identify the cause of this historic deflation, namely a sudden contraction of the money supply triggered by a demand from Eastern banks that the post Civil War government retire $450 million in treasury notes that Lincoln issued to pay for the Civil War.

The Populist Party received one million popular votes in the 1892 election, as well as capturing numerous senate and congressional seats, governorships and state legislative seats.

In 1896, the Populist Party endorsed the Democrat’s Free Silver candidate William Jennings Bryan for president. Bryan would lose in a landslide to William McKinley.


*These laws allowed private banks to issue paper money backed (and printed) by the US Treasury “proportionate” to capital (usually US Treasury bonds) banks had on deposit with the Comptroller of Currency at the Treasury. As a general rule, these banks were allowed to issue nine times as much money as they held on deposit. This essentially granted them total control of the amount of money in circulation. See (The Populist Moment by Lawrence Goodwyn https://stuartbramhall.wordpress.com/2017/01/27/populism-americas-largest-mass-democratic-movement/)

https://pukeariki.kanopy.com/video/misconceptions-about-original-populists

The Battle for Public Control of Money

(This is the second of a series of posts about ending the right of private banks to issue money.)

The Secret of Oz (William Still 2009) primarily addresses the long battle to strip banks of their power to issue money. In the US, this struggle dates back to the Revolutionary War.

The title refers to socialist writer L. Frank Baum’s 1900 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. According to numerous scholars, the book is loaded with symbols related to monetary reform, the core demand of the Populist movement and the 1896 and 1900 presidential bids of Populist Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

The yellow brick road represented the gold standard, the Scarecrow represented farmers and the Tin Man represented industrial workers. The Wicked Witch of the West was Cleveland banker J.D. Rockefeller and the Wicked Witch of the East New York banker J.P. Morgan. The Cowardly Lion depicted William Jennings Bryan, who abandoned the call for monetary reform. The Emerald City represented (government issued) greenback money and Dorothy’s silver slippers (changed to ruby slippers in the movie) represented Bryan’s call to introduce silver coins to ease the money shortage during the 1890s depression.

Still traces the politics of monetary reform back to 30 AD, when a Nazarene carpenter engaged in violent direct action in a Jerusalem synagogue to evict the private bankers who sold silver coins which were used to pay a compulsory temple tax.

He also explores the use of state-controlled money in the American colonies and the early United States. He focuses particular attention on periods in which private banks deliberately shrank the money supply to trigger depressions (to increase profits or achieve specific political objectives), as well as efforts by Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson to end private corporate control of money.

Both Jackson and Lincoln oversaw periods in which federal and/or state government issued debt-free money.

The Role of Foreign Banks in US History

moneychangers

Stuff They Forgot to Teach in High School

The Money Masters

Bill Still 1996

Film Review

Produced twelve years before the 2008 economic collapse, The Money Masters provides a comprehensive outline of the role of the international banking cartel in hijacking America’s so-called “democratic” government. Referring to them as “moneychangers” (a New Testament reference), Still explores the key role international banksters have played in deliberately creating depressions and panics, instigating US wars, and assassinating presidents who sought to curtail their power.

Understanding how money is created in the US and other capitalist countries is essential in grasping this historical perspective. Contrary to popular misconception, the federal government doesn’t create or control the money supply – private banks do. Moreover the Federal Reserve isn’t a government agency. It’s actually a private corporation owned by its member banks. What’s more, the fractional reserve banking system allows these banks to loan and charge interest on money they don’t possess – that they essentially create out of thin air.

Most of the film is devoted to the 130 year battle between the world banking cartel and the American presidents who stood up to them: Jefferson, Madison, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, and Warren Harding. Jefferson and Madison both warned that allowing private banks to seize control of money creation would be the end of democratic rule in the US.

During the 19th century, the global banking cartel was dominated by key families, like the Rothschilds and Rockefellers. However during the 20th century, this power shifted to a corporate structure with control residing with CEOs and interlocking boards. Still stresses that global economic and political instability can no longer be blamed on specific families (i.e. the Rothschilds) – that the problem lies with the corporate banking system itself.

The solution he proposes is to end fractional reserve banking and the ability of private banks to create money – to follow Lincoln’s example by restoring the responsibility for money creation to federal and state governments.

As the 3 ½ hour film below covers nearly 1000 years of history, I have indexed the key historical events covered:

