Populism and the World of Oz (2016)

I can’t say it’s not possible there is symbolism such as “the scarecrow represents farmers,” so when the scarecrow is elevated to the position of Ruler of the Emerald City, that symbolizes something.

At the literal level, though, the government in these books is an imperialist monarchy. We read all the books to my ten-year-old, and he had criticisms of this without us saying anything, pointing out it didn’t seem right for entire races/cultures that had never even heard of Princess Ozma to be considered her subjects and subject to her rule.

Did Baum ever confirm this political interpretation of his works? I've read about his writing approach and it doesn't seem likely to me. His intention was to create a body of fairy tales that was purely American, that is, without the influence of the Brothers Grimm and the like. He developed his manuscripts piecemeal, adding bits here and there as inspiration came, resulting in rather disjointed narratives.