Rediscovering Texas’s Radical Left Past

In the 1880s, the spread of barbed wire—described by Griscom as “the devil’s rope”—enabled wealthy landowners to enclose public grazing lands, prompting “fence-cutting” protests by cowboys organized in groups such as the Blue Devils and the Knights of the Knippers. The state responded with a special legislative session in 1884 that made fence-cutting a felony punishable by up to five years in prison while criminalizing unauthorized fencing.

The Guardian

Cowboys also organized a strike in 1883 over low wages on privatized ranches; the U.S. commissioner of labor’s report indicates the strikers secured their demands, contradicting later myths of drunken failure. By the early 1900s, these movements helped Texas form the third-largest socialist party in the United States.

The Guardian

Contemporary figures invoking this heritage include Democratic state representative James Talarico, Senate candidate and former teacher, who frames billionaire influence as “class warfare.” Union leader Taylor Rehmet’s February special-election win in a district Donald Trump carried by 17 points in 2024 further illustrates the resurgence of left-populist momentum.

The Guardian

• The 1884 law imposed up to five years imprisonment for fence-cutting.

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• Texas’s socialist party ranked third nationally by the early 1900s.

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• In the 2018 Senate race, more native-born Texans voted for Democrat Beto O’Rourke than incumbent Ted Cruz, though Cruz ultimately won.

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• Recent polls show native Texans leaning more Republican than recent in-migration from California or New York, despite the historical left-leaning undercurrents.

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Griscom also argues that building a mass-appeal populist coalition requires “people power” rooted in working-class communities, rather than reliance on wealthy far-right financiers.

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• “People almost immediately saw barbed wire for what it was, which was a tool of dispossession,” — David Griscom, author

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• “It really shows the unequal way that the state and the legal system were developing in Texas and what that was a response to,” — David Griscom, author

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• “He needs to avoid the siren song of moving to the right economically,” — David Griscom, author

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• “If you look at the history of the Texas populous movement, that was their great advantage,” — David Griscom, author

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