FARMERS ORGANIZE FOR ACTION 157 



thing approaching equality of economic opportunity. 

 Thus the old question of equality came to the front 

 again, but with a new face. Populism, progressiv- 

 ism, socialism, Bolshevism, were all manifestations 

 of this new struggle for human rights." l 



Class consciousness grew rapidly in almost every 

 section of the United States immediately after 1870. 

 Industrial labor organized for the purpose of in- 

 creasing its bargaining power with capitalistic in- 

 terests. Labor unions undertook to coerce their 

 fellow craftsmen to join their organizations. Capi- 

 talists adopted the policy of the combine, both for 

 financial profits and for increasing economic and 

 political power. The farmers finally realized that 

 their individualism had made them ineffective as 

 an influence in politics and in the business relations 

 affecting their own interests. 



While financial corporations, labor unions, and 

 farm organizations were developing conscious soli- 

 darity in their own respective groups, the mutual 

 interests between capital, industrial labor, and farm 

 enterprise were disregarded almost completely. The 

 balance of power was clearly on the side of the 

 wealthy combines. The great corporations which 

 rapidly developed into trusts used the machinery 

 of government to accomplish their ends. They op- 

 posed limitation on working hours; they fought fac- 

 tory regulation of all kinds; they resisted gov- 



1 The United States in Our Own Times, 1865-1920, Chap. XXIV, 

 p. 501. 



