Fred W. Suitor (1879 – May 10, 1934) was an American labor leader and politician from
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
. Suitor was a leader in the
Quarry Workers' International Union of North America. Elected Secretary-Treasurer of the QWIUNA in 1911, he maintained that position until 1930. In 1915, he was president of the
Vermont Federation of Labor. He was the second socialist mayor of
Barre, Vermont Barre, Vermont may refer to:
*Barre (city), Vermont
*Barre (town), Vermont
Barre ( ) is a New England town, town in Washington County, Vermont, Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 7,923 at the 2020 census, making it the 3r ...
after
Robert Gordon Robert Gordon may refer to:
Entertainment
* Robert Gordon (actor) (1895–1971), silent-film actor
* Robert Gordon (director) (1913–1990), American director
* Robert Gordon (singer) (1947–2022), American rockabilly singer
* Robert Gordon (scr ...
.
Labor
As a child, he worked part-time in a Quebec copper mill. He eventually became a
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
and worked in Vermont's large granite industry. In 1908, at the age of 29, Suitor became a business agent for the Quarry Workers union. In 1911, he was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the union, a position he continued in until 1930. He held other positions of influence in the union until his death in 1934.
Politics
In politics, Suitor was a member of the
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
, which distinguished him from some other high-ranking labor leaders who were often opposed to socialism. He was twice a candidate of the
Socialist Party of Vermont for Governor (
1912
Events January
* January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established.
* January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens.
* January 6 ...
and
1932
Events January
* January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.
* January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
). He was also involved in municipal politics in Barre and was elected as the city's mayor from 1929 to 1931.
While mayor, Suitor was known as a "sidewalk socialist", a play on the
sewer socialism that emphasized immediate reforms over revolutionary changes common among elected socialists in the United States. Notable among his accomplishments as mayor was the creation of a public park, now known as Rotary Park. A major challenge Suitor confronted as mayor was the onset of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. In response to the economic downturn, he proposed and voters approved a $50,000 bond to be used to improve infrastructure and keep local men working.
Personal
Suitor was born in 1879 in the Anglophone village of
Leeds, Quebec. In grade school, he worked part-time in a copper mill. In 1892, he and his family settled in Barre, Vermont. Suitor died following a series of heart attacks in the spring of 1934 at the age of 55. Historian Robert E. Weir notes that the former quarry worker "died at a relatively young age, though an advanced one by the standards of granite workers."
[Weir, p. 66]
See also
*
List of elected socialist mayors in the United States
The following is a list of mayors who have declared themselves to be socialists or have been a member of a socialist party in the United States.
In 1911 it was estimated that there were twenty-eight such mayors and in 1913 thirty-four. In 1967, ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suitor, Fred W
1879 births
1934 deaths
American trade union leaders
Mayors of places in Vermont
People from Barre, Vermont
Canadian emigrants to the United States
Anglophone Quebec people
Trade unionists from Vermont
Socialist Party of America politicians from Vermont