Hurrah Revolutionaries: The Polish Canadian Communist Movement, 1918-1948 9780773582071

Table of contents :
Cover
Contents
Tables
A Guide to Pronouncing Polish
Abbreviations
Preface
Illustrations
1 History, Politics, and “Deviant(?)” Polish Canadians
2 Gorączka Emigracyjna: Emigration Fever
3 The Law of Attraction: Polish Immigrants on the Move
4 Getting Organized: Polish Reds, Rebels, and Radicals
5 Gaude, Mater Polonia: The Battleground
6 The Law of Appeal: Joining the Revolutionary Movement
7 Treading on Hostile Ground: Promoting Proletarianism, Mutualism, and Internationalism in Canadian and Polish Canadian Society
8 Red Culture
9 The Changing Tide: Polish Communists in the Wake of World War II
10 The Last Leap of Faith
Conclusion
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y
Z

Citation preview

Acknowledgments

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mc gil l - q ueen ’s s t u d i e s i n e t hn i c h i s t o ry s er ies on e: d o n a l d h a r m a n a k e n s o n , e d i t or 1 Irish Migrants in the Canadas A New Approach Bruce S. Elliott (Second edition, 2004)

11 Best Left as Indians Native-White Relations in the Yukon Territory, 1840–1973 Ken Coates

2 Critical Years in Immigration Canada and Australia Compared Freda Hawkins (Second edition, 1991)

12 Such Hardworking People Italian Immigrants in Postwar Toronto Franca Iacovetta

3 Italians in Toronto Development of a National Identity, 1875–1935 John E. Zucchi

13 The Little Slaves of the Harp Italian Child Street Musicians in Nineteenth-Century Paris, London, and New York John E. Zucchi

4 Linguistics and Poetics of Latvian Folk Songs Essays in Honour of the Sesquicentennial of the Birth of Kr. Barons Vaira Vikis-Freibergs

14 The Light of Nature and the Law of God Antislavery in Ontario, 1833–1877 Allen P. Stouffer

5 Johan Schroder’s Travels in Canada, 1863 Orm Overland

15 Drum Songs Glimpses of Dene History Kerry Abel

6 Class, Ethnicity, and Social Inequality Christopher McAll

16 Louis Rosenberg Canada’s Jews (Reprint of 1939 original) Edited by Morton Weinfeld

7 The Victorian Interpretation of Racial Conflict The Maori, the British, and the New Zealand Wars James Belich 8 White Canada Forever Popular Attitudes and Public Policy toward Orientals in British Columbia W. Peter Ward (Third edition, 2002) 9 The People of Glengarry Highlanders in Transition, 1745–1820 Marianne McLean 10 Vancouver’s Chinatown Racial Discourse in Canada, 1875–1980 Kay J. Anderson

17 A New Lease on Life Landlords, Tenants, and Immigrants in Ireland and Canada Catharine Anne Wilson 18 In Search of Paradise The Odyssey of an Italian Family Susan Gabori 19 Ethnicity in the Mainstream Three Studies of English Canadian Culture in Ontario Pauline Greenhill 20 Patriots and Proletarians The Politicization of Hungarian Immigrants in Canada, 1923–1939 Carmela Patrias 21 The Four Quarters of the Night The Life-Journey of an Emigrant Sikh Tara Singh Bains and Hugh Johnston

List of Tables and Figures 22 Cultural Power, Resistance, and Pluralism Colonial Guyana, 1838–1900 Brian L. Moore 23 Search Out the Land The Jews and the Growth of Equality in British Colonial America, 1740–1867 Sheldon J. Godfrey and Judith C. Godfrey

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24 The Development of Elites in Acadian New Brunswick, 1861–1881 Sheila M. Andrew 25 Journey to Vaja Reconstructing the World of a Hungarian-Jewish Family Elaine Kalman Naves

mc gil l - q ueen ’ s s t u d i e s i n e t h n i c hi s t o r y s er ies t w o: jo hn z u c c hi , e d i t o r 1 Inside Ethnic Families Three Generations of PortugueseCanadians Edite Noivo

9 Demography, State and Society Irish Migration to Britain, 1921–1971 Enda Delaney

2 A House of Words Jewish Writing, Identity, and Memory Norman Ravvin

10 The West Indians of Costa Rica Race, Class, and the Integration of an Ethnic Minority Ronald N. Harpelle

3 Oatmeal and the Catechism Scottish Gaelic Settlers in Quebec Margaret Bennett

11 Canada and the Ukrainian Question, 1939–1945 Bohdan S. Kordan

4 With Scarcely a Ripple Anglo-Canadian Migration into the United States and Western Canada, 1880–1920 Randy William Widdis

12 Tortillas and Tomatoes Transmigrant Mexican Harvesters in Canada Tanya Basok

5 Creating Societies Immigrant Lives in Canada Dirk Hoerder 6 Social Discredit Anti-Semitism, Social Credit, and the Jewish Response Janine Stingel 7 Coalescence of Styles The Ethnic Heritage of St John River Valley Regional Furniture, 1763–1851 Jane L. Cook 8 Brigh an Orain / A Story in Every Song The Songs and Tales of Lauchie MacLellan Translated and edited by John Shaw

13 Old and New World Highland Bagpiping John G. Gibson 14 Nationalism from the Margins The Negotiation of Nationalism and Ethnic Identities among Italian Immigrants in Alberta and British Columbia Patricia Wood 15 Colonization and Community The Vancouver Island Coalfield and the Making of the British Columbia Working Class John Douglas Belshaw 16 Enemy Aliens, Prisoners of War Internment in Canada during the Great War Bohdan S. Kordan

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List of Tables and Figures

17 Like Our Mountains A History of Armenians in Canada Isabel Kaprielian-Churchill 18 Exiles and Islanders The Irish Settlers of Prince Edward Island Brendan O’Grady 19 Ethnic Relations in Canada Institutional Dynamics Raymond Breton Edited by Jeffrey G. Reitz 20 A Kingdom of the Mind The Scots’ Impact on the Development of Canada Edited by Peter Rider and Heather McNabb

27 Managing the Canadian Mosaic in Wartime Shaping Citizenship Policy, 1939–1945 Ivana Caccia 28 Jewish Roots, Canadian Soil Yiddish Culture in Montreal, 1905–1945 Rebecca Margolis 29 Imposing Their Will An Organizational History of Jewish Toronto, 1933–1948 Jack Lipinsky 30 Ireland, Sweden, and the Great European Migration, 1815–1914 Donald H. Akenson

21 Vikings to U-Boats The German Experience in Newfoundland and Labrador Gerhard P. Bassler

31 The Punjabis in British Columbia Location, Labour, First Nations, and Multiculturalism Kamala Elizabeth Nayar

22 Being Arab Ethnic and Religious Identity Building among Second Generation Youth in Montreal Paul Eid

32 Growing Up Canadian Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists Edited by Peter Beyer and Rubina Ramji

23 From Peasants to Labourers Ukrainian and Belarusan Immigration from the Russian Empire to Canada Vadim Kukushkin 24 Emigrant Worlds and Transatlantic Communities Migration to Upper Canada in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century Elizabeth Jane Errington 25 Jerusalem on the Amur Birobidzhan and the Canadian Jewish Communist Movement, 1924–1951 Henry Felix Srebrnik 26 Irish Nationalism in Canada Edited by David A. Wilson

33 Between Raid and Rebellion The Irish in Buffalo and Toronto, 1867–1916 William Jenkins 34 Unpacking the Kists The Scots in New Zealand Brad Patterson, Tom Brooking, and Jim McAloon 35 Building Nations from Diversity Canadian and American Experience Compared Garth Stevenson 36 Hurrah Revolutionaries The Polish Canadian Communist Movement, 1918–1948 Patryk Polec

preface

Hurrah Revolutionaries The Polish Canadian Communist Movement, 1918–1948

patryk polec

McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston • London • Ithaca

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© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2015 isbn 978-0-7735-4501-4 (cloth) isbn 978-0-7735-4502-1 (paper) isbn 978-0-7735-8207-1 (epdf) isbn 978-0-7735-8208-8 (epub) Legal deposit first quarter 2015 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Polec, Patryk, 1983–, author Hurrah revolutionaries : the Polish Canadian Communist movement, 1918–1948 / Patryk Polec. (McGill-Queen’s studies in ethnic history. Series two ; 36) Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. isbn 978-0-7735-4501-4 (bound). – isbn 978-0-7735-4502-1 (pbk.). – isbn 978-0-7735-8207-1 (epdf). – isbn 978-0-7735-8208-8 (epub) 1. Polish Canadians – History – 20th century. 2. Communism – Canada – History – 20th century. 3. Communists – Canada – History – 20th century. I. Title. II. Series: McGill-Queen's studies in ethnic history. Series two ; 36 fc106.p7p64 2015

971.004918'5

c2014-907159-0 c2014-907160-4

This book was typeset by True to Type in 10.5/13 Sabon.

preface

Contents

Tables

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A Guide to Pronouncing Polish Abbreviations Preface

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Illustrations

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1 History, Politics, and “Deviant(?)” Polish Canadians 3 2 Gorączka Emigracyjna: Emigration Fever 17 3 The Law of Attraction: Polish Immigrants on the Move 35 4 Getting Organized: Polish Reds, Rebels, and Radicals 52 5 Gaude, Mater Polonia: The Battleground 70 6 The Law of Appeal: Joining the Revolutionary Movement 91 7 Treading on Hostile Ground: Promoting Proletarianism, Mutualism, and Internationalism in Canadian and Polish Canadian Society 108 8 Red Culture

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9 The Changing Tide: Polish Communists in the Wake of World War II 148 10 The Last Leap of Faith 170 Conclusion 190

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Appendix 197 Notes 209 Bibliography 267 Index 289

List of Tables and Figures

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Tables

1.1 Population of Poles residing in major Canadian urban centres, 1931–51 6 1.2 Polish-language newspaper circulation figures, 1934–38

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1.3 Gainfully occupied Poles in Canada over age fourteen, 1941

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2.1 Polish population in Canada by province and territory, 1901–51 19 A.1 Polish Canadian volunteers in the Spanish Civil War

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A.2 List of Polish Communist branches in Canada for 1938/39

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A.3 List of active Communist organizers in the Polish People’s Association by province for March 1939 205 A.4 Members elected to the Central Executive Committee of the Polish People’s Association in Toronto, 1939 208

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preface

A Guide to Pronouncing Polish

polish characters Ąą Ćć Ęę Łł Ńń Óó Śś Źź Żż

like the “om” in dome like the “ch” in cheek like the “en” in sense like the “w” in will like the “ny” in canyon like the “oo” in tool like the “sh” in sheep like the “z” in azure (zh) like the “s” in vision

diagraphs ch cz dz dż rz sz

like the “h” in happy like the “ch” in chalk like the “ds” in beds like the “J” in John like the “z” in azure (zh) like the “sh” in ship

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List of Tables and Figures

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List of Tables and Figures

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Abbreviations

aan cldl cpc cpr iro kpp nkvd

Archiwum Akt Nowych (Archive of New Records) Canadian Labour Defence League Communist Party of Canada Canadian Pacific Railway International Refugee Organization Komunistyczna Partia Polski (Communist Party of Poland) Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) pda Polish Democratic Association pkwn Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego (Polish Committee of National Liberation) pps Polska Partia Socjalistyczna (Polish Socialist Party) psl Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (Polish Peasants’ Party) ptl Polskie Towarzystwo Ludowe (Polish People’s Association) ptrf Polskie Towarzystwo Robotniczo-Farmerskie (Polish Workers’ and Farmers’ Association) rcmp Royal Canadian Mounted Police sppia Stowarzyszenie Pomocy Polsce i Aliantom (Association to Aid Poland and the Allies) uprf Zjednoczony Polski Komitet Ratunkowy (United Polish Relief Fund) ycl Young Communist League zzpwk Zjednoczenie Zrzeszeń Polskich w Kanadzie (Federation of Polish Societies in Canada) zpk Związek Polaków w Kanadzie (Polish Alliance of Canada)

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Preface

I grew up in a family that left Communist Poland in the 1980s, and so it seemed a little unusual to me that I became interested in giving a voice to Polish Canadian Communists and their movement. Several factors motivated this decision. My family settled in Roncesvalles Village in the heart of Toronto’s old Polish community along Roncesvalles Avenue, where most major Polish community organizations established their presence after World War II. The streets were lined with Polish deli shops, bakeries, and homestyle restaurants that offered everything from cabbage and potato-stuffed pierogi to regional kiełbasa and barszcz. Roncy is still a bustling neighbourhood, and although it has retained much of its Polish flare, the population has profoundly changed. When we lived there, the community was inhabited mainly by ex-soldiers, displaced persons, and former refugees who had refused to return to People’s Poland after the war, and it was replenished in the 1980s by “solidarity wave” immigrants, such as my parents, who supported Lech Wałęsa and the anti-Communist movement in Poland. I grew up in a patriotic neighbourhood (and household). As a child, I was encouraged to read the Three Polish Bards, Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, and Zygmunt Krasiński; I learned about important Polish leaders such as Józef Piłsudski and Tadeusz Kościuszko; and almost every year my family gathered at the Katyn memorial to commemorate the murder of over 20,000 Polish officers and intellectuals by the Soviets in 1940. Many Poles in the area organized patriotic folk dances, music festivals, and picnics, and most Polish parents sent their children to Polish-language school.

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My mother always reminded me that I should speak Polish so that, at the very least, I could understand my babcia and dziadek (grandma and grandpa). My father, an avid reader, encouraged my brother and me with Polish books that he brought from libraries, various bookshops, and church bazaars. One day he came home with a box filled with old Polish books that someone had left on the curb with a “free” sign in our neighbourhood. My father always thought that it was a shame to let books end up in the garbage and took them, thinking that he would donate the lot to a local Polish school or to one of the many bookshops that had a free books bin for customers. We rummaged through the box and discovered that only the top layer was stacked with books, while the remaining content included old letters, calendars, photographs, membership lists, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera that had belonged to Władysław Dutkiewicz, a prominent Polish Canadian Communist and newspaper editor who must have lived in the area. Recognizing the historical value of these materials, my father tried to donate them to a Polish research centre, but no one at the time was interested. Eventually, the box made its way to our basement, where it stayed for several years until I started to think about my graduate studies. That lone box with its unique historical content was how I became aware of the Polish Canadian Communist movement. It had never occurred to me, living in patriotic Roncy, that Polish radicals had once been active on this continent. Canada did not seem important enough for Communist agitation, especially among the relatively small Polish minority. Radicalism – at least in my mind – was a European phenomenon; something from behind the Iron Curtain that my parents had opposed. The history of Canada’s radical groups is seldom taught in schools, even at the university level. I still find that my undergraduate students are often surprised when I tell them that Canadian Communists and their sympathizers were once so numerous that they could fill Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto during their rallies. In 1934, about 17,000 people went to the arena to celebrate the release of Tim Buck, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada, from Kingston Penitentiary (another 8,000 had to be turned away for lack of space). In most pedagogic undertakings, radicalism is portrayed through a Stalinist lens as a foreign Red Scare. Attempts to look at radicalism as a movement of the working masses – of ordinary people – who

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embraced radically progressive ideas because of their worker-friendly ideology are seldom, if ever, made. In Canada, several historians, such as Ian McKay, Gregory S. Kealey, and Franca Iacovetta, have encouraged academics to distinguish between Stalinism and Communism and the various expressions of labour radicalism. In Polish scholarly circles, and especially among Polish émigré writers, such distinctions are rare. For most Poles still today, Communism equals Stalinism, and those who joined the Communist movement are often regarded as unpatriotic traitors and Moscow-controlled reactionaries akin to the nkvd/kgb-era apparatchiks. Communism is seldom considered as a movement that tried to alleviate injustice, discrimination, and unemployment among Polish immigrants. The handful of authors who mention the Polish Communist movement in Canada portray it as small and marginalized or, more commonly, as an insignificant blemish on an otherwise structured Polish Canadian narrative peppered with hardy pioneers, committed religious and patriotic leaders, and ambitious community organizations. Initially, I thought that the Polish Canadian Communist movement encompassed only a few paltry radically minded diehards who represented an anomaly in the Polish Canadian diaspora, but, like most good students of history, my curiosity prompted me to dig deeper and explore just how active and influential traditionally “deviant” ideologies were among Polish immigrants. This query seemed especially significant since most Poles who arrived in Canada throughout the interwar period (when the movement was most popular) belonged to the agricultural and working class.1 The 1921 Polish census showed that the industrial proletariat accounted for 17 per cent of the population, while peasants constituted 64 per cent and landless agricultural labourers an additional 10 per cent.2 Social modernization, the convulsions of revolutions, and high unemployment had created an increasingly homogenous working class that became a major factor in social change. More than one government was toppled or weakened by labour unrest in interbellum Poland. In a wave of nationwide labour conflict, Polish workers and peasants crippled the country with several bloody occupation strikes and antigovernment protests. In 1923, the Kraków riot claimed the lives of approximately thirty workers and fourteen soldiers, while the 1937 anti-government strike, the largest political protest in interwar

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Poland, resulted in 1,000 arrests and forty-four fatalities. It seemed illogical, therefore, that Polish immigrants who had witnessed the rise of organized labour militancy in Poland were just as conservative, anti-socialist, and patriotic as those who dominated the Roncy Village of my youth. Even the Communist Party of Poland, despite its periods of illegality in Poland, had some 40,000 members by 1938. In preindependence Poland, especially in the Austrian and Russia partitions, radically progressive ideas had transformed peasants and labourers into conscious activists. One observer noted that peasants were “losing their old-time respectful manners, and, with the modern ideas of democracy ... acquiring an offensive manner of independence.”3 James S. Pula, in his study on Polish labour activists in the United States, furthers this notion and notes that with “the rise of populism and socialism [in Poland], the new attitudes of activism spread wherever the new immigrants settled.”4 I wondered, therefore, if there was a dimension to the Polish Canadian immigrant experience that was not being told or was simply minimized by conservative scholars who came to Canada after the war. More importantly, I wondered if Polish Canadian Communists were obedient Stalinists or ideologically pure in the Lenin-Trotsky tradition, and whether they constituted a significant element in the broader Canadian Communist movement. My initial research revealed a noticeable gap in the literature. Scholars and amateur community historians have sufficiently covered Ukrainian, Jewish, Russian, Finnish, Hungarian, Croatian, and other ethnic Communists in Canada. There is room for expansion, but at least these stories have been told. Polish Canadian Communists have not received such attention. In fact, most authors who write about the Polish community in Canada neglect Polish radicals. The few who have written about them, generally limit their discussions to brief descriptive outlines, mostly of a page or two in length, and make little effort to relate their findings to the rich literature on immigration and labour history in North America. Polish Canadian Communists had never written a history about their own movement. By the time I started my research in 2007, many of the leading figures who had established and shaped the Polish Canadian radical organizations in the 1920s and 1930s had passed away. While it was disappointing to know that the prospects of interviewing some of the members or sympathizers were pretty much nonexistent, I was also realistic and understood that many individuals

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would probably prefer not to reveal information about their Communist or radical pasts, since disclosing such affiliations, from no matter how long ago, can sometimes cause irreparable damage and unfounded gossip. The Polish word komunista, like its English counterpart, has mostly negative connotations. Finally, I was motivated to write about the Polish Canadian Communist movement and Polish radicalism because the task provided an opportunity to unearth the experiences of ordinary Polish individuals – often desperate immigrants – who had been marginalized and branded as Stalinists and Red Scare radicals because they had embraced a movement, and in some cases an ideology, that they believed would help them navigate the complex capitalist system in North America and encourage them to stand up against oppressive employers, deportation, discrimination, and unemployment. It was occasionally challenging to tell the history of these ordinary immigrants because of a lack of sources. No diaries, memoirs, or recollections written by members of the Polish Canadian Communist movement are known to exist, making it difficult to draw conclusions about their social backgrounds and their responsiveness to various Communist initiatives. Information about Polish Canadian Communist leaders is equally scarce, and in some cases only their aliases are known. As such, determining important aspects about their backgrounds, or whether, for example, they had undergone proletarianization in the Old World, was not always possible. Polish-language Communist newspapers were often the best source of insight into their lives, although the information is superficial at best, revealing only premeditated information that was meant for public consumption. In some instances, I had to make generalizations about anonymous experiences based on the successes and failures of other Communist organizations, and on the experiences of “patriotic” Polish immigrants. Hurrah Revolutionaries is the first full-length study of Polish Communists and radicals in Canada, a group that provided a substantial segment of the country’s socialist left in the early twentieth century. In it, I trace the roots of Communist and socialist support in Poland, its transplantation to Canada, especially in the urban centres where the movement enjoyed greatest support, the challenges it faced within an ethnic community heavily influenced by Catholicism and conservative elites, the complications caused by its links to the Communist International (Comintern), and its changing strength and decline. I offer a deeper understanding of the ways in which the Com-

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munist Party was able to appeal to certain ethnic groups, such as through cultural outreach and patriotic agitation by focusing on the Polish immigrant experience. While the workings of the Polish Communist movement and Polish radicalism are central to this book, I also look at the efforts of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and of Polish government authorities to maintain vigilant control over Polish Canadian Communists, the Polish diaspora, and alleged conspirateurs and informants. I also explore how generally improved material conditions among Poles, especially following World War II, along with the influence of the Cold War, the influx of conservative immigrants, and the imposition of a Communist regime in Poland, accounted for a rapid decline in the movement’s support. Hurrah Revolutionaries is a “social history of politics” that combines the methodologies of social, cultural, and labour history, ethnic studies, and discursive analysis to examine the origin, ideology, and culture of Polish pro-Communist organizations and their members. I explore how the Polish Canadian Communist movement persuaded traditionally conservative and religious immigrants to adopt an ideology that was anti-nationalist and atheist, at least in theory; and I determine how the Communist ideology shaped the identity, experiences, and actions of its adherents and sympathizers. As I suggest, some immigrants could move from a patriotic organization into a radical one only to return to the orbit of the initial ideology, revealing just how fluid Communist identity and political affiliations were in the Polish Canadian immigrant community. More than anything else, the party was able to offer a flexible external image of itself as a patriotic organization without an internal abandonment of its ideological tenets. Much of this book is based on recently discovered Polish consular files that were marked “top secret” and smuggled by Polish pre-war diplomats to the Holy See’s Nunciature in Ottawa, where they were hidden from Polish Communist authorities during the Cold War. Using records from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Polish-language newspapers, Canadian government surveillance records, Royal Canadian Mounted Police reports, and Canadian mainstream newspapers, I not only analyze the interaction of the Polish Canadian Communist movement with the Polish community in Canada, but also move beyond the introverted approach that has characterized most studies of ethnic organizations by placing the movement within a “Canadian” context to analyze its relations with the government,

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broader segments of Canadian society, the Communist Party of Canada, and other ethnic Communists, namely Ukrainians and Polish Jews. Hurrah Revolutionaries has benefited from the sincere and generous support of many kind individuals. I wish to express my gratitude to my doctoral thesis supervisor, M. Mark Stolárik, for his guidance and encouragement. I am indebted to Anna Reczyńska from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow for providing valuable advice and research materials; Krzysztof Smolana, who welcomed me into his home and generously donated his time at the Central Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw; Krzysztof Barbarski and Andrzej Suchcitz of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London, England; Nicholas Siekierski at the Hoover Institute; the helpful staff at the Polish Institute of National Remembrance; and the many members of the Polish Canadian community who welcomed me into their homes and shared their insights and experiences. I am equally indebted to Myron Momryk, one of the best archivists I have ever met. Myron’s research notes were extremely helpful, and he was always available to answer my many questions. I am thankful to my colleagues at the University of Ottawa – Jan Grabowski, Jeffery Keshen, Eda Kranakis, Damien-Claude Bélanger, Serge Durflinger, Meredith Terretta, and Michael D. Behiels – for their valuable suggestions and optimism, as well as to Barrington Walker from Queen’s University and Edyta Bosák and Bill McGrath from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador for their feedback. The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Adam Mickiewicz Foundation provided generous financial support, which helped make research, travel, and publishing much more accessible. Special thanks are due to McGill-Queen’s University Press, especially Mark Abley for his encouraging and constructive suggestions. Mark was always extremely helpful and patient with all my queries. I am grateful to Ryan Van Huijstee and Helen Hajnoczky, who helped bring this book to completion, as well as to Carolyn Yates, who painstakingly commented on the whole draft and provided thorough copy-editing. The suggestions the anonymous reviewers provided have also been of great help in improving the content of this book. Needless to say, any errors or inconsistencies are solely my responsibility.

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I am, above all, indebted to my family. My parents, Elizabeth and Andrew, uprooted their lives in Poland and made countless sacrifices for their two sons. My brother Pawel, a passionate history teacher, has always been encouraging with fresh perspectives, and my grandparents Janina, Alfred, Wanda, and Stanislaw have been a constant inspiration. They survived war, displacement, and loss, and their stories have profoundly enriched my appreciation for life. I am grateful to them all. My wife Lana has been a constant beacon of love and support. Having a partner who tends to see the upside in almost everything, and who has been patient and understanding throughout this entire process, has been invaluable. This book is dedicated to her.

Gorączka Emigracyjna: Emigration Fever xxiii

Albert Morski c. 1961. Photo by John Dominis (The life Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Polish consul Roman Mazurkiewicz (second from left) during his visit to the Polish settlement in Coleman, Alberta, May 1920. (Glenbow Archives, Alberta, na-3091-93)

Polish Brotherly Aid Society dinner, Coleman, Alberta, c. 1935. Photo: Gushul Studio, Blairmore, Alberta. (Glenbow Archives, Alberta, nc-54-1990)

Members of Vancouver’s Zgoda Association, the oldest Polish secular organization in British Columbia, c. 1926. (Delma Portrait Studio/Canadian Polish Research Institute)

Executive members of the Zjednoczenie Zrzeszeń Polskich w Kanadzie (Federation of Polish Societies in Canada), Montreal, c. 1932–33. (Canadian Polish Research Institute)

Spanish Civil War volunteer Stefan Kozlowski (b. 1907), of Toronto, Ontario, who was killed at Heusca in September 1937. (Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion / Library and Archives Canada/pa-067138)

Tim Buck (front left) at the Dominion Communist-Labor Total War Committee meeting, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, October 1942. (Roy Mitchell/Library and Archives Canada/pa-052445)

Donation sheet printed by Kronika Tygodniowa (Weekly chronicle) for the Polish Canadian pro-Communist Association to Aid Poland and the Allies, c. 1943. The organization collected money for the Soviet-organized Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division in the ussr. (Author’s collection: Władysław Dutkiewicz papers)

The last of one hundred Polish-born repatriates who left Canada for Communist Poland. One of the individuals (second from the left) is holding a copy of the Polish Canadian pro-Communist newspaper Kronika Tygodniowa (Weekly chronicle). Photo taken at Union Station, Toronto, Ontario in 1947. (Canadian Tribune/Library and Archives Canada/pa-093951)

Fred Rose, c. 1942–48. (Arthur Roy/Library and Archives Canada, Mikan No. 3220537)

Albert Morski with Samar Sen (second from the right) and Leon Meyrand (far right) in Laos as members of the International Control Commission to arrange a ceasefire, May 1961. Photo by John Dominis. (The life Picture Collection/ Getty Images)

Members of the Polish Canadian pro-Communist Polish Democratic Association mark the centennial of the death of Poland’s national poet Adam Mickiewicz. (Kronika Tygodniowa/Canadian Polish Research Institute)

Introduction

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1 History, Politics, and “Deviant(?)” Polish Canadians

Between the 1920s and the end of World War II, Polish Canadian Communists struck a responsive chord among several thousand Polish immigrants. In fact, the Polish Communists’ central organization, the Polskie Towarzystwo Robotniczo-Farmerskie (ptrf, Polish Workers’ and Farmers’ Association), later the Polskie Towarzystwo Ludowe (ptl, Polish People’s Association), was one of the largest Polish federations in Canada with a membership that was comparable in size to its Polish religious and secular counterparts. The Communist movement became popular not only because of a talented and dedicated core elite, but primarily because of favourable political and economic circumstances, such as the Great Depression, which provided fertile ground for the Communist ideology to mature and gain appeal. Many of the movement’s adherents and sympathizers were not Communists or devoted radicals when they arrived on Canadian shores. Instead, a clear causal link existed between migration to the New World and the embrace of the radical ideology. While radicalism had generally foreign roots, and trained radical agitators were sent to Canada, demoralizing circumstances and disillusionment on the North American continent often nurtured radical activism in the New World among ordinary immigrants. In many instances, radical activism arose as part of immigrants’ acculturation to North American society and their deep desire to change the often deleterious and depressing circumstances they encountered. Communism, for all its international pretensions and its belief in the unity of all people and a classless and stateless society, has always been divided into national and ethnic groups. In Canada, the Com-

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munist movement could not have existed, much less functioned or flourished, without support from its ethnic branches. To be a Communist did not mean that one ceased to be, for instance, Polish, Finnish, or Ukrainian. On the contrary, ethnic branches of the Communist Party of Canada (cpc) extensively borrowed traditional cultural symbols and patriotic elements from immigrants’ homelands to communicate its ideology in more proverbial forms. In the late 1930s, for instance, realizing that Polish immigrants were too traditional to accept atheism, class struggle, and international radicalism, Polish Canadian Communists adopted familiar Old World symbols and features, such as patriotic music and literature, and opted for moderate and nationalistic agitation to attract supporters. They remained, however, highly critical of the Polish government and its representatives in Canada. In this respect, they sharply differentiated nationality and love for one’s native land from political patriotism. Mikhail Bakunin, one of the fathers of the European anarchist movement, succinctly sums up this difference: “The common people of all countries deeply love their fatherland; but it is a natural, real love. The patriotism of the people is not just an idea, it is a fact; but political patriotism ... is not the faithful expression of that fact: it is ... always for the benefit of an exploiting minority.”1 Recognizing that the majority of Polish immigrants were homesick and disillusioned by their non-preferred status as “foreigners” and “Polacks,” and the patronizing attitude accorded them by mainstream Canadian society, Polish Communists strategically appropriated recognizable symbols and a common language to transmit the proletarian ideology. The development of the Canadian Communist movement was influenced by the languages in which it was spoken and disseminated. For immigrants, language could act as either a barrier or a bridge between different groups. Polish Canadian Communists, like the majority of their non-Communist counterparts, frequently interacted with fellow “Slavic” immigrants, mainly Ukrainians, Slovaks, Czechs, and Russians, as well as Polish Jews. Affinities between these groups had as much to do with linguistic similarity as they did with an allegedly shared “Slavic mentality” and geographic proximity in the Old World. While English was the language that most immigrants had in common, it also became the only language most immigrants (aside from those residing in French Canada) used to interact with members of

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5

the host society and the cpc leadership. The English-language Communist press, which included the Communist newspaper the Worker (later renamed the Clarion), brought together Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Slovaks, Croats, Finns, Hungarians, and other immigrants in a transnational community of readers.2 While the English language unified the Canadian Communist movement in anglophone Canada, cultural and linguistic differences were pronounced. Evidence suggests that non-English and non-French Communists were not always instructed to operate in one of Canada’s official languages. Canadian police surveillance reports reveal that at multi-ethnic Communist gatherings, efforts to use a unifying language (i.e., English) were not always made, even in the presence of prominent Anglo-Saxon guests.3 Despite their linguistic and cultural differences, however, Communists were more than willing to offer support, and in some cases even risk their lives, for the struggles of peoples whose language they could not understand. The many examples of mutual interethnic assistance are a remarkable testament to Communists’ ideological commitment to interethnic and interracial solidarity. Communists’ day-to-day activities extended well beyond the traditional political sphere and into everyday life. They formed communities, reading clubs, and educational circles, and organized a myriad of cultural and recreational events that helped, as Ian McKay notes, “distil [their] insights and communicate them to adherents and sympathizers.”4 Communist organizations often mirrored religious or sectarian organizations in structure, but were antithetical to most of them in content. While the mainstream Polish Canadian press, organizations, theatres, and annual national observances fostered nationalism, a similar set of Polish Canadian Communist institutions sustained the radical ideology: the Communist press, radical theatre, and revolutionary commemorations. The radical movement was rooted in a network of meeting halls, printing agencies, taverns, libraries, street corners, and ethnic enclaves. The Polish Communist movement had a rural base, but its main support came from bustling and immigrant-saturated urban centres such as Winnipeg and Toronto. The latter became the centre of Polish Communist activity in the 1930s, when high unemployment in the Prairies during the Great Depression fostered a surge in out-migration to central Canada. By 1941, Toronto was populated by nearly 15,000 – mostly working class – Polish immigrants (see table 1.1).5

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Table 1.1 Population of Poles residing in major Canadian urban centres, 1931–51 Urban Centre

1931

1941

1951

Brantford Calgary Edmonton Guelph Hamilton Kitchener London Montreal Ottawa Regina Saskatoon St Catharines Sudbury Sydney Thunder Bay Toronto Vancouver Victoria Windsor Winnipeg

870 807 1,643 – 4,362 1,509 688 7,184 355 719 528 – 600 – – 8,483 1,222 43 1,495 11,228

927 1,370 2,923 413 5,462 1,997 787 7,947 955 1,024 715 1,552 815 783 2,026 13,094 3,199 267 3,554 13,109

1,231 2,342 5,984 481 9,021 2,899 1,719 13,663 1,857 1,584 1,098 2,433 1,127 647 2,698 26,998 7,899 759 4,974 17,637

Source: Rudolf Kogler, The Polish Community in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Polish Research Institute, 1976).

In rural Canada, Polish Communists took advantage of remote villages and mining communities where they persuaded Polish immigrants to join their “worker-friendly” and “nationalist” organizations, often through inconspicuous sporting events and reading clubs. In some cases, rural cells were operated by no more than three to five individuals, who managed to infiltrate and dominate “patriotic” organizations. In cities, they capitalized on workers’ frustrations and high unemployment to rally crowds of more than 1,000 supporters and sympathizers. Any understanding of the radical movement would be impossible without an appreciation of the local cultures and spaces in which it was embedded. Local Communist spaces and communities were themselves part of a network of what Benedict Anderson terms “an imagined community.”6 Although most Communists did not interact with their comrades

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7

in other cities, towns, villages, and provinces, their common beliefs, ideas, and information united them into an imagined community of people who wanted to live otherwise. Based on this premise, in this book I aim to analyze how Polish Canadian Communist organizations worked as a thought and structure system for their members. I borrow McKay’s “reconnaissance” strategy to analyze the interaction between specific organizations and individuals in a particular space and time.7 Unlike the “scorecard” approach, which McKay argues tends to place each organization before “the Bar of History” to decide whether its “partisans should be praised or damned,” the reconnaissance strategy evaluates an organization on how it was shaped by the people it involved, rather than on its success or failure.8 Most histories of ethnic communities in Canada, especially those written by amateur community historians in the 1960s and the 1970s, suffer from the scorecard approach. They tend to evaluate a particular group of people based on the success of their organization, but fail to scrutinize how ordinary people influenced and transformed the organizations to which they belonged. Reconnaissance, therefore, makes way for an examination of the interaction between people, ideology, and the institutions that individuals create to serve their specific needs. McKay ties reconnaissance to a “horizontal” model that challenges “vertical” approaches to doing history. Until relatively recently, there was a tendency among historians to make interpretations based on a vertical analysis that focused on large formations and institutions. The vertical model, according to McKay, acts like a large hand picking out institutions or events in a particular period that stick out for analysis. This approach invites thinking about humans as fixed essences attached to their institutions and ideologies (i.e., a Communist is a Communist). McKay prefers a horizontal approach that pans across the events and institutions in a particular space and time to examine how individuals mutate in a multifaceted dialectic with their own surroundings. It suggests that ethnic workers in each particular period create a distinct concept or system through which they understand the world. The horizontal method is comparative; it examines how people interpreted various ideologies and concepts (i.e., socialism, unionism, Marxism, and Communism) in distinct periods. For instance, a Communist from the 1920s could have a conversation with a Communist from the 1980s: they could discuss Das Kapital, criticize greedy cigar-smoking industrialists, or simply engage in a

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conversation on how to live “otherwise.” Yet how each individual adopts Communism and uses it to solve social problems differs because conditions in specific periods influence distinct interpretations of how to apply it. As such, a Communist from the 1920s may have been more concerned with high unemployment while a contemporary Communist may be more interested in environmental issues or organic farming. Using McKay’s horizontal approach, I not only look at how prominent agitators and writers interpret and distil the Communist ideology, but also generalize about how Communist ideals influenced the majority of the largely anonymous masses who constituted the movement’s base. The Comintern’s sharp and often-contradictory policy turns form an integral part of the Communist movement’s history. In his study on the cpc, Ian Angus observes that the Canadian party underwent a drastic transformation between Lenin’s International Front and Stalin’s Popular Front,9 and argues that the cpc developed properly under the Leninist-Trotsky leadership in the Comintern.10 The end of this steady growth, he insists, coincided with the displacement of the Lenin-Trotsky leadership and its replacement with a Stalinist bureaucracy after Lenin’s death in 1924.11 William J. Chase notes that the change in the Soviet leadership led to the bureaucratization and Stalinization of the Comintern, which began to serve the interests of the Soviet government rather than the international working class.12 He observes that the Comintern’s Stalinization was “idealism twisted into carnage.”13 Angus concludes that the transformation marked a significant shift in party politics, and that the principle of working class internationalism was jettisoned in favour of defending the Soviet Union at all costs.14 In a rage of paranoia, Stalin purged the Comintern, especially of the foreign members who were no longer regarded as heroes of the class struggle but as potential enemy agents. The Communist Party of Poland was among the hardest hit. In 1938, Stalin ordered the murder of 5,000 of its members, while several thousand German Communists and anti-fascists who had fled Nazi Germany were either executed or handed over to Hitler.15 Leaders of the Indian, Mexican, Iranian, and Turkish Communist parties were also executed, and out of eleven Mongolian Communist Party leaders only one survived. Following the punitive crackdown, many Communists, especially those in Great Britain and the United States, reconsidered their devotion to the

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Comintern, while others abandoned the Communist movement all together.16 In Canada, the cpc underwent a series of internal schisms between the Stalinists and the idealists who favoured the Lenin-Trotsky line. Maurice Spector, the party’s chairman, and Jack MacDonald, its national secretary, left the cpc to form the International Left Opposition (Trotskyist) Canada.17 Several ethnic Communist branches also divided over the Comintern’s travesty. Some Ukrainian Canadian Communists formed the Lobai movement in opposition to the Soviet-imposed famine that had ravaged the Ukraine in 1932 and 1933. A number of Jewish activists also left the cpc, including Joseph Salsberg, a prominent Polish Jewish organizer who became disillusioned when he learned of Stalin’s persecution of the Jews in Soviet Russia. While Stalin’s power grab fragmented many Communists, Polish Canadian Communists appear to have experienced minimal internal disunion, and, as I will show in chapters 9 and 10, the Polish branch, like the cpc under Chairman Tim Buck,18 became a staunch defender of Soviet interests. In the political sphere, Leninist politics of a united front, in which Communists pursued common goals for the working class, were replaced by Stalin’s Popular Front, which created a relationship between, on the one hand, working-class militants, Communist parties, and socialist intellectuals, and, on the other hand, non-Marxist socialists and left-leaning liberals in a fight against global fascism.19 While in earlier periods Communists were encouraged to join all workers to defend the immediate, basic interests of the working class against the bourgeoisie, the Popular Front proposed that the struggle for democracy and social justice be synonymous with, or a prerequisite for, the struggle for socialism. To this effect, the Soviet Union joined the League of Nations in 1934, an organization that Lenin had bitterly opposed.20 In Canada, the Popular Front strategy appealed to many Canadians who feared being dragged into another European conflict. The Communist-sponsored League against War and Fascism, which was founded in 1935, attracted thousands of Canadian supporters, while membership in the cpc tripled between 1934 and 1937.21 The Polish Canadian Communist movement, like so many of its counterparts, suffered exceedingly from Stalin’s irregular political escapades and abrupt policy reversals. For instance, in 1939, on the eve of World War II, Communists everywhere were ordered to abandon

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their anti-fascist rhetoric following Stalin’s non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. The Hitler-Stalin marriage was a tough pill to swallow for many worldwide adherents. Some Communists split from the movement, unable to come to terms with Stalin’s sudden pro-Nazi shift. In the Polish Canadian Communist camp, the situation was a public relations nightmare, especially after the Soviet-Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939. The movement lost considerable credibility among its supporters and sympathizers after it failed to explain Stalin’s foreign policy and the Red Army’s entry into Poland. Following Hitler’s invasion of Russia in 1941, the Comintern was again forced to introduce a sharp foreign policy twist. Communists were instructed to re-adopt their pre-1939 anti-fascist position and to favour worldwide democracy.22 Polish Canadian Communists abandoned their militant ultra-left agitation practically overnight and became zealous Polish patriots. Their movement stood for peace and democracy, and it promoted the collective mobilization of society to help arm Poland against Nazi aggression. The struggle for Polish Canadian Communists’ existence was greatly facilitated by their flexibility and adaptability. They supported calls for a Soviet Canada and “hurrah revolutionism,” but when it suited them they became patriots and partisans of democracy.23 In addition to people, information and ideology circulated between Communist networks, usually in the form of publications. It is difficult to overstate the importance of newspapers in the Communist movement. In his famous essay “What Is to Be Done?,” Lenin emphasizes that the press was a fundamental cornerstone of any Communist organization.24 Victor Turek, in his important study of the Polish-language press in Canada, observes that the overbuilt press structure in the Polish Canadian Communist movement was detrimental to its overall efforts.25 Since Polish Canadian Communists never published an official history, yearbooks, commemorative monographs, or memoirs, their newspapers are essentially the only available source of insight into the world as they saw it. The circulation figures of the Polish Canadian red press are generally a good guide for gauging the approximate size of the movement’s following and its fluctuating popularity, although estimates based on circulation rates must be considered cautiously as many papers, especially the left-leaning ones, often embellished their numbers to give the illusion of strength and grandeur.

