Making Good Trouble: MIKE RICH

 

By Susan O'Leary

It is a joy to work with Mike Rich on the neighborhood People's World route each week in Fair Haven. Mike has been a member of the Communist Party for many years and recently stepped up his involvement in the current political environment. I've attended several rallies with Mike from advocating immigrant rights to pushing Yale to justly fund their unions.

Mike was born in 1946 to a family that worked the land as sharecroppers. JT Reeves was the former plantation owner in Camden, Alabama. Forced to go to work at an early age to help his family of nine, he was unable to finish high school. He was paid $2 a day for his labor working from 6 am to 6 pm.

Becoming an adolescent in the 1960s, Mike was aware of the Civil Rights Movement and the pressure to fight for rights such as voting and better working compensation. He couldn't understand how his father put up with the treatment he endured to try to support his family.

There was a lot going on around him. John Lewis marched across the Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Martin Luther King was there and dogs were unleashed on them along with police brutality and powerful water hoses. Mike wasn't at that march because his mother warned it was too dangerous.

However things in neighboring Camden were just as disturbing. He had a gun put to his head just by driving past a white woman with friends in a car. Paused for a moment, Mike stepped out of the car and was confronted by a white man with a gun.

His younger brother, able to attend school and gain an education, was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan for advocating for his peers. They knocked him in the head and disposed of his body in a neighboring deep pond. The Ku Klux Klan didn't like young Black men to be educated. His friends that were with him remained silent because they feared retaliation. Mike was 19 when this incident happened. He had already left the area and moved to Syracuse, NY for better working conditions and to flee the dangers in the South. There were other incidents. A neighbor was lynched and accused of rape for talking with a white woman. After hanging the young man they tied his body to a railroad track.

In Syracuse Mike got $2 an hour instead of $2 a day. He came back to Alabama for the legendary march in Selma. After that he went to Florida and worked in a lumber job. After one and a half years he came back to Alabama and started work on the railroad moving throughout the South. From Camden he went to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. The pay was decent and he worked primarily with African American men. He worked with the railroad another year and a half.

Next he went to New York to meet up with his younger brother in Harlem. There he worked as a short order cook in a restaurant. He tried having his own restaurant but it was too difficult to juggle all the responsibilities.

After that he worked in the garment district for three years. This was a union job and the pay was lucrative. He was introduced to his future wife Olivia by a co-worler who encouraged him to meet his sister in New Haven. The engagement lasted two years before he settled in New Haven. He got a job at Circuit-Wise and this was when he met Joelle Fishman, Art Perlo and the Communist Party. The workers at Circuit-Wise went on strike for union recognition led by Dorothy Johnson. Joelle and Art walked the picket line. The People's World was distributed weekly. Art gave lessons to understand the class struggle. The strike lasted 19 months before the UE 299 union was established. Mike worked at Circuit-Wise until they relocated to Mexico. After unemployment he started working at a hotel on Long Wharf in New Haven.

Unfortunately Mike lost his wife Olivia from a diabetic coma. They worked together at Circuit-Wise. They had one daughter who had seven children. Mike and Olivia raised his grandson. He has many grandkids now and he is very proud of their achievements. His daughter's twins just graduated from Amistad Academy. His grandson is working on his master's degree. Olivia and Mike helped raise his daughter's children and now he has a great granddaughter named Olivia after his wife.

Mike was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the age of 75 at the Communist Party national convention in 2024 in Chicago. At a recent rally a young girl came up to him and in tears thanked him for all he's done with his active life. We in the Communist Party are blessed that Mike is still with us at the age of 80. It is a pleasure to know and work with him.

Healthcare and Nutrition Help Available

The cuts to basic human needs by the MAGA Republican Congress have created a crisis for many families. Many organizations have called upon the Connecticut state government to fill in the gaps. Here is information about healthcare and nutrition additional programs and funding.

Access Health CT
A special program, Temporary Premium Assistance was created in Connecticut last year to help those who lost all financial assistance for healthcare coverage when federal enhanced Premium Tax Credits expired last year. The program has provided over $1.6 million in savings  for 10,580 Connecticut residents so far.

