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Author Alter, Thomas, II, author

Title Toward a cooperative commonwealth : the transplanted roots of farmer-labor radicalism in Texas / Thomas Alter II
Published Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [2022]

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Description 1 online resource (x, 277 pages) : illustrations
Series The working class in American history
Working class in American history
Contents What Was Lost in Germany Might, in Texas, Be Won -- Inheritors of the Revolution -- Populist Revolt -- The Battle for Socialism in Texas, 1900-1911 -- Tierra y Libertad -- From the Cooperative Commonwealth to the Invisible Empire -- Conclusion: Descent into New Deal Liberalism
Summary "Agrarian radicalism's challenge to capitalism played a central role in working-class ideology while making third parties and protest movements a potent force in politics. Thomas Alter II follows three generations of German immigrants in Texas to examine the evolution of agrarian radicalism and the American and transnational ideas that influenced it. Otto Meitzen left Prussia for Texas in the wake of the failed 1848 Revolution. His son and grandson took part in decades-long activism with organizations from the Greenback Labor Party and the Grange to the Populist movement and Texas Socialist Party. As Alter tells their stories, he analyzes the southern wing of the era's farmer-labor bloc and the parallel history of African American political struggle in Texas. Alliances with Mexican revolutionaries, Irish militants, and others shaped an international legacy of working-class radicalism that moved U.S. politics to the left. That legacy, in turn, pushed forward economic reform during the Progressive and New Deal eras. A rare look at the German roots of radicalism in Texas, Toward a Cooperative Commonwealth illuminates the labor movements and populist ideas that changed the nation's course at a pivotal time in its history"-- Provided by publisher
Notes Description based upon print version of record
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-264) and index
Subject Populism -- Texas -- History
Farmers -- Political activity -- Texas -- History
Working class -- Political activity -- Texas -- History
Land reform -- Texas -- History
Radicalism -- Texas -- History
Farmers -- Political activity
Land reform
Politics and government
Populism
Radicalism
Working class -- Political activity
SUBJECT Texas -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85134274
Subject Texas
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780252053276
0252053273