 He became a charter member of the Cameron Sub-Alliance (local group) early in 1886 and was named a delegate to the Texas state convention in August of that year, where he wowed his peers and was elected Chairman of the State Executive Committee.Thereafter, Macune became deeply involved in Alliance activities, seeking to rapidly expand the formation of cotton cooperatives to enable the farmers of the Alliance to produce more efficiently, with less financial loss to middlemen.Macune had a grand vision for the Farmers' Alliance, but one in which the organization served an economic and educational function rather than a political one.