Working Class Party

The Working Class Party (WCP) is a left-wing political party in the United States, based in Detroit, Michigan. WCP first gained ballot access in 2016. WCP supports progressive, pro-labor and socialist policies and candidates.

The party was created by Trotskyist newspaper The Spark and its supporters, which continues to support the party.

History
From 2011 to 2013, The Spark conducted a campaign to encourage the working class to organize independent of the Democratic Party. In 2014, five people active in that campaign ran for office as Independent candidates. Four candidates lost. David Roehrig won his campaign for Wayne County Community College Trustee, due to his only opponent (the Democratic incumbent) being disqualified before the election.

Michigan has harsh ballot access laws. In 2016, several dozen WCP volunteers turned in more than 50,000 signatures, above the required 31,566, which enabled WCP candidates to appear as party candidates on Michigan ballots.

Ideology
The WCP argues that no working class party exists, because both the Democrats and the Republicans are controlled by the bosses. In the WCP's party program, it supports a living wage tied to inflation and full employment through reductions in working time. The WCP holds that the working class "won't change our situation with an election", but can "use this election to say there are [...] tens of thousands of people[ ]who agree with this program for the crisis".

Election results
The WCP has fielded electoral candidates in the United States for local, state, and federal offices. WCP candidates usually run as official WCP candidates on their own ballot line.

No WCP candidate has yet won a contested election. One WCP candidate won an uncontested election.

As of November 2022, the party has ballot access in Illinois, Maryland and Michigan. As of December 2020, 2,102 voters were affiliated with the WCP in Maryland.

Local elections
Other candidates who shared many of the same ideas as the Working Class Party appeared as "non-partisan" (independent) candidates on the ballot in Chicago in 2015; in Baltimore in 2016 and 2020; and in Los Angeles in 2018.