The Connecticut Craftsman

LCCN:  sn92051251, The Connecticut Craftsman, Hartford, Conn., 193?-193?

The Connecticut Craftsman was an 8-page monthly newspaper devoted to the interests of “Organized Labor.” Calling itself the “Official Organ of the Connecticut Federation of Labor,” the Craftsman was published by the Hartford Central Labor Council and the Structural Trades Alliance for a short period in the 1930s. The March 15, 1932 issue was marked as Vol. 2, no. 7.

An editorial from this issue challenges the idea that wage cuts would lead to more jobs during the economic depression.  The state of Connecticut, by 1932, had close to 150,000 unemployed workers, and in Hartford as many 13,500 were without a job.  News articles in the Craftsman include coverage of a regional effort to consider unemployment insurance, the effort of trolley car men to win pay and hours comparable to those in Massachusetts, and a state-wide effort by the Stage Employees and Motion Picture Operators union to organize movie theaters.  A list of Republican and Democratic Party national legislators opposed to a bill to provide federal aid to the “starving jobless” was featured prominently.  Important national labor stories, including the lockout of the pilots of Century Airlines, appeared alongside Connecticut coverage.   A yearly subscription to the Connecticut Craftsman cost $1.00.