Sarah Khan

Professor Marshall

History 25

1 March 2019

Reading Response

Both “The Workingmen’s Party of California” and “San Francisco’s Workingmen

Respond to the Modern City” describe the rise of the Workingmen’s Party, and how it provided

the Workingmen with economic, social, and political support. While “San Francisco’s

Workingmen Respond to the Modern City” focuses more on the circumstances that led to the

formation of the party, and the subsequent actions it took to better support the workingmen, “The

Workingmen’s Party of California” takes a more hardened stance against the party and its racial

discrimination against immigrants.

“The Workingmen’s Party of California” features multiple pictures and cartoons that

“document some of the issues raised by the party and the significant events in its history” (2,

California History Quarterly). The illustrations published by “The Illustrated Daily Open Letter,”

which was the official paper of the Workingmen’s party (WPC), often caricatured Chinese

immigrants as a “plague” and blamed them for the lack of jobs in the city. “San Francisco’s

Workingmen Respond to the Modern City” reiterated this point when the authors mentioned that

Chinese and European immigrants increased the labor force in the San Francisco, thus making it

harder for workingmen to find work. There were also advertisements released by the WPC that

communicated how “everyone who joined the party became part of an active community

organization which met social as well as political and economic needs” (9, California Historical
Society”. However, some of the illustrations featured in “The Workingmen’s Party of California”

criticized the party and its leader Denis Kearney. One such comic put out by “The Illustrated

Wasp” accused Kearney of being a profiteer who took advantage of the problems of the

workingmen.

While “San Francisco’s Workingmen Respond to the City” led me to believe that the

WPC was helpful in the way that it supported workingmen with their economic, social, spiritual,

psychological, and political problems, the pictures and illustrated featured in “The

Workingmen’s Party of California” painted a different picture. It highlighted the common racial

discrimination against Chinese immigrants and put the intensity of this discrimination into

perspective. After initially reading “San Francisco’s Workingmen,” I felt bad for the

workingmen, the poor conditions they endured, and the isolation they felt from their churches

and the Democratic party. However, as shown in “The Workingmen’s Party,” they actively

blamed Chinese immigrants for their issues, and led a strong campaign to expel the Chinese

immigrants from California. This immediately led me to change my stance on the Workingmen’s

Party. While the WPC provided great support for those men who felt lost and abandoned by their

churches and political party, it still made life increasingly difficult for the Chinese immigrants

that were living in the city at the time.