| Macaroni Riots | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | 41°49′24.5″N 71°25′27.5″W / 41.823472°N 71.424306°W | ||
| Caused by | Increase in the price of foodstuffs | ||
| Methods | |||
| Parties | |||
| |||
1914 PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, MACARONI RIOTS.
- ON DeSIMONE 2014 RN, on p. 139
- Do DeSimone 2014 p. 133 intro. later.
- On Sullivan 1996 p. 56
Background
editItalian Americans in Federal Hill
edit_Peddling_Bills,_Atwells_Ave.,_Providence,_R.I_LOC_nclc.03806.jpg)
Federal Hill is a neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island, situated directly west of the city's Downtown district.[1] Beginning around the 1840s, Federal Hill became a working class neighborhood with a significant population of Irish Americans, many of whom had immigrated to the United States due to the Great Famine in Ireland.[2] Starting in the 1870s, Italian Americans began to settle in Federal Hill, and by 1895, the neighborhood was roughly evenly divided in population between Italian and Irish immigrants and their descendants.[3] By the beginning of the 20th century, the neighborhood had gained the designation as Providence's Little Italy,[4] and between 1905 and 1916, with many Irish Americans finding housing elsewhere, the neighborhood's Italian American population grew from 18,000 to over 40,000.[5] In addition to Federal Hill, other neighborhoods with sizeable Italian populations included Charles and Silver Lake.[6]
These immigrants and their descendants faced anti-Italian discrimination from the non-Italian White Americans in Providence.[4][7] For example, many Italian Americans who were employed by the city's streetcar operator were referred to by numbers instead of their surnames,[4] and some in the immigrant community were critical of reformers associated with the city's settlement movement, which sought to Americanize the community.[5] Additionally, a 1911 shootout between police officers and an Italian American murder suspect in Federal Hill damaged the relationship between the police and the community.[8] In some cases, Italian immigrants sought to resist discrimination by forming mutual benefit associations and joining activist groups, such as anarchist and socialist organizations and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a militant labor union.[4][9] In Federal Hill, the socialist movement included a weekly newspaper, the Labor Advocate, and the Italian Socialist Club.[7][10][note 1] On September 16, 1912,[11] local socialist activists held a 2,000-person parade in support of labor organizers who had been arrested during the recent Lawrence textile strike, including Italian IWW organizers Joseph James Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti.[12] During the parade, activists unfurled a red flag, leading to a violent confrontation between marchers and police that further soured relations.[13][14]
Price increases during World War I
editIn 1913, the United States was experiencing a period of economic depression that was accompanied by a nationwide increase in the price of foodstuffs that was so severe that it was leading to some instances of starvation.[15] Early in the year, an increase in the price of ice led to a 10 percent price increase in milk in the neighboring states of Connecticut and Rhode Island, prompting the city government of Providence to launch an investigation into the cause of the former.[16] A year later, Mayor John Purroy Mitchel of New York City ordered a broader investigation that blamed a combination of the recent outbreak of World War I in Europe and increased hoarding as the main reasons for the rising food prices.[16] However, the investigation also noted that there had been some instances of collusion among sellers that may have contributed.[16]
