The following article is from 75 years ago today, published in the Hartford Courant on September 11, 1936.
In the middle of the Great Depression, a strike against one of Middletown's largest employers, Remington Rand, convulsed the city, starting in May of 1936. The strike began at plants in upstate New York, when Remington fired 15 top union activists. The 1200 Middletown factory workers went on strike on May 26. Remington-Rand took a hard-line stance against striking workers, including hiring thugs to instigate riots and violence and beatings, according to findings by the National Labor Relations Board. The company successfully enlisted the help of local and state police by threatening to close factories (and thus withdraw tax dollars) if the strike continued.
The strike lasted almost 12 months, ending in April of 1937. The Courant included 2 articles about violence at other Remington-Rand factories, below the story about Middletown.
There is an extensive Wikipedia entry on the strike, and the Planning Department has prepared a detailed history, with photos, of the Middletown Remington Rand building and its various industrial uses over the year. Both photos are from Planning Department historical studies of the Remington-Rand factory.
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Center of Middletown Thrown Into Confusion By Discharges Intended To Disperse Crowd
The center of Middletown was thrown into confusion late Thursday when State Police gassed Main Street, between St. John’s Square and Washington Street, to break up groups of Remington-Rand strikers who were barred from the area near the factory at the north end of the city. It was the second time in as many days that the police resorted to tear gas to disperse crowds.
Ordered to disperse groups of men and women who appeared on Main Street, as cars carrying workers were leaving the factory, the police started to clear the sidewalks, directing strikers and non-strikers to move on. Angered by shouted insults, they chased several strikers and set off tear bombs near other groups when they failed to move. Four men and a woman were arrested during the disturbance, in which several stones were thrown at the police.
Cross Sends Tone.
Sent here by Governor Cross as his personal representative, Labor Commissioner Joseph M. Tone arrived in time to see the police in action. He conferred with local strike leaders and alter made a report to the Governor. Commissioner Tone said he would return tomorrow. He came here as the result of protest to the Governor from the State Labor Federation convention at Bridgeport over the continued use of the State Police on Strike duty.
The large force of State Police under the direction of Lieutenant Paul Lavin left a short time after quiet was temporarily restored and will be back on duty tomorrow. Tonight, with only the regular force of local police on duty, strikers gathered again on Main Street. One group stole the car of a woman worker and tore her clothing, it was reported to the police, but the complainant refused to give her name.
Gas Spreads in Homes
Strikers and people who have no connection with the strike were affected by the tear gas, which found it way into Fire Headquarters, the Arrigoni Hotel, homes and business establishments. John Nichols, a ripple, who was at Main and Liberty streets, was made ill when he was caught in a heavy cloud of gas set off near the Arrigoni Hotel.
Several children, including the young daughter of Thomas J. Shea, president of the Connecticut Federation of Labor, who was on her way home from a music lesson at ST. Joseph’s Convent, were terror-stricken when they were caught in the fumes. An unidentified man, who left his two children in his car while he went into a store, ran out when he heard them screaming and found that a tear gas bomb had been exploded nearby.
Five Arrested.
Those arrested were Salvatore Carta, 25, of Newfield Street, charged with resisting and disobeying an officer, released under a $100 bond; and Florence B. Donahue, 42, of 21 Park Street. Mary Magnano, 24 of 44 Grand Street, Joseph Sequenzia, 25, of 77 Center Street, and Michael Gioviella, 37, of 66 Grove Street, all charged with breach of the peace, and released under $100 bond each.
After 40 minutes of deliberation a jury in the Superior Court this afternoon found Lester Groper of Cromwell guilty of breach of the peace as the result of being involved in the stoning of automobiles on North Main Street near St. John’s Church on teh night of July 23. Groper is the second Remington-Rand striker to be convicted by a jury as the result of strike disturbances. Judge Ernest A. Inglis deferred sentence until next Tuesday and fixed bond at $1000.
Superior Court Gets Cases.
The case of Roland Fortin of Middletown, charged with breach of the peace in connection with the same disturbance in which Groper was involved, will be tried tomorrow.
In the civil session of the court, before Judge Earnest C. Simpson, Mrs. Anna Augerie, Mrs. Ida A. Dickerson and Salvatore Salafia were tried in the contempt proceedings brought by the Remington-Rand Company against members of the factory union.
The heavy detail of state police came to Middletown Wednesday night when a serious outbreak of violence threatened, and for the first time since the strike began in May tear gas was used. Six persons were injured and five were arrested in the disturbance that started as the first cars left the factory at 5 p.m.
City Court Prosecutor Morris H. Wrubel said the cases of the five persons arrested Wednesdday night have been turned over to State’s Attorney Bertrand E. Spencer for prosecution in Superior Court.
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Norwood Plant Dynamited.
Cincinnati, Sept 10 - (AP) - A dynamite explosion rocked teh plant of Remington Rand, Inc. in suburban Norwood today in a recurrence of strike violence that caused the company to determine a month ago to close the plant and move its equipment elsewhere.
More than 100 panes of glass were shattered, but little other damage resulted. No one was in the building.
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Strike Leader Beaten.
Syracuse, N.Y., Sept. 10 - (AP) - Police sought today an assailant who attacked a Remington-Rand strike eader and a Federal Theater Project actor.
Peter Whitcher, 32, of Cicero, vice-chairman of the Remington-Rand Protective Board, composed of workers on strike for 16 weeks, suffered a broken nose in the attack. Ackland Powell of New York City, leading man of the Federal theater, was knocked down. Whitcher was beaten when he went to Powell’s aid.
Vernon Crofoot, president of the Protective Board, who was nearby when Powell was attacked by a man who leaped from the shadows last night said he believed the attack was intended for him. He said he was on his way to a rendezvous with an anonymous telephone caller who said he had some information important to the strikers.
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