Leo Krzycki

Leo Krzycki (also known as Leon Krzycki in Polish; August 10, 1881 – January 22, 1966) was an American socialist and labor leader of Polish descent who served on the Milwaukee Common Council from 1912 to 1916, as vice president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America from 1920 to 1947, and as national chairman of the Socialist Party of America from 1933 to 1936.

Leo Krzycki
Krzycki c. 1922
National Chairman of the Socialist Party of America
In office October 29, 1933 – July 16, 1936
Preceded by	Morris Hillquit
Succeeded by	Norman Thomas
Vice President of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
In office 1920–1947
Member of the Milwaukee Common Council
In office April 17, 1912 – April 18, 1916
Personal details
Pronunciation	k-ZHIT-ski
Born	Leo C. Krzycki (1881-08-10)August 10, 1881 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	January 22, 1966(1966-01-22) (aged 84) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Party	Socialist (before 1936) American Labor (after 1936)
Spouse	Anna Kadau ​ (m. 1909)​
Children	Leona Eugene John Victor Leo
Parent(s)	Martin Krzycki, Katherine Wobszal
Occupation	Union leader, Socialist leader, activist
Awards	Order of Polonia Restituta (1946)

Early life

Leo C. Krzycki was born on August 10, 1881, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Martin Krzycki and Katherine Wobszal. He was involved with the labor movement from a young age, leading an unsuccessful lithographers' strike at 15 which keft him blacklisted by the company. He spent the next several years working odd jobs and became radicalized, returning to Milwaukee and becoming vice president of the Lithographic Press Feeders Union in 1904.

Political career

Krzycki was elected to the Milwaukee Common Council in 1912, serving four years before running unsuccessfully for city comptroller in 1916. Thereafter, he served as an undersheriff.

In 1918, Krzycki ran for Congress in Wisconsin's 8th congressional district, losing to incumbent Edward E. Browne. In 1924, he ran again in the 4th district, losing to incumbent John C. Schafer. He then ran for U.S. Senate in 1926, losing to John J. Blaine, and for Secretary of State of Wisconsin in 1928, losing to incumbent Theodore Dammann.

Krzycki was involved in the 1926 Passaic textile strike, and appeared in the silent film released the same year which dramatized the events surrounding the strike.

On October 29, 1933, Krzycki was elected chairman of the national executive board of the Socialist Party of America, succeeding the lately deceased Morris Hillquit. He held the post until 1936, when he left the party to join Sidney Hillman in the American Labor Party. His opponents in the Old Guard faction included Louis Waldman and Charles Rozmarek.

Krzycki's involvement in the 1937 Little Steel strike was criticized, especially regarding 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. 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.

In the wake of the Nazi invasion of Poland in 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 the CIA) followed ASC activities, which was later questioned before Congress, leading to Krzycki's resignation and the organization's dissolution by 1951.

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.

Personal life and death

In 1909, Krzycki married Anna Kadau, a neighbor; they had three children. His daughter named her son Norman Thomas.

Krzycki was a member of the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born.

Leo Krzycki died age 84 on January 22, 1966, in Milwaukee.

Awards

• 1946: Order of Polonia Restituta

Works

• The Polish Worker's Day. New York, 1942.

See also

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