Leo Krzycki and the Detroit Left

As Dr. Edward Jennings wisely observed, "Most Polish American historians
were too conservative to be interested in radicalism. On the other hand,
most historians, especially labor historians, were liberal to radical, and
weren't interested in the Polish community because it wasn't radical
enough." However, it must be emphasized that I am presenting primarily an
American perspective of liberal persuasion of the work of Leo Krzycki in the
Polish Left, 1942-1950, while attempting to be loyal to the Polish cause.
The Detroit Left was an infinitesimal part of Polonia. Hopefully, I have
not been chauvinistic to either view.
The label, "Detroit Left," resulted from many radical activities, often
spawned 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 of
the 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 the
Johnson-Forest Tendency in the 1940s. A 1940s member of the Detroit Habonim
recalled "the panoply of radical groups that existed in Detroit, not only
Zionist radicals, but Communists, Trotskyites, Socialist Labor Party people,
and even a few surviving Wobblies." Black Power manifested itself in DRUM
and Malcolm X, dubbed "Detroit Red."
"In the Detroit area, as nationally, labor did more than most civilians
to win the war," stated William O'Neill. During WW II, Detroit, America's
fourth largest city, became the center of America's heavy industry, the
arsenal of democracy. The auto workers union, the UAW, headquartered in
Detroit, represented the "most important working-class organization in all
of American machine industry." Starting in 1919, B.K. Gebert (1895-1986)
agitated and organized Ford workers, 1937-40. Probably, no large American
city was as unionized as Detroit with such a multitude of militant CIO
unions. The higher wages paid to union members allowed those few Communist
Party (CP) members and radicals of other persuasions to support not only the
many CP front groups in the Detroit area but also other radical groups.
Smaller than Chicago, a small Polish communist cadre developed, starting
in 1919 with the Glos Robotniczy (The Worker's Voice) and then in 1924 with
the paper, Trybuna Robotnicza (The Workers Tribune) by Gebert. With the
most Polish city in America, Hamtramck, in its territorial center, Detroit
became a central geographical location in America with its many Polish
organizations and buildings. The Polish Workers Hall erected in 1919 at 3014
Yemans, Hamtramck, developed into the center for the Polish Left. Joseph
Kowalski, the first Pole on the executive board of the Communist Party of
the USA (CPUSA or CP), made Detroit his headquarters. Marrying a Detroiter
in 1920, Gebert ...