A political scientist on the Yellow Brick Road

The following is a condensed version of the controversialarticle submitted by Michael Genovese to the Los Angelese Times andsyndicated nationally.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was, and is, much more than achildren's fantasy. As conceived and written by Lyman Frank Baum in1900, The Wizard of Oz was a political allegory ofturn-of-the-century America. Written in the waning days of thePopulist movement of the late 1800s, it was the story of the sadcollapse of Populism and the issues upon which the movement wasbased.

The Populist Party was headed by one of America's greatestorators, William Jennings Bryan. It proposed government ownership ofrailroads and other industries and advocated moving off the goldstandard to silver-backed currency.

The presidential election of 1896 proved to be the high-watermark for the party. Their standard bearer, Mr. Bryan (famed for thespeech in which he accused the banks of crucifying the farmer on a"cross of gold"), lost to Republican candidate William McKinley byonly 95 electoral votes.

But the Populists rapidly faded from the political scene asprosperity returned under Mr. McKinley and as politicians like TeddyRoosevelt adopted some of their positions.

Mr. Baum, who edited a weekly paper in South Dakota beforemoving to Chicago, lamented the decline of the alliance between thefarmer and urban worker and the subsequent decline of the party.

Although The Wizard of Oz was written and published (with greatsuccess) as a children's fantasy, Mr. Baum clearly had Populism'smisfortune in mind.

The allegory begins with the title. Oz is the abbreviation forounce, the standard measure used for gold.

Dorothy represents Everyman, the Tin Woodman is the industrialworker, the Scarecrow is the farmer, the Cowardly Lion is WilliamJennings Bryan, the Wizard is the president, the Munchkins are the"little people," and the Yellow Brick Road is the gold standard.Toto probably represents a dog.

In the story, Dorothy is swept away from Kansas in a tornado andarrives in a mysterious land inhabited by "little people." Herlanding kills the wicked Witch of the East (bankers and capitalists),who "kept the Munchkin people in bondage."

In the movie, Dorothy begins her journey through the Land of Ozwearing ruby slippers, but in the original story Dorothy's magicalslippers are silver.

Along the way on the yellow brick (gold) road, she meets a TinWoodman, who is "rusted solid" (a reference to the industrialfactories shut down during the depression of 1893). The TinWoodman's real problem, however, is that he doesn't have a heart (theresult of the dehumanizing work in the factory that turned men intomachines).

Farther down the road, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, who iswithout a brain (the farmer, Mr. Baum suggests, doesn't have enoughbrains to recognize what his political interests are). Next Dorothymeets the Cowardly Lion, an animal in need of courage (Mr. Bryan,with a load roar but little else). Together they go off to theEmerald City (Washington) in search of what the wonderful Wizard ofOz (the president) might give them.

As the last hurrah of the Populist movement in America, TheWizard of Oz is a political parable rich in historical significance.As so, next time you sit down and join Dorothy and Toto and friendson their adventure, remember: You are taking a Populist journey insearch of a new political order that replaces the power of industrialcapitalists with a farmers-workers alliance. Have a pleasant trip.

Michael A. Genovese teaches political science and is director ofthe Peace Studies Program at Loyola Marymount University in LosAngeles.