The Political Theologies of Populism: The Garveyites, the Klan, and the Wobblies, 1905-1930 - Paperback

by Colin Bossen (Author)

An excavation of populist movements in the US and their associated religious tropes.

In this work, author Colin Bossen argues that for over a century, American populist movements--even explicitly secular ones--have drawn on religious ideas and practices to infuse their politics and bring people together. Bossen explores Pan-African populism, white supremacist populism, and early twentieth-century pluralistic populism in the United States that coalesced into well-known, vastly different groups with a lasting presence in the American imagination: the Universal Negro Improvement Association (also known as the Garveyites), the Ku Klux Klan, and the Industrial Workers of the World (also known as the Wobblies). This book employs both historical analysis and political theory to unpack the trajectory of these groups and to illustrate how their respective search for belonging showcases as similar principles, despite their extremely different beliefs. This is a finding that, Bossen argues, exemplifies the mechanisms behind twenty-first-century politics, including the rise of Trumpism. This groundbreaking comparative analysis challenges readers to consider the repetition of history in today's political landscape and shows them how to rise to the challenges of our current political moment.

Back Jacket

In this book, Bossen argues that American populist movements, even explicitly secular ones, have long drawn on religious ideas and practices to infuse their politics and bring people together. He analyzes three well-known populist organizations from the early twentieth century: the Universal Negro Improvement Association, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Industrial Workers of the World. Across these vastly different organizations, political theologies--the way that religious ideas and practices are incorporated into politics--have been central to the people-making work of politics. Considering both historical and contemporary evidence, Bossen argues that this analysis can help us understand the alarming white supremacist populism on the rise today.

Author Biography

Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen is senior minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston and a visiting fellow with Harris Manchester College at the University of Oxford. He is the coauthor of Resistance and Transformation: Unitarian Universalist Social Justice History and author of the forthcoming publications American Populism and Unitarian Universalism and Unitarian Universality Theologies: A Global Study.