In Providence, much of the concern focused on the marked increase in wholesale prices for macaroni,[16] as well as other pasta and Italian cuisine food products.[5] Some in the Italian American community accused wholesalers of falsely labelling American-made pasta products as Italian-made and charging a greater price for their products.[16] Particular criticism was leveled against Frank P. Ventrone, a wholesaler of imported food products nicknamed the "Macaroni King",[17][18] with Labor Advocate accusing him of profiteering.[10] In late July 1914, studies into the increased cost of living were launched by both Providence Mayor Joseph H. Gainer and Rhode Island Governor Aram J. Pothier.[16] The mayor's investigation was carried out by the Rhode Island Retail Grocers' and Marketmen's Association, an employers' organization, while the governor's was carried out by the state's Commissioner of Industrial Statics George H. Webb.[19] By the following month, the price of foodstuffs in Federal Hill had increased 66 percent.[16][note 2]
== Protests and riots
Initial protest
editThe Italian Socialist Club took an active role in organizing opposition to the price increases, which they contended constituted price gouging,[10] and in mid-August 1914, they began to circulate flyers for a rally at the corner of Atwells Avenue and Dean Street in Federal Hill on August 22, a Saturday.[20][note 3] The rally attracted about 2,000 protestors, in addition to a detachment of over 70 law enforcement officers, including 7 mounted police officers on horseback.[20][19] Starting at 7:15 p.m., over a dozen members of the socialist club gave speeches denouncing the price increases and, in particular, Ventrone, who was accused of intentionally mislabeling American-made pasta as Italian-made and charging a higher price.[17][18] One speaker denounced the police in his speech, but because it was in Italian, the police, consisting largely of Irish and other non-Italian White Americans, did not interfere.[21][19] Following the rally, the crowd dispersed peacefully.[21][19]
Following the rally, the two members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives who represented Federal Hill, both members of the Democratic Party, reached out to Governor Pothier to take action on the issue of profiteering.[16] About a week after the rally,[16] At 10:30 a.m. on August 24, Mayor Gainer called a private conference to address the results of his study,[21] which he said revealed no evidence of price fixing or profiteering,[10] a conclusion also yielded by Governor Pothier's investigation.[19] However, these results were criticized by activists and the writers in the Labor Advocate,[19] who accused the mayor of engaging in a "whitewash".[16][10] Following this, activists began to circulate flyers for another rally to be held on August 29.[22] Ventrone believed that the flyers implied that his store would be attacked, and as a result, he requested police protection.[23]
Second rally turns violent
editThe second rally began on the evening of August 29 at the same location as the first one a week prior,[24] with a crowd of about 1,000 people.[note 4] According to contemporary non-socialist media outlets, "agitators" from Boston and New York City had traveled to Providence to participate.[24] Again, members of the Socialist Club gave speeches urging the attendees to take action against the price increases, and following the conclusion of the speeches, a large group of protestors began to move down Atwell Avenue towards Ventrone's store,[23] which was located a few blocks away.[24] Upon reaching Ventrone's business at 240-244 Atwell Avenue,[20] the crowd began to break the windows and looted the building, stealing pasta and throwing foodstuffs onto the street.[25][4][10] Several other businesses located on the same city block, including a barber shop, a dry goods store, and a pharmacy, were also looted.[24][23] During the looting, one 20-year old rioter who had made it into Ventrone's store was struck by a projectile thrown by another rioter, sustaining a severe head injury.[24]
Possibly due to the peaceful nature of the previous week's rally,[4] the number of police officers present at this second rally proved ineffective at preventing the ensuing rioting.[23] However, as additional officers arrived at the scene, the mob's violence began to redirect from the stores to the police.[26][23]
- Protests after August 29 often targeted police brutality.[10]
- Police arrived after damage to stores had been done.[4]
- Uprisings took place over several weeks in August and September 1914.[4]
- Lasted from late August into September.[19]
- Violent protest occurred on Labor Day, INFO ON THAT.[4]
- Initial protests lasted two days.[5]
- Protesting lasted two weeks.[27]
