Dominated by agriculture in an often harsh climate, the Oklahoma Territory was in this period one of the last undeveloped frontiers of the continental United States.

With the regional economy dominated by the massive economic power of great railroads and large financial entities, an ethic of agrarian radicalism developed among many of Oklahoma's debt-ridden and impoverished small-holding farmers.

[1] It was there that the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes" — the Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Muscogee (Creek) peoples — were relocated at that time, clearing the way for European-American colonization of their previous lands.

It was originally envisioned that part of this land ceded back to the Federal government after the conclusion of the Civil War would be used for the settlement of freed African-American slaves, but no such systematic relocation campaign was conducted.

[2] At the end of the 1880s, nearly two million acres (810,000 hectares) of unused land remained in the Federal inventory at the center of the present state.

Expectant settlers known as "Boomers" began to organize in neighboring Kansas, agitating the government to open the Unassigned Lands for settlement and promising the mutual support of their members for the establishment of their individual claims.

[4] Public pressure and the ongoing pattern of illegal occupation began to move the wheels of government towards a fundamental transformation of its Indian policy.

[7] Thugs squatting on prime land sometimes kept their rightful owners off their own property until matters could be litigated in court, further impeding the development of viable farms.

[10] On top of the difficulties faced in the launching of a new agricultural economy came the insertion from neighboring states of a resource-draining financial and business apparatus.

[19] The victory of the "fusionists" over "mid-road" adherents, followed by Bryan's defeat at the polls in 1896 proved a near mortal blow to the People's Party, which very nearly dissolved in the aftermath.

With the effective demise of the People's Party, a new organization game to the fore to advance the issues of the impoverished small-holding and tenant farmers of the Oklahoma and Indian Territories.

Farmers continued to suffer greatly unfavorable terms for credit or rent while receiving extremely low prices for the cotton, corn, and wheat which they produced.

[21] Southern agriculture was the hardest hit in the nation, and the regional blight which plagued the cotton economy impacted even the Southwestern state of Oklahoma.

By 1910 half the farmers of the South worked on land which they did not own, with between one-quarter and one-half of their annual production lost off the top to rent.

Although nominally a Marxist party based upon the idea of organization of the working class, in Oklahoma the impoverished and exploited small-holders and tenant farmers were seen as a sort of "substitute proletariat" by Socialist activists.

One prominent party organizer, Oscar Ameringer, declared after his extensive travels throughout the state that "Oklahoma farmers' standard of living was so far below the sweatshop workers of the New York east side that comparison should not be thought of.

[30] In certain counties the Socialist Presidential ticket of Eugene V. Debs and Ben Hanford drew a quarter of the votes cast.

[33] The Socialists further advanced their demand for "constant enlargement of the public domain" on behalf of tenant farmers during the next election cycle.

[35] The agriculturally oriented Oklahoma party's call for the expansion of state ownership of farmland for the benefit of landless tenants, funded by stringent taxes upon land speculators, went unheeded.

The rise of the party in Oklahoma was accompanied by a degree of factional tension, with its rank and file being dominated by the left-wing "Reds" who supported a decentralized form of organization, and its most prominent leaders including social democratic "Yellows" such as Ameringer and Otto Branstetter who wanted to implement more centralized structures along the lines of those established by Victor Berger in Milwaukee.

In the November 1916 elections Socialists maintaining at least a 20% share of the vote in 22 counties, with the percentage in some rural precincts hitting the 50% mark.

[40] The Socialist presidential ticket headed by Allan L. Benson gained 15% of the state vote, nearly equalling the 16% cast for Eugene V. Debs by Oklahoma voters in the previous election.

Expenses were defrayed from collections taken at meetings and funds raised by chambers of commerce in the nearest trading centers... "These encampments were attended by an average of 5,000 people, and they meant business.

Or at least it looked as though the social revolution were just around the corner..."[42]Question and answer sessions, educational lectures by prominent orators such as Eugene V. Debs, Walter Thomas Mills, and Kate Richards O'Hare, singing and instrumental music, and discussions around the campfire marked these Socialist encampments.

[44] The editor of the Marshall County News-Democrat threw more gasoline on the fire, condemning the Socialist opposition as "lying reprobates and degenerate libertines" who should "all be driven from the American continent.

[46] This group of wealthy citizens and community leaders launched a coordinated campaign against the "dangerous" internationalist and pacifist ideas of the Socialist movement.

[46] Local councils committed acts of violence against dissidents, including the use of tar and feathers, application of yellow paint, and flogging.

Oklahoma suffered from widespread Germanophobia, which saw the cities of Kiel, Bismark, and Korn were renamed Loyal, Wright, and Corn, respectively.

Only a small handful of at large members remained on the party's membership rolls, with all locals and the state organization discontinued.

In February 1928 effort on the part of the SPA's National Office in Chicago began to be exerted to reestablish the Socialist Party of Oklahoma, with the state's at large members reached via mail with a view to the calling of a state conference in Oklahoma City prior to the party's national convention late in the spring.