Not A Hero in Sight: The Battle for Control of Mine/Mill in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the Early 1940s

Scholarship on the battle between communists and anti-communists in the CIO continues to be largely an extended morality play. The search for heroes and villains becomes even more pronounced when the full range of actors in the drama are included. This paper breaks free of this paradigm in its examination of the first significant WWII showdown between CIO anti-communists and communists. It is decidedly anti-hagiographical. In May, 1941, the communist-led International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (Mine/Mill) kicked off a new organizing drive in Waterbury, Connecticut, the anchor of the Brass Valley. Through September, 1942, Mine/Mill won dozens of elections: All the large fabricating plants, including Chase's and Scovill's, went CIO. In the process, though, Mine/Mill did much – mostly connected to the politics of the “outside” organizers – that not only alienated many in the city, but also provided opportunity for the anti-communists, led by Father Joseph A. Donnelly. In series of battles marked by lies, violence, and slander, the Donnelley forces defeated the “outsiders” and all they stood for. The priest not only used his contacts with the local and national Church, intelligence agencies, and the CIO national leadership to good advantage, but also seemingly did much of the group's propaganda work. By February, 1943, the anti-communists had won several major victories, including the removal of the “outsiders” and a CIO administratorship over the district. There were, though, no heroes. Donnelly and the Mine/Mill communists and fellow-travelers repeatedly acted undemocratically and cynically. Both unhesitating brought to bear whatever outside forces they could muster. The CIO leadership succumbed to Catholic pressure and intervened in an affiliate's internal affairs. The Waterbury working class, largely inert, racist, and anti-Semitic, provided passive support for the anti-communist drive, but did not become anymore active in their locals than before the purge.