America ’s “Populist Party Doctrine”

The “Populist Party” movement in the late 19th century is another important source of the populist theory.The English word “populism”originated from the “Populist Party Doctrine”，which refers to a radical peasant politics or peasant movement.^[8] In The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Science，“populism” is synonymous with “Populist Party Doctrine” .^[9] In 1892，in order to fight against the monopoly and exploitation of railway and financial capitalists，farmers in the midwest of the United States spontaneously founded the “Populist Party”，explicitly proposing to “return power to the hands of civilians”.While Russia ’s “populists”movement is a top-down elite movement of revolutionary intellectuals，America ’s “Populist Party” movement is a bottom-up mass movement of farmers.While Russia ’s “populists” movement has the characteristics of “utopian socialism”，reflecting the attachment to the traditional village community system，the “Populist Party” movement of the United States is characterized by “radical farmers ’ movement ”，showing the dissatisfaction with the representative democracy and the two-party system in the United States.In 1896，the Populist Party collapsed after Bryan，candidate of the Populist Party，lost the presidential election.However，the disappearance of the Populist Party has not brought an end to populism.Its legacy has gone beyond the scope of“radical farmers politics” and has penetrated into the political and cultural lifeblood of the United States to keep providing spiritual incentives for left-wing or right-wing political factions.American political leaders such as Huey Long，George Wallace，and Ross Perot，are somewhat populist.Today ’s movements like the “Tea Party” movement，“Occupy Wall Street” movement and the “Trump Phenomenon” all have some characteristics of populism.