About La tribuna del Connecticut. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1906-1908
Bridgeport, Conn. (1906-1908)

La Tribuna del Connecticut

In the inaugural March, 1906 issue of La Tribuna del Connecticut editor Pasquale Altieri addressed residents of the rapidly growing Bridgeport colonia (colony), writing that the weekly newspaper was "made for... the defense of your rights which have so often been violated."

In this opening salvo, Altieri set the tone for much of the newspaper's subsequent output. Often combative and always independent, La Tribuna voiced support for socialism, striking laborers, and the International Workers of the World ("Wobblies," for short). Choice of content for the paper seemed to assume that readers had an active interest in socialist ideas and unionism. La Tribuna set aside front-page space to publish reflections on America by Russian writer and "social realist" Maxim Gorky; gave prominent coverage to notable socialist intellectuals visiting Bridgeport, like Italian editor Carlo Tresca; and responded to articles and ideas then being discussed in Italian socialist newspapers.

Its left-wing orientation makes La Tribuna essential reading for labor historians. Between May and August 1907, the newspaper printed no fewer than six articles detailing the progress of various strikes in "the Park City" (Bridgeport, Connecticut). A June 1, 1907 editorial opined that the principled stand taken by striking railroad workers showed that "there is a sensitive spirit and a beating heart to accompany those calloused hands." In an August 1907 report on a strike of 1,000 steelworkers—mostly of Italian ancestry—at American Tube and Stamping, La Tribuna made clear that its sympathies lay with the workers, proclaiming, "You will win."

The news was not all serious, though. Most issues of La Tribuna also ran brief reports on the goings-on of the Bridgeport colonia: community dances and concerts, picnics, activities undertaken by the city's many mutual aid societies, and even family birthday parties.

An entry in the 2003 reference work The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia, noted that La Tribuna also served Danbury, Connecticut and Port Chester, New York. In fact, it apparently sought to cast an even wider net, regularly including news from more than a dozen cities in the Nutmeg and Empire States (Connecticut and New York), including Naugatuck, Southington, Norwalk, Torrington, Middletown, Bristol, Meriden, Waterbury, New Haven, Stamford, Brooklyn, and Schenectady. Of possible interest to researchers, the Sept. 15, 1906 issue lists La Tribuna's stable of regional correspondents, complete with names and addresses.

Under La Tribuna's first editor, Altieri, who served from May 1906 through August 1907, James Massey—editor and publisher of another Bridgeport weekly, Il Sole—often came under withering criticism. It is unclear what the origins of the feud were, but it is likely that political differences were a major factor. In the May 19, 1906 issue, an editorial takes aim at critiques of socialism made by Massey—a far more conservative writer who would later become president of the Bridgeport chapter of the Fascist League of North America.

In September 1907, a new editor, Nicola Antignani, assumed control of the newspaper and a long article detailed the legal troubles afflicting Altieri. However, the former editor would soon be back in the saddle. By 1913 he would begin his decades-long leadership of another more conservative Bridgeport weekly, La Sentinella.

Provided by: Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT