<P> During their move towards consolidation in 1889, the leaders of both Southern Farmers' Alliance and the Agricultural Wheel organizations contacted Terence V. Powderly, leader of the Knights of Labor . "This contact between leaders of the farmers' movement and Powderly helped pave the way for a series of reform conferences held between December 1889 and July 1892 that resulted in the formation of the national People's (or Populist) Party ." </P> <P> The drive to create a new political party out of the movement arose from the belief that the two major parties, Democrats and Republicans, were controlled by bankers, landowners and elites hostile to the needs of the small farmer . The movement reached its peak in 1892 when the party held a convention chaired by Frances Willard (leader of the WCTU and a friend of Powderly's) in Omaha, Nebraska and nominated candidates for the national election . </P> <P> The party's platform, commonly known as the Omaha Platform, called for the abolition of national banks, a graduated income tax, direct election of Senators, civil service reform, a working day of eight hours and Government control of all railroads, telegraphs, and telephones . In the 1892 Presidential election, James B. Weaver received 1,027,329 votes . Weaver carried four states (Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, and Nevada) and received electoral votes from Oregon and North Dakota as well . </P> <P> The party flourished most among farmers in the Southwest and Great Plains, as well as making significant gains in the South, where they faced an uphill battle given the firmly entrenched monopoly of the Democratic Party . Success was often obtained through electoral fusion, with the Democrats outside the South, but with alliances with the Republicans in Southern states like Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas . For example, in the elections of 1894, a coalition of Populists and Republicans led by Populist Marion Butler swept state and local offices in North Carolina, and the coalition would go on to elect Republican Daniel Lindsay Russell as Governor in 1896 . </P>

What were the planks of the people’s party