Leo Krzycki

Leo Krzycki
Pronunciation	k-ZHIT-ski
Born	Leo C. Krzycki (1881-08-10)August 10, 1881 Milwaukee, WI, USA
Died	January 22, 1966(1966-01-22) (aged 84) Milwaukee, WI, USA
Nationality	American
Other names	Leon Krzycki (Polish)
Citizenship	American
Occupation(s)	Union leader, Socialist leader, activist
Years active	1895–1950
Employer	Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA)
Organization(s)	Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), American Slav Congress (ASC), American-Polish Labor Council (APLC)
Successor	Bessie Abramowitz Hillman (ACWA), John Marsalka (ASC)
Political party	Socialist
Movement	Socialism
Opponents	Louis Waldman Charles Rozmarek
Spouse	Anna Kadau
Children	Leona Krzycki, Eugene John Krzycki, Victor Leo Krzycki
Parent(s)	Martin Krzycki, Katherine Wobszal
Awards	Order of Polonia Restituta (1946)

Leo Krzycki (1881–1966) was a chairman of the Socialist Party of America and vice president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.[1][2][3]

Background

Leo C. Krzycki was born on August 10, 1881,[1][4] in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Martin Krzycki and Katherine Wobszal.[2]

Career

In 1918, Krzycki ran for the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 8th congressional district. He lost to incumbent Edward E. Browne. In 1924, he was a candidate for the House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 4th congressional district.[5] He lost to incumbent John C. Schafer. Krzycki ran for the United States Senate in 1926, losing to John J. Blaine. He then ran for Secretary of State of Wisconsin in 1928, losing to incumbent Theodore Dammann.

In 1933, Krzycki was elected chairman of the national executive board of the Socialist Party of America, succeeding the lately deceased Morris Hillquit.[1]

Krzycki's 1937 involvement in the strike of about 1,500 people against the Republic Steel plant was criticized, especially the "march" forward that the strikers took towards the plant gates. One first-hand account stated that he knew beforehand that the police captain was a "sadist" and stayed on-stage, trying in vain to dissuade the protests from going forward.[6] Krzycki was also a key figure in organizing the 1937 strike against Ford Motor Company, and shares a historic image leading the strikers with labor leaders Richard Frankensteen and Ed Hall.[7]

In the wake of the Nazi invasion of September 1939, many pro-Polish organizations formed in the UK and USA. In late 1941, the Soviets formed an All Slav Congress. In April 1942, Krzycki accepted the presidency of an American Slav Congress (ASC) allegedly as "front man" for Boleslaw Gebert of the Soviet's All Slav Congress. After news of the 1940 Katyn Massacre emerged, Krzycki's ASC broke with the Polish government in exile in London and stood with the Soviets, their Committee of Polish Patriots (a precursor to the post-war, Soviet-backed Polish government, and the Soviet-proposed changes to Poland's borders to the west and east Both the FBI and OSS and then CIA followed ASC activities, which later came to question before Congress and led to Krzycki's resignation and by organization's end by 1951.[8][9]

In 1944, Krzycki, by then "a noted one-time socialist leader," also became president of the American Polish Labor Council (APLC), appended to the CIO PAC to support Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1944 presidential campaign.[9]

Personal life and death

In 1909, Krzycki married Anna Kadau, a neighbor; they had three children.[1][2]

Krzycki was a member of the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born.[10][11]

Leo Krzycki died age 84 on January 22, 1966, in Milwaukee.[1][2]

Awards

• 1946: Order of Polonia Restituta[3]

See also

• Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
• Wisconsin Labor History Society
• Socialist Party of America
• Joseph Catalanotti (contemporary ACWA EVP)

References

1. Binkowski, Don (2002). "Leo Krzycki: no one like this Milwaukee Polish leader". Wisconsin Labor History Society Newsletter. Wisconsin Labor History Society: 3–4.
2. Binkowski, Don (2001). Poles Together: Leo Krzycki and Polish Americans in the American Labor Movement. XLibris. p. 554.
3. Binkowski, Don (2001). Leo Krzycki and the Detroit Left. XLibris. pp. 159 (Restituta).
4. "Krzycki, Leo". Our Campaigns.com. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
5. "Krzycki, Leo". Political Graveyard. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
6. Arthur G. McDowell. Labor History. Volume 6. Fall 1965. pp. 274–275.
7. Patricia Zacharias (1997-10-22). "Richard Frankensteen, the UAW's 'other guy'". Detroit News. Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
8. David Stefancic (22 December 2010). "American Slavic Congress". In James S. Pula (ed.). The Polish American Encyclopedia. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-0-7864-3308-7.
9. Don Binkowski (22 December 2010). "American Polish Labor Council". In James S. Pula (ed.). The Polish American Encyclopedia. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-0-7864-3308-7.
10. Report on the American Slav Congress and Associated Organizations. USGPO. 26 June 1949. p. 34. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
11. Communist Political Subversion: The Campaign to Destroy the Security Programs of the United States Government. USGPO. 16 August 1957. p. 70. Retrieved 26 July 2021.

External links

• Guide to the Don Binkowski Collection Of Leo Krzycki Memorabilia, held at Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library