George Boomer
Encyclopedia
George Ellsworth Boomer (1862 - 1915) was an American socialist journalist, newspaper editor, and political activist. Boomer is best remembered as a key participant in the formation of the Socialist Party of Washington
and as its candidate for the Governor of Washington in 1908.
, the son of workers in a cotton
mill. Due to the family's poverty, Boomer himself soon went to work in the mills, taking a job which paid him 65 cents for each 12 hour day. Boomer attended school three months a year, as required by law, until he reached the age of 14, at which time he dropped out.
Boomer worked for a time as a newsboy, a job which brought him into contact with the world of newspaper publishing. He eventually found a first job in the industry assisting with the production of the Greenback Labor Chronicle of Auburn, Maine
.
In the fall of 1882, Boomer moved to Providence, Rhode Island
, where he joined the newly-organized International Typographical Union
the following year. Boomer remained a member of that union throughout his life. He was a member of the Rhode Island Central Labor Union for 8 years and its president for 2.
In June 1884, Boomer married Mary A. Vickery.
(SLP) in 1884. He ran on the SLP's ticket for Governor of Rhode Island in 1893. Boomer also published the Providence SLP and trade unionist newspaper, Justice, for a period of three years.
In 1896, Boomer published an independent socialist newspaper in Cumberland, Maryland
known as Uncle Sam. He came into contact with J.A. Wayland in this capacity and in 1897 relocated to Southeast Kansas
to work on the editorial staff of Wayland's popular socialist weekly, The Appeal to Reason. It was in this capacity that he learned of a group of devoted socialists, organized as the Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth (BCC), who sought to establish a socialist colony on the American frontier in the new state of Washington. Boomer was smitten with the idea and he departed for the West Coast in the spring of 1898, bringing with him the knowledge of newspaper promotion which he had garnered in Girard
under Wayland's employ. Boomer took charge of the colony's newspaper, Industrial Freedom, but he soon left rural Skagit County for a more close approximation of civilization in Tacoma
when the colony refused to participate in political action. In December 1898 Boomer established a short-lived new socialist newspaper in Tacoma, the Spirit of '76, a publication supportive of the SLP.
Believing the organization tainted by its previous endorsement of the strategy of establishing colonies, Boomer never joined the Social Democratic Party of America headed by radical trade unionist Eugene V. Debs
and Victor L. Berger
, instead forming his own socialist educational organization — a group which maintained an independent existence until after the formation of the Socialist Party of America
in the summer of 1901. Boomer merged his local group into the Socialist Party shortly after its formation.
In 1902, Boomer launched a new socialist weekly in Tacoma, The Sun. He was elected to the first State Committee of the Socialist Party of Washington
(SPW) and served two terms as the SPW's representative on the governing National Committee of the Socialist Party of America in 1902 and 1903. Although identified with the left wing of the party, Boomer was also recognized as a peacemaker, being dispatched to Utah by the National Committee in 1902 to help broker a truce between warring party factions in Utah
.
In 1903, Boomer, now married a second time to a woman 18 years his junior named Alice, headed east of the Cascades to Prosser
, a small town in Central Washington. There he switched the political orientation of the town's newspaper, the Prosser Record, from the Democratic Party to the Socialist Party and continued to edit it until 1909. Boomer worked hard to modernize and expand his paper, moving to automated typesetting and expanding the paper from 4 pages to 8. Circulation grew to 4,000. During this interval Boomer also periodically contributed a column to The Socialist, the revolutionary socialist
weekly published in Seattle
by Hermon F. Titus
, writing under the pen name
"Uncle Sam."
In 1908 Boomer ran for Governor of Washington on the ticket of the Socialist Party of America
. On the campaign trail in 1908, Boomer was rotten-egged by listeners hostile to his message in Ellensburg
.
The Boomers sold their newspaper in May 1909 and moved back across the Cascades to Seattle. There George Boomer edited at least one issue of The Wage Worker, Titus's successor to The Socialist established after the decision of Washington's left wing socialists to bolt the 1909 Convention of the Socialist Party of Washington and to form instead a new organization, the Wage Workers Party
. Both the paper and the party proved to be short-lived.
The Boomers, baby daughter Mildred in tow, moved to Leavenworth, Washington
in 1910, where George worked as a printer.
