The Populist Movement: The Progressive Movement

Three different political movements; the Populist, Labor, and Progressive, occurred between 1892 and 1912, that had well thought intentions on taking care of the workers, including children who made large profits by working extraordinary shifts and in unsafe conditions for big manufactures. Only the Progressive movement was successful in moving into the mainstream political limelight and gained acceptance throughout the nation.
The Populist movement worked on the platform of helping the farmers. They did not want to see big government and big money come in and take what was theirs. The movement highlighted that people were being silenced from speaking their minds, labor workmen were being impoverished and being denied the right to organize for self-protection and corruption dominated the whole government system thereby adding millions to the manufactures on the backs of the overworked workmen. The man who became the face of the Populist movement in the late 1800s – early 1900s, was William Jennings Bryan, whose fiery
pulpit presentation was good for show; unfortunately did not translate to well with many parts of the country. To get to that level you needed more political clout to stand by that platform; unfortunately, Bryan ran for President three times and never made it over the hump. The Labor movement worked on the mindset that the workers come first. The United States was the only industrial nation in the world that had no workmen’s compensation program to provide financial support for workers injured on the job (Tindall, 2013). Additionally, although some states passed laws limiting the number of hours children could work and establishing minimum-age requirements, they were rarely enforced and often ignored (Tindall, 2013). Without an established union, workers strikes like the Great Railroad Strike in 1877, turned extremely violent, and the moniker was set for the future. Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor, tried to instill a peaceful, political stance toward the manufactures and appeal to the public about unions. He maintained that “workers are always working to a better life, to make conditions better for their children” (Final Report and Testimony - Commission on Industrial Relations, 1916). Gompers was a spokesman of the worker and made a huge impact nationally; unfortunately, the platform was always grassroots and never grew into the political realm.
The Progressive movement worked on the platform of doing away with special privilege, great sinister special interests, and beat back the forces that strive for social and industrial injustice (Roosevelt, 1912).
A fight for the little man, a fight against selfish men, a fight our founding fathers worked for when they laid the foundations of this nation. The movement had what the other movements did not; political clout. Proponents like Theodore Roosevelt, who was considerably outspoken about the clamoring’s of the industry and maintained that prosperity can permanently come to this country only on the basis of honesty and of fair treatment to all (Roosevelt, 1912). Lastly, the movement made it to the pinnacle of political stature when Woodrow Wilson, a progressive party member, became the 28th President of the United States. Several of the initiatives that the platform stood behind and are still active today, became enacted because of his
presidency.
The three movements all had good intentions for the nation; however, it all depends on who you get to present it so you can have the bigger impact.