Look for Aaron Fyslerman, as his name appeared on the ballot, and you get nowhere. Search instead for Aaron Fislerman. Why? Maybe it is one those major typos in political history, or maybe it was some kind of game.

The first Communist to run for Governor in Washington was born in Romania, Aug. 20, 1883, the son of Kiver and Leah O. Fislerman. He came to Seattle in 1903 to join his brother Ezra (1880-1933) and another relative, Frank (1866-1944). The Fislermans were junk dealers.

In a short time Aaron became in involved with Seattle's Socialist Party and served as Secretary of the King County arm. The short-lived party newspaper Socialist World (1916-1917), was edited by a committee, including Aaron.

Fislerman was caught in the same Red Scare net that caught several other Ungovernors. He was arrested May 28, 1917 along with others, including Hulet Wells, on charges of protesting the Great War and being active in anti-conscription activites. Fislerman, Wells, and co. were accused of being in league with the Germans. Legendary defense attorney George F. Vanderveer was able to make a case for free speech and Aaron was acquitted. 

Fislerman ran for the office of Washington State representative in the 45th District in 1918. No party affiliation is listed on the ballot. At some point after this election, he joined the Communists.

The Washington State Communists had managed to alienate every group they had worked with by the end of the 1920s, and really had no choice but to come out into the open arena of elections if they wanted to have a political presence. Labor unions and granges had become wary of them. They were credited with destroying the Farmer-Labor Party coalition due to vicious infighting.

But Communism was not dead in Washington. Far from it. The Young Workers' League attracted 42 students to their 1927 Winlock, Washington summer school. 54 students attended the 1928 summer school in Woodland.

The Workers Party had some trouble getting legal recognition. According to historian Daeha Ko, "Moves were made in several states ... to keep the Workers Party off the ballot. In Washington, Secretary of State J. Grant Hinkle ruled that the party was ineligible for a place on the ballot. However, the State Supreme Court overturned this ruling. The Communists hoped that the court victory and publicity would help their electoral campaign and they put forth candidates for several state offices, as well as promoting Party Chairman William Z. Foster's Presidential campaign."

This was 1928. The Stock Market had yet to crash. The popular Calvin Coolidge was being replaced by the popular Herbert Hoover. The Everett and Centralia massacres and the Seattle General Strike were fading into history. The Republicans were solidly in control. No one really considered the Communists a serious threat and the media ignored their gubernatorial campaign. "Even Hearst's Seattle Post-Intelligencer," wrote historian Vern Countryman, "did not detect a threat to political stability."

Fyslerman placed dead last out of five candidates with a grand total of 698 votes (0.14%). He placed third in Grays Harbor, Lewis, Pacific, and Skagit counties-- no doubt the result of I.W.W. members who worked in the woods.

Seattle's Hooverville was yet to come.

Aaron lived in Seattle until 1939, and then he disappears.

[This Ungovernor entry revised 11/08]