History of the California Green Party

CALIFORNIA GREEN PARTY: Its History

It took nearly a year and a half; but the California Green Party made ballot status in January, 1992. It was necessary to build of membership equal to 1% of the November, 1990 gubernatorial vote, or 78,992 registered voters, by December 31, 1991. In an all-out, statewide grassroots effort, entailing a lot of work by a lot of people, the number needed was exceeded by over 10,000. While this was going on, the platform was being developed and written by groups up and down the state so it would be ready for approval when the party made ballot status.

Background:

The California Green Party originated in 1990 from groups affiliated with the Green Committees of Correspondence, itself a then six-year-old organization made up of more than 200 autonomous units, about forty of them in California. The GCOC has since become the GREENS, with which the California Green Party still has deep ties. While the California Green Party has no formal affiliation with the Green Parties in Europe, it shares with them the same fusion of diverse issues. The TEN KEY VALUES, i.e., Ecological Wisdom, Respect for Diversity, Grassroots Democracy, Post-patriarchal Values, Future Focus, Decentralization, Nonviolence, Social Responsibility, Community-based Economics, and Personal & Global Responsibility, which the California Green Party shares with the GREENS, were derived and expanded from the Four Pillars of the European groups.

Organizing Philosophy:

The CPG is organized around the idea that our activist base is not just those people who have previously labeled themselves "green" but those who are working for peace, social justice, ecology and a democratic society. This includes thousands of activists in "single-issue" groups as well as ethnic and community organizations. Like the GREENS, these groups exist because our political system is not doing its job!

The CPG intends to form a broad-based coalition of activists, incorporating the issues of these many groups. Some people will work with the Green Party as their main task while others will focus mainly on their other affiliations, offering their help as the occasion arises. The CPG offers the activist community another tool for promoting positive change, along with the existing tools of direct action, lobbying, lawsuits, public education, and alternative structures.

There are people presently working within the major political parties (mainly the Democratic Party) to promote the changes we advocate. Though we believe that these parties are too wedded to their fundraising and media machinery to be viable agents for social change, the Green Party hopes to work productively with these progressive factions. The "external threat" of the Green Party will no doubt force some reforms in these parties.

What Kind of Party?

The major parties are not oriented toward real participation by their members. They exist between elections as small groups of insiders with no accountability. They appeal to their membership at campaign time for financial and volunteer support, then disappear once the election is over. Decisions as to candidates, policy, and endorsements are made with little regard to the general membership. Candidates are accountable only at election time.

The California Green Party is trying to build a political party whose philosophy is to keep its membership involved in the working of the party and the government. That means creating the institutions - publications and other information resources, organizing and networking forums, phone trees, and social gatherings - which will keep its members interested in working with and for the party on an ongoing basis.

In short, the Green Party is structured more like the activist organizations from which it sprang than like the present political parties. This is intended to lead to better accountability and grassroots democracy. The between-elections activities will represent real political power even before there are any Green Party members in office.

Focus of CPG:

REGISTRATION AND ACTIVATION. Our registration efforts at the grassroots level brought in the numbers of voters needed to qualify the Green Party for the ballot. This drive will continue. As more new members register they will be contacted and queried as to their interests and talents. These interests and talents can then be utilized by the party. A large pool of human resources will become available for campaigns and to support the efforts of our allied groups.

GOVERNMENT WATCHING AND LOBBYING. An organization which can produce a flurry of letters and phone calls on short notice is an invaluable tool. The efforts of the CPG's volunteer lobbyist, abetted by such activist efforts, has already seen results and that's just the beginning. From city to state level, CPG members must begin to keep tabs on our government, not only responding to its misdeeds but introducing legislation that will further Green values and concepts. This process can begin immediately, even before there are Greens in office.

PUBLIC EDUCATION. Greens have had speakers bureaus for years. They have served not only as fundraisers but to get important ideas out to the public. These efforts will be continued and enhanced. The public needs to know how its government works (or doesn't work) and what it is doing (or not doing).

COMMUNITY BUILDING. An ongoing organization can't be all business. The Green Party is in it for the long haul; members must get to know each other. Parties, field trips, social events of all types, will reestablish the sense of community that cars and TV have taken away, and isn't community what Greens are all about?

PASSING INITIATIVES. Californians have the opportunity to make law even when the legislature refuses to do so. The CPG's first electoral campaigns will be largely in this area, in coalition with other organizations. The Forest Forever was created in a large part by people in the Green Party. Although defeated by a cynical big-money campaign, the CPG is confident that a grassroots organization can succeed in passing such measures. Likely initiatives for 1992? A Clean Energy Act; a None-of-the-Above amendment; Campaign Funding and Electoral Reforms; and Proportional Representation.

CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE. In 1990 Mindy Lorenz ran a write-in campaign for the 19th Congressional District under the Green banner and made a respectable showing. What was better, she succeeded in raising issues the majority candidates love to avoid. The CPG intends seek out and nurture candidates who are willing to work with and for their constituencies. The Green Party is structured so that its candidates cannot use the party simply as a soapbox and then ignore their campaign promises. That is what grassroots democracy is all about.

ACTIVIST TRAINING. We have been raised to believe that government is something experts do; not us, the average citizen. That is why we are in this fix! Leaving it to the so-called experts and professional politicians! Activism is something that anyone can learn; you learn by doing. If you have never been politically involved, join us and discover this for yourself!

Tom Stafford