Boomer moved to Bremerton, Washington
in 1912 where he edited another local newspaper, the Kitsap County Leader. While soapboxing
in the nearby town of Port Townsend
, Boomer was attacked by a soldier from the nearby fort, an event which caused outrage in the Socialist community when the local judge refused to issue an arrest warrant
for the attacker, instead declaring from the bench that the Socialists should all be thrown into the bay and that he would be glad to assist.
In 1913, Boomer returned to Seattle where he helped to edit The Barbarian, a left wing satirical
weekly. The following year he moved to Port Angeles, where he edited the Peninsula Free Press.
Boomer made one last political run as the Socialist Party's candidate for U.S. Congress in Washington's 2nd District in 1914.
During his life, Boomer made four national speaking tours on behalf of the Socialist Party.
Socialist Party of Washington
The Socialist Party of Washington was the Washington state section of the Socialist Party of America , an organization originally established as a federation of semi-autonomous state organizations...
and as its candidate for the Governor of Washington in 1908.
Early years
George Ellsworth Boomer was born November 28, 1862 in Lewiston, MaineLewiston, Maine
Lewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine...
, the son of workers in a cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
mill. Due to the family's poverty, Boomer himself soon went to work in the mills, taking a job which paid him 65 cents for each 12 hour day. Boomer attended school three months a year, as required by law, until he reached the age of 14, at which time he dropped out.
Boomer worked for a time as a newsboy, a job which brought him into contact with the world of newspaper publishing. He eventually found a first job in the industry assisting with the production of the Greenback Labor Chronicle of Auburn, Maine
Auburn, Maine
Auburn is a city in and the county seat of Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 23,055 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan...
.
In the fall of 1882, Boomer moved to Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, where he joined the newly-organized International Typographical Union
International Typographical Union
The International Typographical Union was a labor union founded on May 3, 1852 in the United States as the National Typographical Union. In its 1869 convention in Albany, New York, the union—having organized members in Canada—changed its name to the International Typographical Union...
the following year. Boomer remained a member of that union throughout his life. He was a member of the Rhode Island Central Labor Union for 8 years and its president for 2.
In June 1884, Boomer married Mary A. Vickery.
Political career
Boomer joined the Socialist Labor Party of AmericaSocialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...
(SLP) in 1884. He ran on the SLP's ticket for Governor of Rhode Island in 1893. Boomer also published the Providence SLP and trade unionist newspaper, Justice, for a period of three years.
In 1896, Boomer published an independent socialist newspaper in Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...
known as Uncle Sam. He came into contact with J.A. Wayland in this capacity and in 1897 relocated to Southeast Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
to work on the editorial staff of Wayland's popular socialist weekly, The Appeal to Reason. It was in this capacity that he learned of a group of devoted socialists, organized as the Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth (BCC), who sought to establish a socialist colony on the American frontier in the new state of Washington. Boomer was smitten with the idea and he departed for the West Coast in the spring of 1898, bringing with him the knowledge of newspaper promotion which he had garnered in Girard
Girard, Kansas
Girard is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,789.- History :...
under Wayland's employ. Boomer took charge of the colony's newspaper, Industrial Freedom, but he soon left rural Skagit County for a more close approximation of civilization in Tacoma
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
when the colony refused to participate in political action. In December 1898 Boomer established a short-lived new socialist newspaper in Tacoma, the Spirit of '76, a publication supportive of the SLP.
Believing the organization tainted by its previous endorsement of the strategy of establishing colonies, Boomer never joined the Social Democratic Party of America headed by radical trade unionist Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
and Victor L. Berger
Victor L. Berger
Victor Luitpold Berger was a founding member of the Socialist Party of America and an important and influential Socialist journalist who helped establish the so-called Sewer Socialist movement. The first Socialist elected to the U.S...
, instead forming his own socialist educational organization — a group which maintained an independent existence until after the formation of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
in the summer of 1901. Boomer merged his local group into the Socialist Party shortly after its formation.
In 1902, Boomer launched a new socialist weekly in Tacoma, The Sun. He was elected to the first State Committee of the Socialist Party of Washington
Socialist Party of Washington
The Socialist Party of Washington was the Washington state section of the Socialist Party of America , an organization originally established as a federation of semi-autonomous state organizations...