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Table 1.2 Polish-language newspaper circulation figures, 1934–38 Year

Czas

Gazeta Katolicka

Związkowiec

Głos Pracy

1934 1935 1936 1937 1938

3,958 4,400 4,500 4,500 4,532

7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000

600 600 – 5,000 5,000

4,000 4,000 4,500 4,500 6,593

Source: Victor Turek, Polish Language Press in Canada (Toronto: Polish Alliance Press Limited, 1962).

Table 1.2 compares the circulation of the Polish Canadian Communist newspaper Głos Pracy (Voice of labour) to three of the largest non-Communist Polish-language newspapers in Canada. The circulation rates provided in table 1.2 do not account for the “second circulation,” which consists of individuals who read a newspaper but did not subscribe to it. In his examination of the reading habits of Polish immigrants, Turek concludes that newspaper readership was significantly higher than the number of printed copies. In many instances, three or more different people read one newspaper. The Polish consul Jan Pawlica observed that at least 40,000 Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish Canadians read Głos Pracy in 1939.26 In addition, the readership estimates are based on the largest newspapers and do not include small, ephemeral publications with much smaller circulations. The figures shown, therefore, are lower than the actual totals for each year by a margin of, quite possibly, several thousand.27 In the last two decades, significant strides have been made in unearthing the history of the non-English and non-French working class. Scholars such as Donald Avery, Bruno Ramirez, Franca Iacovetta, Varpu Lindström, Carmela Patrias, and Anthony Rasporich, among others, have contributed to the formulation of theoretical frameworks designed to help study the ethnic working class in Canada.28 The immigrant worker is no longer studied as either a docile strike-breaker or a violent foreign revolutionary. Earlier conceptions of ethnic versus class consciousness have also been challenged by historians, such as Franca Iacovetta, who maintain that ethnicity cannot be studied independent of class. However, historians have ignored many important issues surrounding ethnic workers and the ethnic left, often

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because of a language barrier. Edward W. Laine observes, “the relevant documentation exists in one or another of Canada’s ‘unofficial languages’ – and is therefore not accessible to researchers who are ‘officially’ only bilingual.”29 Writing about the prospects of labour history in the 1980s, Gregory S. Kealey observes that ethnic workers still posed a “significant challenge to Canadian labour historians” and that “much remains to be unearthed about [ethnic] communities, for too long ignored by Canadian scholarship.”30 One glaring case in point is the history of the Polish left in Canada. Many ethnic groups – Ukrainian, Jewish, Finnish, Hungarian – can boast of at least several books or articles on the history of their radicals.31 Polish Canadian Communists have not enjoyed such attention. In the few instances where Polish Communists are mentioned in the non-Polish literature, they are muddled together with other ethnic Communists in general statements such as “the Ukrainians, Russians and Poles” or “Ukrainian, Polish and Russian” radicals.32 Packaging ethnic workers under such general terms hinders an accurate understanding of how ethnically diverse Communist groups disseminated and interacted with the language of socialism to understand their own unique circumstances. (For a list of gainfully employed Poles in Canada, see table 1.3.) The only concerted effort to focus exclusively on the history of Polish Communists in Canada is that of a Polish historian, Anna Reczyńska, in her article “Początki działalności radykalnych ugrupowań Polonii Kanadyjskiej” (The beginnings of radical group activity in the Canadian Polonia). Together with her published habilitation thesis, Piętno Wojny (The stigma of war), which also contains sections on Polish Communist activity in Canada, Reczyńska provides a sound overview of the movement’s origins and its organizations.33 While in this volume I build on some of her observations, especially about the decline of the Polish Communist movement in post-1945 Canada, I delve much deeper by consulting Canadian surveillance sources, namely Royal Canadian Mounted Police security bulletins, to fill important gaps in the movement’s history and to examine how Canadian authorities surveilled immigrant communities. Moreover, by focusing on Communist recruiting, interethnic comradery, Polish “red” culture, state surveillance, and relations with the cpc, I situate the Polish Communist movement in a broader Canadian context, an approach that has been traditionally ignored by most scholars focusing on the Polish immigrant group in Canada.

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Table 1.3 Gainfully occupied Poles in Canada over age fourteen, 1941 Occupation

Total in Canada

Poles in Canada

% of Poles in Canada

Agriculture Fishing, Hunting, and Trapping Logging Mining and Quarrying Manufacturing Construction Transportation and Communication Trade Finance Service Sector Clerical General Labourers Not Stated

1,083,816

20,980

1.93

51,450 80,250 71,886 703,162 202,848

129 1,122 3,709 13,229 2,708

0.25 1.40 5.16 1.88 1.33

268,656 355,079 31,392 734,424 338,031 263,544 11,413

3,818 2,651 69 9,080 1,699 7,211 172

1.42 0.75 0.22 1.24 0.50 2.74 1.51

Source: Victor Turek, Poles in Manitoba (Toronto, Polish Alliance Press Limited, 1967). Table excludes data for Yukon and the North West Territories.

Others who have written about the Polish Canadian community have seldom discussed Polish Canadian Communists and their movement.34 Turek devotes a few pages to Polish Canadian Communist newspapers35 – he offers an ambitious outline of most Polish Canadian newspapers since the early twentieth century, and includes data on circulation rates that are widely cited by scholars. Without Turek’s research and interviews with a number of Communist editors, information about obscure Polish Communist publications such as Czerwona Jaskółka (Red swallow), which was published only three times in 1931, would have been lost. On the other hand, Turek’s magnum opus, Poles in Manitoba, includes only vague references to Polish Canadian Communists, which is a significant oversight since they thrived in the western provinces, especially until the 1930s, when the movement’s support shifted to central Canada as a result of job migration.36 Turek dismisses the Communist movement as a marginalized element in the Polish community and considers it to have had a small and insignificant following. Turek himself was among the thousands of Polish

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immigrant exiles who refused to return to People’s Poland after World War II. His disdain for Communism, together with his affiliation to the Canadian Polish Congress (an anti-Communist quasi-political organization), must be recognized as factors that prompt him to sideline the Polish Canadian left. Other Polish Canadian scholars, namely Benedykt Heydenkorn, William B. Makowski, and Henry Radecki, also make efforts to discuss the Polish Canadian Communist movement, but their treatments are modest attempts at best.37 They offer general sketches of the origins of the Polish pro-Communist groups and briefly trace their development and decline. In all of these studies, they present Polish radicals and their organizations as an ostracized element whose influence, as some of them note, was “infinitesimal.”38 Even though Polish Canadian Communists enjoyed increasing popularity throughout the 1930s, which enabled them to dramatically expand their organizations and circulation, these scholars do not try (as good historians should) to analyze the extent of the movement’s popularity within the Polish immigrant community and to relate their findings to broader methodological trends in North American labour history. Despite their tendency to dismiss the Polish Communists, however, Polish Canadian scholars occasionally admire their leaders’ discipline and devotion, and generally agree that Communists initiated “very meritorious” activities.39 Turek even considers the editor of Głos Pracy, Władysław Dutkiewicz, to be one of the best-informed journalists in the Polish community.40 The paucity of historical writing on Polish Canadian radicalism, especially among Polish scholars in Canada, can be explained by several factors. First, since émigré scholars and other “patriotic” immigrants came to dominate the Polish Canadian community after 1945, they played a decisive role in shaping its politics and were able to interpret the past and downplay any influences or events that they considered irrelevant or embarrassing. Second, the imposition of a Communist regime in post-war Poland and the ensuing Cold War antagonisms created an environment that discouraged émigré scholars from writing an analytical history about the Communist movement. Marxism was equated with Stalinism – making it difficult to draw distinctions between Marxism as an analytic approach to history and society and Marxism as a political practice associated with Stalinism.41 This strategy reinforced the stereotype – Polak-anty-komunista

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15

– that Poles, by nature, have always been anti-Communists. Above all, however, Polish émigré scholars should not be chastised for disregarding the history of the Polish Canadian Communist movement since Polish Communists were around to do the job themselves, but never did. While the majority of studies on Poles in Canada offer little assistance in forming an analytical history of the Polish Canadian Communist movement, they cover important aspects of Polish immigrant culture, settlement patterns, and the development of cultural associations and various political groups that have been helpful in forming generalizations about the Polish immigrant experience, the conditions that made Communism appealing in Canada, and the structure and the activities of Communism’s rival religious and secular organizations. They also help define Polish immigrants’ position in the host society, the relationship between immigrants and their ancestral homeland, and the tasks of cultural preservation. Those who write about Polish immigrants in Canada do, of course, deal with community politics. They generally limit their discussions to conventional political processes: organizational development, leadership, memberships, and lobbying for domestic and homeland concerns. In addition, they relate how the political process developed vis-à-vis matrix events such as the Great Depression and World War II. While such treatments are invaluable, they suffer from a fundamental shortcoming: they focus on an interactive process between the rulers and the ruled that does not extend beyond political processes, matrix events, and institutions, suggesting that outside forces and elites were decisive elements in community building. Such an approach removes immigrants’ agency and denies them initiative, implying that they did not form individual, and often very diverse, interpretations of their surroundings. John Briggs and Josef Barton argue that it was in fact the rank and file, and not the elites, that dictated the course of community development.42 Polish Canadian Communist leaders recognized that most immigrants were too traditional to adapt atheism and international revolutionism, which forced them, as I will discuss in chapter 8, to dilute Communist policies with semi-religious and patriotic undertones to attract more members. This does not necessarily mean that elites played a secondary role in organizational development, as Briggs suggests.43 On the contrary, as I suggest in this book, a symbiotic rela-

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tionship existed between Polish Communist leaders and followers. While the rank and file looked to their leaders for guidance and direction, their leaders modified policies and public outreach work to suit the needs and expectations of their followers. Scholars who focus solely on conventional political processes and matrix events seldom analyze how the process of politicization was shaped by immigrants’ culture and, more importantly, by the fact that political ideas were enmeshed with other elements of immigrant culture, specifically language, drama, youth clubs, funerals, sporting events, and newspapers. As I will show in subsequent chapters, such elements often limited immigrants’ ability to accept and discard political ideas. John Bodnar rejects the notion that working-class immigrants were insular, and stresses that the immigrant experience was in fact transformed by the “interaction of classes, ideologies and culture within and outside the communities of newcomers.”44 The majority of scholars who have examined the Polish immigrant population in Canada obscure the importance of immigrant culture as a transmitter of various political ideologies. Those who concentrate on the dominant ideologies within immigrant communities without analyzing oppositional or “deviant” groups such as Communists and anarchists miss important aspects of political and group identity. Those who analyze the Polish left, on the other hand, create the misleading impression that immigrants’ marginalized status invariably led them to join radical groups. Such an approach fails to consider why those who were just as exploited as those who joined radical groups adopted conservative ideologies in Canada. The importance of immigrant culture as a transmitter of different, even conflicting, political ideologies does not only shed essential information on how culture influenced community politics, but also demonstrates how immigrant identity is intertwined with political ideologies.

2 Gorączka Emigracyjna: Emigration Fever

The history of Polish immigration to Canada until the 1950s falls into three distinct periods. The first includes the relatively small emigration of political refugees who, due to pressures resulting from the Austrian, Prussian, and Russian partition of Poland at the end of the eighteenth century, were forced into exile. The second covers the years from the last decade of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of World War II. This period witnessed a profound influx of Polish immigration to Canada and can be characterized as an economic migration. Strictly speaking, it began during the inauguration of an energetic immigration policy advocated by Canada’s minister of the interior, Clifford Sifton, in the 1890s.1 The third migratory wave began during World War II, but did not gain momentum until after 1945.2 It was a political migration composed predominantly of refugees, displaced persons, and ex-soldiers who refused to return to a Soviet-backed People’s Poland.3 By 1952, about 55,000 of these immigrants had entered Canada.4 Distinguished by a higher level of education, professional qualifications, and a strong aversion to Communism, the post-1945 immigrants noticeably transformed the Polish Canadian community. They invigorated the Canadian Polish Congress, whose members were generally loyal to the Polish government in exile in London, England, and established a myriad of Polish patriotic and cultural-educational organizations, radio programs, and newspapers that lobbied the Canadian government to oppose Communism in Poland. As I will show in chapters 9 and 10, post-war immigrants strengthened the Polish diaspora’s antiCommunist outlook, which resulted in the almost complete isolation

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of the Communist camp.5 Writing in 1960, Canadian scholar Watson Kirkconnell observed the profound influence of Polish post-war immigrants on the community, and found that 95 per cent of all Poles in Canada were anti-Communist.6 It must be noted that the above-mentioned divisions of the migratory waves were not as rigid as they appear. During politically motivated migrations, for instance, there were still immigrants who came to Canada for economic reasons (and vice versa). Yet, by speaking generally and highlighting the commonalities that characterize each migratory period, it is possible to distinguish the underlying change between them. (For the Polish population in Canada from 1901 to 1951, see table 2.1.) A sketch of the pre-1918 Polish migration to Canada should be illustrated with statistical data indicating in figures and comparative proportions the influx of Polish immigrants, but, unfortunately, Canadian statistical sources offer little insight. This deficiency can be attributed to a lack of experience on behalf of the poorly prepared statistical departments of a young nation. The massive influx of nonBritish and non-American immigrants at the turn of the nineteenth century made it clear that Canada was not prepared to deal with the task of absorbing a flood of multinational and multilingual newcomers. Many shortcomings were due to Canadian ignorance of the political, religious, and geographical divisions in the eastern territories of continental Europe.7 The territorial divisions that ensued after World War I changed the status of many immigrants. Some European nations gained national independence; others came under the domination of newly created states, which resulted in profound changes to the status of various ethnic groups. The newly independent Polish state, which was revived in 1918, received East Prussia, Galicia, and other territories it had lost as a result of the partitions in the eighteenth century. Many of these areas were heavily populated by ethnic Germans, Ukrainians, Jews, and Ruthenians who came under the administration of the Polish government. Such changes created confusion and resulted in the inadequate classification of newcomers’ national, ethnic, and linguistic affiliations. The inaccuracies in the census data also stemmed from linguistic barriers, misinformation, and illiteracy among immigrants. Both Canadian immigration authorities and immigrants themselves often confused ethnic affiliation with citizenship. Polish immigrants who had lived under the Austrian, Prussian, and Russian partitions some-

Table 2.1 Polish population in Canada by province and territory, 1901–51 1901 Total

Poles

5,371,315 6,285 2,182,947 2,918 1,648,898 274 255,211 1,674 41,279 669 73,022 470

1921

1931

Total

Poles

Total

Poles

7,206,643 2,527,292 2,005,776 461,394 492,432 374,295

33,652 10,631 3,233 12,321 3,922 2,297

8,787,949 53,403 2,933,662 15,787 2,360,510 3,264 610,118 16,597 757,510 8,161 588,454 7,172

1941 Total

Total

Poles

10,376,786 3,431,683 2,874,662 700,139 921,785 731,605

145,503 11,506,655 167,485 14,009,929 219,845 42,384 3,787,665 54,893 4,597,542 89,825 9,534 3,331,882 10,036 4,055,681 16,998 40,243 729,744 36,550 776,541 37,933 25,961 895,992 27,902 831,728 26,034 21,157 796,169 26,845 939,501 29,661

178,657 – 459,574

136 – 15

392,480 –

610 – 535

524,582 – 523,837

1,361 – 980

694,263 – 512,846

4,599 – 1,488

817,861 – 517,962

331,120 – 27,219 –

3 – 126 –

351,889 – 8,512 –

69 – 34 –

387,876 – 4,157 –

65 – 19 –

408,219 – 4,230 9,316

121 – 12 4

457,401 95,047 4,914 12,028

Source: Victor Turek, Poles in Manitoba (Toronto, Polish Alliance Press Limited, 1967).

1951 Poles

Total

Poles

8,744 1,165,210 16,301 – 361,416 79 2,206 642,584 2,346 233 1 35 40

515,697 98,429 9,096 16,004

340 54 136 120

Gorączka Emigracyjna: Emigration Fever 19

Canada Ontario Quebec Manitoba Saskatchewan Alberta British Columbia Newfoundland Nova Scotia New Brunswick pei Yukon nwt

1911

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times identified themselves by their place of birth and not their ethnicity. Consequently, they were registered as Russian, Prussian, or Austrian immigrants. Canadian immigration authorities also created a separate category for “Galicians” in which they placed Poles, Jews, Ruthenians, Ukrainians, and other ethnic minority groups who came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This classification poses many problems for scholars, because ethnically distinct immigrants were classified homogeneously. As a result, many Polish immigrants found themselves in records reserved for Russians, Austrians, Prussians, or Galicians.8 Inadequate census records are particularly problematic where they concern the Polish population. Although Poland regained independence in 1918, its international boundaries were not stabilized and recognized until 1923.9 The 1921 Canadian census did not account for these political and geographical changes. Moreover, Poland did not cease to be a multinational state after 1918. Polish minority groups, mainly Jews, Ukrainians, and Germans, came to Canada as Poles because the Canadian authorities categorized them based on their citizenship or birthplace and not on their ethnic origin.10 It was not until 1927 that the Canadian census authorities began to record immigrants’ origins based on their ethnic affiliations.11 In view of the statistical deficiencies, it is challenging to produce accurate figures that represent the number of ethnic Poles who entered Canada by 1919. A generally accepted number is 50,000. The 1921 census indicated that 53,403 Poles lived in Canada. By 1931, a more accurate census revealed that 145,503 Poles, out of a total Canadian population of 10,376,786, had settled in Canada.12

the old world: the partitioned res publicae The mass migration of Poles to North America must be viewed in the context of the economic, political, and social conditions that prevailed in the partitioned territories of the former Polish Republic. Starting in the late eighteenth century, the partitioning powers instituted ruthless political and economic oppression to obliterate any vestiges of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Polish inhabitants of the lands governed by Prussia were subjected to intense Germanization. Peasants found their lands expropriated and themselves forced to move into overcrowded industrial slums and ghettos. The Prussian-

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controlled territories produced the first significant wave of Polish emigrants. The Kaszuby Poles, who were compelled to leave their farms because of difficult economic conditions, were among the first ethnic Poles to immigrate to the New World.13 Russia received the largest chunk (about 62 per cent) of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth territory. Under Russian influence, Poles were also subjected to an unrestrained policy of Russification, particularly in the aftermath of the anti-Russian November Uprising (1830–31) and the January Uprising (1863–64), which resulted in the forced deportation of thousands of Poles to Siberia. Severe economic oppression lingered over the Russian-controlled partition, and few steps were taken toward industrialization and urbanization. Farms were frequently divided, which reduced them to bare subsistence levels and created a labour surplus in the villages that the underdeveloped industrial sectors could not absorb. The political oppression and economic stagnation prompted many Poles to search for better conditions abroad. The third partitioned territory, Austrian-occupied Galicia, was inhabited primarily by Ukrainian and Polish peasants and farmers, who constituted one of the most destitute and land-hungry populations in East-Central Europe.14 Although Galicia was the least politically oppressed territory of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, its economic backwardness made living conditions difficult, resulting in a great trans-Atlantic economic emigration in the 1880s.15 To this day, Galician poverty has survived in the Polish language as a popular expression: bieda galicyjska (Galician poverty) or nędza galicyjska (Galician misery). Others still joke about Golicia and Głodomeria – goły meaning “bare” and głód meaning “hungry.” The Polish writer Melchior Wańkowicz vividly describes the dire realities of daily life in his account of the Gasior family in his historically based literary masterpiece Three Generations: The Gasiors [sic] in Poland ate meat only once a year, at Easter. They could not afford to keep a pig. They kept ten hens, to be sure, but never touched an egg. All the eggs and three-fourths of the milk from their one miserable cow went for sale. Mother Gasior grew hemp which she spun and wove into coarse linen out of which she made their work-shirts and pants. Indeed, she even managed to find on her acre plot a hidden spot where, out of

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sight of the police, she grew a few tobacco plants for her husband’s use. A pair of boots cost them six months wages. But then those boots, reinforced now and then with new uppers, would last a lifetime. They ate bread sparingly; mostly they lived on cabbage and potatoes.16 Julian Topolnicki, a prominent member of the Polish Canadian community, describes his Galician childhood in his memoir: “I remember when I had to walk to school during autumn weather over a soggy and muddy road, wearing my grandmothers torn shoes, distorted ... but not only the shoes ... my coat was grandmother’s too ... polka coat they called it ... and in cold weather, a meagre cloth, without gloves.”17 Abundant evidence confirms that emigrants generally left the former Polish territories to improve their lot. Some were captivated by letters or accounts from emigrants and shipping agents about the great expanses of land that were free for the taking in North America. The Gasior family heard rumours that someone from a neighbouring hamlet had gone to “Hamerika” and later to Canada, where they purchased 160 acres for ten “thalers.” The richest farmer in the Gasior’s village had only twenty-two acres.18 Letters about large farms and vast plots of land, and the sight of returning immigrants dressed in Sunday clothes like their pan (lords) enticed many to claim their own fortunes. One Polish woman, who had settled in Alberta in the 1920s, recalls the circumstances that lured her to Canada: “At home in Poland, there was no work for money, only at the manor. But it paid very little. People, particularly women, returned to the village from America with money. The girls who went praised their experience. The girls were needed to work in Canada on farms. I decided to go. Some people who had no money went to Germany or France. I wanted to do better. I wanted to go to Canada.”19 While such positive images undoubtedly drew many prospective emigrants to the New World, they have also coloured the imaginations of many migration scholars who have undermined the emigrant’s awareness of the difficult social, political, and economic realities in North America. We are accustomed to hearing about primitive and uninformed emigrants who flee to a “land of opportunities”

Gorączka Emigracyjna: Emigration Fever 23

where “streets are paved with gold.” With varying degrees of emphasis, a number of Polish scholars maintain that Polish emigrants were not only victims of social, economic, political, and religious oppression, but also uneducated and backward.20 Others put the matter more bluntly; Wańkowicz describes Polish immigrants from Galicia as “crude and sheathed in ignorance.”21 Such observations are not entirely inaccurate – Galicia was indeed one of the most economically backward regions in Europe, and the majority of its emigrants were illiterate.22 Squalid conditions and various forms of oppression certainly enticed many immigrants to search elsewhere for bread and a better future. But an overemphasis on negative economic and political circumstances and emigrants’ inability to navigate through those circumstances reduces them to a species that lacked agency and the societal experiences to make well-informed and enterprising decisions. Lila Kluck, who settled with her parents in Alberta in 1909, notes in her personal writings: “[We were] not ... slaves seeking freedom in a new land, or victims of oppression, persecution or poverty. We came perhaps seeking adventure and new experiences.”23 In one scholar’s words, “weak, beaten men and women do not undertake transoceanic journeys to far-off lands unless they are herded aboard ship at gunpoint.”24 Scholars who minimize the homeland experience and the peasants’ agency overlook important aspects of emigrants’ cultural baggage and the social experiences and political awareness they brought from the Old World. Many Polish immigrants were undoubtedly influenced by the progressive ideas and institutions – as well as the expressions of positivism, socialism, Marxism and Communism – that they encountered in their ancestral homeland, especially after World War I. While most peasants were not necessarily radicals when they arrived on North American shores, many had already interacted with progressive and radical ideas in the Old World in a way that had a considerable bearing on how they organized their lives on the North American continent. By examining how peasants acquired and performed citizenship and how populist movements advanced their status in the Old World, we can better evaluate immigrants’ involvement in political movements and social organizations, and draw more accurate conclusions about their experiences in the New World.

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harvesting a new nation: peasant politics and the polish national question In the sociopolitical sphere, the legacy of the early modern PolishLithuanian Commonwealth included a deep division between enserfed peasants and gentry landowners. Only the szlachta (nobles), who had basked in their aurea libertas for centuries, were considered “citizens” of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This understanding began to change in the latter part of the eighteenth century under the influence of Enlightenment ideas and, later, the Polish positivists in the nineteenth century. The terms naród (nation) and obywatel (citizen) were ambivalently defined in the Polish constitution of 3 May 1791. In some paragraphs, these terms applied only to the landed gentry, and in others they applied to all inhabitants of the Commonwealth, though it should be noted that nationalism in the contemporary sense did not then exist. The gentry, which included assmiliated Lithuanians and Ukrainians among others, and especially the peasantry did not consciously feel that they belonged to a nation until nationalism become more widespread in latter half of the nineteenth century.25 By the mid-nineteenth century, organic work led by a group of dedicated romanticists and positivists began to promote progressive ideas in Poland. For one, Polish positivists, who had been influenced by the French philosopher August Comte and British scholars such as John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer, advocated for equal rights for all members of society including peasants and women, the assimilation of Poland’s Jewish minority, and universal education in order to counter the negative influences of the partitioning powers.26 Polish positivists believed that Poland could only regain independence if vital resources were spent on labour and popular education rather than on futile national uprisings. Such concepts played an important role in the discovery of peasant folk culture as an important pillar of the Polish national identity, and many progressive Polish intellectuals began to recognize that the future of a free Polish state hinged on the support of ordinary individuals.27 The peasant uprising of 1846 in Galicia, however, was a major setback to the nationalist cause, and proved that the peasantry was sceptical of the intellectuals’ patriotic and inclusionist overtures. In February of that year, peasants in western Galicia, mainly of a Roman

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Catholic extraction, directed a rising against serfdom that resulted in the slaughter of some one thousand insurgents, mostly landlords and officials, and the destruction of nearly 400 manors.28 Austrian authorities had encouraged the peasants to defend their emperor against the complots of their landlords, but the real reason behind the massacre of Polish patriots by peasants was the tension between the two classes. Historian Keely Stauter-Halsted observes that Polish-speaking peasants were more apt to identify with the Austrian Emperor and the Catholic Church than with their Polish lords or the middle classes.29 Under Austrian auspices, the peasants enjoyed a limited improvement of their legal status, serfdom was abolished, some restrictions on the corvée (unpaid labour) were introduced, and a number of legal institutions were implemented to protect peasants against landlords’ infringements. The legal mechanisms were quite ineffective, but they offered peasants a form of protection they had not enjoyed under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.30 The revolution of 1848 significantly advanced peasant status in Galicia. The most important consequence of the revolution for the peasantry was that the corvée had been removed, serfdom was abolished and the peasants received property rights to their farms. Austria reluctantly did away with the corvée in an attempt to deter the peasantry from the Polish nationalists and their political aspirations. New opportunities to bridge the gap between the two classes arrived during the Austrian constitutional reforms in 1860, which led to the constitution of 1867.31 Theoretically, these reforms opened new possibilities for the development of a civil society. A number of enlightenment associations were established to educate the lud (people), though such initiatives at this time were not yet widespread, despite the fact that Poles received more control over cultural, language, and educational rights in the Austrian partition than, for instance, their Ukrainian counterparts.32 By the turn of the century, progressive associations and organizational networks with an increasingly rural membership began to diffuse not just in Galicia, but also in other parts of partitioned Poland. Polish voluntary associations built residential accommodations in the towns to help children acquire a secondary education, and school councils and various enlightenment societies began to provide books for young pupils, as well as lectures and reading circles.33

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The co-operative movement, which established a variety of popular credit banks that offered peasants short-term loans for farm improvements and the purchase of farm equipment, played a notable part in the peasantry’s economic advancement. Newly created farmers’ circles also introduced the peasants to modern and more efficient cultivation methods, so that by the early 1900s yields of barley and oats were well above average in Galicia. By western European standards, yields were low, but from the perspective of a Polish peasant the upward trend was a welcome change. Historian Franciszek Bujak estimates that by the turn of the century, peasants’ income from animal husbandry had also grown to be at least as great as that from crop production.34 In 1898, a Canadian visitor admired the Galician peasants’ resourcefulness, noting, “in their cultivation of their respective locations, not even the width necessary for the furrow of a plough is wasted ... crops may be seen at any stage of growth.”35 By the turn of the nineteenth century, peasants experimented with new varieties of seed; raised good quality livestock; introduced new fruits into orchard cultivation; and produced diversified legumes, fodder crops, and cash specialty crops. Improving transportation networks and rail lines also meant they could take advantage of a much broader market. The modern Polish populist movement gradually appeared in Galicia in the mid-1870s. In 1875, Stanisław Stojałowski, an ex-Jesuit parish priest with a flair for demagogy and activism, purchased two Polish-language newspapers for peasants, Wieniec (Wreath) and Pszczółka (Bee), in which he encouraged the peasantry to challenge their social position and to demand greater political rights in the name of a stronger Polish nation. Many peasants rallied behind Stojałowski’s progressive slogans for self-reliance and civic patriotism, and thousands participated in his pilgrimages. In 1883, more than 8,000 peasants followed Stojałowski to Cracow to participate in a rally to mark the bicentenary of Jan Sobieski’s victory over the Ottomans. His growing influence aroused much suspicion among conservative elites; he was imprisoned in 1888 and 1894 and later excommunicated by the Vatican.36 Like Stojałowski, Bolesław Wysłouch, an exile from Russia who had been associated with Russian populists and later with Polish socialists in Warsaw, attacked conservativism and rallied for a fully politicized and nationally conscious peasantry at the helm of a democratic Poland that would recognize the rights of all ethnic minorities, espe-

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cially Ukrainians. Together with his wife Maria, he edited Przyjaciel Ludu (People’s friend), a left-wing newspaper that became popular among activists for peasant rights and the most influential mouthpiece of the popular movement in the Austrian partition. In 1894 Wysłouch created the Polish Democratic Society, and a year later he co-founded the People’s Party, discussed below. Both Stojałowski’s and Wysłouch’s progressive publications were closely associated with enlightenment societies and village reading clubs. In their rudimentary form, reading clubs were places villagers could go to socialize and read newspapers or discuss them with illiterate community members. The societies encouraged members to gain practical knowledge through didactic features in their publications and discussions on such topics as animal husbandry, crop production, health education, beekeeping, and manuring.37 Rural organizations and religious associations were generally set up by government officials, the clergy, the village intelligentsia, and the landowning elite to influence peasants’ behaviour. In her study of Hungarian immigrants, Carmela Patrias suggests that elites and their political representatives in Hungary established rural associations “to reduce discontent by stabilizing economic conditions and to foster a spirit of cooperation” in an effort to prevent radical and socialist ideas from flourishing.38 The lowest strata of rural society, which made up the bulk of Polish emigrants to North America at the turn of the nineteenth century, had few resources to set up and run rural associations. Limited education and money prevented poor villagers from handling administrative duties such as accounting and correspondence writing, let alone purchasing or renting a village hall. While clergymen and patrons undoubtedly imposed their own politics and ideologies onto the organizations they sponsored, this does not mean that peasants were passive and unable to construct their own opinions and gain some organizational experience. There were many voluntary associations, reading clubs, and taverns in the countryside, where even dwarf holders and landless labourers gathered to mingle and to discuss news. At their core, such places were cultural rather than economic or political in nature. Members gathered to chat, read and discuss newspapers, play games, dance, eat kiełbasa, and drink. Keely Stauter-Halsted describes the village tavern as a “microcosm of public life” and “a medium of information for largely illiterate villagers who learned news about the world or gossip

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about local affairs.”39 Even in the poorer parts of eastern Galicia, uneducated villagers knew that prices of grain on the European markets had risen at the turn of the twentieth century.40 Since the enlightenment press in partitioned Poland was usually associated with the Polish nationalist movement, it also provided peasants with a political education. Public discussions and reading various publications helped peasants learn about the social sphere around them. But newspapers were not only limited to providing news about political events in their homeland, the empire, or the European continent.41 Although the Polish peasant movement eventually divided over whether the peasantry and the ruch ludowy (peasant movement) should be an independent secular body separated from the influence of the clergy, Stojałowski and Wysłouch played an instrumental role in shaping the direction of the peasant movement in Galicia and elsewhere.42 While the Polish nationalist movement favoured a hierarchical nation fit for the struggle with other nations, the peasant movement favoured a more democratic approach that articulated peasants’ interests and supported their inclusion in the political landscape. The degree of peasant political participation can be observed through the growing number of peasant candidates elected to the Reichsrat (parliament) in Vienna. While there was only one elected peasant in 1891, nine were elected for office six years later,43 and many more were elected for local administrative positions. One of the most telling examples is that of Jan Słomka, a peasant who became the mayor of Dzików village in Galicia who in his own words, passed “from serfdom to self-government” in one lifetime.44 By the 1890s, the peasant movement had become widespread in all partitioned territories, and several populist parties styled themselves as representatives of peasant interests. One of the most important peasant political organizations was the Stronnictwo Ludowe (People’s Party) formed by Wysłouch, Jakub Bojko, and Jan Stapiński in 1895. The party’s major competitor was also named the Stronnictwo Ludowe (later changed to Polskie Sronnictwo Ludowe, or psl, the Polish Peasants’ Party), which branded itself as the avant-garde of the peasant movement and the Polish nationalist cause.45 It is hard to deny that progressive ideas and peasant politics in the Old World shaped the perspectives and attitudes of many Polish indi-

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viduals who came to Canada. While village reading circles or mutual aid societies may not have necessarily given immigrants the technical know-how to organize and run an organization, they certainly influenced their behaviour and attitudes. Many immigrants who joined left-leaning organizations in Canada had already experienced some level of contact with radically progressive organizations in partitioned (and later independent) Poland. For instance, one immigrant who came to Canada, W. Szarek, claimed that his experience in the psl prompted him to join the Communist movement in Canada.46 Other members of the Polish Canadian Communist movement, especially the core elite,47 were also radicalized in the Old World, suggesting that radically progressive ideas were undoubtedly a part of many immigrants’ cultural baggage, particularly among those who came from urban centres where progressive ideas and radical organizations were generally more pronounced than in remote country villages. Equally telling is that fact that Polish radical and progressive secular organizations were established by Polish newcomers very early on in Canada. For example, one of the oldest Polish Canadian secular organizations was the Polskie Socjalistyczne Stowarzyszenie im. Stefana Okrzei (Stefan Okrzeja Polish Socialist Society), which was established in Montreal in 1906 and modelled after the Polska Partia Socjalistyczna (pps, Polish Socialist Party).

workers unite: politicizing the polish proletariat The Polish industrial proletariat, which began to settle in North America after World War I, was even more politicized and better organized than the rural peasantry. Rising food prices, forced conscriptions, and high unemployment created agitation in Poland’s social mosaic. Padraic Kenney observes, “the 5 million blue-collar workers (with their families, nearly 11 million or almost one-third of the population) were a powerful voice in Polish society; more than one government fell or was weakened by labour unrest.”48 Polish workers became increasingly class-conscious after World War I and the Russian Revolution. According to Jie-Hyun Lim, the war sharpened class antagonisms, and the revolution spurred a desire for social transformation.49 Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Polish workers responded to hyperinflation with nationwide strikes and pitched battles with the

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police. In 1923, for example, a violent strike engulfed Cracow for several days and claimed thirty-two lives. Soldiers who had come to suppress the uprising joined the protesters to fight the police. Norman Davies describes the mood of Poland’s interwar working class as “sullen,” and notes, “they had little to be pleased about, except for the fact that they were not peasants.”50 Originating in the late nineteenth century, the industrial proletariat recruited mainly from the lower class: artisans, foreign immigrants, the Jewish poor, and the peasantry. Although one cannot speak of a Polish working class until 1918, Polish workers in all three partitioned territories underwent a process of proletarianization. Warsaw, Upper Silesia, the Dąbrowa Basin, and, above all, Łódz – the “Polish Manchester” – experienced dramatic population increases and mushrooming industry as peasants continued to move into urban centres, where better wages and economic opportunities were easier to come by. The urban population in partitioned Poland increased by 75 per cent between 1880–90 and 1910, and around 18 per cent of the total Polish population depended on industrial employment.51 A Polish trade union movement was already present in Prussia and Austria in the 1890s, and later in Russia after the 1905–07 revolution. Aside from the trade unions, a number of other organizations like the Związek Wzajemnej Pomocy Chrześcijańskich Robotników Górnośląskich (Christian Mutual Aid Society of Upper Silesian Workers) and the Towarzystwo Socialistów Polskich (Society of Polish Socialists) in Berlin pressed for eight-hour workdays and better pay. Marxism, however, was of minimal concern to most worker-friendly organizations at this time, and attempts to form a common Marxist political front failed.52 The politicization of the Polish proletariat occurred at the turn of the century.53 The ongoing policy of Russification and the growing possibility of an Austrian-Russian, or even a German-Russian, conflict put the spotlight on the Polish national question and revived the nationalist movement. The pps, which formed in Paris in 1892 under the chairmanship of Bolesław Limanowski, competed with Roman Dmowski’s National Democrats and the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, which was the most radical of all the Polish social democratic parties at the turn of the twentieth century.54 Like the psl, the pps suffered from a number of splits and schisms between its anti-nationalist and nationalist members. In 1906, the pps divided into two rival camps, the pps-Lewica (Left), which supported

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the progressive anti-nationalist camp, and the pps-Rewolucja (Revolution), which became preoccupied with national independence. The pps initially enjoyed little influence over the Polish Socialist Democratic Party in Galicia, or over the pps branch in the Prussian partition, which it merged with in April 1919.55 Another group that vied for the hearts and minds of the Polish working class was the Komunistyczna Partia Robotnicza Polski (Communist Workers’ Party of Poland), which had developed sophisticated tactics for infiltrating existing political and social institutions, and which maintained a revolutionary profile that operated through dedicated and disciplined members.56 The Communist Workers’ Party of Poland formed as a result of a merger in 1918 between two leftist factions, the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania and the pps-Left.57 In 1925, at the second party congress, the party changed its name to Komunistyczna Partia Polski (kpp, Communist Party of Poland) and decided to participate in the parliamentary elections.58 During the inter-war period, Polish Communists were incapable of influencing a predominantly Catholic, anti-Soviet and nationalist Polish society, and its working class following was minimal and regionally confined, unlike Polish socialists. According to Padraic Kenney, “Polish Communists never enjoyed majority support among workers but were a constant, if often illegal, force on the political scene.”59 Revolutionary upheaval was the overall goal of the Polish Communist movement. Political propaganda and active involvement in public protests against the social and economic policies of the government were the kpp’s usual modus operandi. But while signs that Poland was close to a Communist revolution were seen in all stages of social conflict, a revolution never materialized.60 The Polish-Soviet War (1919–21) marked a period of bitter disillusionment for most Polish Communists. Party members anxiously waited for news of spontaneous revolution in Warsaw, but the revolution and the Red Army’s victory never came. The war only further distanced the Polish Communists from mainstream society and solidified the view that the party was a tool of the Soviet government. Despite their enthusiasm and dedication, Polish Communists failed miserably in gaining the confidence of their Soviet patrons. In May 1926, the kpp temporarily supported Józef Piłsudski’s coup d’etat to forestall a right-wing dictatorship. Stalin pugnaciously de-

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nounced the kpp’s support for Piłsudski as a betrayal of the socialist camp. The party never recovered from what became known as the May Error, and Stalin dissolved it in 1938.61 The kpp has frequently been sullied by scholars, including some pro-Communists, who prefer to underscore its failures rather than give it credit for trying to establish a viable Communist following in Poland. Considering that the party operated underground for much of its life due to its illegal status,62 and owing to its unpopular image as pro-Soviet, anti-patriotic, and ethnically “not purely Polish,” it deserves some credit. During the 1920s, the kpp’s membership fluctuated between 2,500 and nearly 6,000, with a peak of 5,934 in 1927.63 In the 1930s, the membership of the entire Polish Communist movement, which included the kpp, the kpp’s Ukrainian branch (the Communist Party of Western Ukraine), and the Communist Party of Western Belarus, peaked significantly. By 1936, the total membership of the movement, including the youth movements affiliated with each of the three main branches, reached 33,736.64 According to Jaff Schatz, general estimates do not account for approximately 6,000 Communists who were imprisoned during this period, which would increase the total to about 40,000.65 Political and economic factors significantly influenced the fluctuations in the kpp’s membership. In the mid-1930s, for example, membership increased threefold because of poor economic conditions in Poland, but later decreased rapidly in response to better economic conditions and heightened political repressions against the Communist movement. Most of the membership was drawn from ethnic minorities, due to the movement’s multiethnic profile and its opposition to discrimination against national minorities. In the Polish Communist youth movement, Jews represented the majority of the membership with 51 per cent in 1930, while Poles made up 19 per cent, Ukrainians 18 per cent, and Belarusians 12 per cent.66 As the above outline suggests, the end of the nineteenth century brought about a new type of Polish peasant and worker who was more enterprising and self-conscious, more socially agile, and noticeably better organized. The encroachment of capitalist structures into the once-isolated village community opened new avenues for many peasants, who took advantage of the prospects of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Peasants in other countries experienced a similar transformation. The Hungarian peasantry were said to

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engender “all the characteristics of the urban proletariat, including a reckless air and a disdain for all local relations which undercut preexisting economic and generational divisions.”67 In his study on Ukrainian peasants, Ivan Rudnytsky notes, “the peasant masses ... not only [experienced] an improvement of their living conditions, but also a new feeling of human dignity and civic pride.”68 The emergence of rural associations, reading clubs, credit banks, mutual aid associations, and better education indicates capitalism’s penetration to the remote European countryside and the integration of its residents into broader national structures. In Poland, it became impossible to challenge existing power structures without including ordinary individuals in the national discourse. Brian Porter and Robert Blobaum observe that in 1905, “politics ceased to be the preserve of a gentry and intelligentsia elite and that the historian (even the historian of political thought) must show an appreciation for the social realm and for the voices of the subaltern.”69 In cities and towns, the spread of radical ideas and progressive avant-garde organizations compelled many to join movements that challenged the status quo. As a result, ordinary Polish individuals formed an “imagined community” that gave them confidence and collective strength. As Padraic Kenney notes, “migration to the cities, violent class conflict, unemployment and poverty, and pluralist labour organizations were all familiar experiences to the prewar Polish worker and were thus part of the collective memory.”70 Undoubtedly, many individuals who left for the New World were directly or indirectly influenced by progressive ideas, working class militancy, and the numerous labour strikes and political lobby groups that fought for their rights. Between 1905 and 1931, some 60,000 Poles came to Canada. Most were working-class immigrants who left largely because they were fed up with the labour shortages and hyperinflation in Poland. Many of them, such as Alfons Jan Staniewski, a prominent Polish Canadian socialist, transplanted their ideas to Canada. Staniewski helped establish several Polish socialist organizations in Toronto and Montreal, and edited the Związkowiec (Alliancer), one of the largest Polish-language newspapers in Canada, through which he espoused his critical attitude toward the Church and the Piłsudski government. Other Polish Canadian working-class radicals, including the editor of the Polish Communist newspaper Głos Pracy, Władysław Dutkiewicz, and the head of the Polish Communist youth section in Winnipeg,

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Zygmunt Majtczak, also transplanted their radicalism to Canada. Both had been active in the Polish Communist movement. Patriotic Poles also transplanted their ideology and organizations to the New World, where they established countless religious and mutual aid societies that mimicked the organizations they had encountered at home. Some organizations, like the Sons of Poland, were modelled on existing organizations in the Old World. The Polish Canadian socialist organization Spójnia (National union) was named after its counterpart in Poland, though evidence suggests that the two were not affiliated. In Poland, the peasantry and the proletariat became significantly more self-conscious and vocal. Peasant advocates like Wysłouch, who argued that the peasants should be at the core of the national movement, not only revived folk culture, but also helped increase the peasants’ awareness of their position in society and encouraged them to practice their civic rights. It is hard to ignore that these experiences improved the social and economic well-being of many prospective immigrants, and helped many newcomers traverse the challenges and complexities of North American society. Yet if conditions and the social status of many Polish individuals appeared to be improving by the late nineteenth century, why did so many begin to migrate to Canada in the first place?

