WPC leaders told white workers they were being squeezed on two sides: by the very wealthy and by their tool, Chinese workers, who took the available jobs. Thus the racism practiced by the Workingmen’s Party of California was rooted in economic fear. Like all racism, however, it went beyond rational calculation and slid quickly into the shadows of the irrational.

Not all members of the WPC blamed the Chinese for their troubles. Frank Roney argued that the measures being proposed against the Chinese were “brutal and such as no self-respecting people would dream of imposing on any race within their midst.” Despite his experiences with unemployment, he didn’t consider the Chinese the source of his personal misery. He felt that the Chinese workers, if left alone, would gradually improve their economic position like other immigrant groups and cease to undercut the wages of other workers.

But more San Franciscans were swayed by another Irish immigrant. Denis Kearney had arrived in the city in 1868. Within a few years he had saved enough money to buy a small drayage firm. He became a naturalized citizen in 1876. A convincing, if crude, orator, Kearney articulated the resentments of white workers at the decaying economic conditions facing them, even though he had become an employer. He also reflected the fears of small business and property owners that only a thin, weak barrier separated them from financial ruin.

Kearney coined the WPC’s slogan, “The Chinese must go!” He was jailed a number of times for his inflammatory sandlot speeches. In fall of 1877 he led a meeting of several thousand on Nob Hill, across the street from Mark Hopkins’s mansion. He delighted the crowd by promising to lead them “to the City Hall, clean out the police force, hang the Prosecuting Attorney, burn every book that has a particle of law in it, and then enact new laws for the workingmen.” He also said, “If I give an order to hang Crocker, it will be done.”