Vote Socialist

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In 1886, Henry George would win the elections for mayor of New York, defeating the powerful political machine of Tamammy Hall and solidifying his United Labor Party. This would lead to the spread of Georgist economics even further than already and a large boost in George's popularity.

As the working people of America grow ever more discontent with the two ruling parties, left wing forces have gathered together at the convention of the Farmers Alliance. The attendees are varied: from William Jennings Bryan on the right to Georgists and followers of Edward Bellamy on the left. Along with these are former and current members of the Greenback Party, Prohibition Party, Anti-Monopoly Party, Labor Reform Party, Union Labor Party, United Labor Party, Workingmen Party, and dozens of other minor parties. Ignatius Loyala Donnelly, Radical Republican congressman and fantasy author, would make a fiery opening speech:

"We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin. ... We seek to restore the government of the republic to the hands of the working people with whom it originated and who continue to uphold it. Our doors are open to all points of the compass. ... The interests of rural and urban labor are the same; their enemies are identical. "

Donnelly's somewhat controversial speech steered the direction of the convention around the specific issue of whether or not to support the cause of the labor movement or remain focused on purely agrarianism. The majority of the convention would be steered by the socialist rhetoric of the Georgists, Marxists, and Bellamyists into agreement that a third party is needed to represent the working people of all of America - a Socialist Party. This would result in the foundation of the Socialist Party of America, which would hold its first convention in Omaha and establish the Omaha platform or ten points, which would call for:

A fair and equitable tax system based on the needs of the common people, which would include a gradual income tax and a single tax.
The right to collective bargaining and the formation of unions.
A comprehensive currency reform.
The expansion of public services and social welfare in the service of the people.
The establishment of subsidies and the socialization of farms.
Public ownership of railroads and communication lines.
Direct election of senators,
The establishment of a living wage for all in America.
The right to vote for every law-abiding citizen of the United States of America.
A five day work week and an 8-hour work day for every American.

1892 Presidential Election (Vote Socialist) — The 1892 Presidential Election. The SPA fielded Henry George as President and James Weaver as his Vice.

This platform proved to be highly appealing to both urban workers and farmers as the socialist party began to spread like wildfire. This would lead to the SPA to achieve massive gains in the 1892 election (in place of mildly successful OTL People's Party, which failed to appeal to urban workers) and would replace the Republicans as the main opposition party to the southern based democrats.

In the aftermath of the election, President Grover Cleveland initiated a series of conservative economic programs which sparked the Panic of 1893. Cleveland's presidency was dominated by labor unrest and the growth of the socialist party. The question of national currency (silver vs gold) soon became overshadowed by a bigger economic question on the very nature of the American economic system. Socialist delegates in congress would prove to throw a wrench into the entire political machine, declaring its opposition to age old institutions such as gerrymandering and the Monroe doctrine. Particularly, the SPA would be heavily against any American intervention in Hawaii and would keep the United States from intervening on the side of the shortlived republic which would lead to a successful restoration of the Kingdom of Hawaii under native revolutionary Robert William Wilcox. After 1892, the Republican Party would go into decline as the SPA would become more prominent, leading to America's Third Party System.