3 The Law of Attraction: Polish Immigrants on the Move

Polish immigrants to Canada were not homogenous. Various factors and motivations worked in varying degrees for potential emigrants. For the majority, the move was purely economic. The Sarnecki family, who came from Galicia to Alberta in 1897, initially hesitated leaving their familiar village surroundings, but the prospects of gaining vast tracts of cheap farmland won them over.1 One Polish immigrant recalls “life on 6 morgens of land was difficult and hard, so we decided to search for a piece of bread ... and emigrate to Canada.”2 Others made the long journey because of their personal ambitions. There were those who wanted to be more successful than those who went to Germany or France, where the prospects of striking it rich were much slimmer. There were also adventurists among the lot who thought “a trip to Canada offered not only the possibility of well-paid jobs, but also an opportunity to see the world and experience something new and more exciting than village life in Poland.”3 For others, especially those who arrived in Canada after World War I, the main motivation was a desire to provide a better future for their children. Generally, however, the majority of emigrants, particularly from Galicia, went to the New World because they wanted land and better employment opportunities.4 The overpopulation of the Galician countryside and a modest industry that could not absorb the surplus population from the villages forced peasants to look for work elsewhere. After being freed from serfdom in 1848, peasants were able to acquire ownership rights over their land, but in inadequate quantities. As their families expanded, their land lots shrank due to partible inheritance. In order to split

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the land fairly between heirs and to allow for each plot of land to connect to a water source, farmers divided their land into long narrow strips, sometimes narrower than the plough itself. The continual buying and selling, dividing, and inheriting of these narrow pieces of land meant that farmers often owned many unconnected pieces of land, scattered throughout the area. This complicated arrangement greatly slowed even simple farming tasks. The division of land into narrow strips and scattered plots made it impossible for one peasant to harvest his land without disturbing someone else’s. To alleviate this problem, village associations often assigned days for planting and harvesting. Actually cultivating the land was still more complicated. To complete this task, a farmer and farmhands loaded up the manure, seed, and other implements near the family’s home and transported them to the fields, but since the fields were located so far from one another and from the family’s home, they spent a great deal of the day walking between places. In fact, they may have walked one hour from their home to a strip of land they intend to fertilize. Most farmers had some landholdings that lay dormant because they were simply too far away to make planting and harvesting practical. Historically, the peasantry was deeply tied to the land. The “Apostle of Truth” Aleksander Świętochowski observes that the peasants cared more about the land than about their own freedom from the ruling elites: “My wasi,” they said, “a ziemia nasza” (we’re yours, but the land is ours).5 This strong attachment to the land followed the peasantmigrants to the New World. In her recollection of the Polish community in Coleman, Alberta, Monica Primrose notes that Polish men got into women-related fights out of jealousy, but battles over territory were so serious that the police had to get involved.6 The land was a source of sustainability, income, and security. Victor Turek observes that even “the landless peasant, cottager, day labourer, and the servant and small artisan, who being landless, was compelled to take-on some trade, though he often treated his occupation as a temporary one, with the view of returning to the soil.”7 The amount of village land was finite; land was in much demand and commanded high prices, and although many gentry landowners experienced financial difficulties and had to sell or lease their land, the amount available for purchase by peasants was small. At the same

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time, the peasantry was becoming more politicized and better educated, which increased their – and especially their children’s – expectations. Since the market economy had penetrated into the villages, peasants looked for more land on which to grow more crops and raise animals to boost their incomes. When the opportunities for economic expansion began to dry up, peasants were willing to go abroad in search of more land. So were the dwarf holders, cottagers, poor day labourers, and small artisans whose prospects of owning a piece of land in partitioned Poland were much slimmer. Opportunity knocked in the mid-1890s when Canada’s minister of the interior, Clifford Sifton, charged with the responsibility of immigration, drove the campaign to open Canada’s doors to central and eastern Europe. He felt that the country needed to establish farming on the prairies, and it needed people who could survive on their own to do it. Sifton thought that the burly central and eastern European peasant was the best candidate for the job. He wanted a “stalwart peasant in a sheepskin coat, born on the soil, whose forefathers have been farmers for ten generations, with a stout wife and a half-dozen children.”8 The lure of land, with 150 acres available for ten dollars in Canada, was very strong, and countless landless peasants and well-off farmers headed to the New World to secure a piece of “the last best west.”9 The fact that many emigrants were enticed by the opportunity to acquire large tracts of land for little money has often overshadowed the negative aspects of migration. While some scholars such as Carmela Patrias balance the history by looking at the difficulties that immigrants faced in Canada, the overall impression is that immigrants left oppression and exploitation for opportunities and bountiful farms. Indeed, most immigrants generally left to strike it rich, but were well aware of the risks and difficulties of transoceanic migration. In order to comprehend immigrant culture and the immigrant experience during the early stages of transoceanic migration, we should not overlook the ambition, enterprising verve, and courage that a decision to emigrate entailed. Emigrants were brave individuals who were aware that they could face indebtedness, family breakup, exploitation, and physical injury in a land that was entirely foreign to them. Immigration was supposed to benefit immigrants, but it also unleashed many fears, insecurities, and troubles.10

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making sense of canada: disappointments and dreams of a better (socialist?) future The following excerpt from a song, which originally appeared as a poem entitled “Dla Chleba” (For bread) in Tygodnik Ilustrowany (Illustrated weekly) in March 1866, is by the Polish nationalist poet and writer Michał Bałucki. It is considered one of his saddest pieces of prose, and was written after the failed Polish January Insurrection against tsarist Russia in 1863. The song is a lament about a Góral, a Polish highlander, who left his ojczyzna (fatherland) and his ojców (fathers) dla chleba (for bread). The protagonist is heartbroken, and he cries like a child and as he wipes his tears on his sleeves he says to himself, “może ich już nie zobaczę” (maybe I won’t see them again): Góralu czy ci nie żal, Od chodzić od stron ojczystych, Świerkowych lasów i hal, I tych potoków przejrzystych? Góralu czy ci nie żal? Góralu wróć się do hal. Góralu czy ci nie żal? Góralu wróć się do hal. Góral na góry spoziera, I łzy rękawem ociera, A góry porzucić trzeba, Dla chleba, panie, dla chleba. Góralu czy ci nie żal? Góralu wróć się do hal, W chatach zostali ojcowie, Gdy pójdziesz od nich hen w dal, Cóż z nimi będzie, ach, kto wie? Góralu czy ci nie żal,

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Góral jak dziecko płacze; “Może ich już nie zobaczę?” Góralu żal mi cię żal, Góralu, wracaj do hal! In translation, it reads: Highlander, don’t you feel sad To leave your native lands, Green forests and meadows And the silvery streams? Highlander, don’t you feel sad? Highlander, return to the meadows! Highlander, don’t you feel sad? Highlander, return to the meadows! And the highlander gazes at the mountains And wipes away tears with his sleeve, Because he must abandon the mountains For bread, sir, for bread. Highlander, don’t you feel sad? Highlander, return to your meadows Your forefathers are waiting in their huts When you leave them and go far away, What will happen to them, who knows? Highlander, don’t you feel sad? The Highlander cries like a baby and says, “Maybe I will never see them again?” Highlander, I feel sorry for you, Highlander, return to the meadows!

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Folk songs like this one were handed down in oral tradition as emigration songs, reminding those who sang them about not just their homeland, but also whether it was a good decision to come to the New World. Such sentiments increased among post-1918 Polish emigrants who, unlike their predecessors, were not only better educated, but also had left an independent homeland that was no longer oppressed by three partitioning powers. The son of a Polish immigrant notes that there was “always a time for polkas and mazurkas for dancing, and sad songs for reminiscing and crying about coming to Canada.”11 In her study of Polish Góral string bands in 1930s Polish American society, Mary Cygan concludes that songs were created as a reaction to American culture, “Americanization” pressures, and the consequences of the Great Depression.12 The evolving character of Polish Canadian music, which drew innovatively from commercial business and new developing styles to appeal to Canadian-born Poles, continued to mingle old and new elements, as did other aspects of immigrants’ expression. Ethnic discrimination, low wages, terrible housing, and other drab circumstances inspired a repertoire of sentiments that were critical of the land of opportunities and nostalgic toward the beloved homeland and its green pastures, familiar smells and sounds. Like the Góral who left his mountains, many immigrants found themselves wondering, “czy ci nie żal ... odchodzic od stron ojczystych” (aren’t you sad to leave your fatherland?). The harsh circumstances, chauvinism, and exploitation that the majority of Polish immigrants experienced in the New World certainly gave many of them reason to doubt whether their decision to uproot had, in fact, been worthwhile. Conditions in Canada before the outbreak of World War II were ill suited to meet the expectations of many Polish immigrants. Most industries offered hazardous working conditions and very low wages; urban housing was overcrowded and unsanitary; and many Poles faced discrimination and injustice. As a result of Canada’s early immigration policy, most Polish migrants settled primarily on the land. As of 1936, nearly 80 per cent of all Polish immigrants who came to Canada after 1921 resided in rural areas, and 70 per cent of gainfully employed men and 40 per cent of gainfully employed women who had been born in Poland worked in agriculture, mainly as farmers and stock raisers. By some accounts, more than 50 per cent of all Pol-

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ish immigrants who resided in western Canada in the 1930s supported themselves through agriculture.13 Peasant migrants were generally accustomed to spending long and difficult working days on the land in the Old World. They were used to toiling long hours, raising crops, and hauling ploughs on scattered plots of land, or thanklessly serving in some wealthier household. But the rugged Canadian wilderness in which they had to build their homesteads far exceeded their wildest imaginations. The land available was often covered with heavy poplar and swamp spruce, and clearing it without equipment was strenuous and time consuming. In many instances their plots were miles away from the closest neighbour and accessible only by wild trails. Immigrants had difficulty conceptualizing Canada’s vastness and could rarely rely on kin networks as they did in their ancestral villages. The mere journey through Canada to the new settlements in the West was not only exhausting and nerve wracking, but also often humiliating. One woman who came to Canada to work as a domestic in the 1930s was asked to complete a morality certificate and sign a statement confirming that she “agrees to accept the position provided for her by the cpr [Canadian Pacific Railway], she is not proceeding to Canada with a view of getting married, she has no intention of joining friends and relatives in Canada, and that she will not attempt to gain illegal entry into the usa.”14 Canadian authorities often made sure that women would not try to leave train stations before their final destinations by transporting them in locked rail cars and ordering “city police and railway constables on the station platforms ... to keep people from entering the windows to take the girls.”15 Patrias observes there was a similar treatment of Hungarian immigrants, who were “threatened with deportation should they attempt to leave the train before it reached the Prairie Provinces.”16 Julian Topolnicki, a Polish immigrant who later became an active member in Canada’s Polish community, recalls that Canadian authorities took a twenty-five dollar deposit from each passenger to ensure that they would not try to get off the train in the eastern provinces.17 The deposit had to be made before the passengers left Europe, and it was returned to them only after they arrived in Winnipeg. Women were not allowed to communicate with their relatives, who often showed up at train stations to collect them. On one occasion, a party of twenty-four girls destined for Winnipeg kept the

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whole station in a state of upheaval for an entire day because their relatives attempted to take them away.18 Some immigrants found creative ways to break their agreements with the railway companies by crawling out of toilet windows or abandoning their luggage to create the impression that they were going to return for it.19 The Central Women’s Colonization Board, which worked closely with the cpr to recruit and find placements for domestic workers, often mediated on behalf of its women to ensure that they found satisfactory working conditions, though most rarely did. The many women the board did not represent often faced tough and humiliating circumstances. One woman recalls: “In Edmonton we were kept inside a fence and guarded by the immigration officer so that we would not leave. The big, strong girls were hired first. I was small, so I stayed longer. Then the boys came and started to ridicule the girls, calling them old maids that had come to get married. I was so mad, that when a farmer offered me ten dollars per month, I accepted right away.”20 Entire immigrant families felt disenchanted and betrayed. Their high expectations, which were often coloured by Canadian recruiting agents and their own imaginations, were seldom met. After giving birth to her fifth child while en route to New York in 1908, Maria Polanski and her husband Jan boarded a train to Strathcona, Alberta. The two-week train ride was exhausting, and they had to complete the last stretch of their journey in a horse wagon to a remote postal station between Fort Saskatchewan and Bruderheim. They eventually settled on the Victoria Trail, some twenty miles north of the Scotford on the North Saskatchewan River in the Radway district, a desolate area with no nearby churches, schools, or hospitals and surrounded only by an abundance of bogs and wildlife. The Polanskis had endured many hardships in the old country, but the circumstances in Canada tested their resourcefulness and stealth beyond what they had imagined. Jan built the family’s first log farmhouse using no nails. He covered the roof with moss collected from the bogs, which “dripped endlessly following a rain.”21 The children had to hide under an oilcloth-covered table to stay dry. During their first year in Canada, the family survived on berries, mushrooms, and wildlife until Jan found a job and cleared their land. While many immigrants went to Canada hoping to ameliorate their lives, many left Poland because of circumstances that had little to do with a lack of food or land. Some emigrants were “pretty well-

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to-do” but thought “there were better prospects in Canada.”22 Antoni and Maria Woźniak, together with their four children, left Poland in 1930 because they feared for their lives. The family had settled in Volhynia (Wołyń) in the 1920s, an area close to the Soviet border that was riddled with constant clashes and animosity after the Polish-Soviet war. People “were vanishing without a trace and buildings and crops were ... set ablaze.”23 The Woźniaks sold their farm to pay for their journey to Canada. After arriving in Halifax, they travelled some 4,000 miles by rail to Edmonton, and later to the outskirts of Wanhan, where they settled. Plagued by flies and mosquitoes, Antoni began to clear one acre at a time (it usually took several weeks to clear just one acre), and he built the family’s first home – a shack made from wood, cardboard, sawdust, and wood chips. Immigrants were not the only ones who wrote and spoke about the harsh realities in Canada. A Canadian National Railway report produced in 1928 describes the grim conditions that awaited settlers in parts of Alberta: “Observations of the conditions that are being faced by the settlers of central European nationalities in the Athabasca district would not appeal to any other available nationality.”24 The twelve- to fourteen-hour working day of many immigrants on farms did not differ much from what they were used to in their homeland, but the seasonality of agrarian work prevented many from maintaining steady employment and accumulating savings. When immigrants arrived in the spring, many of them, as the railway company officials knew quite well, had a hard time finding work in agriculture until the harvest in September. Few farmers employed additional hands during the summer and winter months. Frustrated, and in many instances indebted because of their travel expenses, immigrants were anxious to reunite with families and yearning to improve their circumstances. An old Italian saying summed up the disillusionment that many felt: “I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, I found out three things: First, the streets weren’t paved with gold; second, they weren’t paved at all: and third, I was expected to pave them.” A Polish immigrant who later became a Communist exclaims, “I read a book written by a Polish author. The book said, ‘Canada smells of resin.’ To me Canada smelled of sweat and hard work.”25 Canadian agents, middlemen, and employers played an instrumental role in colouring immigrants’ imaginations with false advertising

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and alluring rags-to-riches stories. Topolnicki recalls that many Polish emigrants were under the impression that the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company guaranteed them work. He remembers that many of his compatriots were bitterly disappointed when they arrived.26 The costs of travelling were very high and Canada did not grant any assistance with it. The agents were interested more in earning large profits from the emigrants’ overseas transportation than in helping them settle on Canadian soil. Swindlers and rogues also tried to profit from vulnerable travellers. In 1921, a thief who went by the name Ramen Woll had collected money (fifty to sixty dollars) from Polish immigrants who did not have the necessary $250 to land in Canada. Woll told the Poles that he worked for the Warsaw office of the White Star Line, and handed out fictitious cheques that Canadian immigration officials later rejected. According to Polish consular reports, at least sixty Polish immigrants were deceived by Woll and deported back to Poland.27 Few immigrants could conceptualize Canada’s vastness before their arrival, and so they could not foresee the costs, time, and effort required to travel in search of employment. One Polish immigrant explains, “I had studied the geography of Canada and I knew about the vastness of the country but studying it and seeing it were two different things.”28 The geographic expanses added to immigrants’ frustration, especially during the winter months when work in the West was hard to come by. Many immigrants travelled to bigger cities or hoped to get work in coal mines. With debts and families to take care of at home or in Poland, immigrants could not afford to sit idly by and wait for renewed employment in the spring. The situation became even more desperate during the Great Depression. In 1931, Antoni and his neighbours travelled to Edmonton in search of employment, where “there were fifty candidates for one position.”29 They survived on “one meal per day, consisting of oatmeal porridge from a city kitchen.”30 After discovering that there was nothing for them in Edmonton, they returned in the spring. Travel had exhausted their savings. That year, Antoni was able to make only twenty-two dollars by logging, which was all the family had for the coming winter. The tight-knit communities and nuclear family structure from which the immigrants came could be seldom replicated in the vast and underpopulated Canadian frontier. The Sarnecki family recalls that in their village of Laski, the entire parish wept when they

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approached the altar at a special mass before they departed for Canada. Everyone knew the family intimately, and they shed “tears of sorrow, for they felt they would never see this adventurous family again.”31 In Canada, the Sarneckis were all alone, separated from their nearest neighbour by miles of wilderness. Another Polish woman who settled with her family near Athabasca in Alberta lived on a homestead deep in the woods, which had no road access and could only be reached twice a week by train. The closest homes, which were occupied by single men who travelled in search of work for most of the year, were nine miles away. When her husband left each year to find seasonal work, she managed their homestead with her two children, whom she delivered without assistance.32 John Huculak, a descendant of Polish pioneer settlers in Alberta, compares the loneliness to a disease in his recollections about his family: “These people had stepped out ... into a world ... where nature’s old law of be tough or perish was very much in vogue ... No pleasant introduction to neighbours, no smile of welcome, no hearty handshakes. This was their first real experience with loneliness, the most desperate and deadly of all conditions.”33 Loneliness was not felt only in rural prairie communities. Immigrants generally had a better chance to mingle with compatriots and other Slavic migrants in urban areas, especially in the ethnic neighbourhoods where community associations served as the backbone of ethnic communal life. But in many instances, the long working hours and the frequent rotation of new workers prevented immigrants from establishing close contacts with their fellows.34 In a letter to his father, one immigrant writes: “My life is to work from early morning until dusk. My co-workers don’t speak Slavic languages, thus I cannot communicate with them. In the evening, there is nobody to talk to either.”35 Communist agitators took advantage of immigrants’ destitution and loneliness, and the movement thrived on their misery and shattered hopes. While Polish Communists were active in various rural and urban centres all across Canada, they were most active in Toronto, Montreal, and Winnipeg where factories tended to congregate workers.36 The push-pull factors in the 1930s led to ever-larger city populations as people left farms to seek employment in urban areas. Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg had the largest concentrations of Polish immigrants in Canada. Out of 40,866 Poles who lived in met-

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ropolitan areas in 1931, about two-thirds lived in these cities: 7,184 in Montreal, 8,484 in Toronto, and 11,228 in Winnipeg.37 Ethnic working-class enclaves were ideal hotspots for Communist agitation. Many immigrants gravitated to the cities to find work, only to discover rising unemployment and discrimination, especially in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Frustrated and disappointed, many Poles became receptive to Communist overtures. According to a 1935 rcmp report, an alarming number of conservative and religious Poles who had been anti-Communist gravitated to the movement as a result of urban economic stagnation.38 For many Poles, the transient nature of their work, especially during the winter, only added to their indignation. As they criss-crossed the country from the mines in Nova Scotia to the lumber mills in British Columbia, they became indebted, humiliated, and irritated “miserable drifters.”39 One Polish immigrant, Władysław Chuchla, recalls, “I tried to get some kind of work but no luck, depressed, worried, disappointed I walk for hours sometimes [sic] ... five of us musicians we joined with magician [and] bought [an] old car for $80.00 and went around Edmonton. Sometime we get 50–100 people ... we made $12.50. [It] wasn’t much [for six men] so we [started] begging and did some work for farmers in exchange of chicken, some salt pork or eggs or milk [sic].”40 Patrias sums up the immigrants’ predicament: “The seasonality of unskilled work, their inability to communicate in English, their unfamiliarity with local conditions and the low status accorded to foreign workers meant that they could not settle into secure positions anywhere.”41 The majority could not afford to be selective, and often worked for lower-than-anticipated wages and lived in primitive and filthy conditions. Their already-difficult circumstances were only made worse by frequent discrimination and prejudice. Chuchla recalls: “In 1935 in May, I went again on freight to Coleman to hunt for work. [The] rcmp stepped [into] the freight [car and] told us to get off and said that we have to get the hell out of this town. Some started shouting that all we want is work and bread that we all are hungry [sic] and [that the] rcmp should feed us before order[ing] us where to go.”42 In cities and industrial slums, the family and village solidarity to which many Poles were accustomed rarely existed. Many immigrants were shocked to discover their compatriots’ apparent indifference and apathy. Some better-established Poles sometimes helped in finding a

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job or a place to stay, but immigrants were generally left to fend for themselves. As one man notes: “Here, in America, every working man must think for himself, about himself and is not to count on anyone else.”43 William Thomas and Florian Znaniecki, in their monumental study of Polish immigrants in the United States, conclude that the spirit of individualism, which many immigrants came to regard as “the American mentality,” replaced the familiar “primary community” and village solidarity that immigrants had relied on in the Old World. While the breakdown of the traditional structure based on formalized family solidarity had already begun to dissolve in Poland with increased industrialization and broader market relations, Thomas and Znanecki argue that the process was aggravated in the New World because immigrants were almost entirely isolated from their traditional social structure.44 The immediate effect of this process was the total disorganization of immigrants’ lives, which Thomas and Znanecki explain manifested itself in various forms including: economic dependence on social assistance, family breakups, delinquency, demoralization, “social immorality,” and even murder.45

discrimination, pride, and prejudice The Canadian government and railway companies extended their recruitment efforts primarily to agricultural settlers and domestic workers, largely because of pressures exerted by organized labour and nativists who feared that immigration would undercut the workforce and undermine the traditional Anglo-Saxon way. In 1923, Canadian immigration regulations classified eastern Europeans (Czechoslovaks, Poles, Yugoslavs, Hungarians, Romanians, Russians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians, among others) as “non-preferred” immigrants. Among the lowest in the category were the Jews, because they differed more in their language, culture, and religion, and because they tended to gravitate toward urban centres like Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg. Immigration from non-preferred countries was limited to agricultural and domestic workers and sponsored immigrants, but as few Anglo-Celtic immigrants sought to enter Canada in the 1920s, the Railway Agreement of 1925 was made to allow easier immigration from Eastern European countries.46 Discrimination against immigrants manifested in various forms, but the reasons for it tended generally to fall into two categories: “for-

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eignness” and “job competition.” While it is not possible to generalize about the host society in its entirety, since some people were no doubt welcoming, others, especially nativists, were suspicious and hostile. Polish immigrants, and their Slavic counterparts, have traditionally belonged to a group of immigrants that James R. Barrett and David R. Roediger identify as “in between” in their study of the American social hierarchy: their status was above Native people and those of African and Asian descent, but below immigrants of northwestern European descent. Popular culture and social science played an instrumental role in consolidating Polish immigrants’ “non-white” status by attributing and underscoring their cultural and inborn distinguishing characteristics. They emphasized immigrants’ peasant origins and depicted them as poor, illiterate, diseased, morally lax, politically corrupt, and religiously deficient. Barrett and Roediger argue that the gradual reclassification of southern and eastern European immigrants into a more “preferred” category of immigrants formed part of the process of their Americanization.47 Although critics like Eric Arnesen correctly observe that such an explanation misses other important aspects of Americanization that were not linked to the process of “becoming white,” immigrants’ adverse racial and ethnic classification played a major role in hindering their assimilation.48 One clear expression of immigrants’ perceived inferiority, notes Patrias, “was their exclusion, along with immigrants of African and Asian descent, from ‘better neighbourhoods’ by legally accepted covenants.”49 In 1926 in St Catharines, Ontario, for instance, a deed for the sale of land stated, “the said property shall not be sold, leased to, or occupied by any Armenian, Hungarian, Pole, Italian, Greek or any person of a coloured race without the grantor’s written consent.50 Such categorizations deprived eastern European immigrants of their “white” status and relegated them to the lowest social sphere. All of this was frustrating, since many Polish immigrants thought that their beliefs and values were similar to those of mainstream Canadians. They frequently looked forward to life in a democratic state, and most were not hostile to assimilation. In many cases, they even changed their surnames so as not to confuse Canadian immigration officials and to fit in; thus, a Przystawski became a Preston and a Romanowski became a Roman.

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Some Polish Canadian organizations, like the Zjednoczenie Zrzeszeń Polskich w Kanadzie (Federation of Polish Societies in Canada) were formed in order to retain “Polishness” and an allegiance to the Polish government. But the majority of such organizations and their newspapers – such as the oldest Polish federation in Canada, the Związek Polaków w Kanadzie (zpk, Polish Alliance of Canada),51 which began in the early 1900s – adopted the attitude that Poles were not guests in Canada but permanent residents, and that Poland was to retain a symbolic, but not primary, position in their lives. The zpk organized Canadian trivia nights and English-language classes, and its paper published mostly Canadian-centred news. The bulk of the Polish community also actively supported the Canadian war effort during both world wars, and hundreds of Polish volunteers fought in the Canadian Armed Forces. Many Poles were frustrated and dismayed when others called them “enemy aliens” and gave them an unsympathetic reception as “Polacks,” “radicals,” and non-preferred immigrants.52 Chuchla recalls, “there was a lot of accusation against Polish people that they support Communizm [sic].”53 Polish consuls also complained that their Anglo-Saxon counterparts mocked them as “distinguished foreigners.”54 A number of Polish selfhelp organizations, such as the Polish Society for Brotherly Aid (founded in Alberta in 1916), were created in part to protect Polish immigrants against discrimination and to vouch that their members were not enemy aliens. A vicious circle of prejudice and discrimination became further entrenched after the Great Depression, when severe unemployment spikes created a national catastrophe. Between 1930 and 1934, a total of 16,765 immigrants were deported from Canada on the grounds of having become a “public charge.” The number of deportations reached more than 28,000 by 1935.55 The grounds for deportation were often vague, and included membership in the Communist Party, union activity, medical reasons, petty charges of criminality such as vagrancy, and requests for relief money. In this context, immigrants made few friends in Canada. During periods of privation and dispossession, they could find some solace in ethnic neighbourhoods, populated by fellow compatriots, and in their community associations, where they conversed with priests, workers, and sojourners in their native tongue to solicit information about jobs and relief. Some hoped to make contacts with someone who

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knew a family member or friend from back home and who might offer a few hours of work. Some forms of relief were set up by ethnic organizations like the Polish Society of Brotherly Aid, which provided a hot meal. When the Great Depression hit, immigrants, who were the last to be hired, were the first to feel the effects of the slowdown. At best, they received fewer hours or were laid off; at worst, they were deported. One Polish immigrant recalls that, except for occasional odd jobs, her husband was unemployed throughout the 1930s. She supported the family by working as a domestic and sewed socks for one dollar per ten-hour working day.56 Polish miners who lived in the camps around the Alberta Coal Branch were placed on rotating schedules of six weeks on and six weeks off.57 Despite the risk of being deported as a burden to society, many immigrants applied for government subsidies. The Woźniak family, unaware of such a risk, applied for a government subsidy in 1932 when Antoni was unable to secure a job. They were declined but spared from deportation. Antoni eventually found a job that paid fifty cents per day, and was fortunate to receive an advance payment in the form of one sack of flour, one sack of sugar, and five pounds of lard, which helped get the family through the initial crisis.58 Patrias observes that the state colluded in racializing immigrant groups by encouraging covert discrimination in the administration of relief. Government officials took advantage of deportation laws to reduce their relief rolls.59 The number of total immigrant deportations rose from fewer than 2,000 in 1929 to more than 7,600 within three years. Almost 30,000 immigrants of all ethnic stripes were forced to return home. The consequences of the Depression were staggering, as thousands of jobless men roamed the streets and rode the rails across the country in search of work. It was not unusual for 2,000 or 3,000 applicants to show up for one or two job openings. Those who were not looking for work were looking for food, and thousands stood in long bread lines and waited for hours to be fed. As the Depression carried on, one in five Canadians became dependent on government relief.60 The unemployment rate soared to nearly 27 per cent in 1933, resulting in an enormous peak in suicide, starvation, and disease.61 Discrimination was one of the factors that led to the transference of the ethnic pecking order of immigration policy to a vertical mosaic of occupations and incomes – the British on top and so on down to the

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Chinese and blacks who occupied the most menial jobs. This greatly disadvantaged immigrant groups in the labour market and prevented their full incorporation within the body of the nation. Little wonder, therefore, that many Polish immigrants had good reason to reminisce about their homeland and to sing “czy ci nie żal ... odchodzic od stron ojczystych.” The response to the harsh circumstances and discrimination was in some cases return migration to Poland. Between 1906 and 1914, around 25 per cent of Polish immigrants to Canada returned to their homeland.62 In other instances, however, discrimination and other harsh circumstances led immigrants to support Communist and radically progressive organizations that promised to overhaul the system and alleviate their problems. In a world that seemed despondent, Communists offered a way out and a solution to the deplorable state of affairs. As John Kolasky notes, “Heaven for the Christians was in the hereafter; for the communists, paradise was emerging here on earth now.”63 Individuals who had drifted without direction and purpose could become a part of an international movement that promised to usher in a just social order with plenty for all.64 Slogans that pledged unity, emancipation, equality, and prosperity attracted many immigrants who shared a common instinctive hatred for social injustice and exploitation.

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4 Getting Organized: Polish Reds, Rebels, and Radicals

Karl Marx had followers among Poles in Canada from the early 1900s onward. Diverse forms of social and labour radicalism found expression in various contending groups united in their desire for a society governed by and for the working masses. Polish socialists, who combined social radicalism with Polish nationalist objectives, coalesced around the Polskie Socjalistyczne Stowarzyszenie im. Stefana Okrzei (Stefan Okrzeja Polish Socialist Society), established in Montreal in 1906. Its members, mostly progressive intellectuals, favoured a secular trend in education and social life. They were radical patriots who combined their objectives with the national struggle for Polish independence. Many of them supported Józef Piłsudski and the Polska Partia Socjalistyczna (pps, Polish Socialist Party). Like their counterparts in Poland, they argued that only the lud – the peasants, artisans, small shopkeepers, and the new class of industrial workers – were the “basis of existence” for the Polish nation. They opted for common ownership of the means of production, better pay, equal opportunities, and, above all, the creation of an independent national life. Information about mass protests organized by radical supporters of the pps in Toronto and Winnipeg was published in the American Dziennik Ludowy (People’s journal) as early as 1908.1 As I noted in chapter 2, many newcomers had been politicized in Poland, and it was not uncommon for them to transplant their socially progressive ideas to North American society. Many migrants, especially intellectual political exiles, set up socialist and other progressive

Getting Organized 53

organizations in Canada that mirrored the ones they had left behind, including: Gwiazda (Star), which later became the Towarzystwo Ignacego Daszyńskiego (Ignacy Daszynski Society), Oświata (Education), and the Towarzystwo Socjalistyczne Potęga (Socialist Society Power).2 Some of Potęga’s members were armed with revolvers and were under constant surveillance by Canadian authorities. Other traditionally non-socialist organizations also came under the sway of radical immigrants. In Canmore, Alberta, for example, Polish miners organized the cultural society Zgoda św. Andrzeja (St Andrew’s Concord), in November 1911. According to the local missionary, Reverend Franciszek Szylla, “the promoter of that society had a leaning towards atheistic socialism.” Fearing that his flock would veer toward radicalism, Szylla travelled to Canmore to organize monthly lectures to “create and uphold a Catholic atmosphere in that society.”3 The period before World War I was difficult for organized radicalism in Canada, and even more so for non-English and non-French social radical groups. Like most ethnic-based organizations, they had low membership, small budgets, and, above all, suffered from ethnic discrimination and racial tensions.4 Even mainstream Canadian socialist parties and labour organizations such as the Industrial Workers of the World and the Trades Labour Congress were generally hostile toward immigrants because they allegedly undercut wages.5 When the Bolshevik Revolution came in November 1917, socialists of every stripe rejoiced. The news that a workers’ state had been established in Russia revitalized the left in Canada and elsewhere. The revolutions in Germany, Finland, and the Baltic States, as well as the short-lived 1919 Soviet Republic in Hungary, indicated that the Marxist prophesy of world revolution could come true. But the socialists’ honeymoon was short-lived. Those who began to call themselves Soviet Communists soon alienated moderate socialists. As elsewhere, the Polish Canadian left underwent a split. The moderates, aware of Soviet dangers, accepted a program that was analogous with the ideology of the socialists in Poland. They established a number of new organizations, which included Nowe Życie (New Life), founded in 1919, the Polish workman’s association Samokształcenie (Self-education) founded in 1920, and the pro-pps Spójnia (National Union) established in 1918. Spójnia attracted the rcmp’s attention as early as 1920,

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when police officials reported that its members were violent and armed with revolvers.6 Spójnia ran the only Polish library in Toronto and organized a school for children and amateur performances. Its members relied mainly on information from the weekly Trybuna Robotnicza (Workers’ tribune), which was published in Detroit, Michigan, and edited by Bolesław Konstantin “Bill” Gebert, a top-ranking Polish Communist who played a leading role in organizing the Polish American Communist movement.7 The paper probably had a correspondent in Canada because it occasionally ran information about the Polish Canadian community.8 Nowe Życie began to publish a newspaper under the same name in 1919, which was printed by Slavonia Steamship Agencies Limited, a Polish-immigrant-owned company. Nowe Życie’s founder and first editor, Maks Major, was in the business of creating false identity papers for Polish immigrants. Sometime between 1919 and 1920, he allegedly got into some trouble on account of his dealings and had to leave the country. The paper was later edited by a more conservative-leaning Pole, Edward J. Stawicki, who aroused much opposition from Spójnia. Shortly before Nowe Życie folded in 1922, it was edited by prominent Polish Canadian socialist Alfons Jan Staniewski.9 Staniewski is synonymous with the Polish socialist movement in Canada. He was a political exile from the Russian part of partitioned Poland, where he had participated in the Russian Revolution of 1905, as well as in numerous labour strikes and demonstrations. He was a fervent Polish patriot and a zealous lobbyist for worker rights. During the interwar period, he maintained a critical attitude toward Piłsudski and the Catholic Church. In fact, he tried to foment hostility among Polish immigrants toward the Warsaw government and the clergy’s “excessive” influence. This position led many to accuse Staniewski of harbouring pro-Communist sentiments, a ridiculous charge because he was a staunch anti-Communist. The Bolshevik Revolution created difficulties for organized social and labour radicals in Canada. By 1918, many Canadians were already convinced that labour radicals were Bolsheviks, violent revolutionaries intent on overthrowing the government. The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 only intensified such sentiments and fuelled hostilities. The conservative government under Robert Borden declared labour and socialist organizations illegal, and unofficially supported vigilante groups who initiated their own anti-radical campaign by break-

