The United Labor Party was a short-lived alliance of 115 different labor unions and labor parties including the

Central Labor Union The Central Labor Union of New York, Brooklyn, and New Jersey was an early trade union organization that later broke up into various locals, which are now AFL–CIO members. The establishment of the CLU predates the consolidation of New York Cit ...

Knights of Labor Knights of Labor (K of L), officially Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was an American labor federation active in the late 19th century, especially the 1880s. It operated in the United States as well in Canada, and had chapters also ...

, and the

Socialist Labor Party The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...

. It was formed as a response of the rising "

red scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...

" following the

Haymarket Affair The Haymarket affair, also known as the Haymarket massacre, the Haymarket riot, the Haymarket Square riot, or the Haymarket Incident, was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square (C ...

. After the formation of the party, the party leaders reached out to

Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the eco ...

, who was sympathetic enough to labor to run under a labor banner but also educated enough to be a viable candidate, who eventually agreed to run for the United Labor Party after seeing 36,000 signatures in support of him. The party ran for the New York City mayoral position in 1886 with the candidate

, who ended in second, ahead of

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Candidate

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and behind the Democratic Candidate

Abram Hewitt Abram Stevens Hewitt (July 31, 1822January 18, 1903) was an American politician, educator, ironmaking industrialist, and lawyer who was mayor of New York City for two years from 1887–1888. He also twice served as a U.S. Congressman from an ...

. The Party also had an unsuccessful attempt to run in the

1887 Philadelphia mayoral election The 1887 Philadelphia mayoral election saw the election Edwin Henry Fitler. This was the first Philadelphia mayoral election to a 4-year term. Previously, since 1862, mayoral elections had been for three-year terms. Results References {{ ...

with the candidate Tomas Phillips. After the two elections, there was heavy conflict between the

Georgist Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...

faction of the party and the

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

faction of the party, eventually ending in a Georgist-Socialist split in 1887, which effectively ended the alliance.{{Cite news, date=August 23, 1887, title=UNITED LABOR PARTY MEETINGS., language=en-US, work=The New York Times, url=https://www.nytimes.com/1887/08/23/archives/united-labor-party-meetings.html, access-date=November 7, 2021, issn=0362-4331

References

Trade unions United States labor law Labor parties in the United States Knights of Labor Socialist Labor Party of America Political parties disestablished in 1887 1887 disestablishments in the United States Regional and state political parties in New York (state) State and local socialist parties in the United States