The Working Men's Parties (whose members were known as "the Workies") were the first labor-oriented political organizations in the United States. The first Working Men's Party was founded in Philadelphia in 1828. Similar parties were also established in New York City and Boston. Additionally, party member George Henry Evans established the Working Man’s Advocate, the first labor newspaper, in 1829.
The political platforms of the Working Men's Parties included such planks as state-supported public education, universal male suffrage, protection from debtor imprisonment and compulsory service in the militia, and shorter working hours. The Workingmen's Party attacked both the Whigs and the Democrats for their lack of interest in labor, and they achieved sizable votes in municipal elections.
Despite some local electoral successes, the Workingmen's Parties effectively died out in the early 1830s. Likely causes for this decline and disappearance include lack of experience with political organization, factional disputes over doctrine and leadership, and incursions by the increasingly pro-labor Democratic Party.
Famous quotes containing the words working, men and/or party:
“Generally there is no consistent evidence of significant differences in school achievement between children of working and nonworking mothers, but differences that do appear are often related to maternal satisfaction with her chosen role, and the quality of substitute care.”
—Ruth E. Zambrana, U.S. researcher, M. Hurst, and R.L. Hite. “The Working Mother in Contemporary Perspectives: A Review of Literature,” Pediatrics (December 1979)
“A man’s real life is that accorded to him in the thoughts of other men by reason of respect or natural love.”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)
“... the idea of a classless society is ... a disastrous mirage which cannot be maintained without tyranny of the few over the many. It is even more pernicious culturally than politically, not because the monolithic state forces the party line upon its intellectuals and artists, but because it has no social patterns to reflect.”
—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)