Leo Krzycki and the Detroit Left: Volume 2

As Dr. Edward Jennings wisely observed, "Most Polish American historianswere too conservative to be interested in radicalism. On the other hand,most historians, especially labor historians, were liberal to radical, andweren't interested in the Polish community because it wasn't radical enough." However, it must be emphasized that I am presenting primarily anAmerican perspective of liberal persuasion of the work of Leo Krzycki in thePolish Left, 1942-1950, while attempting to be loyal to the Polish cause.The Detroit Left was an infinitesimal part of Polonia. Hopefully, I havenot been chauvinistic to either view. The label, "Detroit Left," resulted from many radical activities, oftenspawned by the Depression. The anti-Soviet writers coined the expression,"Detroit Left," based upon the perceived headquarters of the Polish Left.Only Krzycki's involvement has been researched, not the complete breadth ofthe Polish Left, so that their entire involvement remains to be revealed. Starting with Daniel DeLeon's "Detroit IWW," headquartered in Hamtramck,Detroit was home to the radicals in the circle of C.L.R. James known as theJohnson-Forest Tendency in the 1940s. A 1940s member of the Detroit Habonimrecalled "the panoply of radical groups that existed in Detroit, not onlyZionist radicals, but Communists, Trotskyites, Socialist Labor Party people,and even a few surviving Wobblies." Black Power manifested itself in DRUMand Malcolm X, dubbed "Detroit Red." "In the Detroit area, as nationally, labor did more than most civiliansto win the war," stated William O'Neill. During WW II, Detroit, America'sfourth largest city, became the center of America's heavy industry, thearsenal of democracy. The auto workers union, the UAW, headquartered inDetroit, represented the "most important working-class organization in allof American machine industry." Starting in 1919, B.K. Gebert (1895-1986)agitated and organized Ford workers, 1937-40. Probably, no large Americancity was as unionized as Detroit with such a multitude of militant CIOunions. The higher wages paid to union members allowed those few CommunistParty (CP) members and radicals of other persuasions to support not only themany CP front groups in the Detroit area but also other radical groups. Smaller than Chicago, a small Polish communist cadre developed, startingin 1919 with the Glos Robotniczy (The Worker's Voice) and then in 1924 withthe paper, Trybuna Robotnicza (The Workers Tribune) by Gebert. With themost Polish city in America, Hamtramck, in its territorial center, Detroitbecame a central geographical location in America with its many Polishorganizations and buildings. The Polish Workers Hall erected in 1919 at 3014Yemans, Hamtramck, developed into the center for the Polish Left. JosephKowalski, the first Pole on the executive board of the Communist Party ofthe USA (CPUSA or CP), made Detroit his headquarters. Marrying a Detroiterin 1920, Gebert also headquartered himself in Detroit. Stanley Nowak(1903-1994) settled in Detroit and pioneered the rise of the UnitedAutomobile Workers. His Polish Trade Union Committee consisted of militantCP members. They used the radio as effectively than FDR. However, it must be remembered that the socialists, active for over 40years, paved the way for the CPUSA, created in 1919 from left-wing groupsexpelled by the Socialist Party. Tadeusz Radwanski (1884-1960) not only edited the various newspapers butdeveloped a CP correspondence course in Polish. In 1936, the Polish leftfounded the Glos Ludowy (The People's Voice, 1936-1991) which because theofficial organ of the Polonia Society, IWO, headed by Gebert. Edited byHenry Podolski; Wladyslaw Kucharski (1883- 1960); Thomas X. Dombrowski(1917-1956); Conrad Komorowski (1906-1991); Adam Kujtkowski et al., the GlosLudowy paper had a national circulation and it was lat