Hartford Labor Archive

The first issue of Hartford Labor, the "Official Organ of the Socialist Labor Party of Hartford, Conn.," was published on October 20, 1894 by Albert E. Sanderson of the Socialist Newspaper Union in St. Louis. The Socialist Labor Party (SLP) established the newspaper union in 1893 to help produce local editions for SLP sections around the country. By 1894, there were 33 local titles from 15 states. In addition to Hartford, Connecticut boasted publications in Bridgeport and Waterbury. The local manager was Joseph S. Powell, who was listed in the Hartford city directory as a cigar maker. In 1896, the Hartford section of the SLP was one of 14 in the state of Connecticut, contributing to a national membership estimated between five and seven thousand. In the first issue of Hartford Labor, the publishers suggest that the local group was "200 strong!"

Hartford Labor carried the international and national news in common with other local weeklies, but also plenty of local news and opinion. Issue no. 1 featured a long "discussion" on socialism and capitalism between a prominent Connecticut building contractor, James G. Batterson, and the New York propagandist Lucien Sanial. It included the Socialist Newspaper Union mission statement, including the planks of independent political action and "the final emancipation of labor," the platform of the SLP, and news of Connecticut SLP electoral campaigns. In 1894, the SLP ticket included activists James F. Tuckey for Governor and Frank O. Pilgrim for Secretary of State, who called for the reduction of the work day as productivity rose and the nationalization of monopolies in transportation and communication.

While the SLP remained visible in Connecticut for many years after the first issue of Hartford Labor, no other issue is known to have been preserved.