Getting Organized 55

ing up left-wing meetings and harassing Communists, social radicals, and immigrants, including Polish left-leaning activists. Polish authorities began to monitor Polish radical organizations in Canada as early as 1919 when the Rada Polska w Kanadzie (Polish Council in Canada), a controversial organization run by a small group of Polish immigrants in St Catharines who claimed the right to represent the newly independent Polish government, began to issue Polish passports to immigrants in Canada. While the council’s constitution stated that “no Lodge that supports or gives public expression to extreme socialistic views or those members or any of them [who] give public expression to extreme socialistic views shall be eligible for membership,” Polish authorities, together with the Royal North West Mounted Police,10 suspected that it was issuing documents to “deviant” Polish immigrants. The Polish government recognized neither the organization’s legitimacy nor its authority to issue passports, and it eventually dissolved, most likely in 1922.11 Polish Communists became significantly more active in Canada following the outbreak of the Polish-Soviet War.12 In 1920, the Polish consul in Winnipeg, Walerian Bukowiecki-Olszewski, reported that Ludwik Cohn (vel Kohn; vel Konecki; vel Luis Cohn; vel Ludwik Kohn) was “an agitator, a member of the Bolshevik organization [and] in close contact with the Bolshevik ambassador in Washington.” He also suggested that Cohn may have been a Jewish Communist from Poland.13 In fact, Cohn was ostensibly related to Feliks Kon, a prominent Polish agitator and member of the pro-Communist faction of the Polish Socialist Party (pps-Lewica). Cohn had styled himself as the representative of the Soviet government in Canada. Polish authorities considered him a dangerous agitator, although they knew very little about him and his activities.14 In 1921, Bukowiecki-Olszewski wrote a report about Nowe Życie, calling it a “Bolshevik group” with “a dwindling membership.”15 According to the consul, the organization lost its “substantial following” among Polish immigrants because Communists infiltrated it during the Polish-Soviet War in 1920. Bukowiecki-Olszewski observed that its membership declined to “only eight Poles and several Rusyns” who held meetings in a Ukrainian workers’ hall.16 Consular reports reveal that these members were dangerous and conspired to bomb the Polish consulate in Winnipeg in November 1923.17

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According to several rcmp reports, the Polish-Soviet War was a catalyst for radical activity in Canada. One well-informed rcmp agent observed: “It appears to me that since Russia has attacked Poland most of these radicals, who were rather quiet previous to this incident, now they seemed revived against [sic] and support the most radical movement in existence, none of them were as bold as they are now.”18 On 18 August 1920, the Dominion Labour Party organized a “Hands off Russia” meeting in Winnipeg, which was attended by 1,500 people, including several Polish radical delegates who went “to protest against the interference with the Soviet conquest of Poland.”19 Four resolutions were passed at the meeting: 1 Protesting against any intervention by the Imperial or Canadian Government in Russia. 2 Congratulating British labour “on their deliberate opposition to attempted intervention in Russia, and endorsing the means employed to prevent it.” 3 Assuring the people of Russia of the entire opposition of “the Winnipeg Workers” to “intervention of the Imperialist Power.” 4 Congratulating Soviet Russia on its success in meeting the aggression of the Poles and the intrigues of the Allies.20 At around the same time, rcmp agents assigned to an undercover operative in St Catharines, reported that a new local society, the Polish Co-operative, had “very radical” members. The agents attended a wedding there and noted that the guests were critical of capitalism, the Church, and the established order.21 One guest addressed the bride and groom, hoping “the first child of this wedding [would] arrive [in a] world free from capitalists and kings.”22 The society had only two Polish members, and the rest were Russian, Ukrainian, and Austrian. A few days later, a Polish Jew named Henryk Dworkin also caught rcmp agents’ attention while he was making guest appearances in several labour temples to spread anti-Polish propaganda.23 Dworkin criticized the Polish government and relayed a story about Polish workers who Polish government officials allegedly imprisoned and tortured. Already in the movement’s nascent stages, the alliance and cooperation between Communists of various nationalities began to play an imperative role. In this respect, the Canadian Communist

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movement was truly multicultural. As one Canadian paper noted in 1932: “The majority of the Communists are foreigners ... The money used for their activities is supplied in the main from the Ukrainian and Finnish branches of the Communist Party, some of it, of course, coming from Russia.”24 The history of Canadian ethnic Communist branches, which includes the Polish Canadian Communist movement, is intimately connected to the history of the Communist Party of Canada (cpc). Its history provides an important context for understanding and appraising the history of the Polish Canadian left. The cpc was organized in extreme secrecy in a barn near Guelph, Ontario, on 29 May 1921 by three representatives of the Communist International (Comintern) and twenty-one Canadians.25 Most of its members came from the three socialist parties in existence at the time of the Russian Revolution: the Socialist Party of Canada, the SocialDemocratic Party of Canada, and the Socialist Party of North America. Its program was based on the writings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin and inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. The party emerged from the conviction that the problems that had frustrated the Canadian socialist movement in the past could be solved by the teachings of Lenin and by association with the Comintern, which members of Lenin’s own party dominated. Its members regarded the party as a national section of a world party, which was led by the authority of an international committee. The clandestine character of the founding convention set the atmosphere for Canadian Communists, who initially operated underground. The party’s public voice was the Workers’ Party of Canada, which was set up in 1922 and lasted until 1924, when the cpc was legalized and no longer confined to an underground existence.26 The cpc became very active in the 1920s, at a time when much of the labour movement was dispirited after the defeat of the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919. In 1928, it experienced a serious schism over the character of the Soviet Union and the Stalinization of the Comintern, which placed Tim Buck at the helm of the cpc, a position he held until 1961. In the 1930s, through the Workers’ Unity League, which was organized on the Comintern’s instruction, Communists struggled to organize those workers whom other unions could not organize. This activity reflected the shift in Communist theory during the Comintern’s Third Period, which emphasized creating Commu-

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nist groups to defend the Soviet way.27 In 1935, the party experienced another major shift in its orientation when Stalin announced the Popular Front policy, which lasted until 1939. During this period, Communists everywhere were directed to drop their harsh critique of social democrats as “social fascists” and instead build alliances with them against world fascism. In Canada, like elsewhere, the Stalinization of the Communist Party meant that it subordinated workingclass interests to those of the Soviet Union and Stalinist bureaucracy. At its height, the cpc reached an official membership of approximately 16,000. The party was so popular it filled Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto during a celebration marking Buck’s release from prison in 1934, and it was the first large-scale left party in Canada composed of a mix of predominantly non-English and non-French working-class immigrants.28 In a sense, the cpc mirrored modern-day Toronto, as it was a network of ethnic enclaves connected to an overarching community. The mass of the party’s “foreign” membership was generally recruited from among recent immigrants from eastern Europe – mostly Ukrainians, Jews, Finns, and Russians, as well as Hungarians, Poles, Croats, and Slovaks, among others.29 The majority had come to Canada for a better future, but instead found deplorable conditions similar to those back home, especially in the urban slums where many of them settled. Ukrainians comprised the bulk of the cpc’s membership and provided many of its talented leaders, including Matthew Popovich, John Boychuk, and Ivan Navizivsky. Most Ukrainian Communists also belonged to the pro-Communist Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temple Association.30 By 1930, about 900 to 1,000 Ukrainians composed one-third of the cpc’s membership.31 Among all the radical progressive organizations, the cpc was the most successful in recruiting foreign workers. It had a strong European orientation and allowed newcomers to obtain leadership positions much easier than did the One Big Union and the Industrial Workers of the World, which had a North American orientation. The cpc was also popular among immigrants because it advocated mass demonstrations and confrontations, which were often more appealing than the less militant tactics of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and other progressive organizations such as the United Farmers of Canada and the Western Social Credit League. There were virtually no other avenues of protest open to most immigrant workers. The majority were employed in sectors that were outside the reach

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of labour unions, which, save for those that were Communist-led, were generally hostile toward them. The cpc deliberately tried to recruit and protect foreign-born supporters. The ethnic groups formed language sections, or branches, of the party with their own national offices, press agencies, labour temples, and cultural-educational programs. Because the cpc’s ethnic members worked in the most basic industries, they were the party’s main contact with other workers. Moreover, through their energetic and enthusiastic recruiting and fundraising efforts, they contributed significantly to the party’s coffers and overall membership. Most ethnic Communists backed virtually all of the cpc’s mainstream initiatives, such as the 1935 On-to-Ottawa Trek, the recruiting drive for the Spanish Civil War, and Communist candidates in election campaigns. In 1952, Buck acknowledged that the party could not have flourished without its immigrant supporters: “Immigrant workers shouldered a very large share of the struggles and sacrifices that went into the building of industrial unions by the Workers’ Unity League and the cio ... They have enriched our movement and Canada as a whole by their contributions to the picket line, in the building of organizations and in their enrichment of our culture.”32 cpc members regarded the party as a vanguard, leading all the political struggles of the working class for the socialist transformation of Canada. For them, revolution was not an immediate possibility, but the main goal. They fought against exploitation, discrimination, and imperialism. They preached the abolition of private property and of parliamentary institutions. And they glorified the Soviet Union as the hub of justice, equality, and freedom. At a meeting in Winnipeg in 1932, some Communists told a gathering of unemployed men: “Sovietism is the only salvation for humanity, so that brotherly love may take the place of Hellish, Damnable Patriotism and Religion.”33 Such convictions naturally threatened the political, religious, and social foundations of the established order. Threatened by the cpc’s deviant ideology and vulgar criticism, the Canadian government fought back. From its inception, the rcmp harassed the party, broke up suspicious meetings, raided its offices, and confiscated radical literature. Individuals caught making “seditious utterances”; distributing “prohibited literature,” especially literature written in an “enemy language”; attending “unlawful associations”; or, as in one case, “wearing a button of the Socialist Party of the United States” were fined or

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jailed.34 In an attempt to crack down on Communists, the rcmp arrested eight of the party’s main leaders in August 1931. Buck was placed in Kingston Penitentiary, and the cpc was banned, forcing its members to operate through a series of front organizations: the Workers’ Unity League, the Relief Camp Workers’ Union, the Canadian Labour Defence League (cldl), the National Unemployed Workers Association, and a plethora of its ethnic sections. Shortly after Buck’s conviction, Canadian authorities arrested a number of foreign-born leaders for deportation. Among them was Dan Chomicki (vel Holmes, vel Homes, vel Homitski), a prominent cpc leader who helped open one of the first Polish workers’ halls in Winnipeg in 1929.35 Chomicki came to Canada in 1913 and settled, together with his Canadian wife and child, in Winnipeg. After his arrest, he was immediately sent to Halifax without trial to await deportation. J.S. Woodsworth, the leader of the social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, brought his case to the attention of the House of Commons, arguing that Chomicki, along with the other convicted Communists, had a right to a fair trial: I do not think we in this house are concerned with whether or not these men are communists ... If they are communists, and if the decision given by the court of appeal stands, I presume it is possible to bring them up for trial as communists and to deport them. But my contention is that there should be a trial. I do not think men should be deported from this country simply after an investigation by the Immigration department. As residents of this country for a considerable number of years certainly they ought not to be deported without a full, fair trial.36 Chomicki’s arrest is a striking example of how Canadian officials dealt with suspected Communist agitators. Authorities could decide to transport convicted immigrants to any immigration station and deport them without a trial.37 Chomicki’s wife was allegedly not informed of his arrest, and within hours he was on a train to Halifax. According to Shin Imai, the government ensured that immigrants remained vulnerable to deportation by denying or revoking citizenship certificates. Chomicki had been refused a certificate even though, as Woodsworth noted, he had resided in Canada for twenty

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years and had a Canadian family.38 The government believed that the deportations would deter the Communist movement in general. One Canadian paper noted: “The last thing that most of these alien Communists desire is to be sent back to their own countries. The knowledge that they are in danger of prosecution and deportation may keep them within bounds.”39

a new kind of polish canadian organization The years 1926 and 1927 marked the birth of several Polish branches of the cldl in Winnipeg, Montreal, St Catharines, Toronto, and Oshawa. The cldl was a civil rights organization devoted to protecting striking workers from persecution, but, as the rcmp quickly found out, it was dominated by Communists. The first “official” Polish Communist branch of the cpc was formed in Winnipeg in 1926. Antonina Sokolicz-Merkel, who was connected with the Communist Workers’ International and the Communist Party of Poland, was sent to Canada that year to help organize the first Polish Communist branch in Winnipeg.40 Ukrainian Canadian Communists apparently also played an instrumental role in its founding. An rcmp security bulletin noted that at a meeting of the City Central Committee of the Communist Party, held on 26 August 1926, “the Ukrainian branch of the Communist Party recommended that a Polish branch of the Labour Defence League be formed.”41 Ukrainian Communists also allowed their Polish comrades to use their Winnipeg labour hall until they had enough capital to buy their own edifice. At the time of its founding, the Polish branch had fifty-six members.42 In 1930, Polish Communists in Toronto came together to form the Polskie Towarzystwo Robotnicze (Polish Workers’ Association). A prominent Communist agitator, Władysław Dutkiewicz, was quite possibly one of its founders. He edited the association’s monthly newspaper, Budzik (Alarm clock), which was a pro-Bolshevik paper with a masthead that declared: “Proletarians of all countries unite.”43 The paper carried little Canadian news content. Its editors espoused a messianic rhetoric about the role of the Polish masses, not only in liberating Poland from under the bourgeois heel, but also in saving the entire “western” civilization. The size of the association’s following may be gauged by Budzik’s circulation, which Dutkiewicz estimated at no more than 500.44

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The Polish movement initially lacked coordination and discipline. The Winnipeg-based Polish Communist branch published Czerwona Jaskółka (Red swallow), a hardcover magazine, which was allegedly discontinued after only three issues because its editors published materials that had been rejected by other Communist newspapers, including Budzik and Trybuna Robotnicza.45 Members of the Toronto branch accused their Winnipeg counterparts of factionalism (they considered them to be less radical), but the affair did not lead to any serious tension. It appears that after the magazine was retired, everything went back to normal. By August 1931, Polish Canadian radicals became better organized. At a convention held in Hamilton, Ontario, between 14 and 15 August, they federated all of their organizations into a trans-national body, the Polskie Towarzystwo Robotniczo-Farmerskie (ptrf, Polish Workers’ and Farmers’ Association), and moved the central office to Winnipeg.46 The Polish consul general in Ottawa was sceptical about the success of the new organization, noting, “by accepting that name [ptrf, they] avoided calling themselves Communists [because] such a name would hamper their activities ... among the Polish emigration, which is 80% Catholic ... [and immune] to revolutionary slogans.”47 The Polish consul in Winnipeg was more cautious about the ptrf’s influence, warning in his report that the federation had “its own Workers’ Hall, library, and ... substantial capital.”48 In January 1932, the ptrf initiated a campaign to start printing Głos Pracy (Voice of labour), a new Polish-language newspaper that became the voice of the entire Polish Communist movement for nearly a decade. According to the rcmp, its founder was an agitator from Poland, Joseph Polka (vel Joe/Jozef).49 The first issue, under Dutkiewicz’s editorship, appeared on 30 April 1932 and immediately caught the attention of the Canadian press.50 Mail and Empire warned, “a new Polish newspaper of a highly revolutionary character appeared in Winnipeg for the first time,” and that “a Toronto Communist has recently gone to Winnipeg to edit a revolutionary paper there.”51 In contrast to Budzik, Głos Pracy offered broader coverage of international and national news. It regularly conveyed information about conditions in mines and factories where many Polish immigrants worked, published donation lists to underscore its popularity, and later added women’s and children’s sections to attract a broader audience.

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The ptrf’s structure was hierarchical, modelled on the structure of Soviet and other Communist parties, which enabled it to promote the proletarian ideology in a disciplined and systematic way. Direction of the federation and the control of its assets were coordinated by its national central executive board. Special political, organizational, educational, women’s, and press committees monitored and helped direct activities in their respective jurisdictions.52 Local sub-committees, which included industrial and cultural committees, made regular reports to Głos Pracy about working conditions in factories and mines. The ptrf’s fundamental unit was the branch, which generally had a membership of about five to ten individuals.53 Branches conducted fieldwork, including carrying out policy objectives, recruiting members, and rallying. Larger branches, as in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Montreal, had separate women’s circles, youth groups, sports clubs, and children’s schools. Special handicraft and seniors’ clubs were also established. Branch delegates convened at national conventions, which were organized annually to formulate new policies and draw up plans for future activities. Members of a national committee, which was subordinated to the Central Executive Committee, met biannually to discuss party matters.54 For a list of Polish Communist branches in Canada, see A.2 in the appendix. From its centre in Winnipeg, the ptrf spread first west and then east to the industrial mining, lumbering, and railroad centres. By 1936, when it adopted a new name, the Polskie Towarzystwo Ludowe (ptl, Polish People’s Association), Polish Communists and radicals had established twenty branches across Canada, including three women’s branches, seven children’s schools, seven youth groups, six orchestras, and four choirs. According to the rcmp, the organization’s total assets amounted to $20,000.55 Głos Pracy also experienced rapid growth, expanding from four pages in 1932 to six pages in 1933 and eight pages in 1936.56 Subscription rates were kept low in an effort to put the paper within reach of those with a limited income. The initial lack of a talented intellectual leadership proved to be a serious problem for the ptrf. Dutkiewicz, who was the party’s spokesperson, had little formal education. He had worked as a labourer in the west after immigrating to Canada. According to Turek, he was a natural good public speaker and capable journalist.57 But the

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party needed some fresh blood and a competent organizer. In 1935, Polish Canadian Communists approached Sokolicz-Merkel for help during her second organizing trip to Canada.58 According to Consul General Jerzy Adamkiewicz, between 1929 and 1939, 400 paid Communist agents and sixty Moscow-trained agitators were active in the Ukrainian community in Canada.59 Many of them had received special training at the Lenin School in Moscow and the Institute of Marxism-Leninism in Ukraine. Some of the more distinguished and capable leaders were sent to the cpc’s private summer resort near Grafton, Ontario, where they were enrolled in special political training courses for six months.60 According to Adamkiewicz, the ptrf was also supposed to have received instructors, teachers, and agitators from Moscow.61 There were also reports suggesting, “in 1928 the Soviets sent 600,000 gold rubles to support the Communist Party of Canada.”62 Unfortunately, the consul did not reveal his source of information, and it is difficult to verify these facts. An earlier report also warned that Communist literature was being sent from the Soviet Union to Poland through Canada.63 Information gathered by the rcmp and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland suggests that such efforts were orchestrated in conjunction with Canadian and Ukrainian Communists.64 We may only speculate as to why the Comintern wanted to expand its resources into Canada. Quite possibly, the reason may have been to take advantage of Canada’s geographical proximity to both the Soviet Union and the United States, or it may have been purely ideological, to export the revolution to all corners of the world. The Soviets invested considerable energy into recruiting agents and informants outside of the ussr. Most successful is the story of the Cambridge Five, a ring of spies recruited in the United Kingdom in the 1930s who passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and into the early 1950s. Whatever the reasons may have been for building up the cpc, it is certain that Canada was an important transit point between the United States and Europe for many agitators. Already in 1919, Polish consuls in Canada were informed that a radical conspirateur by the name of Count Maximilian Egon Potocki, considered a dangerous anarchist suspected of plotting the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was arrested in Montreal before he had a chance to depart for Europe. The New York Times reported that Potocki, who was travelling as “James Dunn” with his wife “Mrs Dunn,” was captured with $3,473 in cash, about

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$48,000 in letters of credit, and over $5,000 worth of jewellery. Authorities considered him one of the main red agitators on the North American continent. Potocki was interned in Kapuskasing, Ontario.65 According to historian Anna Reczyńka, Sokolicz-Merkel helped smooth the passage of two individuals the Communist Party of Poland sent to Canada. The first, Joseph Polka, was a metal worker from Łódz connected with International Red Aid.66 He was accidentally killed when a freight train crushed his body near Indian Head, Saskatchewan, on 27 May 1934. Polka’s replacement, Albert Morski, was sent one year later.67 He would become the Polish Canadian movement’s most competent organizer. Morski was born Edward Damięcki to a peasant family on 29 September 1909 in Gerwatach, Poland. He completed high school in 1929, and in 1930, he apparently became a law student, though he interrupted his studies in 1932 for material and health reasons. In 1933, he joined the Communist Party of Poland and edited one of its newspapers. He was jailed for party activities in Poznań on 13 March 1933, and in 1934, he returned to Warsaw but was arrested again in April. After his release sometime in 1935, the party sent him to work among Polish immigrants in Canada.68 Morski was a talented writer and a brilliant speaker. He recognized that Polish immigrants were too conservative and too traditional to accept atheism and international radicalism. One year before his arrival, the ptrf’s National Executive Committee resolved to encourage Poles to fight openly on the streets and in factories.69 Morski criticized such an approach. He insisted that the ptrf should abandon “hurrah revolutionism” and the theory of class struggle, which he described as “the childhood’s disease of leftism.”70 His arrival coincided, probably intentionally, with the Comintern’s decision to adopt the Popular Front policy at its seventh World Congress, held in July and August 1935. In line with this policy, Morski urged party leaders to abandon international radicalism in favour of a united front against fascism. The new policy had some Communists confused. Speaking to Polish and other Communists at a Communist leader’s convention in Manitoba, ex-judge and Manitoba member of the legislative assembly Lewis St George Stubbs had some trouble coming to terms with the Comintern’s new directives: “If anybody had told me one year ago that I would now be on the platform of a Communist convention, advocating war, I would have said they were crazy, but that is just what

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I am doing.” He was speaking about the Spanish Civil War, which, he concluded, “should be endorsed for the eradication of brutal Fascism by every peace-loving citizen.”71 In July 1936, Morski orchestrated a complete reorganization of the ptrf during its sixth national convention, and changed its name to the ptl. The headquarters of its executive committee were moved to Toronto, together with Głos Pracy. This was a strategic move, since urban centres in central Canada were becoming hotbeds for Polish immigrant activity as Poles increasingly abandoned the prairies throughout the 1930s in search of work. Other major Polonia federations, like the zpk, had also established their headquarters in central Canada, where they recruited among Polish newcomers. Quite possibly, another reason why Morski may have decided to move the ptl to Toronto was to counter the zpk’s influence. The first Toronto-based issue of Głos Pracy was printed on 16 December 1936 from the ptl’s new office at 544 King Street West.72 The resolutions adopted at the ptl’s first convention illustrate the party’s new tone and reorganized structure: 1 The convention decided to divide Western Canada into two territorial divisions: a Western district (B.C., Alta., Sask.) with district headquarters at Edmonton, Alta. b Manitoba district with district headquarters at Winnipeg, Man. 2 To launch a drive with [the] view of doubling the membership of the association and its Youth Sections to commence 1st February, 1937; the drive to be linked up with the cultural-education fund drive. 3 Appoint a Cultural Educational Committee with J. Bobak as secretary-director. 4 Establish a Women’s Department headed by M. Bobakova. 5 Launch a press drive to commence on 15th April; the Central Executive Committee to collaborate with the directorate of Głos Pracy. 6 The Seventh national Convention of the Polish People’s Association to take place in October 1937. 7 The convention recommends that a school of three months’ duration be held in the summer of 1937 at Toronto and that all

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8

9

10

11

12

expenses in connection therewith be borne by the branches and sections. The convention strongly urges all branches to organize courses for the teaching of the English language, also schools in Polish for those branches which, up to now, neglected to introduce same. The convention instructs all branches to elect industrial committees who, in collaboration with the local industrial bodies, shall constantly and accurately inform Głos Pracy on conditions in the factories in their respective localities. To establish a women’s magazine to appear monthly with a children’s department; funds for this purpose to be raised in conjunction with the drive for the people’s cultural and educational fund. The convention greets the Polish youth in the independent Youth Clubs and instructs all the sections of the association to support such clubs and assists in organizing them in localities where none exist. The convention suggests the calling of general Canadian Polish Youth Congress and the building up of a Polish youth organ in Canada. The convention instructs the management of Głos Pracy to publish the results of the press drive.73

Canadian Communists experienced accelerated growth during the Popular Front period. After hitting rock bottom in 1931 at around 1,400 members, cpc membership increased to nearly 15,000 in 1937.74 The ptl also experienced an increase in popularity, and in March 1937, Głos Pracy reported that it had opened three new branches with thirty-two new recruits.75 The Toronto branch had increased its membership from thirty in 1936 to eighty-nine in 1937, and six new members were recruited in Sydney, Nova Scotia.76 In 1937, an rcmp security bulletin reported that Polish Communists made up 12.6 per cent of the cpc’s total membership in Manitoba.77 A year later, Consul Jan Szygowski suggested that there were “at least 162 conscious Communists” among Poles in Western Canada.78 Głos Pracy also reported that its subscription quota for May 1937 had been surpassed by nearly 200 new members, and that its fundraising campaign raised the expected goal of $2,000, though such figures should be accepted with a grain of salt as the paper’s editors tended to embellish their quotas.79

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During Stalin’s Popular Front, Polish Canadian Communists generally avoided Communist agitation, which was replaced with cultural-educational work. The party made appeals for Polish patriotism and urged “all persons who are not hostile to labour” to join their movement.80 Głos Pracy’s content included patriotic symbols and slogans as well as illustrations of illustrious Polish forebears such as General Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Poland’s most celebrated poet, Adam Mickiewicz. The ptl became a willing partner in the fight against fascism, and declared its readiness to collaborate with religious groups to ensure unity among all Poles in Canada.81 The “democratic” and “patriotic” character of the refashioned Polish Communist movement had significant repercussions for Polish religious and patriotic organizations. One rcmp security bulletin warned, “it is interesting to note that among the guests present [at ptl meetings] there were a number of people of Polish nationality, converts, who not very long ago would never have crossed the threshold of the Labour Temple. They were from church parishes and other organizations.”82 Another rcmp report was even more austere about the ptl’s successful makeover: “The change of the name ‘Polish Workers’ and Farmers’ Ass’n’ into Polish ‘People’s Ass’n,’ the acceptance of the names of famous Polish democrats, writers, and heroes by the branches, the transfer of the centre and of the ‘Glos Pracy’ from Winnipeg to Toronto – helped a lot in broadening of the influence of the Ass’n, and increased the number of members and readers by a couple of hundreds, but this is still way behind the possibilities which now exist.”83 Polish consuls were equally anxious about the ptl’s mounting influence. Their reports no longer speculated about the dangers of Polish Canadian Communism, but candidly warned against them. In 1938, consular reports noted that thirty-two ptl branches existed in Canada (nineteen in Western Canada and thirteen in Eastern Canada). A year later, the consuls reported an increase to thirty-five branches (twentyone in Western Canada and fourteen in Eastern Canada).84 Another consular report revealed that Polish immigrants had donated the same amount of money for a Communist-sponsored Polish labour hall as they did for a Polish “patriotic” hall that was co-organized by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.85 Most telling, however, were personal observations from several Polish consuls. In Ottawa, Jan Pawlica noted, “the Communists activities,

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whether in Western Canada or in Eastern Canada, and particularly in Ontario, are being developed with a lot of energy, and they pose a threat to our emigration.”86 Szygowski made a similar remark about the Polish Communist movement in Western Canada, warning, “the Communists are trying to occupy the national domain” and that they “lure many uncritical elements in the Canadian Polonia, of which unfortunately there are many.”87 As I will show in subsequent chapters, the Polish Canadian Communist movement was much smaller than its Ukrainian, Finnish, or Jewish counterparts. But although they were not as numerous, Polish Canadian Communists had enormous verve and dedication. By the late 1930s, they had established branches in every major Canadian city and cells in several remote farming communities, where isolated Poles became easy prey. By converting itself into a “cultural-educational” organization in 1936, the ptl hoped to make significant gains by masking its political allegiance. After all, what better way to attract nostalgic Poles to Communism than with folk songs, Polish-language schools, and patriotism? Morski sensibly recognized that if Communists were to survive in the Polish community, they would have to drop their atheist and revolutionary facade. His new strategy paid off. During the course of the 1930s, Polish Communists infiltrated several patriotic organizations and veterans’ associations and rallied thousands of immigrants behind their cause. Evidence suggests that they also unleashed a network of spies and agents who worked as domestics in “patriotic” homes and as moles in non-Communist organizations.88 Members of the Polish Mutual Aid Society in Quebec complained that Polish Communists “were well-informed about everything that happened inside Polonia organizations.”89 While the Polish Communist movement faced bitter opposition from the state and, arguably, even tougher resistance from Polish patriotic and religious leaders, it made considerable headway. As I showed above, Polish consuls, who previously undermined Communists’ influence, began to seriously reconsider its potential. The ptl is a classic example of how relatively small organizations whose members are motivated by a messianic ideology, bound by strict discipline, and guided by devoted leaders can exert an influence far out of proportion to their numbers.

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5 Gaude, Mater Polonia: The Battleground

Polonia, in many respects, is an “imagined community” in the sense described by Benedict Anderson.1 Though Polonia may be imagined, this does not preclude its actual existence. Its community organizations are real and the people that are associated with them hold in their minds a mental image of their affinity to Polonia. Poles residing in Canada and their compatriots in Poland commonly refer to the Polish Canadian diaspora as Polonia Kanadyjska (Canadian Polonia). The term Polonia is derived from the Latin name for Poland, but it is widely used, both in popular and official discourse, to refer to Polish groups in diaspora. Each Polonia – whether American, French, or Canadian – has a unique sense of identity, which is distinguished from national identity. According to Helena Znaniecki-Lopata, Polonia is an ethnic community that: “encompasses all those who identify with it and are engaged in some form of interaction and activity contributing to its existence. The members can be scattered in a variety of work and residential centers; the community is maintained through super-territorial organizations, mass communications, and personal contact.”2 There is a distinct Polish Canadian identity that not only has been influenced by Canadian values, attitudes, culture, politics, and the English language, but also has strong roots in Polish national identity. Emigrants who came to Canada at the turn of the nineteenth century had a weak sense of Polish national identity, especially since Poland had been removed from the geopolitical map in the eighteenth century. Illiterate peasants, who constituted the bulk of this migratory wave, identified more with their primary communities and

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saw the Polish nation as an abstract idea.3 After Poland regained independence in 1918, its emigrants belonged to a more nationally conscious class. They were also better educated and came increasingly from urban centres where they had worked in various trades and factories. Following independence, the Polish government was also able to offer a closer link to Poland through several consulates (and later an embassy) that were set up, in part, to spread a sense of patriotism and loyalty among Polish immigrants.4 In their struggle for the hearts and minds of Polish Canadians, Polish Communists met staunch opposition and competition from two important rival Polonia camps: the Church and the progressive nationalists or patriots. In order to understand the environment in which Polish Communists vied for power and to help evaluate their failures and successes, it is necessary to examine the structure of Polonia and the schisms between the main competing cohorts: the clergy, the nationalists, and the Communists.

the bulwark of faith: the catholic church Churches were part of the human and physical infrastructure of the village in the Old World. Priests were not only dispensers of sacraments, but were also expected to solve conflicts, give guidance on planting crops and raising stock, and read documents from secular and Church authorities for illiterate parishioners. In other words, Christianity was a matrix of ideas and modes of behaviour not easy to dislodge from the mindset of the majority of those in the Polish countryside. It was only natural, therefore, that the first form of organizational life to appear in the New World was religious. Most Polish migrants who arrived in Canada at the end of the nineteenth century were raised in an environment in which the Catholic Church played a central role in their everyday lives. Their day-to-day existence was synchronized by the sound of church bells tolling for Angelus Domini three times a day, and their families absorbed the Church’s rhythm and revolved around its liturgical seasons. Nearly all aspects of peasant life were wrought with rituals and symbolism. Before slicing bread, a woman would make the sign of the cross on it. A farmer, returning from a hard day of tolling in the field, would kneel at the foot of a tall village cross or by a small roadside shrine on his way home. The entire calendar was created with reference to holy

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days. Nearly all of the important events of the villagers took place within the confines of the Church or churchyard, including births, weddings, funerals, the opening of new schools, the blessing of homes, and the arrival of important visitors from other towns.5 The church was usually the largest building at the centre of the village. Paintings and stained-glass windows on the walls of the church explained the meaning of biblical stories, and the priest was recognized as the intermediary between God and man. Most peasants had a strong sense of the existence of God, believing that God was directly involved in human affairs and could reward the virtuous. They also believed that God punished people for their sins with disease, plague, poor harvests, and war. When Polish migrants settled in Canada in the late nineteenth century, many of them soon discovered that aside from clearing wilderness for farming and shelter, they also had to erect their own churches if they wanted to practice their faith. Polish immigrants had little understanding of the Canadian principle of voluntarism, which allowed churches to be independent from the control of the state. Many immigrants donated what little money they had to help lay the first cornerstones of their local churches, which became the only familiar landmarks in a world that was otherwise foreign. A church was, therefore, not only the site where religious rituals were given expression, but also a symbol of success in the New World. Since Polish settlers did not have consular representation until after World War I, clergymen naturally assumed leadership roles among them. In Edmonton, for example, Polish priests helped organize a delegation to the premier of Alberta in 1919 to seek recognition of the Poles as a separate national group. According to Joanna Matejko, the measure of esteem in which clergymen were held “was apparent in the willingness of some parishioners to contribute two to four dollars yearly for church support”; a substantial amount for most Polish immigrants.6 As in the old country, the clergy claimed the natural right to lead Polish immigrants in the New World based on doctrinal grounds, giving religion priority over national responsibilities. To this end, the Church declared that it had played an important role in preserving Poland’s national identity during the partition era. The Catholic press equated Polish patriotism with Catholic faith, claiming, “only a Catholic Pole can be a good Pole – while the clergy alone can deter-

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mine who is a good Catholic.”7 Despite its deep-rooted influence, however, Polish immigrants who favoured a secular trend in education and social life began to challenge the clergy’s rights to primacy over community affairs.

religious nationalists and not-so-religious nationalists By the early 1900s, a Polish progressive anti-clerical camp began to unfold in Canada. It was composed of people who were generally devout Catholics and nationalists and who did not question the Church’s authority in religious affairs, but who preferred secular community organizations and education. Despite the clergy’s efforts to establish societies and clubs that were organized as non-religious and extra-Church institutions, the anti-clerical camp wanted to emancipate Polish immigrants from the religio-cultural and denominational principles that governed such organizations. The “progressives” preferred ethnocultural-based organizations and changes to governance that required a direct involvement of community members in the selection of their leaders and community programs. This trend was consistent with the changing nature and needs of the growing number of community organizations, which introduced democratic or quasi-democratic processes for choosing their leaders. Others simply felt that the parish priests were too uncompromising and abused their positions of authority. Such was the case in Melchior Wankowicz’s account of a meeting where Polish immigrants had asked their priest for permission to use the local parish hall to celebrate Poland’s Constitution Day. One of the assembled Poles, a Mr Ludwiczak, relays the priest’s response: Father Szalkowski won’t have anything to do with it ... He said “If you want to organize anything then organize it among yourselves. There are among you people who write against the Holy Father in the papers.” I told him it’s none of our business what’s in the papers. I told him that he couldn’t say anything against us, we’re all good Poles and good Catholics. The older people have come to something in life, raised fine children, so why shouldn’t they be trusted to run the business of the community? But he said No and that’s that. I told him that he closed the hall to the children so

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they couldn’t get an education. I was about to remind him of the chalice I gave the church, but decided not to be rude. In don’t know how it is, the priests live off the people but they don’t care much about the people and what we want.8 In that same account, Wańkowicz describes a conflict over financial matters with the parish priest: The people on the church committee all pitched in, they took up a collection for the school, even Klekot didn’t refuse to give money. But when they wanted to check the ledgers, the priest said that he didn’t need controllers, that the people were too dumb for that. Funny, Father Szalkowski didn’t call us dumb when it came to getting the money. He’s too greedy. One time he said to a man who asked him to say Mass for a member of the family, “You’ll get only as much heaven from me as you pay for. Otherwise, don’t come here and stink up the place.” Later he said he was only joking. But it was the truth. For instance, there’s a big hall in the basement. There are no benches there. I myself could make the benches in my free time. Ludwiczak promised to give the lumber. Tereska talked her son into getting the Klekot boys, Pawel and Piotr, to cut and haul the logs. The Klekots said they are willing. But because they speak Ukrainian, Father Szalkowski said he didn’t need any Russians around. All that was just a smokescreen, the fact of it being that Father Szalkowski holds bingo games in the basement, and he knows he wouldn’t get as much money from collections for the school as he does from the bingo games. What gets me mad is that he doesn’t see that when the Polish language dies out, he won’t have a parish anymore.9 The initiative for politically oriented secular institutions came from a small progressive intelligentsia and working-class segment that had settled mainly in urban centres like Winnipeg, Montreal, and Toronto. The leaders were generally better-educated immigrants who had been influenced by the Polish national awakening at the hands of a secular intelligentsia and the reading circles and enlightenment societies that had sprung up in the old country toward the end of the nineteenth century. Some of them founded the early socialist organizations like the Polskie Socjalistyczne Stowarzyszenie im. Stefana

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Okrzei (Stefan Okrzeja Socialist Association); Gwiazda (Star), which became the Towarzystwo Ignacego Daszyńskiego (Ignacy Daszynski Society); and Oświata (Education). They were generally socialists who were highly patriotic and nationalistic in outlook and had a liberal attitude toward religion.10 According to Turek: “These leaders resented the intolerance of the clerical camp, its boycott of the few nonCatholic Poles and its efforts to subordinate the entire life of the Polish immigrants in America to the clergy. They pointed to the American principle of separation of church and state, while criticizing the shortcomings of the social activities of the clergy.”11 The first Polish Canadian secular organizations began to flourish in the early 1900s – much later than those in the United States, where Polish Americans had founded the Polish National Alliance in 1880 to counter the Polish Roman Catholic Union, which had been established seven years earlier. According to Turek, the gradual secularization of Polish institutional life in Canada occurred along two parallel lines: organizations either broke away entirely from the clergy or gradually emancipated themselves from clerical control, and though either scenario was often against the will of pastors, organizations generally retained their formal associations with the parish.12 The oldest Polish Canadian secular associations were established in Western Canada, where most Polish immigrants had settled at the turn of the nineteenth century. More than a dozen lay organizations, which mirrored reading circles, mutual aid and recreational associations, and other popular clubs from the old country, were founded in Winnipeg by the 1910s. One of the earliest Polish secular associations in Canada, Sokol (Falcon), was established in 1906 in Winnipeg as a counter to the city’s oldest church-based organization, the Holy Ghost Fraternal Aid Society, which had been founded by the Oblates four years earlier.13 The history of Sokol reaches back to the partition period, when in 1866, students in Lwów (today L’viv) organized a gymnastic circle patterned on the already existing German turnverein and the Czech Sokol.14 The organization emphasized physical fitness, and its motto was “w zdrowym ćiele zdrowy duch” (a healthy spirit in a healthy body). Its principal aim was to cultivate and grow national awareness among Poles in the partitioned territories. Polish immigrants, particularly the better-educated ones, imported Sokol ideas to North America, where they continued to nurture patri-

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otic values, especially among the youth. Before World War I, Sokol in the United States had some 12,000 well-trained members ready to serve in the war.15 The movement was much smaller in Canada, and its links with the American Sokol were relatively tenuous, but it was nevertheless influential for many Polish Canadians. During World War I, the organization guided the War Relief Services and constituted the largest recruiting centre for volunteers for the Polish Army in France.16 The leaders of Sokol often collided with the clergy over a myriad of issues, including community governance, education, and nationalist aspirations. As the earliest fully secularized organization in Canada, Sokol had to withstand the main impact of clerical opposition. It weathered the storm successfully and gradually supported the development of other lay organizations and the secular Polish-language press. Its members generally resented discrimination based on religious affiliation. When some parishioners joined the schismatic Polish National Catholic Church17 and other dissident Catholic movements, Sokol’s leaders defended the dissidents against criticism from the Church, arguing that many of them were “selfless social workers and educators” and that the “boycott of these people by the Catholic clergy contributed to a splitting of the unity of the Polish ethnic group in Canada.”18 The trend toward secularization hit a responsive chord among many Polish organizations, including those that had been founded alongside the parish churches. The Society of St John Cantius, which was established as a fraternal-benefit society affiliated with the St John Cantius parish in Winnipeg, separated over a conflict with the parish priest over who should have the right to control it.19 In 1924, the same parish priest founded a new mutual aid society, the St Joseph Fraternal-Benefit Society, but a similar conflict over governance forced its members to sever their ties with the parish in 1950 and to amalgamate with the Society of St John Cantius. According to Turek, together with Sokol, the society “represented the block which maintained a counterpoise against the clerical camp” in Winnipeg.20 Relations between nationalists and the Church were not always antagonistic. That is, both groups did not form hostile camps that tried to remove one another from the political and sociocultural landscape of the Polish community. Although the “anti-clerical” nationalists preferred to distance themselves from Church governance, they were not necessarily against religion. Most secular nationalists attend-

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ed mass regularly and raised their children as devout Roman Catholics. In many instances, the nationalists and the clergy coexisted, especially in cases where parish priests were willing to be more moderate. For example, the Holy Ghost Society, which was administered by Polish Oblates from 1902 onwards, underwent gradual secularization but retained close ties with the parish. Even when the society built a new hall several miles from the parish premises in 1949, it continued to be formally a Catholic parochial organization.21 The society enjoyed the autonomy of other secular organizations, but the pastor of its parish had a say in its affairs, owing to his “personal prestige and authority rather than to formal provisions of the Society’s constitution.”22 Whatever their disagreements may have been, however, Polish nationalists and clergy agreed that Communist organizations posed the greatest threat to the Polish diaspora and they often collaborated to destroy the movement.

creating a super-territorial polonia: clerics, anti-clerics, and polish consuls In the 1920s and early 1930s, several competing federative bodies were established in the Polonia that aspired for dominance over community affairs. The Polish Communists, as I have already shown, established the Polskie Towarzystwo Robotniczo-Farmerskie (ptrf) in 1931, which became the Polskie Towarzystwo Ludowe (ptl) in 1936. The clerics and nationalists had attempted to create federative bodies of their own in various centres in earlier periods, but Communists were the first to establish a viable and successful super-territorial organization that represented all Polish Communist organizations across Canada.23 The clerics formed a federation that brought together parishes and their affiliated organizations, but its stronghold remained in western Canada, especially in Manitoba. The progressive nationalists split into two competing federations: the Związek Polaków w Kanadzie (zpk, Polish Alliance of Canada), which favoured a “Canada-first” attitude, and the Zjednoczenie Zrzeszeń Polskich w Kanadzie (zzpwk, Federation of Polish Societies in Canada), which favoured a “Poland-first” attitude. The former federation remained largely limited to Ontario, whereas the latter represented organizations across several provinces, though its activities were mainly limited to Winnipeg and Toronto.

