populism, a label often applied to the KKK, points to another of its ancestors. but populism is a slippery term. in the 1890's "populism" was a left movement. 

it expressed the economic grievances of small grain and cotton farmers, coal miners, railroad workers, and small businessmen against big finance and big business, especially the railroads, whose policies were hurting them.

this populism not only spoke in the name of the common people but also mobilized common people into activism.

a century later, "populism" has become a term applied to social movements that express anger. by this definition any movement critical of the status quo and evoking grassroots activism could be called populist, and the term thereby loses any specificity. 

linda gordon,
the second coming of the kkk.