Workingmen's Party of California

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Workingmen's Party of California
AbbreviationWPC
Leader Denis Kearney
FoundedOctober 5, 1877;148 years ago (1877-10-05) [1]
Dissolvedc.October 1881;144 years ago (1881-10) [1]
HeadquartersCharter Oak Hall,
San Francisco, California, U.S. [2]
NewspaperDaily Sand Lot [1]
Membership15,000 (in San Francisco) [1]
Ideology Anti-Chinese racism [3]
Anti-monopolism [1] [4]
Factions:
Laborism [4]
Socialism [4]
Political position Left-wing [5] [6]
Slogan"The Chinese must go!"

The Workingmen's Party of California (WPC) was an American labor organization and political party, founded in 1877 and led by Denis Kearney. [7] Remembered primarily for its anti-Chinese racism, the party's famous slogan was "The Chinese must go!" [8]

Contents

Organizational history

Denis Kearney, founder of the Workingmen's Party of California Dennis Kearney.jpg
Denis Kearney, founder of the Workingmen's Party of California

As a result of heavy unemployment from the Long Depression, Sand Lot rallies erupted in San Francisco that led to the Party's formation in 1877. [9] In 1878, the party won 51 out of 152 delegates to California's Second Constitutional Convention (the most of any organized party), [1] rewriting the state constitution to deny Chinese Americans voting rights in California. [10] The most important part of the constitution included the formation of a California Railroad Commission that would oversee the activities of the Central Pacific Railroad that were run by Crocker, Huntington, Hopkins and Stanford. [11] In 1879, the party won 11 seats in the State Senate and 16 in the State Assembly. [1]

The party's goal was to "rid the country of Chinese cheap labor," [12] taking aim against Chinese emigrants and the railroad companies that employed them. [13] [14] Kearney's attacks against the Chinese were of a particularly virulent and openly racist nature, and found considerable support among working-class Californians of the time. Ironically, the party's strongest supporters were immigrants themselves; a majority of party members were Irish-born, with dedicated German, French, Swiss-Italian, Scandinavian and Spanish clubs. [15] [16] The party even attempted to organize the city's black community. [4]

Following the 1879 elections, the party began to decline in power and influence as its elected officials, stonewalled by their opponents and mostly inexperienced themselves, were unable to fulfill their bold campaign promises. In 1880, the party was torn apart by one faction seeking to affiliate with the Democratic Party and another seeking to affiliate with the Greenback-Labor Party. By October 1881, the Workingmen's Party had effectively ceased to exist. [1] The next year, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Relation to the WPUS

Kearney's party should not be confused with the Workingmen's Party of the United States (WPUS), which was mostly based in the Eastern United States. The branches of the Workingmen's Party of the United States located in California were absorbed into the Workingmen's Party of California after "practically all members" of the former abandoned the latter, [4] which was growing at a rapid rate and had adopted similar language. [17] One such member was Charles J. Beerstecher, elected to the Railroad Commission in 1879, who originally headed the German language section of the WPUS in San Francisco. [4]

Members

Organization ticket Workingmen's Party of California regular ticket - The Chinese Must Go.jpg
Organization ticket

City officials

State officials

  • Charles J. Beerstecher, Delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention (1878–1879), Rail Commissioner (1880–1883)
  • William F. White, Delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention (1878–1879), candidate for Governor (1879), Bank Commissioner (1879–1887)
  • James J. Ayers, Delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention (1878–1879), candidate for U.S. Representative (1879), State Printer (1883–1887)
  • Clitus Barbour, Delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention (1878–1879), candidate for U.S. Representative (1879)
  • C. C. O'Donnell, Delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention (1878–1879), Coroner of San Francisco (1885–1887) (elected as an Independent)
  • John W. Bones, California State Senator (1878–1880)
  • John P. West, Delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention (1878–1879), California State Senator (1880–1883)
  • Warren Chase, California State Senator (1880–1883)
  • Robert Desty, California State Senator-elect (1880, not seated)
  • Charles C. Conger, California State Senator (1880–1883)
  • Thomas Kane, California State Senator (1880–1883)
  • Thorwald Klaudius Nelson, Delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention (1878–1879), California State Senator (1880–1885)
  • Joseph C. Gorman, Delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention (1878–1879), California State Senator (1880–1883)
  • Martin Kelly, California State Senator (1880–1887)
  • John S. Enos, California State Senator (1880–1883)
  • Pierce H. Ryan, California State Senator (1880–1885)
  • Charles W. Cross, Delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention (1878–1879), candidate for California Attorney General (1879), California State Senator (1883–1887) (elected as a Democrat)
  • Thomas J. Pinder, California State Assemblyman (1881–1883), California State Senator (1887–1891) (elected as a Democrat)
  • Samuel Braunhart, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881), California State Senator (1897–1900), Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (1900–1906) (elected as a Democrat)
  • J. E. Clark, California State Assemblyman (1878–1880)
  • Elihu Anthony, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881)
  • William W. Cuthbert, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881)
  • Stephen J. Garibaldi, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881)
  • William J. Sinon, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881, 1883–1885) (elected as a Democrat)
  • John J. McCallion, California State Assemblyman (1880–1883)
  • Jeremiah J. McCarthy, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881)
  • Garrett Pickett, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881)
  • John Burns, California State Assemblyman (1880–1883)
  • Patrick T. Gaffey, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881)
  • Michael Lane, California State Assemblyman (1880–1883)
  • John J. McDade, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881), Sheriff of San Francisco (1893–1894)
  • A. B. Maguire, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881), Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (1900) (elected as a Democrat)
  • Stephen Maybell, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881)
  • Jeremiah Levee, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881)
  • Anderson M. Walker, California State Assemblyman (1880–1881)
  • Dennis Geary, California State Assemblyman (1881–1882)
  • Horace J. Jackson, California State Assemblyman (1881–1883)