The Special Enrollment Period will end Tuesday, June 30, and those who qualify are urged to apply including:

• Households with an annual income between 100% and 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), who are not already enrolled in the Covered CT Program. will receive a state subsidy to replace 100% of the expired federal enhanced Premium Tax Credit amounts.

• Households with an annual income over 400% and up to 500% of the FPL will receive a state subsidy to replace 50% of the expired federal enhanced Premium Tax Credit amounts. 

To apply visit AccessHealthCT.com and click “Get Help” or call 1-855-805-4325, Monday through Friday 8 am to 4 pm (available in 100 languages).

ADDITIONAL SNAP FUNDS

$300 grocery assistance cards will be available to approximately 25,000 Connecticut residents who are expected to lose their federal SNAP benefits due to recent federal rule changes.
Individuals who have lost SNAP eligibility as a result of new federal work requirements will receive a one-time grocery assistance card that can be used to purchase food at participating grocery stores. In addition, applicants will be connected with resources and support services to help them regain SNAP eligibility whenever possible.
$8.5 million has been allocated from Connecticut’s Federal Cuts Response Fund for this program to provide immediate relief to residents facing food insecurity while helping families navigate changes to federal benefit programs. As the cost of groceries continues to place pressure on household budgets, this assistance will help ensure that those impacted can continue to access nutritious food and meet their basic needs.

Juneteenth Call to Action: Black Lungs Matter

 

Juneteenth emancipation day from enslavement is being marked across the state with parades, festivals, concerts, lectures and protests for voting rights from Hartford to New Haven to Norwalk and dozens of other towns.

Sierra Club Connecticut hosted Black Lungs Matter, a Juneteenth Press Conference on Thursday at the State Captiol.. Local organizers and community members fighting for clean air and environmental justice highlighted the disproportionate impact of air pollution on Black residents in Connecticut and the policy choices that contribute to this pollution. Speakers also honored African Americans who have paved the way to freedom both from the past and present.

Alycia Jenkins, Sierra Club Connecticut, introduced the event with a call to action. Rep. Maryam Khan spoke as a community ally in support of environmental justice. Sharon Lewis, Connecticut Coalition for Economic and Environmental Justice, connected the right to a clean and safe environment with the significance of the Junteenth emancipation day.

Dr. Mark Mitchell, co-chair of the Connecticut Equity and Environmental Justice Advisory Council. and chair of the Connecticut Environmental Leadership Collaborative commented on public health and the need for a renewable update of CAS measures of air quality.

At a public hearing in February Mitchell told the State Legislature.“Climate change affects everyone, but those who contributed least to global warming are affected the most,” including many people of color due to historic government and institutional policies including redlining, housing and job discriimination and community disinventment. He said many children are suffering from asthma due to the high rate of air pollution, and that the corporations who created the problem should be required to pay into the climate superfund for alerts and protections.

Many Junteenth events will include voter registration in response to the all-out attack on Black representation and voting rights by the US Supreme Court and in Southern States. National Freedom Summer/Fall mass events are being launched in Atlanta and Harlem with local actions across the country in the coming months.

This year Connecticut expanded voting rights to include “no-excuse” absentee voting so that every voter can choose to vote absentee.

Brian Steinberg's Life Inspires Continued Struggle

 

December 15, 1941 — May 24, 2026

Brain Steinberg, beloved Communist Party leader, passed away in Hartford on May 24 at the age of 84 surrounded by family. His beautiful and inspiring memorial service on June 12 reflected Biran's lifelong dedication to the multi-racial working class movement for equality and socialism. Filled with love, the service was packed with family, Communist, union and community leaders and activists of all ages from Hartford and across Connecticut.

His daughter Jane Steinberg called upon all present to carry on her dad's life work. “If you're not already active, find a group that you want to work with and get involved to make a better world,” she said in concludintg the service held at the Pond House in West Hartford.

Brian pioneered organizing at the grass roots neighborhood level by bringing the People's World to hundreds of families at their homes weekly across Hartford up to his last days. These routes became the basis for organizing ongoing Communist Party neighbohood clubs that have fought and won victiories including the first civilian review board at a time of intense pulice brutality against the African American and Puerto Rican communities in Hartford.

His concept of neighborhood organizing with the People's World set a new standard throughout Connecticut and nationally. An outstanding teacher, Brian brought forward the history of fascism, emphasizing the need and urgency to build a united front and protect democratic rights as part of achieving the longer term goal of socialism.

