STEVE BABSON
The Forgotten Populists: When Farmers Turned Left to Save Democracy
"Right-wing populism is an oxymoron,: says Babson. "The very term populist was originated by groups that favored economic cooperatives, public ownership of railroads and utilities, low cost federal loans for struggling farmers, a postal savings bank, and an end to the gold standard. Charlatans who want to manipulate the voting public are demagogues, not populists....the original populists of the 1890s would have detested the likes of Trump, a right-wing billionaire from New York City."
Steve Babson is a labor educator and union activist living in New York. He received a PhD in U.S. history from Wayne State University, where he worked as an instructor and extension program coordinator for the Labor Studies Center. He has published six books, including The Making of a Union Town, Lean Work, and The Color of Law: Ernie Goodman and the Struggle for Labor and Civil Rights in Detroit.

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