Rural Democracy: Family Farmers and Politics in Western Washington, 1890-1925

What happens to social movements in rural settings when they do not face the divisive issues of race and class? Marilyn Watkins examines the stable political climate built by successive waves of Populism, socialism, the farmer-labor movement, and the Grange, in turn-of-the-century western Washington...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Watkins, Marilyn P. (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Ithaca, NY Cornell University Press [2019]
Subjects:
Online Access:DE-1046
DE-859
DE-860
DE-739
DE-473
DE-1043
DE-858
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Summary:What happens to social movements in rural settings when they do not face the divisive issues of race and class? Marilyn Watkins examines the stable political climate built by successive waves of Populism, socialism, the farmer-labor movement, and the Grange, in turn-of-the-century western Washington. She shows how all of these movements drew upon the same community base, empowered farmers, and encouraged them in the belief that democracy, independence, and prosperity were realizable goals. Indeed they were-in a setting where agriculture was diversified, farmers were debt-free, and, critically,women enjoyed equal status as activists in social movements.Rural Democracy illuminates the problems that undermined Populism and other forms of rural radicalism in the South and the Midwest by demonstrating the political success of those movements where such problems were notably absent: in Lewis County, Washington. By so doing, Watkins convincingly demonstrates the continuing value of local community studies in understanding the large-scale transformations that continue to sweep over rural America
Item Description:Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Nov 2019)
Physical Description:1 online resource (264 pages) 19 b&w illustrations, 5 maps, 16 tables
ISBN:9781501744907
DOI:10.7591/9781501744907

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