Hawaii had a
dominant-party system since the 1893
overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. In the years preceding the coup, the 1887
Bayonet Constitution had taken most of the power away from the monarchy and allowed the
Republican Party to dominate the legislature. Besides a brief change of power to the
Home Rule Party following annexation, the Republicans had run the
Territory of Hawaii. The
industrialist Republicans formed a powerful sugar
oligarchy, the
Big Five. Illustrative of the prominence of industrialists in the political and social life of the territory was the controversial
trial of
Grace Fortescue for the murder of
Joseph Kahahawai. Following her conviction territorial governor
Lawrence M. Judd commuted her 10-year sentence for
manslaughter to one hour. Many felt the trial was a failure of justice from political forces. Among the unhappy residents of Hawaii was
John A. Burns, a police officer during the trial. Burns founded a movement by collecting support from the impoverished sugar plantation workers. He also restored strength to the divided and weak Democratic Party of Hawaii.
ILWU The Hilo Longshoremen led by Jack Kawano began unified
strikes in the 1930s. The Hilo Longshoremen merged with the
ILWU, and
Jack Wayne Hall was sent to Hawaii. Among these unified strikes was the disastrous
1938 strike in Hilo against the Inter-Island Steamship Company. During
World War II striking was put on hold as the members dedicated their efforts towards the war. In 1944 the ILWU and
Communist Party of Hawaii put their support behind the Democratic Party since it became apparent that Burns and his movement wanted to empower the
working class. This meeting in 1944 has been considered the beginning of the movement. The movement became known as the "Burns Machine". Burns admitted in 1975 that Communist Party members in the ILWU provided vital experience in maintaining secrecy and organizing support among labor workers while keeping the early movement underground. harvesting
sugar cane in 1885. After the
overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy by a group of foreign and local residents, the members were not restrained in
industrializing the Islands, forming plantations and the Big Five.
Economic inequality increased, largely caused by the hyper-concentration of wealth among the planters. On the plantations earlier strikes had failed, as when an ethnic camp went on strike the other ethnic groups' camps acted as
strikebreakers; the traditional example was the Japanese and
Filipino camps' rivalry. The next generation of workers were children of the immigrant workers, born in Hawaii:
Niseis, were a major demographic factor in favor of the movement. Many immigrant workers were denied citizenship but could live and work in the islands
under contract. The children of these workers who were born in Hawaii
automatically became citizens and at this time they began to come of age to be registered voters and could express their dissatisfaction with their votes. They also had gone to school with children from the other ethnic camps and sometimes intermarried them, and therefore did not express the strong ethnic rivalries that their parents had. After the meeting in 1944, Jack Hall began organizing these plantation workers in a strike campaign known as the March Inland for better working conditions and pay. After the war, Burns was able to gain support from
Japanese American veterans of the
100th and
442nd returning home. He encouraged the veterans to become educated under the
G.I. Bill and to run for public office.
Daniel Inouye, who would become a very prominent US senator, was one of the first veterans he recruited and became a prominent member of the movement.
March Inland Hall and Kawano's strikes resumed after the war. The ILWU helped to organize the plantation workers spreading
unionization from the sea to the land. The successful campaign boosted the union's Hawaiian membership to a sizable 25,000 by the decade's end. This allowed the movement to organize
general strikes in the
sugar industry and
pineapple industry, not just strikes at the docks. The
Hawaiian sugar strike of 1946 was launched against the
Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association and the Big Five leaving the cane fields derelict. The
1947 Pineapple Strike followed on
Lanai but ended in failure and was tried again in 1951. The
1949 Hawaiian Dock Strike froze shipping in Hawaii for 177 days, ended with the territorial
Dock Seizure Act.
Native Hawaiians Native Hawaiians were on both sides of the Revolution; they were at the time in a social limbo in having less power and rights than residents of European descent but more than residents of East Asian descent. Older Native Hawaiians tended to fear the change would further decline their status, while youths embraced the prospect of gain by ousting the status quo.
House Un-American Activities Committee As the movement developed the more
communist components began to show through. The strikes were increasingly politicized and at the 1949 strike the White Republican aristocracy who were owners in the Big Five became concerned over the communist trend by workers. On October 7, after the 1949 dock strike that year, the territorial legislature requested the
House Un-American Activities Committee to investigate the strikes that had become frequent in the territory. On August 28, 1951, the FBI rounded up seven members of the movement including
Jack Wayne Hall,
Charles Fujimoto (chairman of the Communist Party of Hawaii), and
Koji Ariyoshi (editor of the
Honolulu Record), who had also published pro-communist work. The Hawaii 7 were charged under the
Smith Act for conspiring to overthrow the government; all were released by 1958.
Political elections and reforms In the 1950 Democratic Convention
John A. Burns was elected chairman of the convention and decided that the Party was ready for a strong push at the 1950 elections. But with its progress, the party was dividing into two factions: the right-wing "Walkout" who opposed Burns and the left-wing "Standpat" members who supported Burns. Among the Standpats was
John H. Wilson, the founder of the Democratic Party of Hawaii himself: although he did not always agree with Burns, Wilson allied with him. With the fracture of the conservative members, the party began to slide farther leftward. Burns wished to re-establish the party ideology as
Center-Left. He had Party members sign an affidavit pledging their loyalty to the Democratic Party and not the Communist Party, to deflect communist criticisms and keep the
far left in check. During this time communists refrained from discussing their ideology. The rivalry between the two halves of the Democratic Party led to several defeats in the elections against the Republicans. Leading up to the 1954 elections the Walkout faction had collapsed into smaller factions proving no threat to the Standpat faction, who effectively took over the party. During the 1954 territorial elections, the Democrats took 22 of the 30 seats in the territorial House of Representatives, an increase of 11, while the Republicans won just eight. In the territorial Senate, Democrats likewise won a majority of nine out of fifteen seats, in increase of two from the previous legislature. The Democrats began to reform the government installing a
progressive tax, land reform, environmental protections, comprehensive health insurance plan and expanded collective bargaining. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Republican
Samuel Wilder King as
governor. King acted as an
obstructionist by using the veto 71 times during his administration. Burns commented that during these times the Democrats were more focused on building the Democratic government rather than running it. Following statehood, Burns – who, until then, had lost his elections – was elected Governor of Hawaii. The strike campaign by the ILWU continued until 1958 when another large sugar strike called the
Aloha Strike took place from February 1 to June 6 and ended the campaign. ==Statehood==