The First Blow

SOURCE: "The First Blow at the Chinese Question" (artist: Keller), The Wasp, 8 December 1877; University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library.

Denis Kearney organized the Working Men’s Party of California on October 5, 1877, proclaiming a membership of 10,000. The object was to unite the poor working class against the exploitation of capital and upgrade conditions. They cursed the railroads and pro-Chinese politicians. They attacked the Chinese as tools of the capitalists and proposed to rid the country of "cheap" Chinese labor.