Concord City Councilors have been asked to weigh in on the removal of a historical marker in Concord commemorating the birthplace of labor activist and feminist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, who chaired the Communist Party of the United States later in life.
The marker has sparked criticism from Gov. Chris Sununu and two Republican members of the Executive Council, who argue it is inappropriate given Flynn’s communist involvement.
In a letter addressed to Mayor Jim Bouley, New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Commissioner Sarah Stewart invited the city to reevaluate the location of the marker and request its removal.
“The State is available to remove the marker at your request,” Stewart wrote.
However, the marker sits on state land and falls outside the jurisdiction of city officials, Bouley said. Furthermore, the council’s approval of the marker was limited to the location of the sign for safety purposes, he said.
Councilors agreed to respond to the letter by explaining the state was under its own discretion about what to do with the sign.
“I’m fine with sending the letter but I would be very disappointed if the state decided to remove that marker,” said Ward 10 Councilor Zandra Rice-Hawkins. “Whitewashing our history is not a good look for anyone. It holds significant historical character and is part of the cultural movements in our country.”
Gurley Flynn was born in Concord in 1890 and later moved to Manchester where she saw the poverty of the mill workers. The historical marker, unveiled last week, sits at the intersection of Montgomery and Court streets in downtown Concord and notes her national work as a labor leader, civil libertarian, and feminist organizer. It also noted that she joined the Community Party in 1936.
At 22 years old while visiting her family in Concord, she heard the news that more than 14,000 mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, went on strike after receiving pay cuts, according to “The New Hampshire Century,” a book published by the Monitor. Several people were killed during the Lawrence protest, which solidified Gurley Flynn’s opposition to capitalism.
“I spoke at the funerals of men and women shot down on the picket line, and the iron entered my soul,” Flynn later wrote. “I became and I remain an enemy of capitalism. I will never rest contented until I see it replaced by a government of the people, led by the working class, where private ownership means of life and the profit system is abolished.”
The success of the strike made her a hero of the militant labor movement and to keep the peace, manufacturers throughout New England raised the wages of more than 200,000 textile workers. For nearly 60 years, Gurley Flynn would spearhead rebellions from Midwest mining towns to East Coast textile mills, according to the chapter on Gurley Flynn in “The New Hampshire Century.”
In 1951, she was sent to prison under the Smith Act, formally the Alien Registration Act of 1940, which made it a criminal offense to advocate for the violent overthrow of the government or to organize/become a member of a group dedicated to such advocacy. After World War II, the statute was used against the leadership of the American Communist Party.
When she was released 28 months later at 66 years old, she continued to protest until her death in 1961 at the age of 74. She died while visiting Moscow to write her autobiography.
Last year, Concord was approached by the state, which requested approval of the marker, not the other way around.
“The New Hampshire Historical Highway Marker Program is respectfully requesting City Council approval to install Marker #278 which honors former Concord resident Elizabeth Gurley Flynn for her accomplishments in leading America’s early 20th-century labor movement and for her support of civil liberties and women’s rights,” read a letter to the City Council from Amy Dixon, the state’s Community Preservation Coordinator, sent in September 2022.
Stewart’s letter to Bouley, sent last week, follows the Executive Council meeting where criticism of Gurley Flynn’s communist involvement first surfaced.
“This is a devout community,” said Joseph Kenney, a Republican member of the Executive Council. “We are the ‘Live Free or Die’ state. How can we possibly promote her propaganda, which still exists now through this sign in downtown Concord?”
Historic markers are meant to provide the community with a snapshot of significant people and events. Concord has 13 other similar green, cast aluminum historical markers recognizing both local and state history, including one noting the ratification of the Federal Constitution and another commemorating Concord’s Sunset Baseball League, according to the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
In her letter, Stewart said that because the City Council approved the marker, it’s within their purview to ask for it to be removed.
“Governor Sununu and some of the Executive Councilors were clear and emphatic in their disapproval of the Historical Highway Marker #278 recently approved by the Concord City Council,” Stewart wrote.
Though councilors voted to approve the location of the marker, they did not vote to approve the content of the marker, Bouley said. The application was first submitted to the state by Arnie Alpert and Mary Lee Sargent, alongside a petition that included 30 signatures. Public hearings were conducted by the Concord Heritage Commission and the location of the sign was then approved by City Council.
Concord city attorney Jim Kennedy questioned the tone of Stewart’s letter.
“The city looked at the location, not the content of the sign and there is no question that the sign the state constructed is located on State of New Hampshire property,” Kennedy said. “To what extent can the City of Concord tell them what they can put on the property? We haven’t done that and we don’t do that and it’s odd to me that the state would be asking permission to remove the sign.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.