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Until the late 1920s, the majority of Polish organizations were scattered all over Canada and, by and large, maintained an institutional life that was separate from other Polish organizations. Early attempts to federate Polish organizations started in Winnipeg, the largest centre of Polish life in Canada until the1930s. The St Michael Union, also known as the Union of the Polish Catholic Societies in Canada, formed in 1909 by the Oblate Fathers of the Holy Ghost, was one of the earliest attempts to federate Polish organizations in Canada.24 The union consisted of six scattered organizations that were mainly parish associations, but its reach never extended beyond Winnipeg and it dissolved in 1919. By 1915, attempts to form federative bodies appeared more promising, especially since both the clerics and the progressives possessed the necessary ingredient for initiating transnational unification – a newspaper. The founding of the Gazeta Katolicka (Catholic gazette) by the Oblate Fathers in 1908 was a victory against the anti-clerical progressives, who struggled without a newspaper until they established Czas (Time), which styled itself as Canada’s only progressive Polish weekly, in 1915.25 The paper was mostly associated with the Polish gymnastic association Sokol. Although the newspapers were essential accessories for both camps, internal schisms prevented the two from amalgamating Polish organizations into a transnational federation for over a decade. The influx of better-educated and nationally conscious immigrants in the 1920s renewed aspirations for a secular trans-national federation. Between 1921 and 1931, 92,100 Poles came to Canada, mostly because of hyperinflation and dramatic labour shortages in Poland. Many of these newcomers had served in the Polish army, where they received occupational training; others had been members of secular and various political organizations and were noticeably more self-conscious. One striking difference between these arrivals and their predecessors was that they were less interested in working on farms, and instead headed for larger industrial centres in central Canada where they sought more lucrative occupations in factories and trades. Many of them reinvigorated the life of the Polish community and established a number of new organizations, including the Association of Merchants and Businessmen, several self-help groups, and a Polish Academic Club at the University of Manitoba.26 The increasing number of new Polonia organizations revived federative attempts.

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In 1922, talks between representatives of the Association of the Sons of Poland, the Society of St Stanislaus, and the socialist pro-pps Spójnia (National Union) resulted in the birth of the zpk in Toronto. In 1923, the Polish Progressive Society, an affiliate of the Polish socialist movement, also joined the alliance. The zpk developed its own independent program, which included a liberal attitude toward religion, a non-conformist position toward successive Polish governments, and emphasis on the principles of tolerance, brotherhood, and education. This last point was particularly important, as the zpk’s leaders wanted their children to receive a good education, and so its educational program included not only Polish-language schools, but also amateur theatres, orchestras, and art exhibits. The zpk was neither anti-Catholic nor anti-religion, although it received such labels from other segments of the Polish community because of its progressive outlook. Many of its members had belonged to the Sons of Poland, which encouraged its members to “uphold the Catholic religion and [to] establish Polish parishes.”27 The zpk’s constitution emphasized its status as a lay organization and mentioned the Christian religion without specifying Catholicism, but its members were mainly Catholics who attended mass and baptized their children. They argued that priests had “enough other responsibilities” and “do not need to look for additional, social ones.”28 Some zpk members later parted ways with the organization because of its excessive liberal attitude toward religion.29 By 1927, the zpk had spread outside Toronto and established a second branch in Hamilton, Ontario, and additional branches in Preston, Kitchener, St Catharines, Brantford, Guelph, and Welland. In 1933, the zpk established its own newspaper, the Związkowiec (Alliancer), whose first editor, Alfons Jan Staniewski, was connected with Poland’s socialist movement.30 The zpk’s greatest conflict with other Polonia organizations was derived from its position toward successive Polish governments. From the moment of consolidation, the zpk adopted a Canada-first attitude. Its members considered themselves proud Poles, and many of them had volunteered for the Polish Army, but they believed that they should be loyal Canadian citizens first. Canada was not a “transit station,” they argued, “but a new, accepted homeland.”31 As a result, at the second congress of the World Union of Poles from Abroad in Warsaw in 1934, zpk delegates refused to swear a loyalty oath to Poland and its president on the grounds that they belonged to an organization serving Canadian citizens.32

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Staniewski, the Związkowiec’s left-of-centre editor, adopted a radically progressive stance toward politics in Poland. His articles were often critical toward the Polish government, and he demanded more democratization in the political sphere and better working conditions for Polish workers. On Canadian issues, the Związkowiec often took a partisan approach. When Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King was elected to office in October 1935, the newspaper expressed doubt that the new government would improve conditions for workers and immigrants, especially for Poles.33 The paper’s radical leftleaning outlook garnered the zpk much criticism from opponents, who accused its members of having Communist tendencies. Polish consuls sent reports to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland to inform Polish authorities about the zpk potentially dangerous proCommunist leaning. In 1937, the paper lost its distribution rights in Poland as a consequence of its critical attitude toward the Polish government.34

the zzpwk: poland is for poles, but poles are for poland In November 1931, a new kind of trans-national organization was founded, which, unlike the zpk, gravitated toward a “Poland-first” attitude. The zzpwk, which the Polish government inspired and initiated, was to be an organization that ensured patriotism and loyalty to the ojczyzna (fatherland). Increasingly, the Polish government began to view Polish diasporic communities as “an extended arm of Poland” and a valuable resource.35 The surge in nationalist activities during World War I had indicated that the local and regional consciousness that had characterized earlier immigrants had been supplanted by national awareness. Prior to 1914, Polish experts and commentators thought of Canada as “a bad destination” because Polish emigrants “depolonize there,” and argued that the consequences of immigrating to Canada were “clearly negative.” For some commentators, the massive emigration of Poles meant an increase in the prominence of Ruthenians and Ukrainians in the homeland, and a depletion of the nation’s workforce and wealth.36 By the 1920s, attitudes about emigration began to change in Poland. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Labour

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and Social Welfare acknowledged that migration problems were “closely linked with the ideas of general foreign policy, because [migrants] make an impact on the attitudes of various countries towards Poland.”37 The Polish Emigration Society, which was run by politicians who represented factions from the national democrats to Piłsudskiites and moderate leftists, worked on establishing closer links with Polish diasporic communities to help nurture and protect “independent and creative Polish lives.”38 Although some experts still criticized emigration as having a negative impact on the Polish economy and its resources, the Polish government began to implement policies to harness the Polish diaspora.39 By 1923, Polish officials considered it desirable to create an organization to “prevent the denationalization of the Polish element,” in Canada and elsewhere.40 In 1929, the First Congress of Poles Abroad was organized in Warsaw to coordinate with Polish settlements around the globe. The congress declared, “all Poles living outside Polish borders [are] linked with the Fatherland by indissoluble ties of blood, culture and history” and “form one big, spiritual family.”41 Minister of Foreign Affairs Jozef Beck believed that the interests of Polish diasporic communities should be subordinated to those of Poland and should offer “unconditional support for Polish internal and external policy.”42 Many influential Polonia leaders shared such sentiments. J.M. Kreuz, one of the zzpwk’s founding members, wrote, “the Polish population in Canada can be counted as a part of the Great Polish Nation, and not as a group of pariahs and outcasts battling with fate.”43 To ensure that the Polish diaspora would remain obedient, the Polish government established the Światowy Związek Polaków z Zagranicy (Światpol, the World Union of Poles from Abroad) in 1934. Its slogan read: “Poland is for Poles, but Poles are for Poland, Poland exists wherever there are Poles.”44 Since the majority of Polish immigrants retained their Polish citizenship in Canada, Polish diplomats were quite naturally responsible for protecting them and used their influence to uphold a patriotic spirit. From three centres in Canada (Winnipeg, Montreal, and Ottawa), the consuls promoted pro-Polish sentiments and unreserved loyalty to the Polish government. In 1931, a decision was made to organize a trans-national organization, the zzpwk, to better coordinate their patriotic efforts and to establish a counterpoint to the already successful zpk and the ptrf. The consular reports do not indi-

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cate whether the consul general, Jerzy Adamkiewicz, originated the idea, or whether authorities in Poland instructed him to help establish such an organization. But whatever the case may be, the initiative and much of the actual organizing came from outside the Polish Canadian community.45 One of the founders of the zzpwk, Julian Topolnicki, maintained that Adamkiewicz “was the chief organizer” and that he applied considerable pressure to hold a convention in November 1931 for the purpose of forming the zzpwk. The month of November may have been hastily chosen, noted Topolnicki, “because it is a historic month” for Poland, marking the country’s Independence Day. Topolnicki viewed the consul’s participation pessimistically, and claimed that Adamkiewicz held the convention in a “chaotic and sloppy” manner.46 Though we can only speculate as to why, Adamkiewicz and the authorities in Warsaw wanted to establish the organization as quickly as possible. The impetus for quick action may have come in part from the fact that the ptrf and the zpk were already coordinating their efforts through successful federations and influencing a considerable segment of the Polish population through their many affiliates. Both federations also had a well-built press structure with a circulation rate of several thousand. More importantly, Polish authorities recognized that the zpk and the ptrf did not profess loyalty to the Polish government, which they found troubling. They were equally reserved about the “excessive influence” of the Roman Catholic clergy, which they considered harmful because the “Catholic character” of religious organizations forced nonRoman Catholic Poles to deviate toward radical organizations. The consuls hoped that the zzpwk, which was open to both religious and non-religious members, would veer many non-practicing Poles away from radical and “less patriotic” organizations.47 To ensure that the zzpwk would promote the government in Poland, Polish authorities paid Jan Sikora, the zzpwk’s secretary and the editor of Czas, a monthly salary of one hundred dollars. No one was supposed to find out that his obedience had been bought, but some Communists became suspicious when Sikora was able to afford certain luxuries on a secretarial salary, and they exposed the affair in Głos Pracy.48 The Polish government’s role in the zzpwk’s founding was meant to be clandestine to avoid accusations that it was a government instru-

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ment. Correspondence between the consuls in Montreal and Winnipeg, and their reports to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, reveal that not all Polish consuls were even informed about the plans to initiate the zzpwk. Pawlica was kept in the dark about the zzpwk’s first convention. Polish newspapers also provided speculative and erroneous information about the convention’s date, suggesting that it was arranged in secrecy. In October 1931, the Polish Word in Montreal incorrectly informed its readers that the convention was scheduled for 7–8 November (it was actually held on 3–4 November).49 Its location was also kept hidden until the last possible moment. Dismayed by this lack of information, Julian Nowacki, the editor of the Polish Times, vented his frustrations in an open letter: “We stress that the issue of the Federation of Polish Societies in Canada has so far been totally unknown not only to the board of editors, but, we believe, also to many of the Polish organizations in Winnipeg and probably also in the rest of western Canada. The communiqué gives no indication of the goals and aspirations of this Convention, of its instigators, or of the time and place thereof.”50 The decision to delay information about the convention’s date and location may have been either a result of poor organization or intended to prevent Polish Communists and other opponents from protesting. Only three ptrf delegates attended the convention in Toronto. One, T. Rózalski, represented the ptrf’s Hamilton branch. Had there been more notice, perhaps more delegates would have come from other provinces. The decision to hold the convention in Toronto was also criticized, since “more than fifty percent of the Polish immigrant population lived in the West – in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan.”51 In the course of its existence, the zzpwk brought together about eighty Polish associations and clubs across Canada. It concerned itself with the problems of education, preserving “Polishness” among immigrants, and maintaining loyalty toward Poland. Its statute declared that its foremost aim was to: “Wield the banner of national honour, while drawing strength from the inexhaustible source of national ideals and the heroic past of our Mother-country; defending Poland and its people from enemy attacks.”52 In 1933, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs taught the Polish consul in Ottawa how to organize Polish-language schools associated with the zzpwk.53 In 1934, Światpol proposed that the zzpwk send young students to Poland for various

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courses and instruction, which, as Polish scholar Benedykt Heydenkorn observes, “would help, indirectly, to prepare them to take over leadership of the organization.”54 The Polish consulate initially screened the candidates, but in 1935 Światpol assigned the task to the zzpwk. The consuls still took part in the selection and arranged transportation for the candidates on Polish ships. In 1934, Adamkiewicz reported that Mackenzie King’s trusted advisor, Oscar D. Skelton, and other members of the Canadian government had received complaints that the Polish consuls attempted to “force” Polish Canadians to join the zzpwk.55 Members of the zpk were also concerned that excessive Polish nationalism slowed the assimilation of Poles into Canadian society.56 Ultimately, the zzpwk never became the chief representative of the Polish community in Canada. Adamkiewicz’s replacement, Jozef Marlewski, tried to convince the zpk to join the zzpwk, but his efforts were ineffective. Polish authorities thought that the zzpwk’s success depended, in part, on a partnership with the zpk, but the zzpwk’s Poland-first outlook meant the two were incompatible. In Western Canada, the clerical camp not only opposed the idea of the federation, but also formed its own trans-national body, the Towarzystwo Polaków w Kanadzie (Society of Poles in Canada), in 1933. The Oblate Fathers justified the founding of their association on the grounds that the secular federations practiced religious indifference and excessive nationalism.57 The priests claimed that secular organizations such as the zzpwk opened their doors to Protestants and Communist agitators. They believed, with good reason, that secular organizations would force the priests to deal with community politics that would not necessarily serve the interests of the church.

doing battle: clerics, consuls, and communists and the fight for supremacy Despite their dissimilar views, the priests and nationalists intermittently found common ground.58 Polish Communists, on the other hand, stood far from it. Their program was neither “Canada first” nor “Poland first,” and it was certainly not religious. They understood that their ideology required traditional Polish Canadians to reverse their thinking if they were to abandon religion and patriotism. As such, they aimed to “enlighten” the Poles about the corrupt and demoniz-

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ing nature of the consuls and clergy, and to expose the “fascist” Polish government for which they worked. Neither group was spared vulgar attacks and boorish criticisms. “The consuls and the clerics,” charged a ptrf leaflet, “are agents of bloody fascism.”59 The “priests receive lavish salaries in Poland from the government” and “therefore, even here as servants ... they help fascism.”60 Knowing that many Polish immigrants had an interest in the welfare of their compatriots in Poland, Communists portrayed conditions there as savage and crude. They charged that workers in Poland were “being terrorized, imprisoned and murdered” by a “bloody dictatorship.” Our “brothers and sisters,” they told the immigrants, “are already fighting.” A “storm of discontent” is growing and “threatening the existence of the capitalist system in Poland.”61 The “war with agents of fascism in Canada – is a war with the murdering fascist government in Poland.”62 The brunt of the Communists’ attack was against the zzpwk. A leaflet produced by the Hamilton branch of the ptrf stated: “What is in fact this national unity? We have seen it many times before. The fascists consuls, Roman Catholic Clergy, Canadian Police, Jewish and Ukrainian fascist advocates – this is their unity – the unity of fascists against workers.”63 The zzpwk’s founding statute declared, “no organization whose intentions include sudden change of the existing social order of the world, by revolution, will be permitted to belong to the Federation.” The term “Communist” was deliberately omitted, since the Communist Party of Canada had been outlawed several months earlier, but the intentions were clear: the zzpwk was set up to represent all Poles in Canada, except for radicals and Communists. Polish Communists had tried to join the Federation, and three ptrf delegates were present at the zzpwk’s first convention in Toronto, but were asked to leave by a vote of twenty-seven to eighteen.64 Interestingly, the small margin by which they were ejected from the convention suggests that they were not as marginalized as Victor Turek and others suggest.65 Immediately after the convention, Polish Communists organized a protest against the zzpwk and declared the following: We, the workers of Toronto, gathered 300 strong at a mass meeting this 4th day of November, 1931, at 1 Denison Ave., after hearing speeches by the delegates to the First Convention of the Federation of Polish Societies in Canada, held November 3–4, 1931 in Toronto, recognize that this convention, having been called

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together and organized by agents of the Pilsudski Government, Consul Adamkiewicz, Dr Nalecz-Dobrowolski, Mr Kreutz and a few priests of the Roman Catholic Church, was a complete instrument of Polish fascism, and had as its aim, through the consolidation (if only possible), [to] make the entire [sic] Polish emigration in Canada subordinate to the direct influence and control of the Polish fascist authorities and the Roman Catholic clergy, so that in the future they would be assured of volunteers for the Polish armed forces of Pilsudski, for the renewed “defense [sic] of the western civilization against eastern barbarism,” which issue [sic] was openly discussed at the Convention. We here gathered acknowledge that this Convention was exclusively geared against the working class and its interests, which fact is proven by the refusal to let representatives of the organized working class participate in the Convention, as well as by the fact that the Convention was patrolled by police and spies. We here gathered appeal to all Polish labourers in Canada to join Polish Workers’ Leagues, and to fight, together with the rest of the working class, against the bourgeoisie and its agents. We here gathered denounce the sending of greetings by telegram from the Polish emigration to the fascist leaders, Pilsudski and Moscicki, which were sent without so much as a formal decision by the Convention. Let us be rid of the agents of bloody fascism! Long live the unity and solidarity of the working class! Long live the Polish Workers’ Association!66 In 1931, Communists hastily established the Krajowy Komitet Polskiej Ligi Antyfaszystowskiej (National Committee of the Polish Antifascist League) to combat the zzpwk and consular influence.67 Aside from its name, no other information is available about the League’s operations in Canada, though its purpose, as its name suggests, was clear. Polish Communists’ success and popularity in Polonia was as much linked to Canadian political, social, and economic circumstances as it was to the measures priests and patriotic leaders employed to curb Communism in their local communities. While the lack of an influ-

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ential community priest or patriotic leader theoretically provided favourable circumstances for Communists because there was no persuasive element to oppose their work, evidence suggests that Poles could snub Communism without such a presence. In Sydney, Nova Scotia, for instance, a consular report noted that several Polish families had joined a local Communist branch not only because of economic hardship but also because religious and secular organizations were unable to deter them from Communism. The majority of Polish men had worked in the Sydney Steel Plant, which had suffered noticeably during the Depression. Steel prices and wages had decreased dramatically, so that by 1932, the average miner worked only 102 days per year, compared to 230 in 1926.68 By 1935, nearly 8,000 miners supported the Amalgamated Mineworkers of Nova Scotia, led by the popular trade unionist and Communist J.B. McLachlan. According to Polish consuls, unemployment, McLachlan’s popular agitation, and the lack of a strong religious or patriotic deterrent had catapulted twenty-five out of one hundred Polish families in Sydney “under Communist influence.”69 The Towarzystwo Henryka Sienkiewicza (Henryk Sienkiewicz Society) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and the Polskie Towarzystwo Oświatowe (Polish Educational Society) in Lethbridge, Alberta, also came under the influence of Communist agitators. In a 1938 commemorative book produced by the zzpwk, the editors observe that Polish immigrants “were drawn to the Communists, making it difficult for “patriotic” organizations to flourish.”70 In Vancouver, a noticeable economic downturn and the absence of a local Polish clerical presence did not result in amplified Communist popularity among Poles. Far from Polish consular jurisdiction and without a parish until 1945, Polish immigrants in Vancouver appeared to be vulnerable to Communist agitation. Like the rest of Canada, Vancouver suffered considerably during the Depression and became a hotbed of leftist activity. In 1935, a two-month protest against unemployment involving thousands of unemployed men culminated in the decision to head east to protest in Ottawa, which ignited the On-to-Ottawa Trek. Polish Communists had successfully infiltrated one of Vancouver’s oldest secular organizations, Zgoda (Harmony), which was founded in 1926. Zgoda was a Polish patriotic organization that helped maintain Polish culture through its branches in British Columbia and its youth choir, physical education club, and amateur theatre group. When Commu-

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nists successfully besieged Zgoda, its membership quickly dropped from 177 to only eight in 1933, suggesting that its members were impervious to their overtures.71 Polish authorities maintained a steady interest in the activities of Canadian Communists, and especially those who belonged to Polish organizations. They also monitored Jewish and Ukrainian (particularly those who belonged to organizations like Todowyrnazu and Turfdim) Communists.72 The consuls were aware that Ukrainian and Jewish Communists cooperated and supported the ptrf and the ptl. They even thought that some of the Polish leaders, namely Albert Morski and Gronowicz, were Jews.73 In their efforts to monitor the Communist movement, consuls prepared black lists, recorded the names of several hundred individuals who subscribed to Głos Pracy, and even tried to chronicle the histories of several Communist organizations.74 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw frequently sent detailed instructions to the Polish consuls on how to subvert the Communist movement. In 1938, it sent 150 books, anti-Communist propaganda, instructions, and “anti-Bolshevik” declarations to be used by Polish consuls in the fight against Communism.75 That year, Polish authorities also made plans to send Włodzimierz Baczkowski, an expert on Polish-Soviet relations who was fluent in English and Ukrainian, on a speaking tour to speak to Ukrainian, Polish, and Anglo-Saxon audiences in Canada about the dangers of Communism. Authorities hoped that he would repair some of the damage made by Communists’ anti-Polish attacks. His visit, however, never materialized.76 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also repeatedly informed about Communist agitators and their organizations. In 1939, Consul Tadeusz Brzeziński sent the ministry a list containing the names of three Polish Canadian Communists – Morski, Tadeusz Lewandowski, and Józef Bloch – and proposed that they be tried in Warsaw for their seditious anti-Polish activities. The ministry advised against such action, fearing that a trial could potentially increase the popularity of the movement and be used by Głos Pracy to spread anti-Polish propaganda and to rally workers.77 In an effort to crack down on Polish Canadian Communist agitation, authorities banned the distribution of their newspapers in Poland. One worker, who was receiving Głos Pracy in Poland, wrote to his brother in Canada urging him to stop sending the paper because the police had come to his home and

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“threatened that he should stop reading the newspaper if [he] didn’t want trouble.”78 Polonia organizations and their members were also warned, or, as one consular report stated, “enlighten[ed] in an appropriate way,” about “the Communists’ destructive work.” Another report noted that Polish consuls “assisted silently and delicately in liquidating” branches that had been “conquered by communists.”79 In 1933, Pawlica notified the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs that he had convinced Polish veterans in western Canada to change the name of their organization from the Stowarzyszenie Weteranów Polskich w Kanadzie (Polish Veterans’ Association in Canada) to the more patriotic-sounding Związek Polskich Obrońców Ojczyzny na Kanadę Zachodnią (Union of Polish Defenders of the Fatherland in Western Canada). Pawlica affirmed that he insisted on a new name for the organization because its old one was too similar to the Association of Polish Veterans in the United States, which was open to members of various political stripes, including Roman Dmowski’s National Democrats who opposed Piłsudski in Poland.80 The editors of the Daily Clarion, a Canadian Communist newspaper, correctly suspected that the Polish consulates had a network of informants in the community. In July 1938, they ran an article entitled “Polish Consulates in Canada Centres of Espionage Activity” in which they noted, “Polish consulates are staffed with officers of the Polish reserves ... who are officers of the Polish intelligence service,” and “possess detailed files of the activities of Canadians of Polish extractions and use this information to practice various forms of intimidation against those who show progressive tendencies.”81 In 1946, the authorities of the People’s Government in Poland discovered that the Polish consulates had, in fact, two trusted informants in the Communist movement in Canada.82 The Canadian Polonia was a vibrant imagined community in the 1920s and 1930s, with representatives of various political and religious shades vying for dominance over its members in the political, social, and cultural arena. As I have shown, Polish settlers who arrived in Canada at the turn of the nineteenth century were predominantly unskilled individuals who established the country’s first Polish organizations to help them navigate the inimical environment. These organizations, as Turek observes, were born partly out of the peculiar needs of the ethnic group and partly out of the cultural background

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of its members.83 Though they might not have known it at the time, their pioneering efforts left an enduring legacy that shaped the future of Canada’s Polonia. Polish Communists, through their organizational astuteness, were able to establish a trans-national organization that, given various unfavourable conditions, was very successful. The ptrf, later the ptl, not only had to combat anti-Communist forces in Canadian mainstream society, but also three influential and well organized transnational patriotic and religious Polonia organizations: the zpk, the zzpwk, and the clerical Society of Poles in Canada. While these three groups desperately tried to marginalize the Communist movement, their own conflicting views prevented them from joining a common front. Polish consuls observed that the zpk leaned dangerously too close to the radical left, and some Polish leaders, including religious ones, accused the organization of harbouring Communist sentiments.84 The Polish Communist movement was not entirely as ostracized as the clergy and the nationalists would have liked. Polish Canadian radicals had a comparable membership to the non-Communist federations (which peaked at around 5,000) and a well-functioning press structure, as well as branches in almost every major Canadian city and cells in remote farming communities, which enabled them to wage an organized struggle against their opponents. As the editor of Głos Pracy, Władysław Dutkiewicz, once smugly recalled, “Despite their best efforts to wipe us away, like a smudge on a kitchen counter, ours was a presence to be reckoned with.”85

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6 The Law of Appeal: Joining the Revolutionary Movement

Some historians of Canadian immigration and labour describe Communism as a manifestation of migrants’ desolation, or as a movement of the disenchanted and disenfranchised who felt bypassed by the opportunities to enter mainstream society.1 Although disillusionment and defeat were decisive factors in turning immigrants toward radicalism, such an explanation alone does not suffice. Many immigrants had the opportunity to associate with the radical movement but consciously chose not to. For all its unsavory connections to atheism and violent revolution, Communism was not simply a negative philosophy opposed to the status quo. It was an alternative to existing arrangements based on precepts that for many newcomers seemed to offer a more plausible solution to the state of affairs than mainstream society. Precisely such alternative visions, argues Ian McKay, help us to understand why immigrants, sometimes even conservative ones, were drawn to the radical movement.2 A number of Polish immigrants who joined radically progressive organizations in Canada had previous contact with social radicalism and the peasant movement in the Old World.3 As noted in earlier chapters, Alfons Jan Staniewski, one of the founders of the first Polish socialist organization in Canada, had been active in the socialist movement in Poland before he became an exile in North America.4 In Canada, he published the pro-labour, socialist, and anti-clerical newspaper Nowe Życie (New life) and later the Związkowiec (Alliancer). Other immigrants had also been predisposed to progressive ideas in their local peasant and worker-friendly organizations. Another immigrant, W. Szarek, had been active in his local branch of

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the Polish Peasants’ Party in Poland, and he claimed that this experience had propelled him into the Communist movement in Canada. Other immigrants who joined the movement may have grown up in Communist households and naturally progressed into the party. Just like the children of patriotic Poles who joined Sokol and the boy scouts, many children whose parents were Communists joined the Young Communist League, though this was less common as Communism was not a domestically popular movement in Poland.5 Władysław Dutkiewicz and Dan Chomicki joined the Communist movement as young adolescents almost immediately after they settled in Canada. Both were active in the Young Communist League before they entered the mainstream party. The large majority of foreign-born radicals, however, were not radicals when they arrived in Canada. Rather, the thousands of immigrants who supported and sympathized with the Communist movement did so as a result of their experiences in North America. In some cases, these immigrants were traditionally conservative and very religious individuals who had been critical of the Communist movement in earlier periods, but difficult economic and social conditions in Canada and the movement’s worker-friendly nature enticed them to its ranks. Throughout the mid-1930s, Polish consuls and rcmp officials made regular reports about members of Polish parishes and other patriotic organizations who began to attend Communist meetings as a result of economic depression. The rcmp observed that such converts would never have dared to cross “the threshold of the Labour Temple” in earlier periods.6 Leaders of the Polish Mutual Aid Society in Quebec also noted that several of their members were lured away by Communist slogans. They complained, “agents [Communist agitators] penetrated into the private homes of immigrants. They sought support ... They possessed ‘strong propaganda artillery.’ Readers [of their newspapers] could get the impression that the ‘old capitalist world’ is wobbling at its foundations, and that an incoming wave of revolution will flood all the continents.”7 Most professionals and intellectuals from eastern and southern Europe had difficulty pursuing their careers in North America for a number of reasons, including language barriers, inexperience, or blatant discrimination. Many had no choice but to enter the industrial workforce, where they underwent proletarianization. This experience placed them among their disillusioned and exploited fellow migrants

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and bridged the gap between intellectuals and workers. They began to compete for the same jobs with workers, were exposed to the same newspapers, and rubbed shoulders at social events. Raya Dunayevskaya wasn’t far off when she noted: “It wasn’t out of malice, nor out of stupidity, that ... intellectuals were sucked into Communis[m]. They were sucked in because they were driven by despair over the economic chaos and saw no other way out.”8 In the United States, Polish consular officials frequently warned that the Communist movement was attracting Polish intellectuals and veterans who had previously been impervious to its slogans. In July 1933, the death of a Polish Army veteran by starvation provided a spark for Communists to gain influence in a Polish veterans’ association in Chicago. Communists organized a memorial for the deceased solider and made several anti-Polish speeches. They also collected veterans’ documents and medals and sent them to the Soviet Union to be used for propaganda among Polish soldiers.9 According to the consul general in New York, around eighty veterans from the Chicago branch fell under the spell of Communism.10 In Cleveland, several veterans also joined a Communist rally and made “inappropriate” anti-Polish speeches. One individual even threw a Polish Legion cross onto the ground and declared that Poland had done nothing for him. A left-leaning priest, Father Mazur, from the Independent Polish National Catholic Church, also joined the Communists with the hope of converting Polish Catholics to the proletarian ideology.11 Perhaps one of the most obscure figures that supported the Communist movement in North America was Father Stanisław Orlemański. Orlemański was a second-generation American priest who was catapulted to fame virtually overnight after he met with Stalin in Moscow in April 1944. The Catholic Church had tremendous influence – influence that had been almost uniformly exercised against the interests of the Soviet Union. The Kremlin thought that if the Catholic Church could somehow be wooed, it would greatly ease the suspicion and intolerance accorded to the Soviet Union in the West, especially in the United States. Orlemański was to become Stalin’s apostle of reconciliation. During a private meeting, Stalin assured Orlemański that the Soviet Union was not hostile to the Catholic Church and was a friend of Poland. After the meeting, the Communist newspaper Pravda printed a photograph on its front page with a

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beaming Stalin, flanked by Molotov and Orlemański. Time magazine noted, “If Russia gasped that day, it had a good excuse: this was the first time atheist Stalin had been photographed with a Catholic priest.”12 Orlemański returned to America with Stalin’s written support for religious freedom in Russia. He was convinced that the Soviet Union was misunderstood in the West and tried to repair this misconception by organizing several speaking tours throughout North America. Polish Canadian Communists invited him on a cross-country tour to speak about his meeting with the Soviet leader. Several thousand dollars were collected during his trip and sent to help the Red Army. Communists also hoped that Orlemański could appeal to the sympathies of Catholic immigrants and the lower clergy, though the extent of his success is difficult to gauge.13 The paucity of membership lists, subscription rates, and other records make it difficult to estimate the total membership of the Polish Canadian Communist movement. Polish consuls estimated that there were anywhere between fewer than 1,000 to around 5,000 Polish Communists in Canada.14 Since there are some inconsistencies in the consular reports, their estimates should be accepted with caution, and it is unclear whether the officials included other ethnic groups, namely Ukrainians and Jews, in their estimates.15 rcmp officers often confused aliases, Slavic surnames, and national origins, which also makes it difficult to accurately estimate the size of the Polish Canadian Communist movement. Some sources provide conflicting information about the ethnic origins of several Communist members. Polish Communist activist Franciszek Baryła, for instance, appears as a Ukrainian national in some reports.16 Immigrants also tended to state a more preferred nationality to help them secure a better job or social status. This was especially common among Jews from Galicia, who declared a Polish background to avoid discrimination. During World War I, Ukrainians and Poles were denied Canadian citizenship. The situation changed for Polish immigrants once Poland regained independence in 1918, but Ukrainians were barred from naturalization until 1920. One way to circumvent this situation was by claiming a Polish background.17 Głos Pracy’s circulation rates help gauge the approximate size of the Polish Communist movement in Canada. According to the Canadian Almanac and Directory, Głos Pracy had a circulation of 2,900 in 1937, 4,735 in 1938, and 5,786 in 1939.18 A “private individual” informed

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the consul in Montreal, Władysław Kicki, that Głos Pracy had a circulation of 5,200 in 1937.19 Most scholars suggest it had an average circulation of around 3,000 during the mid- to late 1930s.20 This figure however, does not account for the second circulation, which encompasses individuals who read a newspaper but do not subscribe to it.21 Tadeusz Lewandowski, who was a member of the ptl’s Central Executive Committee, said that Głos Pracy had about 5,000 readers.22 Victor Turek and Benedykt Heydenkorn estimated that the ptl had between 3,000 and 4,000 members. Henry Radecki concludes that there were about 4,000 Polish Communists in 1938.23 With the help of rcmp records, circulation figures, and Polish consular documents, it is possible to estimate that the Polish Canadian Communist movement had at least 4,000 to 5,000 members in the late 1930s. While this number does not seem very high, especially considering that there were close to 150,000 people of Polish descent in Canada in 1931, the Communists’ official membership rivalled that of the two largest Polish non-Communist federations, the Zjednoczenie Zrzeszeń Polskich w Kanadzie (Federation of Polish Societies in Canada) and the Związek Polaków w Kanadzie (Polish Alliance of Canada), which had around 5,000 members each in the 1940s.24 Unfortunately, census statistics do not indicate how many Polish immigrants participated in community life in the 1930s. Heydenkorn claims that less than 5 per cent of the total Polish population in Canada joined Polish community organizations during the interwar period, though he does not provide specific calculations or reveal his sources. The majority of Polish immigrants were undoubtedly sympathizers or “samplers” who were not deeply dedicated to the core tenets of the organizations and who joined only when one suited their needs, making it difficult to estimate the size of each federation.

the social mosaic of the polish canadian communist movement Polish consuls generally referred to everyone associated with the Polskie Towarzystwo Robotniczo-Farmerskie (ptrf, Polish Workers’ and Farmers’ Association) and the Polskie Towarzystwo Ludowe (ptl, Polish People’s Association) as “Communists.” They understood that “not all sympathizers belong to the Communist Party of Canada,” but they considered “all official Polish Communists” to belong to the ptl,

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whose goal, they said, was “to capture as many members to then systematically mould them in the spirit of the communist ideology.”25 In other instances, consuls sometimes distinguished between sympathizers and “conscious Communists.”26 As in any organization, there are likely significant differences between those who sampled the group and those who stayed with it. Theodore Draper accurately notes that there is an important distinction between those who “go into the communist party and those who go through it.”27 There is also a divergence between the members who formed the organization’s inner core and those who simply followed it. While on the outside, the organization appeared to stand for freedom and democracy in order to lure new recruits, its inner core actually stood for unconditional allegiance to the Soviet Union. Membership figures cannot differentiate between the samplers and the veterans of the party, as many old hands were not always members of the inner core. Moreover, members had varying degrees of allegiance to the party, largely influenced by their social background, geography, and employment. Members ranged all the way from those who conducted espionage to those whose affiliation was largely based on community and social bonds. Several factors generally predisposed immigrants to Communist ideas. Among these was a belief in secularism, self-improvement, and social responsibility – ideals that may have also attracted some Poles to nihilism, populism, and other radical progressive movements. Such beliefs may have been triggered by economic, social, and psychological conditions, such as poverty with no hope of improvement; social discrimination; loss of religious faith; real or alleged corruption in government; impatience with the gradual, orderly democratic process; a sense of being uprooted; and ignorance and illiteracy, which made individuals susceptible to Communist word-of-mouth propaganda. Another factor was the romantic and the intellectual legacy of the Bolshevik Revolution and of Marxism-Leninism. Two influential texts that circulated among Polish radicals were Vladimir Lenin’s essay “What Is to Be Done?” and Nikolaj Czernyshevsky’s novel What Is to Be Done? Both emphasized the individual’s role in consciously bringing about historical change by helping to enlighten the working masses. Immigrants who were receptive to Communist overtures, especially those who took part in the day-to-day life of the movement,

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had to have an inner desire to convert their beliefs into direct action – through social, political, or artistic activism – in order to bring about immediate change in the social order. Finally, individuals could be drawn to radical ideologies because of broader material and social circumstances. Growing bread lines and the pinch of unemployment during the Great Depression caused some people to seek in Communism an answer to the nation’s economic ills. Discrimination, exploitation, and a heap of other factors that limited immigrants’ ability to scrape out a living in the New World prompted some of them to find in Communism a guiding light. Working-class immigrants, who lived in the context of these circumstances, had to come into contact with radical ideas, recognize and sympathize with the movement’s critique of the status quo, and find in its program a viable solution for the future. For this to occur, a large number of immigrants had to be exposed to articulations of radicalism through symbols and a language they understood. Individuals who were influenced by the Communist movement can be divided into three groups: adherents, sympathizers, and passive sympathizers. Adherents were committed to the movement and proletarian ideology; they constituted the party’s inner core or vieille garde and realized its goals. In the Polish movement, this group consisted of only a handful of individuals. Frank Meyer calls them “the cadres” and argues that they formed a “distinct elite” within the party.28 They were characterized by deep devotion and unquestioned loyalty to the party line. As one Polish official noted, “they are moscowphiles for whom the word ‘Russia’ is god.”29 Even when it appeared that there was no overt interference from Moscow, the party’s adherents anticipated the Comintern’s reactions and developed their program to gain its approval. In this respect, the party’s success depended on the agility, verve, and dedication of its inner core.30 Adherents differed significantly from rank-and-file party members. As Phillip Selznick notes, they were “emotionally dedicated, physically mobile and prepared to sacrifice time, career and life itself.”31 Members came and went in response to domestic and international developments, but adherents remained loyal to the party and its program, often until death. Sympathizers were typically committed to the movement’s announced goals and intentions. They subscribed to leftist newspapers, attended meetings and rallies, and occasionally protested in

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front of Polish consulates. However, their support did not necessarily originate from ideological convictions, but rather from the movement’s worker-friendly slogans, progressive rhetoric, and militant politics. Sympathizers joined the Communist movement not because they were searching for a guiding light or authority, but because they were sympathetic to its strategies, and because it was an opportunity to become politically active. Sympathizers generally followed the party’s policy twists but did not adhere to an esoteric doctrine that prompted them to become unconditionally loyal to its ideology. In many cases, their relations with the movement were fluid. Some sympathizers came from patriotic organizations and joined the Communist movement when it had appeal, but returned to their original patriotic organizations when it was no longer compatible with their beliefs. One Polish immigrant who had subscribed to the Polish Communist press wrote an open letter to the Związkowiec, telling the editors that he had only read the paper but, in light of the Communists’ blatant pro-Soviet position, he requested rehabilitation.32 Moreover, as many loyal adherents began to return to Poland after World War II to build a utopian society, most sympathizers refused repatriation because Poland’s social realities did not suit them. One Polish Communist sympathizer, who travelled to the southern United States to escape cold winters and to Poland and the Baltic Sea in the summertime after the war, said that Canada was a democracy in appearance only because “it is ruled by big business.” But when asked why he did not want to return to Poland, he exclaimed, “Oh no! ... Visit yes. Live there permanently, definitely no!”33 However, as William Makowski notes, in most cases sympathizers remained members until their deaths, “partly out of loyalty, partly because they were ostracized by the rest of the Polish community.”34 Even though the bond that sympathizers had with the movement was weaker than that of adherents, the two groups formed the type of “imagined community” described by Benedict Anderson, in which individuals shared a common affinity to symbols and values and a commitment to a common cause.35 The American screenwriter Albert Maltz best describes why belonging to a global imagined community of Communists had appeal: When I joined the Communist movement in 1935 it was based upon the belief that mankind’s future was to be found there. Cer-

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tainly, millions who joined it the world over, like myself, didn’t join it for profit. There was nothing to be gained out of joining it: It could be time-consuming. It could prevent you from reading a number of books that you wanted to read or go to a number of films because you were doing other things. But there was a belief that you were working with others toward making the world a better place to live in.36 The third – and most difficult to define – group consisted of passive sympathizers. Their support for the Communist movement correlated to periods when the Communist Party of Canada (cpc) was popular. Generally, passive sympathizers may not have known that they were supporting a Communist-sponsored organization. This was particularly the case in remote areas, where Polish Communists set up cultural-educational organizations to attract new recruits. They often helped organize a community’s first Polish library, school, or amateur theatre, as well as various outdoor festivals, sports clubs, and song and dance groups. Some branches also managed adult schools, daycare, and poetry readings.37 Many immigrants joined such organizations because they were Polish and not because they were Communistsponsored. When asked why he joined the ptrf in Winnipeg in 1933, one Polish immigrant said: “Well it happened to be there. It recruited new members.”38 Another Polish immigrant, Władysław Chuchla, participated in a strike organized by miners in Coleman, Alberta in 1932. He recalls: “I was on picket line [sic], at the meetings, and lots of strikebreakers accused me and reported me to mine officials that I was supporting [the] left wing and Communists. I didn’t know anything about Communists.”39 Far from the watchful eyes of priests and patriotic leaders, there was no one around to enlighten the locals about the nature of such organizations. Many immigrants did not sympathize with the radical movement because of deep-rooted ideological convictions, but rather because of the poverty and discrimination they experienced. “Lucky me,” recalls one Polish worker who had been “buffeted from one end of Canada to another; chased by police, beaten by gangs, starving, half naked.”40 In a world of hardship and despair, Communists offered a simple, and what appeared to be logical, explanation for the deplorable state of affairs. Tadeusz Lewandowski notes that many joined the movement “hoping it would provide some sort of answer, would

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help them to alleviate their misery.”41 As one immigrant remembers, they “talked about workers and farmers ... [they] promised a better life.”42 Polish immigrants, who were attracted to Communist organizations’ worker-friendly orientation, may have also equated them with progressive and moderate socialist groups like the Polish Peasants’ Party or the Polish Socialist Party, especially because Polish Communists were good at hiding their political affiliation. Like Communists, these parties fought for universal voting rights, agrarianism, an eighthour workday, minimum wage, free education, freedom of the press, equality, and other civil rights. Since Communists did not openly disclose their affiliation with Moscow, many immigrants, especially those living in remote areas, sympathized with their program because it appeared to mirror the national socialist organizations in Poland. W. Szarek, who had been active in the Polish Peasants’ Party before moving to Canada in 1928, recalled that socialist ideals had appealed to him. He said that he liked democracy but that he was not interested in a Poland “ruled by large landowners.”43 Many immigrants like Szarek were disillusioned with the situation at home. They were workers who could not find jobs in post-war Poland, and they were bitterly critical of the established order. Since the Communist organizations claimed to be antithetical to Polish organizations that supported “bourgeois exploiters” and “Polish fascists,” many immigrants were drawn to their democratic, worker-friendly, Polish, and often patriotic orientation.

the party’s core: adherents and intellectuals The cadre of the Polish Communist movement in Canada was not a representative cross section of the Polish working-class population. Those who formed the inner circle were better educated, had a good command of the English language, and were in some cases great orators and had received special ideological training. Albert Morski was undoubtedly the most capable and best-educated Polish Communist leader in Canada. Even Turek, who is critical of Communists, describes him as “a brilliant speaker, a skilled dialectician and journalist” and observes, “Morski was far above the other members of the organization in education and ability.”44 Morski certainly stood apart from the rest of the Polish Communists in dedica-

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tion and verve. He gave the movement its ideological direction, carried the greatest burden of work, and dealt with many of its day-today problems. It was under his direction, as I have shown, that the Polish Communist movement flourished as a cultural-educational organization and attracted significantly more recruits. Morski’s commitment to Communism was unwavering. He spent his life serving its cause, first as a young revolutionary activist in prewar Poland, then as a motivated leader in Canada, and finally as a dedicated diplomat serving the Polish People’s Republic until 1989. He was arguably even more ideologically committed than some of the diplomats who were sent to Canada to represent the Polish Communist government after World War II. He got into several rows with some members of the Polish legation over their loyalty. In a report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, Morski accused the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, Alfred Fiderkiewicz, of being “politically weak” and “negligent.”45 He also criticized the legation’s efforts to promote the “new” Poland among Polish immigrants, and questioned whether they were loyal Communists.46 The movement’s second most influential activist was Dutkiewicz, who represented the “original” Polish Communists who helped build the first Polish branches in the 1920s. He was an adept organizer and editor, and at one point Tim Buck applauded his abilities, declaring that Dutkiewicz had turned the Polish Communist press into a “propeller of the movement.”47 Dutkiewicz had little formal education. Turek notes that it was through “application and natural ability” that he “developed into a capable agitator, public speaker and a fairly competent journalist.”48 He came to Canada in April 1927, and initially worked as a labourer in British Columbia. Shortly after joining the Communist movement, he moved to Toronto to help establish the Polish Workers’ Association in 1930. He immediately rose to its top and became the voice of the Polish Communist movement until Morski displaced him in 1935. Throughout much of the party’s existence, and especially in the 1920s, Dutkiewicz was the chief speaker at its events and funerals and the inspiration behind dozens of successful fundraisers. His name became synonymous with the Polish-language Communist press. He edited Budzik, Głos Pracy, and Kronika Tygodniowa until he retired in 1979, when he became the Kronika’s honorary editor.

