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New Haven Activism

A Brief History of New Haven Activism

by Brendan Cleary

New Haven has been a sight of cultural and racial activism for more than 100 years. Through three different events, I will guide you through the history of New Haven and organized protests. Throughout the history of the labor movement, the most effective tool for benefitting the lives of the working class is arguably the strike. The idea behind a strike is genius in its simplicity. As the economy cannot run without the input of workers, their labor is the best bargaining chip when it comes to improving worker conditions. From the late 19th century to early 20th, New Haven was filled with strikes. In 1933, The New York Times reported, “This town has picked up the reputation lately of having more strikes than an (sic) other city of its size in the country.” That same year, a teen girl led a strike that helped get thousands of employed women out of poverty and changed the clothing industry for the better.

The year 1933 was the turning point of the great depression, right when the reality that things were bad and weren’t gonna get any better was starting to set in. The garment industry in New Haven was unregulated, meaning owners could get away with paying their employees, mostly black women and immigrants with no other options, ridiculously low wages. Jennie Aiello and her sister worked at Lesnow Brothers, the largest garment shop at the time. For a 54 hour week, workers could expect to make four dollars, that's $80.63 today, less than two dollars an hour! Twenty percent of the workers at the time were younger than 16. Something needed to change. Strikes cannot simply start with one person, they are large projects that require dozens of people working together and being on the same page. Jennie and the other workers met union workers from Massachusetts who were trying to organize the clothing industry. They helped plan the start of the strike, which began in dramatic fashion by Jennie declaring during a shift that she was striking, and literally running out of the garment building as other workers tried to stop her. While initially things were rough, with only Jennie Aiello and a core group of protesters composing the strike, and the company owned press avoiding mentioning the strike, other workers started to join in, and even local Yale students protested in solidarity. Soon, the strike was too large to ignore, and the entire male working population of Lesnow Brothers joined in. Leaving the company during a shift in a mass exodus, and causing what was once the largest shirt manufacturing company in Connecticut to close down.

By the third of May, the Lesnows had no other option but to sign a contract with the union workers from Massachusetts. The workers got a 10 percent wage increase, health insurance and a pension. A year later, a new garment industry code shortened their days to 35 hours per week in the dress industry and 40 hours in the shirtmaking business. The Connecticut State Board of Education also got involved due to Jennie being the figurehead for the strike. They were shocked at the fact that young women were working in such a brutal and demanding place, notifying the labor commission of these unlawful practices. Within six weeks, every clothing factory in Connecticut was unionized, and all due to a single teen girl who rightfully recognized how unfair her position was.

In 1970, New Haven was host to May Day, one of the most successful and important protests of the 70s counterculture and racial justice movement that is now mostly forgotten. Taking place due to the highly publicized black panther trial, May Day was a flashpoint for the 60s counter culture that had grown out of vietnam protests. Lead by Abbie Hoffman, a leading activist who founded the youth international party and organized dozens of rallies at colleges around the country. This protest was one of the biggest ones of the year, with thousands of protestors storming Yale University for three days, effectively taking over the school and living there.

How was violence and arrest avoided? The answer is through smart organizing. Hoffman and other activists worked out a deal with Yale, they allowed them to habitat the college and be able to interact and organize with students and teachers, and there would be no violence. In return, the schools would do everything they could to minimize police involvement and avoid them escalating matters. The plan was primarily a success, resulting in only minor isolated incidents of violence breaking out. It resulted in activists sitting in on college classes on the green, while college students networked and learned from activists and joined them for vigils and specific protests. And like the strikes in the past, the protest became an opportunity for leftists and activists to connect and build bonds. The dean at the time said, in response, “Ninety percent of the radicals were passionate about the idea, the war, women’s rights, Bobby Seale - they were not bad people.”

It wasn’t only a boon for the protestors, but a boon for Yale, as students got to hear from alternate perspectives and have a very exhilarating week on campus. When colleges try to partner with activists, instead of trying to shun them, the result is almost always beneficial for both parties.

Not all of New Haven activism is decades old. The Proud Boys, while coming to attention due to Trump's potentially accidental endorsement (though it doesn’t quite matter as they took it as approval) have been around for years, harassing anyone they believe to be “antifa” or anti-Trump. As someone who spent the last four years dealing with the anxiety of the hate groups that were motivated and encouraged by Trump’s campaign and election by learning about them, I wouldn’t go as far to call them white supremacists, as many have. Not because I don’t think the label fits, but because they love touting their half a dozen non white members as proof they’re not a hate group. In truth, Proud Boys can best be described as the bodyguards and muscle for fascists. They give cover for more explicit hate groups and let nazis feel safe. And going into towns none of them are from, to bully a city they believe is full of “liberals”, is their M.O, so heading to New Haven in July of 2017 was very normal for them, but what happened was pushback on a level they weren’t used to at this point. A organized collection of more than 150 people peacefully protested their appearance, occupying the space that was supposed to be for their rally and making sure they couldn’t harass passerbys or local businesses. Despite the fact that the protestors were clearly and verbally not violent, and the organizers told participants to stay seven feet away from the proud boys at all times, cops still only arrested people protesting the proud boys, and one counter protester suffered an allergic reaction after being pepper sprayed. It wasn’t clear whether they were sprayed by a proud boy, someone unrelated to the protests, or a cop. But it’s not that much of a leap to assume that a New Haven police force was responsible. Their chief, Otoniel Reyes, defends his men’s use of Pepper Spray, and even supports it. When the New Haven police were under fire for use of Pepper Spray against peaceful BLM protesters, Reyes defended their use and refused to punish any of his men. The coordinated group of 150 activists, made up of everything from feminists to dedicated anti fascists, did not only succeed in making the proud boys leave their own rally through non violent means, but also guaranteed that other worse groups, encouraged by the proud boys protesting there uncontested, would not use New Haven as a staging ground for hate. This being only a few years old reminds us that there is still hatred and bigotry in this world, and that New Haven is still a place where people won't stand for that!

Through these three protests and strikes, it's clear that New Haven does not just have a history of activism, but a history of successful activism.

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