(SPW) and served two terms as the SPW's representative on the governing National Committee of the Socialist Party of America in 1902 and 1903. Although identified with the left wing of the party, Boomer was also recognized as a peacemaker, being dispatched to Utah by the National Committee in 1902 to help broker a truce between warring party factions in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
.
In 1903, Boomer, now married a second time to a woman 18 years his junior named Alice, headed east of the Cascades to Prosser
Prosser, Washington
Prosser is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Washington, United States, along the Yakima River with only one zip code 99350. The population was 5,714 at the 2010 census.-History:...
, a small town in Central Washington. There he switched the political orientation of the town's newspaper, the Prosser Record, from the Democratic Party to the Socialist Party and continued to edit it until 1909. Boomer worked hard to modernize and expand his paper, moving to automated typesetting and expanding the paper from 4 pages to 8. Circulation grew to 4,000. During this interval Boomer also periodically contributed a column to The Socialist, the revolutionary socialist
Revolutionary socialism
The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...
weekly published in Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
by Hermon F. Titus
Hermon F. Titus
Hermon Franklin Titus was an American socialist activist and newspaper publisher. Originally a Baptist minister before becoming a medical doctor, Titus is best remembered as a factional leader of the Washington state affiliate of the Socialist Party of America during the first decade of the 20th...
, writing under the pen name
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"Uncle Sam."
In 1908 Boomer ran for Governor of Washington on the ticket of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
. On the campaign trail in 1908, Boomer was rotten-egged by listeners hostile to his message in Ellensburg
Ellensburg, Washington
Ellensburg is a city in, and the county seat of, Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 18,174 at the 2010 census. The population was 18,250 at 2011 Estimate from Office of Financial Management. Ellensburg is located just east of the Cascade Range on I-90 and is known as the...
.
The Boomers sold their newspaper in May 1909 and moved back across the Cascades to Seattle. There George Boomer edited at least one issue of The Wage Worker, Titus's successor to The Socialist established after the decision of Washington's left wing socialists to bolt the 1909 Convention of the Socialist Party of Washington and to form instead a new organization, the Wage Workers Party
Wage Workers Party
The Wage Workers Party was a short lived split from the Socialist Party of Washington from 1909-1910.Division had been mounting between the regular organization, controlled by Edwin J. Brown, and the left opposition centered around Herman Titus' Seattle Socialist...
. Both the paper and the party proved to be short-lived.
The Boomers, baby daughter Mildred in tow, moved to Leavenworth, Washington
Leavenworth, Washington
Leavenworth is a city in Chelan County, Washington, United States. It is part of the Wenatchee–East Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,965 at the 2010 census. The entire town center is modelled on a Bavarian village.-History:...
in 1910, where George worked as a printer.
Boomer moved to Bremerton, Washington
Bremerton, Washington
Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...
in 1912 where he edited another local newspaper, the Kitsap County Leader. While soapboxing
Soapbox
A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipment of soap or other dry goods from a manufacturer to a...
in the nearby town of Port Townsend
Port Townsend, Washington
Port Townsend is a city in Jefferson County, Washington, United States, approximately north-northwest of Seattle . The population was 9,113 at the 2010 census an increase of 9.3% over the 2000 census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County...
, Boomer was attacked by a soldier from the nearby fort, an event which caused outrage in the Socialist community when the local judge refused to issue an arrest warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
for the attacker, instead declaring from the bench that the Socialists should all be thrown into the bay and that he would be glad to assist.
In 1913, Boomer returned to Seattle where he helped to edit The Barbarian, a left wing satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
weekly. The following year he moved to Port Angeles, where he edited the Peninsula Free Press.
Boomer made one last political run as the Socialist Party's candidate for U.S. Congress in Washington's 2nd District in 1914.
During his life, Boomer made four national speaking tours on behalf of the Socialist Party.
Death and legacy
George Boomer died on April 5, 1915 in Port Angeles, Washington. He was just 52 years old at the time of his death.Works
- Twin Progeny of Capitalist Individualism: Assassins and Hero Worshipers. Edmonds, WA: George E. Boomer, 1912.
Further reading
- "George E. Boomer," The Commonwealth [Everett], whole no. 134 (July 24, 1913), pg. 4.
See also
- Socialist Party of WashingtonSocialist Party of WashingtonThe Socialist Party of Washington was the Washington state section of the Socialist Party of America , an organization originally established as a federation of semi-autonomous state organizations...