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Although Dutkiewicz remained a Communist until his death in 1981, some comrades questioned his dedication to the party – especially Morski, who considered him outdated. In fact, there was some animosity between Dutkiewicz and Morski after the latter arrived in Canada. Shortly after Morski reorganized the ptrf, an rcmp bulletin reported, “W. Dutkiewicz, the editor of Głos Pracy, was severely criticized for having formed cliques in the organization” and was accused of factionalism. Although refused a seat on the Central Executive Committee, he was retained as editor of Głos Pracy.49 Dutkiewicz was also accused of mismanaging the newspaper and of wasting money by unnecessarily expanding it from eight to twelve pages.50 In 1937, he was reinstalled on the Central Executive Committee, but was marginalized within it. In 1938, Morski replaced him as editor-in-chief of Głos Pracy, but Dutkiewicz was allowed to remain on the editorial committee.51 Other members who emerged as leaders and devoted organizers in the ranks of the Polish Canadian Communist movement included Tadeusz Lewandowski, who was on the Central Executive Committee in 1939 and an editor of Kronika Tygodniowa; Zygmunt Majtczak, who arrived from Poland around 1935 and helped organize a Polish youth section in Winnipeg; Michał (Micheal) Malisz, who was one of the founders of Kronika Tygodniowa and chief organizer of the socialist organization Towarystwo im. Stefana Okrzei in Montreal; Joseph Polka, who was the national secretary of the Polish Workers’ and Farmers’ Association in Winnipeg until his tragic death in 1934; and J. Kazmierczak, Jozef Bloch, Gronowicz, and Paulin Falkowski.52 Unfortunately, beyond their names (some of which many even be aliases), information about these individuals’ backgrounds and activities is not available (see A.4 in the appendix). These leaders were distinguished by their dedication and deep, enduring faith in the proletarian cause. Some of them, namely Morski, Dutkiewicz, Falkowski, and Lewandowski, remained loyal Communists until their deaths. Even Turek, who considers the influence of Polish Communists to be “infinitesimal,” cannot help but admire the “strict discipline, efficient organization and fanatical dedication on the part of the leaders.” It was thanks to their rigid discipline, notes Turek, that the Polish Communists were able to survive.53 The Communist Party offered them special training and, above all, an outlet for expressing their beliefs in a better world and their desires for political

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activism. Many of them had joined as hopeful young adults who saw in the movement an active program for improving the conditions of workers and their society.54 Whether they wrote petitions, organized Polish immigrants into unions, or participated in broad-based Hands off China committees and defended Soviet interests, they were part of what they considered a single and indivisible struggle of the working class. Single men far outnumbered women in the ptrf and the ptl, although the decision to create a women’s department and to start publishing a costly women’s magazine in 1936 suggests that there was a sizeable female representation. Women were by no means relegated to the periphery of the party, and were frequently featured as protagonists and comrades and had authoritative roles. I have already discussed Antonina Sokolicz-Merkel’s role in founding Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish Communist branches during her two organizing trips to Canada.55 Sokolicz-Merkel was frequently aggrandized by Polish Communists, who described her as a “great intellectual,” although they tried not to publicly link her to the Communist movement, perhaps because they were instructed to keep her connections to it hidden.56 During Sokolicz-Merkel’s second trip to Canada in 1935, she officially claimed that the Polish Writers’ Association had sent her to write a book based on her impressions of North America.57 She organized lectures, poetry readings, and a workers’ theatre in Toronto, as well as a collection drive for International Red Aid. She toured Polish settlements where she met with immigrants and spoke to them about Poland. In the Polish hall and the Palace Theatre in Winnipeg, she spoke about the peasantry and declared that Polish villagers and workers suffered greatly from excessive exploitation and discrimination. She urged her audience to join the revolutionary movement to save their compatriots in Poland from bourgeois captivity.58 Unaware of Sokolicz-Merkel’s Communist connections, Polish consuls in the United States committed a grave faux pas by sponsoring one of her lectures, which they advertised as “a once in a lifetime opportunity.”59 It was not until they attended it that they realized their embarrassing blunder. The affair unleashed a wave of criticism from patriotic Poles and consular officials in other jurisdictions, who chastised the sponsors for endorsing a dangerous Communist agitator.60 Sokolicz-Merkel also had tea with the Polish consul in Winnipeg, Jan Pawlica, and the Canadian scholar Watson Kirkconnell in Sep-

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tember 1935. Kirkconnell organized the tea in an effort to meet Sokolicz-Merkel and to learn about the purpose of her stay in Canada. Pawlica noted, “it was really rather painful to have tea with a woman who in her public lectures draws my country in the worst communistic colours with wrong and false statements.”61 At least two other women also participated in the intellectual life of the party. Maria Bobak was appointed as secretary-general of the ptl’s cultural-educational committee and headed the women’s department. Irena Morska, Morski’s wife, was an artist and a correspondent for Głos Pracy between 1938 and 1940.62 Unfortunately, very little information is available about their activities. Those women who were not involved in the intellectual life of the Polish Canadian Communist movement played a crucial role in organizing young girls’ handicraft classes, Polish-language courses, and a variety of sociocultural events.

patriotic poles and the politics of resistance Despite Communists’ lucid propaganda and clever cajoling, many Polish immigrants remained sceptical, and often played a major role in informing Polish authorities about Communist activities. Some “informants” were truly concerned citizens who often urged immediate action. In other instances, they were overzealous and, at times, spiteful individuals who tried to get a neighbour in trouble or remove potential job competitors. Whatever their motives, informants rarely spared harsh words and frequently underscored the treasonous nature of suspected Communist agitators. One Polish immigrant, who testified that a co-worker, a Jan Piękoś, was a Communist sympathizer, explained: “[He] calls Poland a prostitute ... despises everything that is good for Poland, but what is made in Soviet Russia and [by] Stalin is supposed to be paradise ... and that only one weekly [the squalid] Głos Ludowy published by Communists in Canada is supposed to be the newspaper of the people.63 By joining the Communist movement, immigrants not only risked separation from familiar symbols and traditions, but also defied traditional authority figures. The party tried to protect its supporters, but its limited resources and periods of illegality made it very difficult to offer stable and effective support. In a society that was generally hostile toward immigrants, most Polish arrivals hoped that their consuls

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would mitigate on their behalf. By associating with the ptrf and the ptl, immigrants essentially forfeited their chances of obtaining help from the Church and the Polish government. Clergymen and patriotic leaders often had connections in the host society that they used to help non-Communists find housing, employment, and relief. Immigrants were well aware that employers tended not to hire anyone with a reputation for radicalism. One immigrant employer noted that Communists deserved to be fired “because of their alleged duplicity, dogmatism, and disloyalty to their nation and employers.”64 Workers faced dismissal and blacklisting, especially if they were active in local branches of left-wing unions. Merely being seen at a Communist-led concert or demonstration often disqualified immigrants from being hired. Many workers who were fortunate enough to have a job during the Depression stayed away from Communist organizations or maintained their anonymity. Many donors to Głos Pracy, for instance, preferred that the editors not publish their names. Associating with Communists also meant dealing with the full weight of the Canadian government and the rcmp.65 For immigrants, Canadian state surveillance and police attacks differed from the state repression of their old countries only in kind. One immigrant compared the rcmp’s tactics to the Cossacks’, noting that officers rode into groups of demonstrators swinging their clubs and shooting their rifles.66 Under Section 98 of the criminal code it was illegal to attend a meeting of an association deemed to be revolutionary, to participate in a Communist-led demonstration, or to pass out radical literature. The slightest hint of such activity could get an immigrant deported. Naturalized citizenship did not guarantee immunity from deportation. In June 1919, Canadian citizenship laws were amended to permit the revocation of naturalization certificates as a preliminary to deportation. This was immigrants’ greatest fear as, stripped of citizenship, they would belong to the prohibited classes, unable to gain domicile no matter how long in Canada. As I discussed in the case of Dan Chomicki in chapter 4, immigrant radicals were rarely granted a trial and removed from their place of residence without the slightest opportunity to inform their kin. Barbara Roberts observes that between 1900 and 1935, deportation was an important feature of Canadian immigration policy and was “the equivalent of the sewage system for cities.”67 She argues that

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Canadian immigration authorities worked with neither the knowledge nor the consent of Parliament to rid Canada, often illegally, of the social and political “undesirables.” Even in the few cases where alleged radicals received a trial, the evidence presented against them was often flimsy.68 Roberts discusses how one immigration official seemed troubled by the undemocratic handling of an alleged radical. He noticed that the charges against the man, who had been arrested for writing seditious articles in the Montreal Star and the Worker, were not even “of a seditious nature.” The only evidence given at his trial was the testimony of two rcmp “secret agents.”69 The Department of Immigration seldom bothered to hire lawyers for the boards of inquiry. As long as it followed all the procedures correctly, there was little probability of a successful challenge, even by the courts. In the 1930s, the city of Winnipeg requested the deportation of several Polish immigrants who were allegedly “members of organizations connected with the communist movement.” Though some of them hired lawyers to represent them at the Board of Inquiry, the department did not even bother to hire its own. Thousands of immigrants, many of whom were charged for political activities, were deported for being public charges. In one instance, a group of Polish nationals detained in Winnipeg refused to provide information to arrange their deportation. The Winnipeg immigration official contacted his superiors in Ottawa for advice on how to proceed, and eventually the immigrants were deported on the grounds of “public charge.”70 Attempts to challenge such accusations were futile, because although immigrants’ real crimes were “illegal political affiliation,” their deportations were ordered on grounds that they were a burden to Canadians.71 Although the public was generally not troubled by the deportation of radicals, it began to protest the mass deportation of the unemployed. In 1935, William Lyon Mackenzie King opposed R.B. Bennett’s Iron Heel policies and promised, if elected, to repeal Section 98. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation also opposed mass deportation and Section 98 as violations of civil liberties. Gradually, the Department of Immigration had to tighten up on irregular or illegal practices, and by 1935 deportations returned to “normal” levels. The following year, the newly elected Mackenzie King repealed Section 98, making it far more difficult for immigration officials to orchestrate deportations based on grounds of public charge. Follow-

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ing these important changes, more immigrants were emboldened to join the Communist movement, which in turn experienced significant growth and popularity. By 1937, cpc membership, which had plummeted to less than 2,000 in 1931, had increased to nearly 15,000.72 Those who associated with the Communist movement gave varying degrees of allegiance. Members ranged all the way from those who were willing to give their lives to the cause, to those whose affiliation was largely social.73 Undoubtedly, even a minimal commitment to the ptrf and the ptl involved more than one to other organizations. By becoming associated, immigrants essentially forfeited their connections with mainstream society and betrayed its traditional values. Because of the Communist emphasis on cultural-educational work, many passive sympathizers did not have the faintest idea that they supported a Communist-led organization. Only the vieille garde – Morski, Dutkiewicz, Lewandowski, and Sokolicz-Merkel – held the ptl’s esoteric knowledge. Aside for ideological reasons, members of this inner core had another attachment to the party: it was how they made their living. In 1937, Pawlica reported that Polish Communists received fifteen dollars a week and special travel and lodging subsidies.74 Even if members did not receive money from the movement, the ptl was connected to organizations that offered employment and promotions. The majority of members, who were recruited during the Popular Front (and particularly during World War II), were sympathizers who paid their dues and attended occasional meetings but were not ideologically committed. This proved to be a serious problem for the party, especially during World War II, when Stalin’s turbulent policy reversals tested and strained members’ allegiance and ideological endurance.

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7 Treading on Hostile Ground: Promoting Proletarianism, Mutualism, and Internationalism in Canadian and Polish Canadian Society

The Communist Party of Canada (cpc) has often been portrayed as “a franchise-holder of an international radical brand” that was “little more than a passive recipient of Moscow directives.”1 Ian McKay challenges this assumption, arguing that radical formations in Canada change over time: “They start off by borrowing massively from other countries ... Then, after a decade or so ... the formation changes. It starts to generate interesting idiosyncrasies that set it apart on the world stage.”2 The cpc was certainly riddled with idiosyncrasies that set it apart from other Communist parties. Not only did it have to consider the francophone element in Canadian society, which exerted a considerable influence over national politics, but it also had to accommodate a plethora of ethnic branches that articulated the strategy and tactics of the proletarian revolution in varying ways.3 For many ethnic Communists, the cultural, economic, and political developments in their ancestral homelands had a profound bearing on how they interacted with Communism in Canada and the general language of socialism. The Polish People’s Association (ptl) certainly generated peculiarities unique to the environment in which it operated. ptl branches had to learn to adapt to local circumstances because their survival hinged on their ability to appropriate the mentalité, language, and culture of their audience. But while there were certainly approaches and ad hoc developments that were unique to the ptl, it was disciplined and closely guided by the authority of the cpc and the Communist International (Comintern). According to Victor Turek, the ptl’s “general policy was always directed from outside, and the local leadership was charged only with its execution.”4

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The ptl was in fact, a “franchise holder” of the radical brand. Polish Communists noted in 1938 that the ptl constituted a Polish bureau of the cpc that was entrusted with leading “purely political activities among the Polish population.”5 The Polish bureau was a highly disciplined and tightly structured organization, with leading committees and decision-makers who were in charge of giving the organization direction. All activities in which members engaged, such as participating in education, trade unions, and mass demonstrations, were coordinated by the ptl’s leaders, who in turn received guidance from the cpc leadership, which was loyal to the Comintern. Like all ethnic branches, Polish Communist organizations adopted diverse methods to disseminate the party line in their communities but never veered away from the basics. In 1938, for example, the ptl decided to concentrate on cultural and educational activities instead of political agitation, in the hopes that doing so would encourage more Polish immigrants to join Communistsponsored cultural-educational organizations, and that they could be converted from within.6 This strategy involved an almost complete reversal of previous policies. Polish Communists were told to become more patriotic and establish connections with religious and “patriotic” organizations in order to form a Popular Front. On 29 August 1935, Głos Pracy published a front-page appeal to the Zjednoczenie Zrzeszeń Polskich w Kanadzie (Federation of Polish Societies in Canada), urging it to establish a common front to defend “the interests of the working people” and to fight for such issues as “bread for the unemployed” and “roofs over their heads.”7 Plans were also made to reduce the size of Głos Pracy from eight to four pages so that it could be published tri-weekly, rather than weekly, to reach a larger following.8 While this strategy was in line with Comintern theory, the tactics that Polish Communists developed to implement that theory were tailored to the unique circumstances in which they operated.

canada Unlike members of other Polish Canadian organizations, Polish Canadian Communists assaulted the very foundations of the Canadian political and economic order, condemning social injustices and unemployment. They were highly aggressive and used every opportunity to pounce on the capitalist system with disdain and to blame it

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for misery, abuse, and corruption. In 1920, before the Communist movement became organized in Canada, rcmp agents reported that “very radical” Polish immigrants who were hostile to capitalism and the Church were operating in Ontario.9 According to Polish Communists, among the “enemies of the working class” in Canada were railroad barons and shipping agents who benefited most from exploiting immigrants. Polish Communists “exposed” the collaboration between shipping agents and politicians, and scowled at the high profits earned from the sale of railway tickets. The immigrants who “paid to become slaves,” they charged, were transported “no better than cattle” to “wild jungles.”10 However exaggerated, Communists communicated their empathy for Polish immigrants who found themselves jammed into tenements and shoddy houses with few sanitary facilities. They often discussed issues that were especially relevant to immigrants, such as exploitation, unsteady employment, and deportation. Głos Pracy compared Canadian authorities and the rcmp to terrorists and cold-blooded agents, and occasionally published letters from immigrants who were suffering at the hands of the authorities and exploitative factory bosses.11 For some Poles, these Communist attacks struck a responsive chord, especially after Canada plunged into the Great Depression. Massive unemployment and overall disillusionment with the capitalist system prompted many immigrants to sympathize with left-leaning organizations. At the height of the Depression, pockets of violence, strikes, and mass anti-government demonstrations supported by workers engulfed many parts of the country. Embittered Poles could be found among the thousands of protesters: some committed acts of sabotage (one Pole was caught putting broken glass into a car engine12), while others participated in hunger strikes, relief strikes, mass demonstrations, picketing, and street fights. As one Canadian mainstream newspaper observed: “The avowed purpose of the agitators is to cause as much unemployment and misery as possible, to stir up the men in the coal mining areas and to promote trouble in agricultural districts settled by foreigners.”13 On 8 June 1935, cpc leader Mathew Popovich organized about 300 Poles and Ukrainians from the Edmonton area and sent them east as part of the On-to-Ottawa Trek.14 The trekkers, mostly single unemployed men, travelled across the country to Ottawa to protest against R.B. Bennett’s conservative government and the dismal conditions in

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federal relief camps, and to show their support for workers’ solidarity. Together with thousands of demonstrators, Polish radicals and their sympathizers united under slogans such as “Declare Yourself against Slave Labor!” and “Unite against the Hunger and Forced Labour Regime of the Government of Multi-millionaire Bennett!”15 Using the unemployment crisis as a catalyst, Polish Communists encouraged immigrants to use violence and fight the Canadian government.16 At the fourth annual convention of the Polish Workers’ and Farmers’ Association (ptrf) in September 1935, twenty-five delegates representing ten branches of its Central Executive Committee resolved to “call upon Polish immigrants to fight against the ‘class enemy’ on the streets, in factories, in the city and on the farm.”17 After Władysław Dutkiewicz presented news about the international situation, the delegates also resolved “to fully support and defend the Soviet Union.”18 At the ptl’s eighth annual convention, held in Toronto in October 1938, Polish Communists appealed to all worker-friendly immigrants to take “a stand against the home government, and to come to some understanding for the purpose of common action.”19 To show that Canadian workers were not alone in their struggle, Głos Pracy emphasized the worldwide reach of working-class solidarity with articles such as “Bloody Skirmishes in the Ruhr,” “Rumours about an Uprising in Bulgaria,” and “Fighting in Macedonia.”20 Together with Jews, Ukrainians, Russians, Finns, and Hungarians, Polish supporters rallied on the streets across Canada during May Day celebrations. In 1935, approximately 10,000 people assembled at Regina’s Stanley Park for a mass meeting. Some demonstrators had created a model of a relief camp that they mounted on the back of a truck. An rcmp report noted that approximately 900 elementary and high school pupils joined the relief camp strikers. Members of the Workers’ Sports Association, “arrayed in white duck trousers, white singlets, red sashes and crests bearing the hammer and sickle,” also filed in line behind the strikers.21 At a 1938 May Day parade in Winnipeg, Poles and other ethnic supporters wore traditional folk costumes to underscore their ethnic presence.22 While Polish Communists enthusiastically exposed the evils of Canadian capitalism, its leaders invested more energy in criticizing the Polish government and its representatives in Canada. As their articles and resolutions suggest, they never considered either a lesser evil. A ptl leaflet declared that the “fascist consuls, Canadian Police, and

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social-fascists are all alike.”23 But because the majority of Polish immigrants had a deep interest in the affairs of Poland, Polish Communists could not afford to ignore developments in their ancestral homeland if they wanted to expand in Canada.

poland Communists never forgave Jozef Piłsudski for his “treason” in 1926, when he ordered his gendarmes to brutally disperse Communist demonstrations of support during his coup. His ultra-nationalist and highly anti-Russian successor Rydz-Śmigły garnered even less sympathy. “The fascist Piłsudski and his troop,” Polish Canadian Communists charged, “is trying to ensure new recruits for his army among Polish emigrants in Canada ... Let us rid ourselves of bloody butchering fascists!”24 Dutkiewicz noted that the “fascist government ... must be exposed in the worst possible way.” A Głos Pracy article declared, “Do not ask us to be silent or laud the exploiters of our old country, since we all see that the present rulers lead the people towards poverty, ignorance and diminishing rights, and the country towards stagnation and weakness.”25 Such charges were only the tip of the iceberg in Communists’ anti-Polish propaganda. On 18 August 1935, S. Iwaszczyszyn, a member of the ptrf, gave a highly anti-Polish speech at a meeting organized at the Workers’ Theatre in Winnipeg. Iwaszczyszyn had just returned from Poland, where he and several other Communists, among them “professors, lawyers, writers and workers,” travelled as part of an international delegation to investigate conditions. He had been officially sent as a representative of the Canadian Labour Defence League to meet other delegates in Paris before proceeding to Poland. It is unclear who Iwaszczyszyn was, and why he was chosen as a delegate. The rcmp reported that he “had no outstanding ability,” and that “the mandate was more or less forced on him.” As one rcmp official explained, the decision to send Iwaszczyszyn may have been purely pragmatic, “because [since] his wife and children [were] still living in Poland, he would not be molested by Polish authorities.”26 Iwaszczyszyn complained that Polish authorities had barred the delegates from visiting “prisoners and workers in jails and factories.” It was only in “Lemberg [Lwów/L’viv] were they allowed to see a prisoner who told them whatever he was allowed to say in the presence

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of the guard, and that most of what the prisoner had said was refuted by the guard afterwards.”27 Iwaszczyszyn noted, “the workers and peasants in Poland were being treated in a most inhumane and cruel way, that they are being jailed, beaten and kept in dark dungeons.” In contrast, he reported that the delegation had briefly visited the Soviet Union, where he had not seen any oppression. While “some people are not as well off as others,” Iwaszczyszyn smugly observed, “there is plenty to eat for those who work in the Soviet Union.”28 In August 1920, Henryk Dworkin, a Polish Jew from Toronto, also returned from a European tour and spoke about his experiences in Poland at a gathering in Welland, Ontario. rcmp sources noted that his speech was anti-Polish, and he allegedly told his audience that Polish workers were being “victimized by capitalists” and tortured.29 Dworkin and several associates, including a Jewish garment maker from Toronto, Samson Koldofsky, had travelled to Poland and other European countries to “expose” the Polish government. As sources suggest, however, “delegates” like Dworkin did more than just investigate political and social conditions. In November 1920, the rcmp reported that Dworkin was allegedly arrested in Poland and “charged with smuggling men through for the Soviet Government,” and two of his associates had apparently been shot.30 In May 1935, a ptrf member, K. Wiczkowski, was invited to an international mass meeting, organized under the joint auspices of several revolutionary labour organizations including the League against War and Fascism, in the Thalmud Torah Hall in Winnipeg. Wiczkowski, together with speakers representing Russian, Jewish, and Ukrainian Communist organizations, addressed the guests in their native tongue, “dwelt upon conditions in Poland,” and condemned the “Polish Fascist terror.”31 Antonina Sokolicz-Merkel was also instrumental in spreading firsthand knowledge about the realties in Poland, appearing at several ptrf banquets and party meetings throughout 1935. On one occasion, she and Tim Buck were invited as honorary speakers at a banquet organized by the editors of Głos Pracy in Winnipeg. Sokolicz-Merkel addressed 214 guests with a brief speech, warning “workers to watch the enemy of the working class,” which she said “is always awake and in readiness to deal a blow to the cause of the workers.”32 She also cited two stanzas from a working class poem that depicted the shooting of a political prisoner in Poland when he attempted to escape from prison.33

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Polish Communists understood that the majority of immigrants considered Canada their new home, and many of them cared about how mainstream Canadian society perceived them. As a result, Communists tried to persuade patriotic Poles into thinking that the “fascist” Polish government and its representatives in Canada were “putting the good name of our people and our great country in a bad light before the Canadian public.”34 In a resolution adopted at the ptl’s eighth annual convention, Polish Communists condemned the Polish consul general for rendering “bad service” to “the Polish people in this country by trying to employ ... fascist measures here in Canada.”35 They urged Poles to “become organized and expel from their midst all ‘misleaders’ who are in the employ of the Polish bourgeoisie.”36 To contrast the oppressive nature of the fascist government in Poland, Polish Communists continually maintained a high level of enthusiasm for the ussr. In their agitation and propaganda, they underscored the “Soviet paradise” and noted that it was not only a just society, but also the vanguard of humanity. Eulogizing reports about the Soviet Union depicted it as the “impregnable fortress of Socialism” and the mainstay of peace, justice, and equality. Głos Pracy described it as a federation of free and equal republics, which were able to maintain and develop their language and culture. In fact, the Polish government, like all capitalist states, had altruistic motives; it was run by dishonest politicians who manipulated the masses to subvert them to capitalist control.37

relations with the cpc and fellow ethnic comrades Compared to other ethnic groups – namely the Finns, Ukrainians and Jews, who constituted approximately 95 per cent of the cpc’s membership – Polish Communists made up only a small portion of the party. Unlike their Ukrainian comrades, they were not at the core of the Communist trade unions, nor were they able to contribute a major share of the funds for party work.38 The cpc’s Ukrainian branch, the Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temple Association, was also much larger than its Polish counterpart, the ptl.39 Turek notes, “at mass meetings the Polish communist delegations were merely an addition to the far more numerous Ukrainian ones.”40 But what the Polish movement lacked in size, it certainly made up for with dedication and zeal.

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In November 1935, Buck praised Polish Communists in their Winnipeg workers’ hall for the “splendid support they had given to the Revolutionary Movement in Canada,” and congratulated them on establishing one of the most important newspaper in the movement.41 According to an rcmp security bulletin, he recalled how: “Polish workers commenced publishing a mimeographed sheet under diverse names in [eastern Canada] just shortly before he [Buck] and the other leaders of the Communist Party of Canada went to Kingston Penitentiary; and now in hardly more than four years, the Polish comrades had built up the biggest and best working class paper published in the Polish language on the North American Continent.”42 Buck was probably flattering his Polish comrades, although Głos Pracy’s circulation rate was comparable to that of non-Communist Polish-language newspapers in Canada.43 The ptl actively promoted the cpc through work such as distributing leaflets, soliciting subscriptions and recruits, organizing collection drives and public demonstrations, and endorsing its leaders.44 In 1935, Polish Communists organized one of their largest meetings in their Winnipeg hall in support of Buck’s election campaign. Władysław Dutkiewicz, who presided over the meeting, referred to Buck as “the saviour of the working class.” rcmp sources described the meeting as “highly enthusiastic” and “crowded to capacity” with “some 12 or 14 representatives of various organizations.”45 Many of them made contributions ranging from one to ten dollars, collecting a total of fifty-six dollars for Buck’s campaign.46 As most immigrant workers earned less than fifty cents per hour at this time, the contributions were quite generous. Most workers donated no more than twenty-five cents.47 Buck thanked the organizers and his supporters for their confidence and reportedly promised that, “if elected to Parliament he will utilize his position to further the interests of the class and the Revolutionary Movement in general.”48 Taking advantage of the large gathering of Poles, he petitioned Polish war veterans, pointing out “that what they had been fighting for was the lot of the starving workers and not the promised democracy.”49 Prominent guests from the upper echelons were regularly hosted in Polish workers’ halls. These were opportunities for Polish Communists to showcase their organizational abilities and dedication to the movement. One of the prominent guests was Lewis St George Stubbs,

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a well-known judge and politician from Manitoba who promoted left-wing and socially progressive causes. In 1936, Stubbs presented a motivational speech to Winnipeg Poles, telling them that “Lenin was right” because they must all fight together for the revolution in Canada. No one made an effort to translate for Stubbs, who spoke English. He expressed his regrets for not being able to understand what was being said in Polish, though he assured the audience that he understood almost all of their remarks, for “the spirit of the workers is one, no matter in what language it may be expressed.”50 In their efforts to maintain ethnic solidarity, Polish Communists enthusiastically supported and co-organized numerous concerts, lectures, and meetings with other Communists. Polish speakers regularly visited other ethnic organizations or invited ethnic speakers to their meeting halls, and in 1935 organized at least eight concerts with other ethnic Communist organizations to emphasize fraternity and unity. Concerts regularly showcased young talents who performed the “Internationale,” “The Communards,” “Long Live Soviet Russia,” and other “red” songs. Polish language schools for children were also maintained through contributions from ethnic comrades. In 1934, the Polish consul in Winnipeg reported, the “rise of such schools was made possible by money donated mostly from Ukrainian Communists.”51 Perhaps the numerous trans-organizational collection drives supporting each ethnic organization’s newspaper are the best indicators of interethnic solidarity. In November 1934, Russian, Hungarian, Yugoslav, and Polish Communists gathered in Toronto to support a campaign to help publish the Lithuanian Communist paper Darbininku Zodis (Workers’ word) as a weekly. Three hundred supporters gathered at the meeting and donated a total of $156.70 in support of the newspaper, which its founder, Vladas Strazhevichus, proudly announced would help draw Lithuanian workers “into the revolutionary organizations for the overthrow of the Capitalist society and the establishment of a Soviet Government in Canada.”52 Głos Pracy benefited regularly from interethnic assistance. When it was founded in 1932, Ukrainians, Russians, Hungarians, and Yugoslavs donated money to help its editors secure the necessary $600 to start printing.53 Turek notes: The Polish communists in Canada have been helped, especially in the beginning, by the more numerous and better organized

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Ukrainian communists. They lent their Polish comrades halls for their meetings, printed their publications and participated in their manifestations ... The Ukrainian communists also participated in fund drives for Polish communist publications and made donations to the publishing funds of the Polish communist press.54 Since Ukrainian Communists were Polish Communists’ closest Slavic relatives, and the largest ethnic group in the cpc, ptl members frequently interacted with their Ukrainian comrades. At the fifteenth National Convention of the Ukrainian mass organizations, Zygmunt Majtczak, the ptl’s general secretary, gave assurances that “Polish Workers will fight shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainians against the bourgeoisie.”55 They made good on that promise on many occasions. In July 1938, for example, Polish Communists joined their Ukrainian counterparts to “vugurously [sic] protest” against Polish authorities “snatching away the people’s square in Lemberg.”56 Polish-Ukrainian comradery peaked during a vulgar anti-Polish campaign launched to protest the status of Eastern Galicia, which had been incorporated into Poland after World War I. In Europe, the conflict resulted in the Polish-Ukrainian war and the short-lived West Ukrainian People’s Republic. Polish Communists kept their promise to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainians, and viciously denounced “the imperialist claims of the Polish government.”57 Todowyrnazu, the Society for the Liberation of Western Ukraine, spearheaded the campaign. Canadian Communists and their supporters raised several thousand dollars to aid Ukrainian political prisoners, and organized at least two international delegations to investigate the political situation and the treatment of prisoners in Poland. The campaign was also extended against the Romanian and Czechoslovak governments’ treatment of Ukrainian minorities in their countries.58 In 1935, Ukrainian Communists reported that just over $20,000 had been collected to help Ukrainians in Poland since 1931.59 A year later, approximately $22,000 had been raised “to help Ukrainian victims of the ruthless Polish regime in Western Ukraine.”60 Todowyrnazu gave more funds to help the Ukrainians in Poland than to the cpc. In 1936, it sent $10,217.05 to help Ukrainians, gave $6,677.30 to help the revolutionary movement in Canada, and gave $3,453.43 to the Canadian Labour Defence League.61 This created

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some friction between Ukrainian Communists and the cpc leadership, and eventually deprived the party of much Ukrainian support. Many Ukrainian supporters had already left the cpc earlier, because of its failure to question Stalin’s Famine-Genocide in 1932 and 1933 and his purges in the Soviet Ukraine. While the Communist press and leadership stressed ideology over ethnicity, such episodes clearly indicate that ethnic culture and homeland politics transcended notions of working-class solidarity. In July 1934, Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian Communists protested the treatment and harassment of Polish workers’ organizations in Poland in front of the consulate in Montreal. Secretary of the Canadian Labour Defence League J. Wallace led a delegation of eight Communists, which included one Polish worker and an “African man,” to meet the Polish consul. After consulting the police, the consul accepted the delegates but did not answer their questions. The police supervised the entire affair and prevented the delegates from reading their protest proclamation, which they later mailed to the consul: This delegation, representing wide masses of Montreal workers, places before your Consulate, for transmission to the Polish government, our protest against the political trials in Lutsk, Poland. Intolerable taxes, intolerable rents, intolerable oppression by the occupying forces drove the masses of Western Ukraine into mass revolt in 1930. Thereupon the worst terror was launched against them, terror particularly in the prisons where officials, gone mad with the lust for torture, worked their abominations on the helpless men and women in their hands. Now 57 of these prisoners, after being kept without trial for 3 1/2 years, face the Polish courts. The period of their detention without trial is proof without further evidence of the treatment they have received, of the weakness of the Government’s case against them, of the kind of “justice” they can expect from the Polish courts. In the name of the workers we represent, we demand the release of the prisoners and warn the Polish government that the toiling masses will note and remember the treatment these heroic prisoners receive.62

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Communists tried to persuade immigrants and Canadian officials, including the prime minister, to condemn the Polish government for its “atrocities in Western Ukraine.”63 Many letters and resolutions signed by hundreds of protesters were addressed to “Occupant Governments of Western Ukraine.”64 They organized weekly demonstrations in front of Polish consulates to protest against “terrorist rule of the Polish bourgeoisie.”65 In some instances, Communists’ anti-Polish propaganda was far reaching. A New York Times article entitled “Police Terrorism in Poland Charged” portrayed Poland as “an undemocratic state which forces churches away from orthodox groups, and imprisons thousands of Ukrainians to torture them.”66 Communists estimated that 54,000 Ukrainian prisoners were tortured and kept in “dungeons” in Poland.67 Other estimates suggested there were over 60,000 people incarcerated in Poland and that 95 per cent were allegedly Ukrainians.68 Communists who died trying to help their Ukrainian compatriots in Poland were turned into martyrs. On Remembrance Day 1934, Ukrainian Communists commemorated their own fallen “soldiers” – three Polish Communists “who had given their lives for the emancipation of Ukrainian workers and farmers from the yoke of Polish Capitalists.”69 Interethnic camaraderie extended across all ethnic groups, including Jews, who were more numerous in the cpc than their Polish counterparts. The rcmp estimated that Jews made up about 10 per cent of the cpc’s membership and 90 per cent of the Young Communist League.70 Some of the most prominent members in the Canadian Communist movement were Polish Jews, including Fred Rose (originally Rosenberg)71 and Joseph Salsberg.72 While many Jewish Communists, especially those born in Poland, supported the Polish Communist wing and its sociocultural work by attending meetings and rallies, it appears that most Polish Jews in Canada identified more with the Jewish Communist wing.73 There is no evidence, for instance, to suggest that Rose and Salsberg had any formal ties with the Polish Canadian Communist movement, though both were born in Poland. Rose was even deported to Poland after he was arrested for his connections with a Soviet spy ring in Canada after World War II. Polish and Jewish Communists came together over a number of issues, especially anti-Semitism in Poland. In 1944, for instance, they

