Radical-Party Politics in Illinois, 1880–1924*

Sufficient impressionistic evidence exists in the previous literature to warrant a detailed consideration of the voting behavior of working-class and minority groups in relation to radical third parties. The present paper is concerned with analyzing some of the sources of support for radical third parties in Illinois from 1880 to 1924. We find that a coalition between a rural proletariat and the urban working class appeared to be a potentially viable source of support for the Socialist Party of America, since the groups involved were both numerically large and potentially crucial in determining the outcome of any election. Yet the Socialists were never able to capture more than a very modest fraction of the total vote, and even among their potential backers, the electoral enthusiasm for the Socialists was fractionalized and unstable.