People's Party National Convention, 1904

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Though it brought 8% of the total vote President Bryan won in the last Presidential election, a serious split between the Populists caused many within the party to support Prohibition Party nominee Silas Swallow, helping elect to the Presidency Theodore Roosevelt.

The past four years have not been kind to the proposals of the Populist Party, most of which were enacted under the Bryan administration. President Roosevelt has, in the midst of a wartime atmosphere, wrung out the bimetallic standard and issued fiat money to finance the costs of the Pacific War with the Japanese. No word has been made yet upon the kind of money that will be issued upon the end of the war, but many believe that Roosevelt has no intention of allowing anything other than a gold-backed dollar after the war.

The sub-treasury system, established with the aid of Populist legislators, has too been rent asunder. Claiming that "sound finance" was necessary for the war effort, Roosevelt has morphed the system into a "Third Bank of the United States," that is far more amiable to the interests of manufacturers than farmers. Much of the farm relief established by Bryan, however, has been kept. The program has proven far too popular to end, as has the recognition of labor unions, made permanent by Roosevelt's establishment of a National War Labor Board (NWLB) to settle disputes.

Roosevelt's first term also saw the trust-busting policies of his predecessor continued, albeit with some modification. Chartering of corporations was made a duty of the federal government (a quad-partisan alliance of liberal Democrats, progressive Republicans, Populists, and Prohibitionists made sure of that), minimum wages were established, and working hours limited to 40 per week. To gain some support from the Prohibitionists, Roosevelt supported a public ownership bill that placed the distilleries in the hands of the National Alcohol Control Board (NACB). Public ownership, once Roosevelt's dreaded nemesis, had effectively become something he was willing to use as a bludgeon against the more radical trust-busters among the Democrats and Populists.

The Populists have now met to determine their destiny. Right-wingers wish to endorse former President Bryan for another term. They largely support the war with Japan and wish to see the Phillippines freed, Bryan returned to office, and the status quo continued. Some on the far-right of the party wish to simply merge with the Democratic Party, a proposal that has been floated before.

The center of the party favors co-operation with the Prohibitionists. Neutral on the war (but would no doubt prosecute it if elected), these Populists see the new great evil in American politics as the liquor fortunes. Dissatisfied with Roosevelt's public ownership policy, they favor banning alcohol. To this end, they either favor endorsing the Prohibitionist candidate for President or simply merging with the Prohibition Party.

The party's left, broadly, breaks down into two factions. On the center-left are those who support former Vice President Tom Watson and wish to see the Populist Party end it's policy of electoral fusion, and instead fight for themselves as an independent organization. Watson has taken up this banner, oddly enough, in spite of having been elected Vice President as a result of successful fusion efforts. He wants to see an armistice and negotiations with Japan over the future of the Philippines.

The left-wing of the party supports the candidacy of Socialist candidate Eugene Debs. Opposed to the war in its entirety, these Populists see the war with Japan as little more than a power grab for capital that has allowed Roosevelt to undo the Bryan years and weaken labor, in spite of some of his reforms. They favor either endorsement of Debs or merger with the Socialist Party.

Another large swath of delegates simply wishes to dissolve the party and be done with the whole business, arguing that the work of the People's Party has largely been done.


What shall you decide? You have one day to do it.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Merge with the Socialists.

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Combining the votes for merging with the Socialists and endorsing Debs, the People's Party has officially voted to merge into the Socialist Party and endorse the Debs-Hanford ticket.