- Ended on September 14, when neighborhood grocers agreed to lower prices.[28]
Aftermath
edit- Newspapers dubbed the protests the "Macaroni Riots".[10]
- Became known as the Macaroni Riots.[19]
- Previous incident of mass social movement in Providence against price hikes among the Jewish community, INFO ON THAT.[12]
- Following August 29 protest, Ventrone met with socialists and agreed to price reduction, INFO ON THAT.[10]
- Headline of Labor Advocate newspaper.[10]
- Led to a repeal in the price of pasta after only two days of protesting.[8]
- Twenty thousand dollars in damages and several dozen individuals injured.[29]
- Resulted in property damage in the neighborhood.[4]
- Several confrontations between Italian protestors and, mostly Irish, police officers.[4]
- List of injuries.[4]
- Worst outbreak of violence in Providence since the Dorr Rebellion.[29]
- Previous outbreaks of violence in 1824 and 1831, info on that.[7]
- Quote about "mutual feeling of dislike", USE QUOTE.[20]
- Quote about "climax of two years" with regards to IWW organizing.[30]
- Viewed by historian Abramovitz in the context of other price-driven protests from women during this time, OTHER INSTANCES HERE, INCLUDING ONE IN PROVIDENCE SEVERAL YEARS PRIOR.[31]
- May have also been pushback against some Protestant reforms.[5]
- Rioting stemmed from anti-Italian discrimination.[27][29]
- LATER HISTORY OF FEDERAL HILL.[8][32]
- Years later, Democrats took control of state politics, in part due to Italian involvement.[4]
- November 17, 2014: Rhode Island Labor History Society held a commemorative event at local church.[4]
- Compared to 2023 pasta price increases in Italy, info on that.[10]
- Commentary.[10]
Notes
edit- ^ Multiple sources, including a 2023 article in the magazine Jacobin and a 1996 article by historian Russell J. DeSimone in the journal Italian Americana, refer to the group of Italian socialists in Providence as the "Italian Socialist Club".[7][10] However, in the same article, DeSimone also refers to the group as the "Italian Socialist Party".[7] Additionally, in a 1996 article for the journal Rhode Island History, historian Joseph W. Sullivan referred to the group as the "Italian Socialist Federation",[11] the terminology also used in a 2014 article in The Providence Journal.[4]
- ^ The source from which this percentage comes from does not give an exact timespan over which this price increase occurred.[16]
- ^ Multiple sources state that the first rally against the price increases occurred on August 22.[16][20][19] However, a 2014 article in The Providence Journal gives the date of August 21 for the first rally.[4]
- ^ Several sources state that there were around 1,000 people in attendance at the August 29 rally.[23][19][4] However, in a 2023 article for Jacobin, economist Brian Callaci states that this rally saw 2,000 attendees.[10]
References
edit- ^ Naumec 2017, p. 454.
- ^ Naumec 2017, p. 455.
- ^ Naumec 2017, pp. 455–456.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Molloy 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Naumec 2017, p. 456.
- ^ DeSimone 2014, p. 133.
- ^ a b c d e DeSimone 2014, p. 135.
- ^ a b c Rhode Island Monthly 2007.
- ^ DeSimone 2014, pp. 134–135.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Callaci 2023.
- ^ a b Sullivan 1996, p. 52.
- ^ a b DeSimone 2014, p. 136.
- ^ DeSimone 2014, pp. 136–137.
- ^ Sullivan 1996, pp. 52–53.
- ^ Sullivan 1996, pp. 53, 55.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Sullivan 1996, p. 55.
- ^ a b Sullivan 1996, pp. 55–56.
- ^ a b DeSimone 2014, pp. 137–138.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j DeSimone 2015.
- ^ a b c d e DeSimone 2014, p. 137.
- ^ a b c DeSimone 2014, p. 138.
- ^ DeSimone 2014, pp. 138–139.
- ^ a b c d e f DeSimone 2014, p. 139.
- ^ a b c d e Sullivan 1996, p. 56.
- ^ Sullivan 2014, p. 139.
- ^ Sullivan 1996, p. 57.
- ^ a b Sterne 2016, p. 68.
- ^ Sterne 2003, pp. 106–107.
- ^ a b c Sterne 2003, p. 107.
- ^ Sullivan 1996, p. 51.
- ^ Abramovitz 2000, pp. 122–123.
- ^ Naumec 2017, p. 457.
Sources
edit- Abramovitz, Mimi (2000) [1996]. Under Attack, Fighting Back: Women and Welfare in the United States (Updated ed.). New York City: Monthly Review Press. ISBN 978-1-58367-008-8. LCCN 99087575. OCLC 43095834.