  • 0-21 min – 1100 AD King Henry I creates the tally stick to counter the influence of private goldsmiths and moneychangers who are wreaking economic havoc by manipulating the supply of gold coins.
  • 22-27 min – 17th century Queen Elizabeth I counters the power of private moneychangers by issuing coins directly from the royal treasury. In 1642, international moneychangers finance Oliver Cromwell, who leads a Civil War to overthrow the monarchy. Later they finance an invasion by the Dutch William of Orange to invade England and overthrow the House of Stuart. In 1694 Bank of England (the world’s first central bank) is formed and granted power to create money out of thin air.
  • 28-36 min 18th century Amschel Moses Bower, Frankfurt moneychanger, changes his name to Rothschild and five of his sons assume control of the central banks of Germany, Austria, London, Italy and Paris. The Rothschild family plays major role in financing the Vanderbilt and Harrison railroad monopolies, Carnegie’s monopoly of the steel industry, and 80% of JP Morgan’s holdings. The Rothschild family proceeds to finance both sides of a continuous cycle of European wars. The British treasury incurs a 140 million pound debt to the Bank of England. George III is forced to raise revenue by taxing the American colonies.
  • 37-38 min 1764 Under pressure from the Bank of England, George III passes currency act forbidding the use of colonial scrip (paper money) in the American colonies. Forced to use scarce gold and silver coins issued by the Bank of England, the colonies are plunged into deep depression with massive unemployment. Benjamin Franklin maintains this, not the tea tax, triggers the American Revolution.
  • 39-44 min 1781 Over strong objections of Jefferson and Madison, charter is granted for the Bank of North America, a privately owned central bank which is allowed to create money out of thin air. Charter allowed to lapse in 1785, and power to issue money reverts to federal government.
  • 45–51 min 1790 Alexander Hamilton pressures Congress to charter a second private bank, the Bank of the United States. The US Treasury, which provides all the funds, is a 20% shareholder. The Bank creates money out of thin air to loan funds to private shareholders to purchase the other 80%.
  • 52-99 min 1811 Congress refuses to renew Bank of US charter, despite a threat by Nathan Mayer Rothschild that “ . . .the United Stateswill find itself involved in a most disastrous war (War of 1812) if the bank’s charter is not renewed.”
  • 1:00-1:01hr 1816 Devastated by war and war debt, Congress grants new charter for the (private) Bank of the United States, again funded mainly by the federal government. The US Treasury winds up with 20% share, with the Bank creating additional money to loan private shareholders (mostly foreign) sufficient funds to buy the other 80%.
  • 1:02-1:10hr 1828 Andrew Jackson elected president on platform to end massive corruption and fraud at the Bank of the United Statesby shutting it down. Nearly assassinated after “powerful Europeans” hire gunman to kill him. The USremains free of central bank control for 77 years, with state chartered banks assuming responsibility for money creation.
  • 1:11-1:18hr Civil War European financial powers pressure Southern states to secede by boycotting their cotton. Ending slavery was not the original cause of US Civil War, as Lincolnoriginally had no intention of abolishing it.
  • 1:19-1:27hr 1862 To finance the Civil War,  Lincoln issues $450 million in paper money (greenbacks) and is attacked by the London Times – which calls for the destruction of the US before it destroys the world’s monarchies. British troops mobilize in Canada and British navy mobilizes on Atlantic coast. The Rothschilds grant Napoleon III $3 million to seize Mexico. Russian czar stations battleships on West Coast and pledges to come to US defense if England and France enter Civil War (on behalf of the South). Lincoln agrees to allow national banks to temporarily issue currency through 1863 National Banking Act, though his government-issued greenbacks continue to circulate until 1994. German chancellor Otto von Bismarck predicts triumph for global banking cartel following Lincoln’s 1865 assassination. In 1934 Vancouver Mayor Gerry McGreer releases Secret Service records revealing John Wilkes Booth was hired by powerful banking interests.
  • 1:28–1:30hr 1873 Banking interests pressure Congress to demonetize silver (which is far more plentiful than gold) and place all US money on gold standard. Deliberate contraction of the money supply leads to severe depression and unemployment (1/3 of US workforce unemployed in 1876). In 1877 riots calling for return of silver currency lead to 1878 Sherman Law, which allows limited number of silver coins to be minted.
  • 1:37-1:38 hr 1881 President Garfield attacks the moneychangers and is assassinated.
  • 1.38–1:47 hr 1891-1907 Determined to manipulate public opinion in favor of a new (private) central bank, the moneychangers deliberately shrink US money supply, causing 20 years of extreme economic instability. .
  • 1:48-1:54 hr 1907 secret meeting of Rockefellers and other major banking families at Jekyll Island to draw up plans for new central bank called the Federal Reserve. President Taft (a Republican) refuses to support it, so moneychangers begin courting Woodrow Wilson (a Democrat)
  • 1:54-1:57 hr 1913 Wilson defeats Taft with support from William Jennings Bryant and other currency reformers by promising he won’t support the new central bank. Wilson betrays his supporters and Federal Reserve Act passed during Christmas recess. The Act requires the federal government to borrow funding for operational expenses from the Federal Reserve. A federal income tax is adopted to ensure the government can make the interest payments.
  • 2:13-2:17 hr 1905-1917 $20 million of Federal Reserve funds channeled to Bolsheviks via Chase Manhattan Bank (controlled by Rockefellers) after czar denies them access to Russian oil fields.
  • 2:18- 2:29 hr 1929 Federal Reserve deliberately contracts money supply and crashes the stock market after all their members transfer their wealth from stocks to gold and cash. According to Milton Friedman, this contraction triggers Great Depression.
  • 2:30-2:31hr 1931 Rep Louis McFadden warns that US banks are subsidizing the rise of Hitler, channeling over $30 billion in Federal Reserve funds via Chase Manhattan Bank.
  • 2:32-2:44 hr 1933 Roosevelt prohibits US citizens from owning gold coins or bullion and forces them to turn all their gold to the federal government. All US Treasury gold becomes property of Federal Reserve and most of it is sold to European speculators.
  • 2:45-2:50 hr 1945 a global central bank is formed through creation of IMF, World Bank, and International Bank of Settlements. All are run by private bankers, with intention of consolidating control of the global money supply.
  • 2:51-2:58 hr 1989-1993 Economy of Japan and Mexico wiped out when Bank of International Settlements contracts the global money supply. Punitive IMF interest charges result in massive transfer of wealth from third world countries to World Bank. Continuing consolidation of central bank control with formation of NAFTA and WTO.

Still produced a sequel to the Money Masters in 2010 called The Secret of Oz in 2010. It focuses mainly on the rise of the Populist movement in the 1890s and the presidential campaigns of Populist Democrat William Jennings Bryant. Bryant ran on a platform of ending the power of private banks to issue money and returning to federally issued greenbacks and silver coinage. L Frank Baum, who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was a strong Bryant supporter. The book is loaded with symbols related to monetary reform (for example, the silver slippers, Emerald City, and the yellow brick road).

Enjoy.

photo credit: Cea. via photopin cc

Reposted from Veterans Today