Other members

Endorsees

City officials

State officials

  • Robert F. Morrison, Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court (1879–1887) (elected as a Democrat)
  • Elisha W. McKinstry, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1874–1888) (elected as a Democrat)
  • Erskine Mayo Ross, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1880–1886) (elected as a Democrat)
  • Samuel B. McKee, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1880–1887) (elected as a Democrat)
  • James D. Thornton, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1880–1891) (elected as a Democrat)
  • John Sharpstein, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1880–1892) (elected as a Democrat)
  • George Stoneman, Rail Commissioner (1880–1883), Governor of California (1883–1887) (elected as a Democrat)
  • William J. Hill, California State Senator (1880–1883) (elected as a Republican)

Federal officials

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kauer, Ralph (September 1944). "The Workingmen's Party of California". Pacific Historical Review . 13 (3): 280, 282–283, 286–289. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  2. ↑ Lumea, John. "Even in Death and Wax, the Eyes of the Emperor Were on the Former HQ of Denis Kearney's Anti-Chinese Crusade". emperornortontrust.org. The Emperor Norton Trust . Retrieved 30 October 2025.
  3. ↑ Foner, Philip S. (1984). The Workingmen's Party of the United States: A History of the First Marxist Party in the Americas. Minneapolis: MEP Publications. p. 77. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Shumsky, Neil Larry (1991). The Evolution of Political Protest and the Workingmen's Party of California. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. pp. 21–29, 153–154, 202–203, 206–207. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  5. ↑ Mohan, Hugh J.; Clough, E. H.; Cosgrave, John P. (1880). Pen Pictures of Our Representative Men. Sacramento: H. A. Weaver's Valley Press. p. 53. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  6. ↑ "WASP: Bipartisan Consensus and the Rise of the Workingmen's Party of California - FoundSF". www.foundsf.org. Retrieved 2025-03-16.
  7. ↑ Cross, Ira. "Denis Kearney Organizes the Workingmen". West Valley College. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  8. ↑ Huping Ling; Allan W. Austin (17 March 2015). Asian American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. pp. 1346–. ISBN   978-1-317-47644-3.
  9. ↑ William B. Secrest (October 2004). California Feuds: Vengeance, Vendettas & Violence on the Old West Coast. Quill Driver Books. pp. 106–. ISBN   978-1-884995-42-2.
  10. ↑ "Denis Kearney and the California Anti-Chinese Campaign". The Chinese Experience. HarpWeek, LLC. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  11. ↑ Stephanie S. Pincetl (10 March 2003). Transforming California: A Political History of Land Use and Development. JHU Press. p. 23. ISBN   978-0-8018-7312-6.
  12. ↑ ""Our Misery and Despair": Kearney Blasts Chinese Immigration". History Matters, U.S. Survey Course on The Web. American Social History Productions, Inc., George Mason University & Graduate Center, CUNY. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  13. ↑ Dunn, Geoffrey (1983). Santa Cruz is in the Heart. Capitola Book Company. ISBN   0932319025.
  14. ↑ "Appeal from California. The Chinese Invasion. Workingmen's Address". historymatters.gmu.edu. Indianapolis Times. 28 February 1878. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  15. ↑ "THE WORKINGMEN". The Morning Call . San Francisco. 30 July 1879. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  16. ↑ "KEARNEY'S COMMITTEE". San Francisco Chronicle . San Francisco. 11 May 1878. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  17. ↑ Cross, Ira B. (Ira Brown) (1974). A History of the Labor Movement in California. Internet Archive. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 97. ISBN   978-0-520-02646-9.

Further reading

Books and pamphlets

Journal articles and dissertations

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