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organized large protests in front of Polish consulates against the London-based Polish government,74 which they accused of collaborating with the Nazis in the Holocaust.75 Polish and Jewish Communists presented a story to Canadian mainstream media about a Jewish family that had survived in occupied Poland for four years only to be exposed by “a gang of [Polish] Home Army fascists working with the Gestapo.”76 They also portrayed Soviet soldiers as liberators, explaining, “hundreds of Jews are still hiding in forests and villages in Poland. News of the Red Army’s advance has instilled a new hope in them. They are trying to break through to the east to hasten the hour of their liberation.”77 The many examples of mutualism and interethnic assistance are a remarkable testament to Communists’ ideological commitment to interethnic and interracial solidarity. In many respects, the cpc was a truly multicultural organization, embracing groups that often shared antagonistic relations in the Old World. Ukrainians and Poles, for instance, had a tumultuous past and many immigrants transplanted their traditional antagonisms and stereotypes to the New World, though these seldom overshadowed their generally friendly relations in Canada. For all intents and purposes, the Canadian Communist movement remained inclusionary, a place where Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Russians, and other ethnic activists could come together to plot the overthrow of capitalism and unscrupulous political elites.

the spanish civil war One of the crowning achievements of the international Communist movement was a recruiting drive for the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. Shortly after the Civil War broke out in the summer of 1936, some 40,000 foreign nationals travelled to Spain to fight the nationalist rebels led by General Francisco Franco, who was supported by the fascist governments of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Members of the ptl, acting in concert with the goals set by Moscow and all “progressive” organizations affiliated with the cpc, enthusiastically dedicated their energies to strengthening the global anti-fascist front. Through personal contacts and informal meetings organized by the ptl, individuals were encouraged to volunteer for Spain. Głos Pracy ran regular appeals to young able-bodied men to

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fight for democracy and freedom, and the ptl organized fundraising drives for “the purpose of equipping Polish members of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion.”78 In some instances, the ptl sent this aid abroad officially, but more often it used clandestine channels to avoid exposure. According to the rcmp, Polish Canadians donated several thousand dollars for the war effort in Spain.79 The exact number of Polish Canadian volunteers for Spain is difficult to calculate, as sources are not always consistent. rcmp intelligence reports and Polish consular officials estimated that there were around forty Polish volunteers. Głos Pracy reported thirty-two volunteers were serving in the International Brigade by April 1938.80 Michael Petrou, in his study of Canadian volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, calculated that fifty-nine ethnic Poles volunteered for Spain.81 According to Polish consuls, there were more likely sixty to seventy.82 Anglicized versions of some of the Slavic volunteers’ surnames on the roster sheets make it difficult to determine their ethnic origin.83 Canadian-born volunteers were also sometimes listed as Polish or Hungarian because they fought in units composed primarily of volunteers who came from these countries.84 The majority of Polish Canadian volunteers were recruited from Port Hope, Fort William (now Thunder Bay), and Toronto, but some also came from Winnipeg and Montreal – all places with active ptl branches. Young men with previous military experience in the Polish Army who were members of progressive organizations were preferred recruits. In 1937, the year most volunteers enlisted, their average age was thirty-two, with the youngest twenty-two and the oldest fortyone. Most were labourers and unskilled workers such as farmers, miners, construction workers, painters, and mechanics. One volunteer, Stefan Kozłowski, was a teacher.85 The Polish Canadian volunteers went to Spain in 1937 as part of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, but in Spain most were transferred to the Polish Dąbrowski Battalion, named after Polish left-wing nationalist General Jarosław Dąbrowski.86 The battalion took heavy casualties during the siege on Madrid and at the battle of Jarama. Only twenty-five Polish Canadian volunteers returned to Canada after the war.87 Among them was Franciszek Baryła, who served in Spain from 14 August 1937. He was wounded, but went back to the front after he was hospitalized. He was decorated for his efforts, and returned to Canada in February 1939.88

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Thirteen Polish Canadian volunteers died in Spain. Among them were two ptl activists: Karol Frączysty and Stefan Kozłowski.89 Frączysty was born in Poland in 1903, and was a farm worker from Winnipeg.90 He died, together with an estimated 500 International Brigades volunteers, onboard the troop ship Ciudad de Barcelona when it was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine General Sanjurjo on 30 May 1937.91 The second ptl volunteer, Stefan Kozłowski, was killed in action under unknown circumstances in September 1937.92 The ptl greeted those who returned as national heroes and turned those who died into martyrs.93 Głos Pracy published stories about their sacrifices, and a ptl branch was named after Frączysty. The Polish consulates, on the other hand, sent blacklists of volunteers to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, which revoked their Polish citizenship.94 Perhaps one of the most fascinating stories involving a Polish Canadian volunteer is that of Ignacy Witczak, who became a victim of identity theft. His story is linked to the early history of Soviet Cold War espionage in North America. Witczak was a Polish farm labourer and casual worker from southern Ontario. He was also active in the cpc.95 He volunteered for Spain in 1937, and participated in the various battles of the Dąbrowski Battalion. When he arrived in Spain, he was advised (like most recruits) to give his Canadian passport to an International Brigade officer for safekeeping.96 Although Witczak kept his Canadian naturalization papers in his pocket, they were destroyed during the Battle of the Ebro in July 1938, when he was ordered to swim across a tributary of the Ebro River. Since his documents were water-damaged and unreadable, Witczak discarded them.97 While he was waiting for demobilization in October 1938, he made a request to the commander of the Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, Major Edward Cecil-Smith, to arrange for the return of his passport. Two weeks later, Cecil-Smith informed Witczak that the truck transporting his documents had been bombed by a plane and destroyed, together with the documents.98 Not having a passport threw Witczak into a bureaucratic nightmare, though a special military commission eventually confirmed his identity and he returned to Canada on 3 February 1939 to resume his life as a general labourer in Ontario.99 In an ironic twist of fate, Witczak’s passport had actually not been destroyed under the circumstances Cecil-Smith described. Soviet

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intelligence officials in Spain, who assumed that Witczak had died during the war, got a hold of his passport and forwarded it to Moscow where it was used to create a Soviet agent who assumed his identity. The new Witczak, whose was really Zelman V. Litvin, was sent to New York on 13 September 1938. He eventually settled in Los Angeles with his twenty-four-year-old wife, Bunia Genah Witczak, where he enrolled as a student in the political science department at the University of Southern California.100 Litvin was an accomplished spy before going to the United States, and had significant international experience. He had completed his studies in the Chinese Faculty of the Far East University and worked in foreign trade. Between 1934 and 1936, he was in North China, gathering intelligence on the Japanese Army.101 Litvin became a successful mole in the United States, and gathered vital intelligence and information for his Soviet patrons until his counterfeit passport threatened to expose his identity. In 1945, Witczak’s passport came up for renewal, which was a serious problem since the real Witczak was still alive in Canada. The entire affair threatened to uncover Litvin and quite possibly create an international scandal by raising suspicions about other moles. In an effort to protect Litvin’s real identity, Sam Carr, a prominent Canadian Communist organizer, was instructed to bribe a Canadian official with $3,000 to obtain a false passport for Litvin. But the entire cover operation was blown when Igor Gouzenko, a cipher clerk who defected from the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa in September 1945, alerted Canadian authorities to the presence of Soviet spies in Canada, which led to the arrest of several Communist agitators, including Carr.102 Alarmed by Gouzenko’s actions, Litvin vanished in late 1945 and returned to the Soviet Union with his wife and child. He worked in intelligence in Europe and, later, at the Academy of Sciences of the ussr. He died in 1993.103

relations with the communist party of poland Like its Polish Canadian counterpart, the Komunistyczna Partia Polski (kpp, Communist Party of Poland) aspired to overthrow bourgeois influence and gain Stalin’s favour, though the extent the ptrf and ptl collaborated with the kpp is difficult to assess because of a lack of available sources. In earlier periods, the Polish Communist press in

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Canada occasionally admired the kpp’s resilience in its fight against capitalism and alluded to the political work of Polish Communists in Poland. But when Morski came to Canada in the mid-1930s, discourse on the kpp disappeared, suggesting that the ptl preferred to hide its association with it. Morski insisted that Polish Canadian Communists avoid making public references to Communism, and encouraged them to instead focus on cultural-educational work to convert Polish immigrants already within their organizations. He even dropped the word “Communist” from the ptl’s public relations repertoire. The kpp’s very public identification with Communism, therefore, seemed to be inconvenient baggage for the ptl. Most Poles were also suspicious of the kpp because of its open ties to the Soviet Union. Ironically, the Stalinists were equally suspicious of the kpp, though for very different reasons: they accused it of harbouring spies and agents, and they eventually dissolved the party and murdered its leaders. Stalin’s obedient Polish Canadian agitators probably preferred to wash their hands of the kpp as well, so as not to upset their Soviet leader. In the 1920s and early 1930s, evidence suggests that Polish Communists in Canada interacted with their counterparts in Poland. As I discussed above, the ptrf received help from Sokolicz-Merkel, a known kpp activist who visited Canada on at least two occasions. We know that the kpp sent at least one member, Morski, to organize the Polish movement in Canada. There is also evidence that the kpp sent other organizers, including Jozef Polka and Zygmunt Majtczak, as well as literature and money.104 Despite evident interactions, the level of cooperation between the two parties is hard to assess. Some of the first Polish secular organizations in Canada, such as the Sons of Poland, Sokol, and the pro-pps Spójnia, considered themselves extensions of similar groups in Poland. Their very names were often exact equivalents of their counterparts in the homeland. It is difficult to ascertain whether Polish Canadian Communists considered themselves an extension of the kpp in Canada, or as a purely Canadian Communist branch. Evidence suggests that they debated their position in relation to the Canadian Communist movement until as late as 1938. That year, at the ptl’s eighth convention, Polish delegates declared that the ptl was a cultural-educational organization “entirely independent of any party or political group both in Poland and in Canada.”105 A few lines later, however, that same declaration also stated, “political activity among

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Polish emigrants should be led by Polish Communists and the Polish branch of the Communist Party of Canada.106 They also referred to themselves as a “Polish Bureau” of the cpc, and generally accentuated the fact they were Canadian. Moreover, the ptrf and the ptl never made any official declarations of formal ties with the kpp, even though Morski and Sokolicz-Merkel began their political careers in that party. From the cpc’s perspective, the Polish movement was Canadian, and Buck considered his Polish comrades an integral part of Canada’s Communist movement. The kpp had a rocky history, one marred by multiple failures caused by overachieving Communists who never managed to properly satisfy their Soviet patrons. In 1926, for instance, Polish Communists committed the May Error when they aided Piłsudski in his power grab. Stalin and his avid followers saw their actions as treasonous, but because Polish Canadian Communist newspapers did not deal with the kpp’s May Error, it is difficult to determine how they felt about the kpp’s tactical blunders and whether they had any sympathy for their comrades.107 The May Error was not the kpp’s only gaffe. Earlier, Communists criticized how it had handled the Polish-Soviet War in 1920. Charles Edward Scott, a Third International representative from the United States who spoke at a Communist meeting in Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1922, accused the kpp of providing misleading information about the situation during the war. Ironically, he said that it was the Polish Communists, and not the Polish Army, who prevented Communism from spreading westward: “Poland would have been Bolshevistic, and consequently also Germany, a long time ago were it not for the blunder the Communistic Party of Poland made in ill advising the Communistic International which consequently resulted in the blunder the Red Army made in attacking Warsaw. Preparations were under way at that time to overthrow the Polish and the German Government.”108 Scott gave exact details about the kpp’s hiccup. Apparently, the party had prematurely notified the Soviet government that it had established a “Dictatorship of the Proletariat in Warsaw” and hastily requested that the Soviet government come to its assistance, “as per previous arrangements.”109 Eager to help their comrades and to spread the revolution westward, the Soviets sent the Red Army into Poland, and hoped that its cavalry would reach Warsaw and hold the city until

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the rest of the Soviet troops and bureaucrats arrived. But the cavalry advanced too quickly and was almost entirely cut off before Warsaw. When the Red Army arrived, it had insufficient cavalry support and could do little, and the combined forces of the Polish Army and the White Army annihilated it. Scott noted, “the operation towards Warsaw is regarded as the worst blunder the Red Army has ever made and which resulted that the idea of overthrowing the Polish Government had to be abandoned and consequently, also the planned operation against Germany.” Disappointed and frustrated with the Poles, Scott cried: “This is what you get for being too sentimental: we wanted to save the lives of our brothers in Warsaw by rushing the Red cavalry ahead.”110 Like all other Comintern parties, the kpp suffered from factional struggles, purges, recantations, expulsions, and all the abrupt twists and turns of Comintern policy. It was devoted to the interests of the Polish working class and the international Communist movement, but despite its commitments and sacrifices it never earned the Comintern’s trust. Comintern leaders questioned the kpp leaders’ theoretical knowledge and party experience.111 In 1924, Stalin said that the kpp was in an abnormal state and questioned its loyalty to the Soviet Union. The May Error two years later reinforced his doubts, and he dissolved the kpp in 1938. About 5,000 of its members were arrested and executed. The fortunate ones, ironically, were those members who were in Polish prisons during the purge. This dissolution was not mourned in the Polish Canadian Communist press, and no one publicly questioned Stalin’s logic, which in itself speaks volumes; Polish Canadian Communists preferred to leave their compatriots in Poland out in the cold than go against Stalin and his Comintern. The Polish Communist movement remained unwavering in its dedication to Soviet interests. It obediently followed all of Stalin’s policy changes and reversals, even when patriotic community leaders exposed their blatant twists and turns. Faced with a determined opposition in the Polonia, Polish Communists could not rely solely on the power of ideas to make inroads within their community. The party’s success among Polish immigrants depended at least as much on the abilities of its ethnic leaders to translate the Communist doctrine as it did on favourable economic and social conditions. Polish Canadian Communists, like their ethnic counterparts, were a vital component in the cpc’s day-to-day work; they supported its policies, recruitment

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for the Spanish Civil War, and mass protests, and they cooperated with fellow ethnic branches to promote the Communist ideology. While Polish Canadian Communists laboriously criticized the Canadian status quo and subjected it to Marxist interpretations, they often concerned themselves more with the political, economic, and social realities of their ancestral homeland, mainly because they understood that many Poles were actively interested in it. Their news stories about Poland often focussed on working-class oppression and injustice, difficult labour conditions, and the ruthless nature of the established order. Between roughly 1930 and 1937, Głos Pracy supported a wave of labour strikes across Poland that were directed against the right-wing regime.112 One news story, for instance, told of the repression of political working-class prisoners in Poland and mentioned that those who attempted to escape were shot without a trial.113 Another paper described the Piłsudski government as “backward” and explained, “it’s merely a dictatorship which isn’t going anywhere,”114 By providing specific targets such as businessmen, politicians, clergy, and shipping agents, both in Canada and abroad, Communists absolved immigrants from feeling responsible for their predicament. For many of the movement’s followers, such a position had understandable appeal. While loyal Communists aligned their critique of the status quo with the Comintern’s policies and strategies, their work was also influenced by local circumstances. Polish Canadian Communists, for instance, relied heavily on aspects of Polish immigrant culture to distil the Comintern’s ideology. In fact, culture was so important to ethnic Communists that one American party paper complained that Slavic comrades spent more time rehearsing a play than doing important party work.115 As I will show in the next chapter, sociocultural work was imperative to the Polish Canadian Communist movement’s survival.

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8 Red Culture Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed. Joseph Stalin1 Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted. Vladimir Lenin2

The 1936 annual festival held by the Polish Farmer Temple Association (ptrf) at the Workers’ Benevolent Association farm in East Kildonan, Manitoba, was, according to rcmp agents, “a well-attended affair.”3 A lively atmosphere prevailed during a day of eating, drinking, and music. The program even included stunt flying by two aeroplanes that were chartered for the occasion.4 Men sat separately and discussed politics and the deplorable economic situation, especially in the factories where many of them worked. Intermissions between the fun and games were filled with speeches about the class struggle and Soviet Russia’s war on capitalism. The guest of honour, ex-judge Lewis St George Stubbs, who had just been elected to the Manitoba legislature, spoke for an hour, prophesying that capitalism would collapse and that the audience should endure the struggle for working-class unity.5 Such events show how Polish Communists’ promotion of the Communist ideology was closely linked with their cultural work. The formal organizations – unions, associations, and other clubs – of the ptrf and later of the Polish People’s Association (ptl) resembled its system of concepts. So did the less conspicuous, albeit equally important, cultural organizations – newspaper agencies, sports clubs, Polish-language schools – through which Communists distilled their ideology.

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The left-wing culture of the Polish Canadian Communist movement bears little resemblance to the rigid and mechanical Stalinapproved realism that some Communist organizations have often been accused of favouring. Reductionist dichotomizations of bourgeois/working-class or capitalist/Stalinist fail to capture the totality of Communist culture. Ethnic folk culture and nationalist traditions were a part of the ethnic Communist experience. While singing the “Międzynarodówka” (“Internationale”) was a staple in Communist circles, the cultural repertoire was not entirely red oriented. Polish Communists encouraged their children to listen to Frederick Chopin and read Adam Mickiewicz. Consequently, class interests did not supersede national and ethnic cultural interests; rather, they were dispensed simultaneously. As children learned about the people who helped shape history, they were also served a potent brew of MarxismLeninism. The class struggle, for instance, was exemplified through the nationalist leader Tadeusz Kościuszko, who was portrayed as a peasant prince. Communist leaders understood that Polish immigrants, disconnected from their homeland and marginalized by mainstream Canadian society, yearned for their traditional culture and were desperate to fill the vacuum created by isolation and nostalgia. According to JieHyun Lim, “working-class culture and vestiges of traditional culture coexisted among workers.”6 Communist leaders could not distil their ideology without adapting it to the sociocultural needs of the rank and file. Most Polish immigrants joined Polonia organizations because they were Polish and because they expected the organizations to satisfy some aspect of their nostalgia, whether for language, food, music, etc. Polish Canadian Communists, especially Morski, understood that most Polish immigrants could not be persuaded to join the movement through radical, atheist, and revolutionary ideas alone. Instead, the predominantly religious and patriotic nature of Polish Canadian immigrant society forced the movement to rethink its strategy. Polish Communists no longer promoted hurrah revolutionism by the mid-1930s, and they instead focussed on sociocultural work. A variety of Polish picnics, concerts, dramas and plays, poetry readings, traditional embroidery exhibits, and myriad of youth and children’s activities were organized to provide immigrants with their “Polish connection” and to ensure that the proletarian ideology was distilled in a friendly

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atmosphere from within. To this end, Communists established a number of sociocultural organizations, such as the ptl’s Marie CurieSkłodowska and Nicholas Copernicus branches as well as the Juliusz Słowacki Society in Winnipeg, which the Polish consul argued were “crypto-Communist” organizations created to “lure” naive Polish immigrants to Communism with patriotic literature and music (see A.2 in the appendix).7 This shift in ideological doctrine, which favoured the use of Polish patriotism and traditional symbolism, suggests that the needs of the rank and file had a significant bearing on the Polish movement’s political work. Since the Polish Communist movement had a small membership, it relied primarily on cultural and educational outreach to increase its following and bolster an influential outward appearance. Reports about their meetings indicate that Polish Communists consistently thought of novel ways to improve their efforts on the cultural front. Their labours were met with much success. In 1938, for instance, they maintained eight youth orchestras and six Polish-language schools, and they had organized sixty-four amateur performances, forty-nine picnics, 164 social events, sixty-nine banquets, twenty-one bazaars, and forty-two meetings.8 Polish Communists began to reach out to the Polonia using patriotic rhetoric in the mid-1930s, when Morski took the reins of the party. At a meeting in 1938, the ptl decided that cultural activities constituted an integral part of the political agitation and that it should “concentrate mainly on cultural activities among the Poles.”9 Consequently, the ptl began to disclose less information about its political orientation, and styled itself as a “socio-educational association of Poles in Canada.” Głos Pracy toned down its revolutionary jargon and orthodox Communist propaganda, and added children’s and women’s sections to reach a broader audience. It included illustrations of illustrious Polish forbearers like Kościuszko and Mickiewicz, though it still treated them in Marxist terms.

education Educators were particularly important in raising a generation of young Communists. According to Ian McKay, “each left formation has historically identified the upbringing and education of its children as a particularly important sphere of struggle for the left, and it appears to

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be a symptom of the confidence of a left formation if it actively creates institutions and programs designed to mould the next generation.”10 In their attempts to mould that generation, teachers were charged with an essential dual role. While they recognized the importance of disseminating the proletarian ideology, ethnic Communists also understood that they had to maintain some degree of the national culture. Ukrainian Communists meeting in Alberta in 1920, for instance, spoke about properly educating and training their children because the “Ukrainian language and songs should be dear to all Ukrainians.”11 rcmp reports warned about the dangers of such sentiments: The principal subjects to be taught are the Ukrainian language, folk-songs, and revolutionary songs and music ... Great use is made of concerts; the elders are encouraged to attend entertainments at which the children furnish the programme, most of the recitations, songs, etc. having revolutionary tendencies. Sometimes the children act revolutionary plays. The evidence is that these are attractive to the parents. Great hostility is shown to the public schools, which are incessantly denounced as designed to darken the understandings of the children, to teach militarism and religions, and to bolster up capitalism. Bitterness is shown towards those Ukrainians who imbibe Canadian ideals.12 The same cadre of dedicated teachers who ran adult education classes typically also managed children’s schools and directed local choirs. Students and teachers alike were rewarded for assent to the “correct view,” a general didactic orientation that was reinforced by a traditional teacher-centred approach in the classroom. Aside from courses in history, economics, language, and a variety of other topics, there were special classes on the ptl’s structure and public speaking.13 Pupils learned about Soviet and Communist anniversaries and organizations, and memorized militant proletarian poems and songs, such as “Czerwony Sztandar” (“The Red Banner”), composed by the poet and social activist Bolesław Czerwieński:14 Krew naszą długo leją katy, wciąż płyną ludu gorzkie łzy, nadejdzie jednak dzień zapłaty, sędziami wówczas będziem my! Dalej więc dalej, dalej więc, wznieśmy śpiew.

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Nasz sztandar płynie ponad trony, niesie on zemsty grom, ludu gniew, ... A kolor jego jest czerwony, bo na nim robotnicza krew! Choć stare łotry, nocy dzieci, ... co złe to w gruzy się rozleci, co dobre, wiecznie będzie żyć! Dalej więc ... Hej razem bracia do szeregu! Z jednaką myślą, z dłonią w dłoń! Któż zdoła wstrzymać strumień w biegu, Czyż jest na świecie taka broń? Dalej więc ... Precz z tyranami, precz z zdziercami! Niech ginie stary, podły świat! My nowe życie stworzym sami i nowy zaprowadzim ład. Dalej więc ... In translation, the song reads: We ourselves will create a new life, Executioners have spilled our blood for too long, The people are still shedding bitter tears, The day of reckoning, however, will come And then we will be the judges! Onwards then, onwards, we will sing. Our banner floats above the thrones, And it carries vengeance and people’s anger, Its colour is red, because it is stained with worker’s blood. Come old rascals, night kids, All that is bad will crumble like rubble That what is good, will be eternal!

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Onwards ... Hey brothers join the ranks! Like-minded and hand in hand! Who can halt a running stream? Is there such a weapon in this world? Onwards ... Down with tyrants, away extortionists! Let the old world die, miserable world! We will form a new life ourselves and bring new order. Onwards ... Czerwieński’s song is a lament about a deceitful and old, wicked world (stary, podły świat) waiting for the day of reckoning (dzień zapłaty). Together, hand in hand (z dłonią w dłoń), with “our banner floating above the thrones” (nasz sztandar płynie ponad trony), we will form a new life (my nowe życie stworzym sami). Teachers were usually the best qualified to interpret and disseminate Communist ideology. Smaller branches of the ptl, which were unable to hire teachers and run a permanent educational program, relied on larger branches’ visiting instructors and guest speakers, who usually offered short discourses on current events and history. The guest speakers were often leaders of the ptl and Communists from other organizations, as well as prominent left-wingers like Tim Buck, ex-judge Lewis St George Stubbs, and Matthew Popovich.15 Most of the recruiting for the Polish-language schools was done through Głos Pracy.16 In the larger urban centres like Winnipeg and Toronto, Polish Communist-sponsored schools enrolled around forty to fifty pupils. Classes were usually held in the evenings from five to seven, so as not to interfere with public schools and parents’ work schedules.17 Polish consuls urged Canadian authorities to close such schools, and in June 1934, the consul in Winnipeg, Jan Pawlica, notified the chief of the rcmp that they were dangerous as they attracted “weak and vacillating elements.”18 Pawlica also sent a letter to Manitoba’s attorney general, W.J. Major, asking him “to

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investigate the management, and if possible, to take the appropriate steps to prevent the spreading of communist slogans among Polish children in Winnipeg.”19 While Canadian authorities feared that such schools, including the non-Communist ones, slowed the process of “Canadianization,” they allowed them to function as long as they operated outside public school hours. Several rcmp reports reveal, however, that Canadian authorities felt uneasy about young pupils being indoctrinated and taught to write compositions on such topics as: “Did God create mankind, or did mankind create God?,” “Can there be peace between the workman and the boss?,” and “Why do the large industries swallow the middle class.”20 They recommended that any individuals who refused to assimilate, or who impeded others from doing so in the schools by forcing revolutionary jargon, be deported.21 Like Polish patriotic organizations, Polish Communists printed and imported their own children’s handbooks and reading manuals. A number of branches established small libraries and amassed a stock of books consisting mostly of Polish and Soviet novels and propaganda literature. Głos Pracy’s headquarters in Winnipeg boasted a collection of Lenin, Marx, and several works written by the Marxist activist and theorist Henryk Grossman, as well as a number of almanacs and workers’ calendars, which were secretly imported from Poland and the ussr. The catalogue numbers on some of the surviving texts from Głos Pracy’s library indicate that it had over 1,250 materials in its possession. Many of the pages of the surviving books are marked up and annotated, which suggests they were meticulously read and studied. In a copy of Marx’s letters to his confidant Dr Louis Kugelmann, some engulfed reader underlined the word walczyć (to fight) in thick pencil on every page. They also scribbled revolutionary slogans on the side pages such as: “the enemy of the revolution cannot destroy the masses!” (wróg rewolucji nie zniszczy masy!).22 One element of education that preoccupied the ptl and its branches was the study of the Polish language. Like nationalists, who also emphasized maintaining the native culture, Communists recognized that preserving the Polish language was important to most immigrants. When a Polish priest started speaking in English to his Polish parishioners in Saskatchewan, they protested and, according to Pawlica, “demanded that the priest speak to them in Polish and teach them their native language.”23 It was only natural, therefore, for Commu-

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nists to encourage Polish-language instruction to satisfy immigrants’ cultural needs and prevent them from sending their children to religious and “patriotic” schools. Polish-language instruction also ensured that the ptl could groom a generation of supporters and avoid crossgenerational conflict, since parents generally preferred to use Polish at home and in organizations. So vital was the language issue that, in later years, Ukrainian and Polish Communists sent a report to the Manitoba Royal Commission on Education, “urging that Ukrainian and Polish be introduced into the elementary and secondary schools of Manitoba.”24 In an effort to discourage Polish parents from sending their children to Communist-sponsored schools, Pawlica helped establish free Polish-language summer courses organized by the Koło Akademików Polskich w Winnipegu (Circle of Polish Academics in Winnipeg). He supported this undertaking by donating books and other educational materials, even though Fathers Baderski and Zielonka from the Holy Ghost and the St John Cantius parishes were adverse to the summer courses. They accused Pawlica of meddling in the Polish youth’s religious education and threatening the existence of the parish schools, and claimed free language instruction was unnecessary as their existing “successful courses” had only a minimal registration fee (ranging from twenty-five cents to one dollar).25 Despite the priests’ bitter reaction, Pawlica encouraged the free courses because he saw them as a way to steer non-religious immigrants and those unable to afford parish schools away from Communist-led ones. He also questioned why the priests had not protested as vigorously when Communists had opened their schools in Winnipeg.26 Youth activities, which entailed learning about workers’ sports and left-wing culture; about the comradery and fellowship of social activism; and about the ideals shared by many other youths that superseded divisions along ethnic, religious, and class lines, were perhaps the most iconic expressions of internationalism. But for most Polish Communist sympathizers, such expressions did not always have deeper meaning. Many sympathizers and passive sympathizers sent their children to Communist-sponsored language schools and youth organizations because of their Polish or non-religious character, and not because of some deep rooted revolutionary urges. Still, for some activists like Dutkiewicz, Franciszek Baryła, and Fred Rose, who joined the Young Communist League (ycl) before entering the Com-

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munist Party of Canada (cpc), youth organizations served as a springboard for entering the intellectual life of the leftist movement.

“red” theatres, orchestras, and films At a time when radio was still in its infancy, theatrical performances, concerts, and plays were among the best channels of propagating the proletarian ideology. In 1935, the rcmp Quarterly ran an article, “Training Young Communists,” which commented on the “considerable time and attention ... given to music and drama which constitute a principal feature of the [Communist] curriculum.”27 The ptl’s drama circles staged a myriad of performances designed specifically to implant desired political attitudes and concepts. Since most performances were followed by a collection drive, they were also an excellent source of party revenue. Community leaders used such occasions to attract followers, which helped boost organizational and ideological development. Isolated by language and poverty from mainstream North American culture, some Polish immigrants appreciated such initiatives as good entertainment. The Communist dramatic repertoire came overwhelmingly from Poland and the ussr, but a handful of plays also portrayed the immigrants’ Canadian experiences. The content was carefully chosen. Many plays had a didactic purpose, and exposed the problems of capitalism, material greed, and economic exploitation. Others, Soviet in origin, glorified the ussr and its proletarian leaders. The Polish labour temples provided a rich and varied program for their audiences. Performances were usually held on Sunday nights and on special anniversaries and commemorations. The ensembles entertained prominent cpc members like Buck, as well ethnic leaders like John Boyd (Boychuck), Peter Prokop (Prokopchak), John Weir (Weviursky), Ivan Sembay, and Popovich.28 In 1934, members of the Polish Labour Hall in Winnipeg organized a special concert to celebrate Popovich’s release from prison. After the concert, he spoke to the Poles about his trial and he urged them to demand Buck’s release.29 Polish ensembles and performers joined their ethnic comrades for annual concerts and anniversary performances, and occasionally toured in smaller settlements that did not have musical groups. The Timmins Daily Press described Communists’ interethnic cultural soli-

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darity at a fundraising event: “The musical selections were offered by the Ukrainian-Croatian orchestra, gymnastics were performed as well as various European folk dances. There were two songs in Ukrainian and a recitation in Polish. Selections were given by the Boys’ Croatian orchestra as well as the Girls’ Croatian orchestra.”30 One rcmp agent was revolted by the nature of such performances, and described the atmosphere at a concert organized by Polish and Ukrainian Communists in a report: The whole sentiment of the Concert was anti-Canadian and revolutionary in the extreme, dangerous to the peace of the country in as much as it was inciting the workers to revolution. One deplorable and striking feature of the whole affair was the number of small children that took part and entered wholeheartedly into the seditious programme, their enthusiasm only being excelled by that of the younger members of the audience, who cheered and applauded in the wildest manner, the Chairman having to ask them to modify their applause. Most of the children present are all Canadian born, and speak English with no trace of a foreign accent, but the appalling fact as demonstrated above, is that they are being trained as revolutionists ... The Concert was brought to a conclusion by the Ukrainian Mixed Choir singing the “red flag,” the audience rising. The Theatre was filled to capacity, about eight hundred being present; over ninety percent of who were foreigners, mostly Ukrainians. The audience was orderly throughout, and paid the closest attention to all parts of the programme, but after certain red seditious songs, etc., applauded in the wildest manner, showing the spirit of the audience was revolutionary.31 One of the more popular dramas staged by Polish Communists was an anti-religious play entitled Damazy Macoch. The play was based on the true story of Father Damazy (Damascus) Macoch of the Pauline monastery in Częstochowa, Poland, who regularly robbed the altars. Macoch had also killed his cousin Wacław out of fear that the latter would betray him to the authorities. He sewed Wacław’s dead body into a sofa that was later found in a river, and then married his widow, Helen Krzyżanowska. In 1910, the entire affair came to light and Macoch was incarcerated and sentenced to twelve years of hard

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labour. The case shocked the Polish public. Some alleged that Macoch was an agent of the Tsarist secret police. Newspapers all around the world wrote about the incident, which tarnished the Polish Church.32 Naturally, Communists used such dramas to underscore the corrupt and immoral nature of the Catholic clergy. Głos Pracy hailed the play as “very instructive” and noted that it unmasked the crimes of the “hypocritical” clergy.33 Following performances, appeals were usually made for donations. During the ptrf’s and ptl’s peaks in popularity, their events could easily attract several hundred spectators.34 In 1938, the ptl organized more than sixty amateur performances and almost 200 social events.35 Such undertakings provided a considerable source of revenue for party activities. For example, the rcmp reported that Dutkiewicz generally always managed to surpass his goal for Głos Pracy’s collection drive, and it was thanks to such initiatives, as I will show below, that the newspaper managed to survive. The ptl also claimed that it managed to amass enough capital from generous donations to purchase a large labour hall in Toronto for $14,000 and to pay off the mortgage on its Winnipeg hall in only a few years.36 Red films were another popular way to entertain the masses and indirectly propagate the proletarian ideology. In fact, Vladimir Lenin declared that films were the most important medium for educating the masses about Communism, a position that Joseph Stalin later maintained.37 In keeping with the Soviet line, Polish Communists included film into their sociopolitical repertoire, as regular advertisements for film nights in Głos Pracy (and later Kronika Tygodniowa) suggest that it was widely used across Canada. Dutkiewicz and his brother-in-law Marciak established a film company in Toronto in 1935 with the help of Ukrainian Communists. The company was officially owned by Marciak and L. Radymski, a Communist from Winnipeg who was sent to Toronto for the job. The ptl obtained most of its films through the United States. The embassy in Washington noted that a Polish American businessman, J. Starczewski, had shown the Polish film Trędowata (The leper) in Canada in 1938 for ten days in order to test the market. The film was a critique of aristocratic values and marriage codes that barred aristocrats from marrying outside their social circles, and was one the most famous Polish melodramas based on a 1909 bestselling novel by Polish writer Helena Mniszkowa.38 The Polish consul

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in Montreal received complaints that Starczewski was lending Trędowata to Polish Communists and “consciously helping spread Bolshevism in Polish settlements.”39 Some patriotic Poles complained that Polish Communists were defaming a classic Polish film for propaganda purposes. One immigrant wrote to the consul in Montreal to ask the latter to intervene: “Consul, is it really not possible to prevent this, they already spat enough on everything that is Polish, now they are going to connect images of Polish Bolshevism [to the film] to acquire the Polonia ... that will already be too much.”40

sporting activities The most important initiatives of the broader Canadian Communist movement were sporting activities and youth organizations. The origins of workers’ sports organizations, as overt components of the classconscious movement, must be traced to Europe. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, European trade unions and progressive groups formed gymnastic and sporting associations as an alternative to the upper class organizations from which they were excluded, or as a cover for illegal political activity. The largest and best-known international sporting organization was Socialist Workers’ Sport International, founded in 1920.41 Its crowning achievement was the Workers’ Olympics, held in the 1920s and 1930s, which matched the popularity of the “bourgeois” or official Olympic Games organized by the International Olympic Committee.42 The most successful Workers’ Olympics, held in Vienna in 1931, brought together 76,245 athletes from twenty-three countries. The largest Polish worker-friendly sports organization, the Związek Robotniczych Stowarzyszeń Sportowych Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Polish Workers’ Sport Federation) supported athletes in twenty-seven disciplines. By 1934, it had a membership of 20,000 and reached countless more supporters through its newspaper Sztafeta Robotnicza (Worker’s relay). The Morgnshtern (Morning Star), founded in 1926 as the Polish-Jewish section of Socialist Workers’ Sport International, was also quite successful and boasted 5,000 members and more than 170 branches throughout Poland. Aside from encouraging physical education, these organizations promoted the principles of socialism, working-class consciousness, internationalism, and the rejection of militarism.