When Brian received a Special Recognition at the People's World Amistad Awards in 2022 when he turned 80, he took the opportunity to warn about rising fascism and called for unity and solidarity saying “It is now the time to continue and win more needed gains and to ensure a strong United Front in the coming elections and future.”.

Speakers at the memorial from different parts of Brian's life all recounted stories of their time with Brian, and the fun and adventures they shared.

Tom Connolly told of maintaining Brian's People's World routes while he was in the hospital, and recalled first seeing Brian as a teenager attending the famous DownBeats band concerts led by Brian on saxophone. Melvin Thomas, one of the DownBeats, told how they, as the first interracial band, helped integrate the Musicians Union at the time.

Joelle Fishman spoke of being a team with Brian for 58 years since they were asked by their mentors to help rebuild the Communist Party in Connecticut following McCarthyite repression. She described her weekly trips to Hartord from New Haven and meeting with Brian inbetween his academic schedule and precious family time.

“It was a swirl of campaigns, strikes and organizing drives, trips and conferences and fundraising parties. We called for tax the rich and people before profits when no one else would, and along with Art Perlo and others developed practical campaigns along the way.” she said to applause.

“Thank you Brian. You inspirned us with your depth of understanding, with your lifelong courage and with your constant commitment and vision for socialism.”

She concluded by remembering Broan's work in the South during Freedom Summer in 1963, announcing “we now launch Brian Steinberg Solidarity Summer to get out the vote against fascism and for a better world in 2026. We carry on in your name.”

The following Special Recognition was presented to Brian Steinberg at the People's World Amistad Awards 2022:

BRIAN STEINBERG

On the 103rd anniversary of the Communist Party USA

This special recognition honors your lifelong, unwavering commitment to equality and a better world. Your dedication to bring leadership forward from multi-racial working class communities and your understanding of the need to build unity against fascism has fortified the struggle for a sustainable future free from exploitation, racism and war. You are beloved for your staunch passion for justice, for all you teach, and for the countless lives you have touched to create a strong Communist Party USA and affirm the hope and vision that socialism is both possible and necessary. Your devotion to the People's World as an organizing tool has inspired weekly door to door routes across Connecticut and beyond. Your outstanding contributions and collective work are a model for all champions determined to win People, Peace and Planet before Profits.

Presented at the Dixwell Q House

December 10, 2022

First Tenant's Union Forms in Meriden

Meriden, CT — Tenants of the ten-unit apartment building at 57 Pleasant Street in Meriden have organized to fight back against egregious rent hikes and unfair treatment from their new investment firm-landlord, Alpha Capital Funds. The formation of this tenant union marks yet another expansion of the Alpha Capital division of the Connecticut Tenants Union, adding to existing chapters in New London and Niantic. 

The union is the first of its kind in Meriden. Tenants are taking this critical step after receiving rent increases to the tune of $400-$750 a month, representing increases of 42% to 80%. All nine of the ten units occupied by tenants in the building have organized with their neighbors to advocate for fair and reasonable rent prices and to pursue action with the Meriden Fair Rent Commission. A broad coalition of  labor unions, houses of worship, community members, and political leaders in Meriden are supporting the residents championing fair, safe, and affordable housing. 

As Alpha Capital acquires additional rental properties across the state, more and more tenants are organizing to resist unstable and unaffordable rent increases, forced displacement, negligent property management, and union busting strategies.

Investment firm and corporate landlord Alpha Capital owns at least 400 units across the state of Connecticut. Recently, the firm has grown its Connecticut footprint, buying buildings in Middletown, Waterbury, Meriden, and New Britain. 

The company was also recently sued by the family of an employee, who tragically passed while working on the roof of a building without the proper licensure. In 2024, six employees of the firm falsely posed as tenants before the Connecticut state legislature, testifying against an eviction-protection bill.

The Alpha Capital Division of the Connecticut Tenants Union has repeatedly requested a negotiation meeting with Alpha Capital CEO Tyler Smith. Smith has refused to recognize the union, and has not met with union representatives from any building, despite claims that he “takes resident concerns seriously.” Smith describes himself as a real estate entrepreneur and influencer.