Fragmentation of the California Republican Party in the One-Party Era, 1893-1932

Abstract

dominant parties of one-party states have been much more factional than the parties of competitive states.l Given this theory and the fact that California was a one-party Republican state from the 1890s up to the Depression-New Deal realignment,2 it seemed a distinct possibility that the California Republican party might well have disintegrated prior to 1932.3 The ensuing pages demonstrate the considerable extent to which such fragmentation did, in fact, characterize Republican politics in the one-party era. The significance of this organizational degeneration during the one-party years is that it helps to account for the weakness of the Republican party qua party in the two-party competitive politics that returned with the Depression-New Deal realignment. The concept of party strength or weakness used here is, of course, not limited to the criterion of success in winning general elections. From that standpoint Republicans were overwhelming during the one-party era and did quite well in the post-realignment generation. Here, party is conceived as an