Cecelia Bucki

In November 1933, the Socialist Party of Bridgeport, Connecticut won a stunning victory in the municipal election, putting slate roofer Jasper McLevy in the mayor's seat and nearly winning control of the city council. In probing the factors that led to this electoral victory and its continuation, Bucki uncovers a legacy of activist unionism, business manipulation of local politics and taxes, and a growing debate over the public good that revealed how working people viewed their government and their own roles as citizens. As a backdrop to the evolving national developments of the New Deal, this study stands at the intersection of political, labor, and ethnic history and provides a new perspective on how working people affected urban politics in the inter-war era.Bridgeport's Socialist New Deal, 1915-36 explores how labor gained first a foothold and then a stronghold in local politics as broad debates over taxes, budgets, city services, and the definition of public good pitted previously unengaged working-class citizens against local business leaders and traditional party elites. In the heat of the Great Depression, the skilled AFL craftsmen who made up the bulk of the city's Socialist Party stepped in to fill a political void created by the crumbling of mainstream parties, the disintegration of traditional modes of ethnic politics, and the fiscal crisis of the city. Representing the concerns of ethnic working-class communities only weakly allied to the mainstream American parties, the Bridgeport Socialists rode into office on a wave of popular antibusiness anger and New Deal enthusiasm.Once in office, McLevy and his party were hamstrung by legislative measures that gave substantial control of finances to local business leaders. Bucki details the compromise politics of Bridgeport and shows how the local party, after splitting from the Socialist Party of America in 1936, became more narrowly focused and reformist, though still serving as the voice of the working class.The Bridgeport Socialist Party's remarkable move from outsider critic to occupant of city hall illustrates the volatility of politics in the early depression years. It also reveals the curbing influence of conservative business and political interests, not only on the Bridgeport Socialists, but also on the more radical prongs of the New Deal.

Bridgeport's Socialist New Deal, 1915-36

Andrew Hunt

Alice L. George

Nancy Cohen

Linda S. Watts

Peter C. Holloran

Brian Greenberg

Richard A. Greenwald

Gordon Reavley

Scott Beekman

Mark Ciabattari

John C. Stoner

Troy D. Paino

Laurie Mercier

This ten-volume encyclopedia explores the social history of 20th-century America in rich, authoritative detail, decade by decade, through the eyes of its everyday citizens. • Entries covering the lives and contributions of ordinary citizens, social movements, religion, culture, the arts, economic and labor issues, and other aspects of American life across the 20th century • Contributions by accomplished researchers in the field of American social history • Sidebars providing additional emphasis on important issues and less well-known personalities • Detailed timelines for every decade, incorporating famous events with pivotal moments that changed the lives of everyday citizens • A thematically organized index for each of the encyclopedia's ten volumes

Social History of the United States [10 volumes]

Cecelia Bucki

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