- Callaci, Brian (June 11, 2023). "When Socialists Put an End to Pasta Inflation". Jacobin. ISSN 2158-2602. OCLC 677928766. Archived from the original on September 9, 2024. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
- DeSimone, Russell J. (Summer 2014). "Providence's "Macaroni Riots" of 1914". Italian Americana. 32 (2): 133–145. ISSN 0096-8846. JSTOR 43926746. LCCN 75641589. OCLC 891511663.
- DeSimone, Russell (January 11, 2015). "The Providence Macaroni Riots of 1914". The Online Review of Rhode Island History. Archived from the original on September 13, 2024. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
- Molloy, Scott (November 12, 2014). "Scott Molloy: Riots rocked Federal Hill 100 years ago". The Providence Journal. Gannett. ISSN 2574-3406. OCLC 920412096. Archived from the original on September 11, 2024. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
- Naumec, David J. (2017). "Federal Hill (Providence, Rhode Island)". In Ueda, Reed (ed.). America's Changing Neighborhoods: An Exploration of Diversity through Places. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Press. pp. 453–459. ISBN 978-1-4408-2865-2. LCCN 2017020316. OCLC 984512368.
- "Federal Hill Timeline". Rhode Island Monthly. September 26, 2007. ISSN 1041-1380. OCLC 18499849. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
- Sterne, Evelyn Savidge (2003). Appleby, R. Scott (ed.). Ballots and Bibles: Ethnic Politics and the Catholic Church in Providence. Cushwa Center Studies of Catholicism in Twentieth-Century America. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-4117-2. LCCN 2003011983. OCLC 10019387154.[1]
- Sterne, Evelyn (2016). "Catholicism and Working-Class Activism in Providence". In Cantwell, Christopher D.; Carter, Heath W.; Drake, Janine Giordano (eds.). The Pew and the Picket Line: Christianity and the American Working Class. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. pp. 51–73. ISBN 978-0-252-09817-8. LCCN 2021701877. OCLC 939827460.
- Sullivan, Joseph W. (May 1996). ""Every Shout a Cannon Ball": The IWW and Urban Disorders in Providence, 1912–1914" (PDF). Rhode Island History. 54 (2). Providence, Rhode Island: Rhode Island Historical Society: 51–64. ISSN 0035-4619. LCCN 48032992. OCLC 1696593. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 18, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
Further reading
edit- "Food Fights". Jacobin. September 7, 2022. ISSN 2158-2602. OCLC 677928766. Archived from the original on March 1, 2024. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
- Luconi, Stefano (2004). The Italian-American Vote in Providence, Rhode Island, 1916–1948. Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 978-0-8386-4047-0. LCCN 2004003793. OCLC 54487646.
- Sullivan, Joseph W. (2000). Marxists, Militants, & Macaroni: The I.W.W. in Providence's Little Italy. Kingston, Rhode Island: Rhode Island Labor History Society. OCLC 44492844.
