Seeks to uncover the democratic, populist, and even anticapitalist legacy of the middle class. By examining, in particular, the independent small business sector or petite bourgeoisie, using Progressive Era Portland, Oregon, as a case study, this book shows that class still matters in America.

List of Illustrations and Maps ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xvii PART I: REHABILITATING THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS 1 One: Rethinking the Middle Class: Politics, History, and Theory 3 Two: Curt Muller and the Capitalist Middle Class: Social Misconstructions of Reality 18 Three: Harry Lane and the Radicalism of Middle-Class Reform 29 PART II: THE POPULIST POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PROGRESSIVE ERA PORTLAND 47 Four: The Contours of Class in Portland 51 Five: Capitalism, Anticapitalism, and the Solidarity of Middle Class and Working Class 74 Six: Petit Bourgeois Politics in Portland and World History 90 Seven: Will Daly: The Petit Bourgeois Hero of Labor 99 PART III: "THE MOST COMPLETE DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD": THE POPULIST RADICALISM OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY 115 Eight: Direct Democracy as Antidemocracy? The Evolution of the Oregon System, 1884-1908 119 Nine: Direct Democracy's Mechanic: William S. U'Ren 127 Ten: From the Grand Reorganization to a Syndicalism of Housewives: Feminist Populism and the Other Spirit of '76 138 Eleven: The Political Economy of Populist Democracy: The Single Tax Movement in Portland, 1908-1916 159 PART IV: A POPULISM OF THE BODY: THE RATIONALITY AND RADICALISM OF ANTIVACCINATIONISM 177 Twelve: A Deluded Mob of Ignorant Fools? The Historiography of Antivaccination, and the Risks of Vaccination 179 Thirteen: Shutting Down the Schools: Parents and Protest in Mt. Scott 191 Fourteen: From the Death of a Child to Sedition against the State: The Life and Ideology of Lora C. Little 197 Fifteen: Direct Democracy and Antivaccination 207 Sixteen: The Success and Radicalism of Antivaccination 218 PART V. THE USES OF POPULISM AFTER PROGRESSIVISM: THE 1922 SCHOOL BILL AND THE TRIUMPH OF THE KU KLUX KLAN 221 Seventeen: School Boards and Strikes: Petite Bourgeoisie against Elite 223 Eighteen: Liberal Populism: The Compulsory Public School Bill 227 Nineteen: Corporate Tools: The Middling World of the Portland Klan 234 Twenty: The Producer's Call and the Portland Housewives' Council: The Tenuous Survival of Petit Bourgeois Radicalism 248 PART VI: CONCLUSION: POPULISM, CAPITALISM, AND THE POLITICS OF THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS 255 Twenty-One: The Lower Middle Class in the American Century 257 Twenty-Two: The Fate of Populism: Moral Economy and the Resurgence of Middle-Class Politics 266 Appendix 1: Tables 279 Appendix 2: Map, Voter Registration Density by Precinct, 1916 291 Abbreviations 293 Notes 295 Index 381

"A historical tour de force of the Progressive era in a middle class city, Professor Johnston's book will begin to unravel the stultifying stereotyping of the middle classes and remove cobwebs of inaction from the minds of today's civic organizers and thinkers."—Ralph Nader

"This is one of the most original, provocative, and imaginative works about the modern U.S. that I have read in years. Johnston has produced far more than a splendid history about the neglected politics of a neglected city. His book is studded with insights about what it meant and means to be middle class and the fecund nature of populism in industrial and post-industrial America. What is more, he gives us hope for the future."—Michael Kazin, Georgetown University, author of The Populist Persuasion: An American History

"Johnston's daring, meticulous, subtle, and analytically acute study of Portland's lower middle class leaves hundreds of shallow and condescending cliches about the petite bourgeoisie mortally wounded or gasping for breath in its splendid wake. He succeeds in restoring the historical autonomy, particularity, and egalitarian moral economy of America's lower middle classes. As with E.P. Thompson's history of the English working class, subsequent work on the middle class in America must now take this study as its point of departure."—James C. Scott, author of Seeing Like a State

"Johnston seizes the Progressive Era and gives it back to the people. He argues that the roots of reform flourished among average citizens, those who thought that they could change the world by reasoning and voting together. This is a book about democracy at its best. Johnston recalls America's potential and underscores the paramount importance of civic activism on the local level."—Glenda E. Gilmore, editor of Who Were the Progesssives? and author of Gender and Jim Crow

"In this very exciting study, Johnston has truly broken new ground. For all its theoretical sophistication, the book is written with flair and is blessedly free of arcane jargon. The prose is clear, powerful, and even jaunty at times. The Radical Middle Class will become one of those rare and important books that no scholar of U.S. class relations and politics will be able to ignore."—Elaine Tyler May, author of Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era

"Robert Johnston has written a terrific book, engaging one of the most neglected and important topics in U.S. history: the political history of the middle class. More successful than some of his predecessors, he gives middle-class Americans the history they so richly deserve. Powerfully argued, splendidly told, and provocatively fresh, The Radical Middle Class marks a milestone in the historiography of the American middle class. It is really the first book of its kind."—Sven Beckert, Harvard University, author of The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie

A historical tour de force of the Progressive era in a middle class city, Professor Johnston's book will begin to unravel the stultifying stereotyping of the middle classes and remove cobwebs of inaction from the minds of today's civic organizers and thinkers. -- Ralph Nader This is one of the most original, provocative, and imaginative works about the modern U.S. that I have read in years. Johnston has produced far more than a splendid history about the neglected politics of a neglected city. His book is studded with insights about what it meant and means to be middle class and the fecund nature of populism in industrial and post-industrial America. What is more, he gives us hope for the future. -- Michael Kazin, Georgetown University, author of "The Populist Persuasion: An American History" Johnston's daring, meticulous, subtle, and analytically acute study of Portland's lower middle class leaves hundreds of shallow and condescending cliches about the petite bourgeoisie mortally wounded or gasping for breath in its splendid wake. He succeeds in restoring the historical autonomy, particularity, and egalitarian moral economy of America's lower middle classes. As with E.P. Thompson's history of the English working class, subsequent work on the middle class in America must now take this study as its point of departure. -- James C. Scott, author of "Seeing Like a State" Johnston seizes the Progressive Era and gives it back to the people. He argues that the roots of reform flourished among average citizens, those who thought that they could change the world by reasoning and voting together. This is a book about democracy at its best. Johnston recalls America's potential and underscores the paramount importance of civic activism on the local level. -- Glenda E. Gilmore, editor of "Who Were the Progesssives?" and author of "Gender and Jim Crow" In this very exciting study, Johnston has truly broken new ground. For all its theoretical sophistication, the book is written with flair and is blessedly free of arcane jargon. The prose is clear, powerful, and even jaunty at times. The Radical Middle Class will become one of those rare and important books that no scholar of U.S. class relations and politics will be able to ignore. -- Elaine Tyler May, author of "Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era" Robert Johnston has written a terrific book, engaging one of the most neglected and important topics in U.S. history: the political history of the middle class. More successful than some of his predecessors, he gives middle-class Americans the history they so richly deserve. Powerfully argued, splendidly told, and provocatively fresh, The Radical Middle Class marks a milestone in the historiography of the American middle class. It is really the first book of its kind. -- Sven Beckert, Harvard University, author of "The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie"