Workingmen's Party of California

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"The Chinese must go" redirects here. For the play, see The Chinese Must Go: A Farce in Four Acts.
This article is about the 1877 racist party in California. For 1876 socialist party in the eastern United States, see Workingmen's Party of the United States. For other uses, see Workingmen's Party (disambiguation).
Workingmen's Party of California
Founded1877; 147 years ago (1877)
Dissolved1883; 141 years ago (1883)
Elections
Denis Kearney, founder of the Workingmen's Party of California

The Workingmen's Party of California (WPC) was an American labor organization, founded in 1877 and led by Denis Kearney, J. G. Day, and H. L. Knight.[1]

Its famous slogan was "The Chinese must go!"[2]

Organizational history

The Chinese must go!

As a result of heavy unemployment from the 1873–1878 national depression, Sand Lot rallies erupted in San Francisco that led to the Party's formation in 1877.[3] The party won 11 seats in the State Senate and 17 in the State Assembly by 1878 and then rewrote the state's constitution,[4] denying Chinese citizens voting rights in California. The most important part of the constitution included the formation of California Railroad Commission that would oversee the activities of the Central and Pacific Railroad companies that were run by Crocker, Huntington, Hopkins and Stanford.[failed verification][5]

The party took particular aim against cheap

Chinese Exclusion Act
of 1882.

By 1883, there were no WPC members left in either the state senate or state house of representatives.

Kearney's party should not be confused with the Workingmen's Party of the United States, which was mostly based in the Eastern United States. The branches of the Workingmen's Party of the United States that were in California were absorbed into the Workingmen's Party of California after the latter was growing at a rapid rate and had adopted similar language.[9]

References

  1. ^ Cross, Ira. "Denis Kearney Organizes the Workingmen". West Valley College. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  2. ISBN 978-1-317-47644-3
    .
  3. ISBN 978-1-884995-42-2
    .
  4. ISBN 978-0-8018-7312-6
    .
  5. ^ "Denis Kearney and the California Anti-Chinese Campaign". The Chinese Experience. HarpWeek, LLC. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  6. ISBN 0932319025
    .
  7. ^ "Appeal from California. The Chinese Invasion. Workingmen's Address". historymatters.gmu.edu. Indianapolis Times. 28 February 1878. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  8. ^ ""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.
  9. ISBN 978-0-520-02646-9
    .

Further reading

Books and pamphlets

Journal articles and dissertations

  • Frank Michael Fahey, Denis Kearney: A Study in Demagoguery. Ph.D. dissertation. Stanford University, 1956.
  • Roger William Hite, The Public Speaking of Denis Kearney, Labor Agitator. M.S. thesis. University of Oregon, 1967.
  • Helen Havens Ingalls, The History of the Workingmen's Party of California. M.A. thesis. University of California, Berkeley, 1919.
  • Charles Herzl Kahn, In-group and Out-group Responses to Radical Party Leadership: A Study of the Workingmen's Party of California. M.A. thesis. University of California, Berkeley, 1951.
  • Carole Carter Mauss, The San Jose Branch of the Workingmen's Party of California, 1878-1880. M.A. thesis, San Jose State University, 1997.
  • Doyce B. Nunis, Jr., "The Demagogue and the Demographer: Correspondence of Denis Kearney and Lord Bryce," Pacific Historical Review, vol. 36, no. 3 (August 1967), pp. 269–288.
  • Mary Gabriel O'Connor, Denis Kearney, Sand-lot Orator: A Chronicle of California. M.A. thesis. Dominican College of San Rafael [CA], 1937.
  • Robert Dean Potter, Denis Kearney: A Reappraisal. M.A. thesis. Chico State University, 1969.
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