External links
edit
1902 PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND STREETCAR STRIKE
1908 BIRMINGHAM COAL STRIKE
EXOTIC DANCERS UNION
GSA LAS VEGAS SCANDAL
1914 MACARONI RIOT, PROVIDENCE
1974 PUERTO RICAN RIOT IN NEWARK
1931 UNITED CHARITIES CHICAGO RIOT
1976 HULL PRISON RIOT
1968 LONG BINH PRISON RIOT
2016 CURAÇAO OIL WORKERS STRIKE
1976 NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL RIOTS
1972 SHREWSBURY BUILDING WORKERS STRIKE
CENTURY LOFTS ATLANTA, former Chevrolet headquarters
1917 FEDERAL RAIDS ON IWW AND SOCIALIST PARTY
1936 MACBETH MINE EXPLOSION, LOGAN COUNTY, WV
1936 TROCADERO GRILL STRIKE
2013 SAINT HELENA AIRPORT STRIKE
1972 USS Constellation protest (Black Fraction)
2024 NORTH KOREAN TEXTILE DISPUTE IN JULIN PROVINCE
1893 Chidswell miner strike
196 KENSINGTON SQUATTING
TERRY'S PURGE, GEORGIA
SEARS TOWER PHILADELPHIA (similar to Ponce City Market)
1989 PEACHTREE 25TH BUILDING FIRE
TUCKERTON TOWER
SAMUEL DOWSE BRADWELL
OPERATION BLOOMING ONION
BORIS YELTSIN VISIT TO RANDALL'S
THE CHAPPARRALS, Atlanta band from the 1970s
2023 MEDIEVAL TIMES STRIKE
ATHENS CITY HALL IN GEORGIA
PEALE'S MASTODON
PAPER GENOCIDE
CASE OF BOUNKHAM PHONESAVANH
GEORGIA PLATFORM (New Georgia Encyclopedia article)
STATUE OF HANK AARON, ATLANTA
CATHEDRAL OF CHRIST THE KING (ATLANTA) (existing article needs a large overhaul)
THREE GOVERNORS CONTROVERSY (overhaul article)
MICHAEL KRUSE, political journalist
WASHINGTON AVENUE GREEN
SWEET GUM HEAD / MARTIN PADGETT / BILL SMITH (Atlanta LGBT history topics)
LIST OF GEORGIA HISTORICAL MARKERS (base it off of list of New Hampshire historical markers, but year instead of number)
1914 PRAIRIE CREEK MINE STRIKE, SEBASTIAN COUNTY, ARKANSAS
SHAKESPEARE MEMORIAL, PHILADELPHIA
1919 KNOXVILLE STREETCAR STRIKE (Use "Labor Conflict in Urban Appalachia: The Knoxville Streetcar Strike of 1919" by James A. Burran, Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Spring 1979).
MUSKEGON MUSEUM OF ART
2023 UAW MACK TRUCKS STRIKE
ROME SIT-INS
SWIFT'S PEANUT PORK FACTORY STRIKE, interracial strike that occurred in post-WWII Moultrie, GA (mentioned in Beyond Atlanta)
ANDERSON PARK, ATLANTA (mentioned in Beyond Atlanta)
JUNE 1943 RACE RIOT AT CAMP STEWART, GEORGIA (reported by the New York Times)
STATUE OF HENRY CLAY, LEXINGTON CEMETERY
BEAR CREEK MAROON NEAR SAVANNAH
1918-1919 SAVANNAH STREETCAR STRIKE
1915 PITTSBURGH STREETCAR STRIKE
1914 MONAGHAN MILL STRIKE
WILLIAM M. REILLY MEMORIAL, PHILADELPHIA
1917 TEXAS GULF COAST OIL STRIKE
THE PILGRIM by John Quincy Adams Ward
JOSEPH GABRIEL STARKE, Australian politician
1933 FUNSTEN NUT STRIKE
1916 MESABI IRON RANGE STRIKE, IWW
WHALEMAN STATUE, NEW BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS
STATUE OF NICHOLAS HERKIMER
HERKIMER MONUMENT
STATUE OF THOMAS LOWRY, MINNEAPOLIS
MINGOE, 1691 RAIDERS
1915 ARIZONA MINERS STRIKE, COPPER MINES, 8,000 MINERS (also possibly known as Clifton-Morenci-Metcalf Strike)
1947 TERRYTOONS STRIKE
1831 SNOW TOWN RIOT, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND
1898 by Andrew O'Connor
HILLANDALE FARMS FIRE
1970 ASBURY REVIVAL
1891 SAVANNAH DOCK WORKERS STRIKE (Philip S. Foner wrote about this in The Black Worker Vol. III)
PROPOSED WASHINGTON MONUMENT IN NEW YORK CITY (look up Atlas Obscura article)
1938 philly city workers strike plaque at city hall
PRESIDENTIAL STATUES IN RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA
PRESIDENTS NORTH CAROLINA GAVE THE NATION, monument at the NC State House
- ^ Sterne 2003, pp. 106–107.