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In Canada, more cohesive Communist sports clubs were introduced in the early 1920s on instructions from the Communist International (Comintern) and the Young Communist International, which instructed the cpc to form clubs based on Red Sport International. The ycl declared that sport is: “An essential part of League work. Baseball should be the most popular, but hikes and runs and boxing and swimming can be all added. But these sports must be turned from commercial antagonistic games into “Red Sports” ... They are recruiting agencies because they are beneficial to League membership at large and develop a feeling of comradeship and vitality.”43 Across Canada sports clubs mushroomed with names like the Hammer and Sickle Club and the Red Hope Club. Together with its ethnic branches, the cpc encouraged a diversity of activity, including drills, acrobatics, baseball, soccer, and gymnastics. The workers’ soccer clubs in Montreal and Toronto competed on an annual basis and such games easily attracted crowds of over 5,000. Every aspect of the sporting events was overshadowed by some greater symbolic meaning that subliminally moulded the youth. The ycl for instance, encouraged making human pyramids, because doing so allegedly illustrated working-class solidarity during the class struggle.44 By 1934, the Winnipeg branch of the Workers’ Sports Federation had nearly 300 members. The majority were Jews, but there were also nineteen Scandinavians, nine Germans, and eight Poles, among others.45 rcmp agents noted that the federation “developed remarkably during its short period of existence,” and had “the most up-to-date gymnastic appliances and a very able gym instructor.46 Like all other social-cultural endeavours, sporting activities were not organized solely for sport’s sake. Communist leaders, on instruction from the Comintern, tried to use sporting activities to advance the possibilities for revolutionary change. Editors in the mainstream party press argued that workers still think of sports as “neutral” activities that have more to do with improving their health than with the class struggle. Until the Popular Front policy period began, Communists spoke of sports as a bourgeois stronghold and tried to break what they believed to be the bourgeois ideological hegemony over sports. At its convention in 1925, the ycl announced, “Our sport must have no other objective than the attacking of that stronghold and the capture of it if possible.”47

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The Polish Sokol was founded in Winnipeg in 1906 and organized much larger athletic initiatives than the Polish Communists or any other Polish association. Sokol was a para-military organization that promoted physical training, gymnastics, semi-military drills, athletics, and, above all, radical patriotism. Victor Turek observes that Sokol “did not spare time, money or energy in espousing many patriotic and charitable causes.”48 The ptl organized sports clubs and amateur competitions in both urban and remote centres to counter Sokol’s influence, and its leaders denounced the organization as a militaristic group influenced by the “fascist Polish government.” Polish Communist-sponsored sports organizations remained small. In fact, most Polish Communist youth joined sporting organizations that were organized by other ethnic Communist groups. The largest all-Polish sports organization, founded in Winnipeg in early 1935 by Zygmund Majtczak, a Communist organizer sent from Poland, had twenty-six members.49 Majtczak tried to expand the Winnipeg-based Polish Youth Section but lacked funding and had little success.50 He later ran into some problems with Morski, who accused him of stealing money from the party, but it is not known whether these allegations were true.

the polish-language communist press In “What Is to Be Done?,” Lenin writes that the working class will not spontaneously become political simply by fighting economic battles with employers over wages and working hours. He argues that a political party with a centralized newspaper is a necessary prerequisite to convert the working masses to Marxism: “A newspaper is not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator; it is also a collective organiser. In this respect it may be compared to the scaffolding erected round a building under construction; it marks the contours of the structure and facilitates communication between the builders, permitting them to distribute the work and to view the common results achieved by their organised labour.”51 Ethnic newspapers represent an enormous area of potential for researchers, as they contain a written record that reflects their community and their organization’s functional needs and perceptions in a specific temporal setting. One of the founders of the Chicago

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School of Sociology, Robert Ezra Park, writes, “News is a kind of urgent information that men use in making adjustments to a new environment, in changing old habits, and in forming new ones.”52 In a nation of immigrants, where the expectations of assimilation are strong, the ethnic news both helps new arrivals acculturate and also allows them to maintain cultural ties to their native country. Because they are connected to their ethnic organizations, newspapers often become symbols of the community itself. According to Susan Olzak and Elizabeth West, a group’s survival often hinges on the success of its ethnic press because of its symbolic and informative roles.53 Olzak and West argue that ethnic newspapers act as organizers of social movements: “Because they have broad connections to their constituent ethnic communities, such organizations take on some of the features of social movement organizations in addition to their conventional business characteristics.”54 Most ethnic newspapers are founded with a combination of intent: profit, community service, and to advocate a particular viewpoint. The Polish Canadian Communist press had all three of these motives. Between January and April 1932, the ptrf campaigned to raise money for its new newspaper, Głos Pracy.55 According to Turek, with the help of Ukrainian, Russian, Hungarian, and Yugoslav Communists, the Poles secured an initial fund of $600 and 500 subscribers.56 The newspaper was published out of the ptrf’s clubhouse in Winnipeg’s Burrows Central neighbourhood, which was home to a conglomerate of Ukrainian, Polish, German, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch immigrants. Polish Communists had owned the clubhouse in Winnipeg since 1929. The publisher’s address was never fully disclosed, although a number of books recovered from the Głos Pracy library were stamped with an approximate location of its headquarters: “Corner of Pritchard Ave. & Prince St.”57 Głos Pracy first appeared on 30 April 1932 under the editorship of Władysław Dutkiewicz.58 Despite his disdain for Communists, Turek lauded Dutkiewicz as a “first class journalist” who had a “profound knowledge of the immigrant group ... and a good general knowledge of Canadian conditions.”59 The paper was published first biweekly and later, in 1933, weekly. As the Polish Communist movement grew, so did Głos Pracy. The ptrf and ptl increased the size of the newspaper from four pages when it first appeared in 1932, to six pages in

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1933, to eight pages in 1935, while its special editions had up to twelve pages in 1936.60 Głos Pracy was, at one point, the longest of all Polish Canadian newspapers.61 Throughout the 1930s, Głos Pracy was the voice of class struggle. It fought for the miners of Nova Scotia and the lumber workers of British Columbia. It advocated for a united front of all workers’ organizations and women’s rights. But above all, it helped build the Polish party. When necessary, Głos Pracy contained the usual ideological jargon about international radicalism, atheism, and class struggle. In conjunction with the Popular Front policy, however, it restrained its rampageous promotion of Communism with moderate “between the lines” propaganda. By 1939, Głos Pracy “posed as defender of democracy and peace” and promoted tolerance and unity by promoting broad alliances with all political parties and religious groups that were willing to oppose fascism, though its position changed overnight when Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Germany in August that year.62 Głos Pracy used simple and appealing language, along with illustrations. Most of the news was translated into Polish from Canadian and occasionally US Communist papers, and supplemented with community news and information about Polish Communist events, meetings, and editorials. After Albert Morski’s arrival, the newspaper added new sections as part of the ptl’s strategy to reach a broader audience through its social-cultural program. Between 1935 and 1936 it included a farmers’ section, and in 1937 it added a women’s section, a “youth corner,” and a union column. A Toronto-based lawyer, M.S. Milstone, also edited a legal column between 1937 and 1938 that was published in English.63 Consul Tadeusz Brzeziński called Głos Pracy “a generally well edited paper in Polish. Regarding its content, it is clearly a Soviet oriented paper ... it tries to mask its character with general slogans that are opposed to the current government in Poland. A substantial portion of each issue is dedicated to the Soviet Union, of which they write like it is their own country ... Additionally, Soviet leaders are presented as if they were ... highly important people ... [Whereas Poland is presented] in the worst possible light.”64 The editors’ names were never disclosed in the newspaper, although most of the high-ranking Polish Communists contributed to it in some capacity. Dutkiewicz was its first editor. Tadeusz Lewandowski worked for the paper until the summer of 1936. J. Kaźmierczyk joined the paper

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in 1937 as editorial assistant. Morski joined in 1938. In the spring of 1938, as a result of some animosity between Morski and Dutkiewicz, the latter was displaced as first editor, although he stayed on as a member of the editorial committee until 1939. Antonina Sokolicz-Merkel also contributed under her nom de plume, E.M. Ogrodnik. Other contributors included Josef Polka, Stefan Kozłowski (who was killed in Spain in 1937), Zygmunt Majtczak, Maria Bobak, and Irena Morska, who served as a US correspondent between 1938 and 1940.65 Like most ethnic newspapers, Głos Pracy’s operations depended largely on fundraisers and donations. At the ptl’s eighth convention in October 1938, Dutkiewicz said that his press lived on alms.66 Between 1932 and 1933, Głos Pracy was allegedly able to cover 60 per cent of its publishing costs through donations.67 Between 1937 and 1939, Głos Pracy allegedly received $6,402 in donations.68 However, Pawlica referred to the published donation lists in Głos Pracy as “false and fictional, [their purpose] is on the one hand, to mask ... the fact that they are receiving subsidies from the Comintern and [from] central Communist organizations in Canada. On the other hand, the publishing of lists and fictional surnames of donors is supposed to encourage naïve people to hurry with donations.”69 Although it is highly likely that the paper received subsidies from Moscow, especially after 1945, the Polish Communists should be credited for their energetic fundraisers.70 rcmp security bulletins frequently mentioned elaborate banquets organized by Dutkiewicz that raised funds for Głos Pracy. Children’s choir performances, sporting events, anniversary celebrations, and even weddings and funerals almost always doubled as fundraisers for the paper.

red funerals An exceedingly high level of religiosity characterized the Polish emigration. The traditional rites that signified the most important occasions in their lives – births, marriages, and deaths – tied most Polish immigrants to the church. If Communists wanted to detach Polish immigrants from their religious institutions, they would have to displace traditional rites with ones more in keeping with Communist ideology. This task was exceptionally difficult to accomplish in a group of which 80 per cent declared themselves Roman Catholic.71

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As an indicator of how resistant Polish Catholics were to Communist indoctrination, we may consider briefly the failed efforts to supplant the Roman Catholic Church in post-war Communist Poland. The Polish Communist government restricted religious practices and imprisoned a number of priests, but Polish Catholics resisted and by the late 1950s the government discontinued most of its Church-related policies. Even in Soviet Russia, anti-religious policies were not entirely successful, as more than 60 per cent of the population demanded some kind of religious ritual.72 Communist funerals are the most striking example of Communists’ determination to politicize virtually all traditional domains, and they offer unique glimpses into left-wing culture. Communists understood that it would be difficult for sympathizers to break away from their traditional rituals. To solve this problem, the Communist funeral rite was introduced, which was similar in certain formal respects to the traditional Church procession, though without a priest and or religious symbols. The hearse led the way, followed by family members, comrades, and delegates, carrying red flags and flowers. Sombre ceremonies were held in a designated labour hall, with a local ensemble playing death marches and the “International.”73 Since Communist doctrine condemned ideas of the afterlife as fables and claimed that death meant the end of human existence, Communists focussed on celebrating the lifetime achievements of the deceased. Speeches described the deceased’s life, work, and social contributions, and emphasized their activities in the Communist Party. More importantly, Communist funerals were dramatic shows of solidarity and strength. One rcmp reporter could not help but marvel at a red funeral, describing it as “from a propaganda point of view a masterpiece.”74 The funeral of Joseph Polka, the general secretary of the Polish Labour Farmer Temple Association, is a dramatic example of a Communist funeral and evidence of how such occasions were politicized. Polka was accidentally killed by a Canadian Pacific Railway freight train on 27 May 1934, near Indian Head, Saskatchewan, while on an organizing trip. The Department of Health buried him, but the ptrf’s National Executive Committee exhumed his body and gave him a red funeral in Winnipeg on 9 June 1934. An rcmp commentator described the affair:

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A crowd of at least 2,000 filling the inter-section of Pritchard Avenue and Prince Street attended the funeral. The entire funeral ceremony was performed outside in front of the Polish Labour Temple. The casket was not opened and only a portrait of the dead man was displayed on top. Sixty-three automobiles took part in the procession on Brookside cemetery making it a very impressive occasion which was utilized to the fullest extent for propaganda purposes. Thirty Young Pioneers boys and girls dressed in white blouses and red scarves with two red banners bearing the hammer and sickle and numerous wreaths of roses formed the most conspicuous part of the funeral. The ceremonial program consisted of funeral marches played by the Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temple Association band, reading of telegrams and letters expressing deep condolences and regrets from distant organizations, and addresses delivered by delegates representing local organizations. These included Alderman Jacob Penner, from the Communist Party of Canada; Davie, from Transcona; Markowsky, from the Russian Workers’ Club; T. Kobzey, representing all Ukrainian organizations; Oscar Morgan, from the Young Communist League; C. Hitchins, representing the Antifascist League; Mabel Marlowe, from the Canadian Labour Defence League; and W. Dutkiewicz, from the Polish Labour Temple. The addresses were of propaganda text expressing deep sorrow, and urging the workers to join and fill in a thousand fold the vacancy left by the comrade whom cruel fate had torn out of the ranks of the revolutionary movement. Comrade Polka, they said, died a true soldier at his post. Dutkiewicz, the last speaker, traced the biography of the dead man, and generally eulogized the deceased’s accomplishments in the revolutionary movement.75 Since they did not believe in the afterlife, Communists used speeches and eulogies to demonstrate that the deceased continued to live through their work and contributions to society. Such thinking not only fulfilled people’s need for remembrance, but also proved to be an excellent propaganda tool. At a Hungarian red funeral, Ferenc Stolc, a worker who died of tuberculosis, was eulogized by a comrade as follows: “He did not live to see the great day of liberation for which he struggled. He left it to us, the living, to accomplish what he could not, having been broken by the murderous onslaught that Capitalism

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directs against us all. But we will carry on the flag that he dropped, onto the final liberation.”76 Ukrainian Communists gave almost identical funerals and eulogies. The funeral of M. Lenartowich, editor of the Working Woman and an organizer of the Communist Party in Winnipeg, was “a pompous affair,” noted an rcmp commentator, attended “by a crowd of over 2,000.” Speakers mourned “the terrible loss to the Party of this man,” and “urged that the workers should, by hundreds and thousands, strive to fill the vacancy created by his death.”77

conclusion The Polish Communists’ success was greatest in the cultural-educational sphere. In fact, after 1935, the ptl focussed almost exclusively on broadening its cultural front. It established youth sections, women’s departments, at least a dozen Polish-language schools, and a myriad of picnics, bazaars, and outdoor festivals. The ptl’s success on the cultural front speaks volumes about its financial capabilities. Chartering airplanes and stunt fliers, hosting film screenings, publishing hard-cover magazines such as Czerwona Jaskółka and almanacs, and maintaining youth camps, orchestras, choirs, schools, and theatres all required large sums of money, not to mention the purchase of several labour halls and cultural centres. Communists relied on the same tactics as patriotic organizations, which incorporated familiar images and symbols to spread their conservative, nationalist, and Christian ideology, though they were often more deliberate. Cultural elements such as language, drama, youth clubs, sporting events, and newspapers proved to be the best vehicles for distilling Communist ideas and ideology. The content of such programs was carefully selected – for instance, screening the popular film Trędowata, considered a classic by proletarians and patriots alike, both drew immigrants to Communist halls to be entertained, and subliminally informed them of the ills of bourgeois society. Other elements, such as Polish language courses and song and dance groups, satisfied immigrants’ desire for a little Polishness in their adopted homeland, while red funerals cleverly substituted religious rituals with a Communistic version of the afterlife.

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9 The Changing Tide: Polish Communists in the Wake of World War II

As of June 1936, when William Lyon Mackenzie King replaced R.B. Bennett’s discredited government and repealed Section 98 of the Criminal Code, the Communist Party of Canada (cpc) was once again able to operate aboveground.1 From its restoration until August 1939, the party’s activities met with considerable success – its candidates for public office began to enjoy more support, its influence grew within trade unions, and it experienced a steady increase in membership.2 These promising advances came to an abrupt end in late August 1939 with the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. For years, Communists had condemned fascism and clamoured for a united front against Nazism. Now, their patron and leader, the Soviet Union, had made a nonaggression treaty with the fascists. How could this scandalous rapprochement be justified, not only to the public, but also to the party’s own members? Stalin’s flirtations with the Nazis cost the Communists considerable support. Historians have estimated that in Britain, more than a third of party members severed their ties over the Nazi-Soviet Pact. In the United States, the party experienced a 15 per cent drop between 1939 and 1940.3 In Canada, Stalin’s political wedlock with Hitler had a similar demoralizing effect. Manitoba Communist and member of the legislative assembly James Litterick admitted that the pact had shaken the party to its “very foundations.” rcmp Intelligence Officer Charles Rivett-Carnac reported that cpc members experienced “profound confusion,” “despair,” and “disbelief.”4 He noted that the ethnic sections, “most of all the Jewish and Polish comrades,” were devastat-

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ed. According to his report, Jewish Communists took to the streets and openly questioned their loyalty to Moscow: On the day the news reached Canada, groups of Jewish Communists could be seen on the streets everywhere talking, unable to determine the magnitude of the stunning blow. To a great extent in desperation and at a complete loss to understand the significance of the situation, they added to the confusion by indulging in disruptive arguments. Jewish supporters of the Communist Party rose into loud denunciation and withdrew their support for the time being. They were not able to understand the reason for this betrayal or for Stalin’s joining hands with their most hated foe, Hitler. The foundation for their support of the communist policies had suddenly caved in.5 Polish Communists, on the other hand, kept their disbelief more hidden from view. On 18 August, less than a week before the pact was announced, they organized a rally of some 2,000 people in Toronto in support of Poland against the wake of Nazism. The rally was meant to increase the popularity of the Polskie Towarzystwo Ludowe (ptl, Polish People’s Association). A resolution passed, urging the Polish government to abandon any obstacles that prevented national unity and the equal integration of its minorities, and calling for solidarity with Poland and unity among Polish Canadians.6 When news came of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, that solidarity vanished. Among the ptl ranks, “patriotically minded” Polish Communists separated, albeit quietly, from their orthodox comrades. Rivett-Carnac described the situation: The patriotic minded Polish section of the Communist Party of Canada received the news with unbelief and despair. If bitterness was felt towards the Communist Party, it was however, reserved and muffled by a significant silence, as no evidence of open denunciation has been noted in the Polish organ of the Party – “Glos Pracy.” Like other language sections of the Communist Party, Polish supporters waited for some rational explanation of the underlying reasons for the Hitler-Stalin rapprochement.7

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According to Rivett-Carnac, “other Slavic language sections” (Ukrainian and Russian), had also received the news of the pact “in silent consideration.”8 Anti-Communists in the Polish community used the situation to undermine the ptl’s patriotic overtures. The Związkowiec launched a series of articles that questioned the ptl’s loyalty: “Will it agree to organize a protest rally against Stalin and the Soviets [similar to the one it organized] on the 18th of August ... will it agree to stigmatize the Soviet government for its secretive collusion orchestrated by ... Ribbentrop and Molotov?”9 In the weeks that followed the Nazi-Soviet Pact, those who remained loyal to the party declared that the treaty was necessary to preserve peace in Europe. The Daily Clarion, the cpc’s newspaper, declared: “The pact does not mark the slightest change in Soviet foreign policy ... the people of Germany will see ... that the Soviet Union is powerful enough to halt the fascist warmongers.”10 Tim Buck, the cpc’s general secretary, explained that the Soviet Union had no choice but to sign the pact, since the British government “rejected the Soviet proposal for a military alliance.” Communists denounced Chamberlain as the “malevolent instigator of war” and held him accountable for the rupture of the Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations for a nonaggression pact.11 Buck later recalled: “Lacking Soviet-British agreement, the Soviet-German Non-aggression Pact was the sole alternative by which the Soviet government could maintain the conditions for the defeat of Hitler’s plan. The Soviet-German pact guaranteed the defeat of the fascists; the Chamberlain government paid the political price of its own reckless adventurism.”12 Some Communists refused to admit that there was any sort of confusion at all, and they maintained that the new policy was just a part of the Communist plan. Communist Alderman Jacob Penner said at a Winnipeg meeting that the “Communist Party of Canada did not become confused over the Pact, for the Party thoroughly knows from long experience the peace policy of the Soviets and, therefore, remains faithful to all its actions.”13 According to orthodox Communists, the official line was that the “pact was not a surprise ... that it proves Soviet consistency ... that it defeated Chamberlain’s plot against the Soviets ... [and] that it was the means of splitting the Fascist Axis.”14 Rivett-Carnac marvelled at the Communists’ speed of recovery and their “rigid faith in the Soviet Union.” He observed that in some areas, the party “practically emerged intact, and in some respects, stronger

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than ever,”15 though he may have exaggerated the cpc’s recovery to remind political elites to remain vigilant about the Communist threat.16 Polish Communists surfaced from the Nazi-Soviet aftershock relatively unfazed. Apparently, a number of ptl members “severed their ties,” but according to an rcmp report most of them “returned and the incident ... had no serious effect upon the organization.”17 Albert Morski was still the leader of the ptl, Władysław Dutkiewicz continued to edit Głos Pracy, and Lewandowski and Majtczak appear to have received more important roles in the organization They declared however, that the Soviet Union would come to Poland’s aid in the event of German aggression.18 But before Communists had a chance to wave their new slogans and to digest the new course of action, Germany invaded Poland.

the deluge: 1 september 1939 The German and the subsequent Soviet invasion of Poland resulted in a new orientation in the Red camp. Immediately after the German armed forces attacked Poland on 1 September 1939, Communists declared that the war with fascism had begun. Buck sent a wire to King, pledging his party’s support: “In the name of the party I urge full support to the Polish people in their resistance to Nazi aggression. The Communist Party of Canada has stood consistently for adequate measures to prevent such aggression and to destroy fascism.”19 This position was embarrassingly short-lived. A few days later, on 17 September, the Red Army invaded Poland. The Soviet government held that the war was a conflict between imperialists, and it had mobilized its army to defend against the imperialist ambitions of Britain and France, which had used Hitler’s invasion of Poland as a pretext to start an imperialist war. Many Polish Canadian Communists maintained this line well after the war. In the late 1980s, Lewandowski still firmly believed that Russia was acting in good faith: “The Soviet Union had no choice but to commit this act of aggression in selfdefence. The whole situation was the result of imperialistic plots to set the Germans against the Soviets, so they would bleed each other and the imperialists would pick up the spoils.”20 After the Soviet invasion of Poland, Communists entered into another brief period of confusion, ideological summersaults, and policy escapades, but they quickly recovered and unquestionably accept-

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ed the Communist International’s new line. Stalin’s efforts to preserve peace for the Soviet Union through neutrality required the abandonment of the anti-fascist arguments and the adoption of the line that the war was exclusively an imperialistic one. Since Canada had declared war on Germany on 10 September 1939, it also belonged – according to the new Soviet line – to the enemy camp. “To defeat Hitler,” Communists charged, “they must defeat his Tory friends in Canada, Britain and France who have been mainly responsible for the building up of fascist power in Europe.”21 The cpc agreed that its earlier anti-fascist position had been incorrect, because the capitalist countries were not genuinely anti-fascist. The Daily Clarion noted: “The principal danger of fascism comes not from Nazi Germany, but from the war policies of the King government.”22 Prior to the Soviet attack, Głos Pracy condemned Hitler’s aggression against Poland and denied rumours that the Soviets demanded Lwów and Wilno in exchange for help.23 The paper even published photos of Poland’s President Ignacy Mościcki and the marshal of Poland, Edward Rydz-Śmigły, on its front page. But the developments on the Polish fronts made it impossible to hide Soviet-Nazi collusion, which became even more apparent on 28 September 1939, when Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and Nazi German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop signed a German-Soviet non-aggression and demarcation treaty that divided Poland into two geopolitical spheres: After the Government of the German Reich and the Government of the U.S.S.R. have, by means of the treaty signed today, definitively settled the problems arising from the collapse of the Polish state and have thereby created a sure foundation for a lasting peace in Eastern Europe, they mutually express their conviction that it would serve the true interest of all peoples to put an end to the state of war existing at present between Germany on the one side and England and France on the other. Both Governments will therefore direct their common efforts, jointly with other friendly powers if the occasion arises, toward attaining this goal as soon as possible. Should, however, the efforts of the two Governments remain fruitless, this would demonstrate the fact that England and France are responsible for the continuation of the war, whereupon, in case of the continuation of the war, the Governments of Germany

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and of the U.S.S.R. shall engage in mutual consultations with regard to necessary Measures.24 At first, not all Communists reacted to the Nazi-Soviet Pact with enthusiasm. cpc leaders and Ukrainian Communists rejoiced “at the political death of Poland’s ‘Semi-fascist state.’”25 Finnish Communists, on the other hand, were uneasy. One rcmp report noted: “A careful perusal of the reports, based on the summaries of the editorials and news accounts appearing in ‘Vapus’ [the Finnish Canadian Communist newspaper], fails to reveal anything but a policy of cautious reservation and endeavours to camouflage Finnish links with the Communist Party of Canada by a heavy veil of pseudo–Canadian Patriotism.”26 Polish Communists appeared to be equally cautious, at least initially, and uncertain of what to make of the situation.27 Lewandowski noted that he was “at first opposed to the Soviet Union’s collaboration with Hitler.”28 The ptl had made significant inroads into the Polish community. It founded new branches and replenished them with fresh recruits, expanded Głos Pracy, and attracted a growing following through its cultural-educational work. It appeared too risky to sever such inroads by making hasty decisions. On 27 September, Głos Pracy published a map with a designated German-Soviet border along the Vistula and the Narew rivers, but it did not comment on the status of these territories. It also did not disclose information about the nature of the Soviet invasion. Anna Reczyńska observes that Głos Pracy tried to “gradually and carefully ... explain and justify the Soviet government’s strengthening position on occupied Polish territory.”29 It reported only raw facts without any interpretation. The paper did, however, hint that the new changes in Poland under the aegis of the Soviet government were for the good of the Polish working class. It tried to demonstrate that Stalin would help build a true people’s society in Poland, with new libraries, clinics, and people’s schools.30 In one article, Polish Communists declared that the Red Army had liberated thirteen million poor people in Poland.31 To bolster such statements, Głos Pracy printed several letters allegedly written by Poles from Western Ukraine who said that they were earning good money, were healthy, and would even get to go to a sanatorium.32 To this end, the paper’s editors tried to reassure sceptical readers that the Soviet presence in Poland was temporary: “As soon as

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a regime is established in Poland, the Soviet Union will withdraw its army from the occupied territory.”33 The initial cautious and factual reporting was undoubtedly a result of the fact that Communists needed some time to fully digest the Comintern’s new line. By the end of September, however, Głos Pracy changed its policy: “From a champion of Poland it became her opponent, criticizing not only the Warsaw government, but the countries which came to its aid by declaring war on Germany.”34 The paper adopted a blatant pro-Soviet position and attacked Polish nationalism and “the wretched class government in Poland.” The editors tried to give their arguments more credibility by quoting David Lloyd George, who was known for being unsympathetic toward Poland: “It is a notorious fact that the Polish peasantry are living in great poverty owing to the worst feudal system in Europe. That aristocracy has been practically in power for years. All the promises of concessions to the peasants have been thwarted by its influence on recent Polish Governments. That is why the advancing Russian troops are being hailed by the peasants as deliverers.”35 The rcmp observed this startling about-face, and noted in a special security bulletin that Communists and patriotic Poles had been “united in their efforts in rescuing their fatherland from the Nazis,” but “today [we see] an unusual spectacle of calumny, contempt and malevolent indictments heaped upon the heads and regime of the defeated Poland by the Polish radicals in Canada – an attack more vicious and damaging in nature than the propaganda ever aimed at Poland by her Nazi enemy.”36 Communists’ unrelenting adherence to the Soviet line and bold attacks on the Polish government marginalized them within the Polish immigrant community. As news about mass deportations of Polish citizens to the ussr and of the Red Army’s vulgar operations in Poland became widespread, Polish Communists could rely on little sympathy and support from fellow immigrants in Canada. As the war progressed, Polish non-Communist organizations allied themselves in an effort to curtail Communists agitation, to lobby the Canadian government for aid, and to send relief to their compatriots in beleaguered Poland.

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war-time relations with the canadian polonia The ptl’s barefaced pro-Soviet position significantly mitigated its previous gains. By the end of September, the Winnipeg branch, the former base of ptrf and ptl activity, lost considerable membership. Consul Juliusz Szygowski attributed the Communist decline to counter-Communist measures, but in fact the ptl’s pro-Soviet position throughout September 1939 did the most damage. Contacts between the Toronto branch and the Winnipeg branch also weakened. According to an rcmp security bulletin, after the war broke out, the “less important organizers ... remained in Toronto” and the leaders moved to Winnipeg.37 Głos Pracy also suffered. In January 1940, Dutkiewicz organized a fundraising campaign, which proved to be disastrous. Less money was collected in every city than in previous years, while Winnipeg, previously a ptl stronghold, raised less money than Hamilton and Edmonton.38 A few months later, another collection was organized in Toronto. Over 500 Polish and Ukrainian supporters attended the spectacle, which included a brass band, a children’s choir, and motivational speeches to encourage attendees to make generous donations, but the dramatic display was a flop. According to the rcmp, the “silver collection taken at the conclusion of the concert was not particularly successful.”39 In early fall, a decision was made to convert Głos Pracy back into a weekly. Dutkiewicz blamed the war, although in fact the newspaper was in poor financial health due to dwindling contributions. Many “progressive” Poles withdrew their support and joined the left-ofcentre Związek Polaków w Kanadzie (zpk, Polish Alliance of Canada). One Hamilton resident wrote to the editor of the Związkowiec: “I feel offended ... that you called me a Communist [whom] I never was nor am. I was only an old reader of Głos Pracy, but today I want to be a reader of the Alliancer. Please rehabilitate me.”40 Despite these unfavourable circumstances, Communists remained loyal and dedicated to the Soviets’ course. One rcmp bulletin noted: “Like other Communists in Canada, Polish radicals cannot conceive of rebelling against their spiritual fatherland, the Soviet Union, or the mighty Stalin. As a result of this blind faith the criminal is represented as a ‘saviour,’ and the invasion of Eastern Poland as a blessed act.”41

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For patriotic Poles, the ptl became a crucible into which they poured their bitterness and anger. At one point, the rcmp feared that if “the Polish Communists get too aggressive in their promotion of Communism and a Marxist Poland among their resentful compatriots, serious friction may result.”42 For the most part, however, the battles were fought on paper. The Zjednoczenie Zrzeszeń Polskich w Kanadzie’s (zzpwk, Federation of Polish Societies in Canada) Czas and the zpk’s Związkowiec were critical of Communism and rarely minced words: “To spit in your snouts is not enough ... by soiling your own Polish nest you have soiled yourselves, all that has remained of you is a stench and a dung heap.”43 Other opinions were more cynical. One Związkowiec contributor wrote: “Communists from Głos Pracy sent a letter to premier King ... they want to defend Canada from Hitler ... I am curious with what Stalin will reward them for misleading Canadians.”44 The ptl’s barefaced propaganda only magnified the patriotic camp’s anti-Communist efforts. In 1940, Polish consuls initiated a campaign to encourage patriotic Poles to send anti-Głos Pracy petitions to the Canadian provincial and federal governments, because they worried that anti-Polish propaganda “slanders the seriousness of the Polish government as an ally.”45 The zpk wrote a petition to Gordon D. Conant, the attorney general of Ontario, outlining in five points Głos Pracy’s libellous propaganda, which, it argued: Spreads the doubt [sic] in the victory of Allied forces and undermines the confidence in the efficiency of all Allied governments, without exception; Attacks outrageously an ally of Canada, the Polish state and its government, thus shaking the faith of Polish people in them and weakening at the same time their enthusiasm and readiness to help the Canadian army and the Red Cross; Shows and carries the secret tendency against taking an active part in the war on the side of the Allies and therefore trespasses against the Law of Defence of the Dominion, at present in force here; Spreads the false propaganda in favour of the communistic regime and provokes by these means the fermentation which may prove dangerous for the actual order in this country; By the fact that it is edited in Polish, brings prejudice in the

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public opinion to the Polish Canadians, which loyally and patriotically desire to serve the common cause.46 The rcmp also noticed Communists’ malicious propaganda, and made reports about its damaging effects: The Polish ruling class is branded by this propaganda as “rotten, spineless and traitorous,” [which] betrayed and handed the country over to Hitler (no mention of the Soviet Union). The whole social system of Poland is indicted. The landed gentry, clergy and reactionary elements are blamed for contributing to the fall of Poland by setting up a semi-Fascist state and perpetuating the rule of the aristocracy which oppressed and exploited the workers and 8,000,000 of the landless peasants ... The full force of class arguments has again been turned against the “reactionary element” among the Poles in Canada, with the obvious purpose of confusing, demoralizing and converting them to the Communist Party.47 Communists, in turn, fought back and argued that the patriotic leaders were trying to destroy solidarity in the Polish community and dissolve the ptl’s patriotic endeavours through their “secret denunciations to the authorities in Ottawa.”48 Polish Communists withdrew their support from the Polish defence committees that had been set up throughout Canada at the start of the war, and initiated an independent campaign to raise funds for the Red Cross. They also formed a new program that supported a “new democratic front,” heralding a “new Poland” under a socialist banner.49 In June 1940, however, Communists paid for their obedience to Moscow and for their criticism of the Canadian government. That month, the federal government ruled that the cpc was an illegal organization under the War Measures Act and it outlawed the cpc and several other organizations, including the ptl. The cpc was forced underground. Its newspapers were banned, most of its Central Executive Committee was arrested, and over one hundred of its members were interned. Buck, Sam Carr, and a few other cpc leaders managed to avoid arrest by fleeing to the United States. The government also cracked down on the cpc’s ethnic divisions, especially on the Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temple Association50 – thirty-six of its members

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were interned, its library of over 60,000 books was destroyed, and its property was sold. Głos Pracy and the ptl were also dissolved, but Polish Communists were practically left unscathed. No ptl members were arrested or prosecuted.51 Those involved with Głos Pracy managed to hide their printing machines and editorial materials, and they assigned most of their assets to private individuals or fictitious organizations. Thanks to these pre-emptive measures, Polish Communists were able stage a comeback almost immediately. The surprise German attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 produced a dramatic change in the Canadian public attitude toward the ussr. From a vile German collaborator, the Soviet Union suddenly became a Western ally. These new circumstances prompted another major Comintern policy change. From that moment until the end of the war, Communists were instructed to focus almost exclusively on supporting a united war effort against Hitler. Even the struggle for socialism was put on the back burner as it was considered divisive and harmful. According to the party: “The character of the Second World War has been changed fundamentally by Hitler’s attack upon the U.S.S.R. ... In place of the previous perspectives of peace through joint action of the anti-war forces in the neutral and belligerent countries, or war fought to an imperialistic conclusion, the people ... now face the alternative perspectives of: unity of all who are against Hitler’s plan of world conquest ... or a complete Nazi victory and a return of the Dark Ages.”52 Despite Communists’ calls for solidarity and patriotism, the Canadian government refused to legalize the cpc. Undaunted, the Canadian party continued to operate underground, and it set up a new newspaper in January 1940, the Canadian Tribune. The paper was outlawed a year later, but it continued to be the cpc’s voice through underground channels. In February 1942, several cpc-sponsored “Tim Buck Plebiscite Committees” were formed to encourage Canadians to vote for the federal government’s conscription plebiscite. The committees were later combined and renamed to form the Dominion Communist-Labor Total War Committee, which advocated full support for the war effort, a no-strike pledge for the duration of the war, and increased industrial production.53 On 20 April 1942, Morski chaired a large convention in Toronto, at which more than 1,000 Torontonians of Slavic origin registered an affirmative vote for conscription.54 Party members and supporters

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were urged to enlist and to work in war production in all domains. The Toronto Star described Communists as “the most zealous supporters of an all-out war effort.”55 Public supporters, including Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn and his attorney general, Gordon D. Conant, appealed for the release of Buck and other interned Communists. In 1942, after signing statements saying that they would not interfere with the war effort, the interned Communists were released. The cpc, however, remained outlawed.56 The favourable position toward Communists had an enormous impact on the Polish Communist movement and its ethnic associates. Only a few months after the government dissolved the cpc and other organizations, ptl members established a new newspaper, Kronika Tygodniowa (Weekly chronicle).57 The first issue of the paper appeared in Toronto on 22 February 1941. Morski was the newspaper’s first editor, while Dutkiewicz was a correspondent, and their collaborators included a K. Kierpaul, Zygmunt Majtczak, and Tadeusz Lewandowski. The publishers advertised Kronika Tygodniowa as “the impartial, honest and democratic source of information for working Poles.”58 They initially tried to present information from a neutral position and furtively avoided any open criticism of the Polish and Canadian governments. Following the German attack on the Soviet Union, however, Communists reverted to their patriotic crusade against fascism and called for “great production of war materials and general support of Canada’s war effort.”59 Morski and Kierpaul even enlisted in the Canadian Army Reserve and underwent military training.60 Kronika Tygodniowa became the mouthpiece of the Polish Communists’ new organization, the Stowarzyszenie Pomocy Polsce i Aliantom (sppia, Association to Aid Poland and the Allies), which was founded in December 1941. Lewandowski became the sppia’s new president, although Morski remained the principal organizer and editor in chief.61 That year, Communists purchased a new building in Toronto at 235 Ossington Avenue, which served as the sppia’s official headquarters. Thirty-two delegates from Polish branches in Montreal, Oshawa, Kitchener, St Catharines, and Hamilton, along with other supporters, ceremoniously opened it on 19 December 1942.62 More than 500 Polish immigrants also attended the ceremony, with Ontario Labour Minister Peter Heenan presiding.63 Undercover rcmp officers were there to mark the occasion:

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A banquet ... attended by a considerable number of Polish [sic] with Adam morshi [Morski], a member of the National Executive of the Organization, as the principal speaker. His appeal for funds to assist in paying for the property netted the sum of $1,300.00. On Saturday afternoon, December 20th, at a meeting, another appeal was made for funds by the Secretary of the Local Branch and $900.00 was contributed. On the evening of the same day a large social and concert was held and, in a response to an appeal made by William Dut[kiew]ich, an additional sum of $471.00 was subscribed, including a donation of $5.00 from the Lithuanian group; $25.00 from the Ukrainian-Canadian Association; $25.00 from the Federation of Russian Canadians; $25.00 from the League of Canadian Croatians and $25.00 from the CarpathoRussians.64 The sppia styled itself as an anti-fascist organization that represented the Polish people in Canada. Its members affirmed, “in its ranks one finds progressive Poles regardless of religious or political differences, because the aim of the organization is to support Canada’s and the United Nation’s war effort.”65 The organization emphasized that it “fights for the unity of Canadian Poles” and its members enthusiastically declared: “In regard to the general interest of the war, as well as that of Canadian Poles, further activities and the development of the sppia are vital ... May a sppia branch arise in every Polish colony.”66 In its statute, the sppia adopted a Canada-first attitude, arguing, “the domestic problems of Europe and Poland in particular are remote and outside of Canadian interests.”67 Polish Communists claimed that they supported “further ‘Canadianization’ and ... the shaping of Polish-Canadian relations in accordance to the Canadian way of life.”68 The sppia also encouraged Polish immigrants to enlist in the Canadian military, arguing, “it is the most democratic force after the Russian People’s Army.”69 The Communists’ cajoling did little to improve their situation. Many Poles were bitterly suspicious and vocally critical of any organization that aligned itself with the Soviet Union. Even anti-Communist socialists like Alfons Staniewski were chastised for their left-ofcentre position and monitored by Polish consular authorities. Despite their increasingly marginalized status, however, Polish Communists

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continued to defend Poland and collect aid for their compatriots so long as their work did not interfere with Soviet policy.

buttressing a new poland: collecting aid and helping “true” patriots In 1944, the Canadian United Allied Relief Fund was founded to coordinate the efforts of ethnic relief committees across Canada. It acted as an intermediating third-party organization, and gathered the funds various ethnic relief committees collected, topped them off with an additional government subsidy, and dispensed them to countries affected by the war. In order for the Poles to take advantage of this network and the additional government funding, they needed their own relief committee, and so they established the Zjednoczony Polski Komitet Ratunkowy (uprf, United Polish Relief Fund) in February 1944. In theory, only the uprf could legitimately solicit funds publicly, while all other organizations were only allowed to collect donations from their own members. Most Polish immigrants willingly supported the uprf, and one of its first collection drives in Toronto brought in $25,000 – $17,000 was collected by mostly young Polish Canadians, and the government provided the rest. The money was given to the Canadian Red Cross, which sent it to aid Polish prisoners of war in Germany and Polish refugees in Russia and Iran.70 Since the sppia was not affiliated with the uprf, it linked itself to the Russian Relief Fund, which naturally created some outrage among Polish immigrants. Polish radicals also joined the Pan-Slav Committee, whose main objective was to organize aid for the eastern front and the Soviet Union.71 Morski tried to convince other Polonia organizations, namely the zpk, to join the Pan-Slav Committee by arguing that only Slavs should determine their own future. Most patriotic-minded Poles, including members of the zpk, ignored their rhetoric. In the spring of 1944, the sppia’s leaders toured Canada on a collection drive that, according to Kronika Tygodniowa, was highly successful. Compared to other Polonia organizations, the sppia was much more active in organizing fundraising bazaars, dances, concerts, and film screenings.72 Its members typically enticed broader segments of the public to come to their events by announcing the fictitious pres-

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ence of prominent guests, such as the Polish consul or the poet Julian Tuwim.73 In 1943, when General Zygmunt Berling’s Polish People’s Army was formed under the aegis of the Soviet government, the sppia concentrated on organizing aid for its soldiers. In Winnipeg, sppia members held a blood drive, though not a very successful one: only thirtythree individuals gave blood.74 Nonetheless, Polish Communists did a good job informing Canadian society about their efforts. In November 1943, an article in the Toronto Star noted: “We heard the story of a true Polish patriot Lieutenant Czarkowski, who made his way from German-occupied Poland to take part in the struggle against the Nazis. He had hoped to join General Anders’ army, but was bitterly disillusioned. He could not remain with those who engaged in empty talk and intrigues instead of actual fighting. When the League of Polish Patriots announced the formation of the Kosciuszko Division, Czarkowski was one of the first to enlist.”75 One of the biggest proponents of sending aid to Soviet Russia was Father Stanisław Orlemański. The American-born priest had founded the Kosciuszko League in Detroit, which aimed to unite North American Poles and encourage them to establish friendly relations with Russia.76 In 1943, the sppia invited Orlemański on a speaking tour to bolster Communists’ efforts. Orlemański visited Polish centres in London, Kitchener, Toronto, and Winnipeg. In the latter city, about 800 people went to listen to him in the St John Cantius Hall, and they donated more than $750 for the Polish People’s Army.77 All together, he raised more than $7,000 during his visit. His affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church was accentuated in order to underscore the Church’s support for his initiatives. In reality, however, Orlemański’s connections with the Church were tenuous and he was later suspended for his leftist agitation and for his mysterious trip to Moscow in April 1944, where he met with Stalin.78 Not all Polish immigrants were receptive to the sppia and its calls for democracy. Non-radicals did not willingly support Communist appeals to help the Berling Army. Most patriotic Poles preferred to send funds to help General Władysław Anders’ Army, which had been evacuated from Russia in 1942. Morski criticized the sppia’s critics, and declared that the “progressive Polonia is the most patriotic.” He avowed: “We donated for the defence [of Poland] since the first shots

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were fired in September. And we gave more than others, which the reactionary elements cannot digest nor make public ... We gave more than anyone for Anders’ Army ... until he proved to be a deserter ... We even gave to those refugees, of which so many now travel through Canada spreading Hitlerite propaganda against the ussr.”79 The cooperation between Communists and patriotic Poles was marred by deep schisms and suspicion.80 Kronika Tygodniowa regularly undermined the contributions and enthusiasm of the sppia’s opponents. In December 1943, it reported that most people preferred to send their donations to the sppia: the Oblate-sponsored Głos Polski (Polish voice, formerly Gazeta Katolicka) collected $141.12; Czas collected $123.00; the Polish consuls collected $183.00, and Kronika Tygodniowa collected a whopping $8,023.63.81 The sppia’s critics, on the other hand, undermined these numbers and often accused the organization of working against Poland. Morski denounced such arguments as sabotage.82 In the summer of 1944, Communists created their own fundraising organization, the Demokratyczny Komitet Pomocy Polsce (Democratic Committee to Aid Poland), which functioned independently of the uprf. The committee was supported by Jewish organizations, which helped the sppia collect used clothing, medicine, and cigarettes.83 Between 1944 and 1945, the sppia sent three transports containing fifty-four bales of clothing and ten crates with other materials to the Soviet Union. It is unknown whether the goods ever reached their intended destinations in Poland, because apparently Canadian railway officials and the Soviets had created some bureaucratic difficulties, though this was never discussed in the Polish Communist press.84 It is difficult to estimate the extent of the sppia’s influence because of a lack of evidence. It is clear, however, that the sppia had substantial capital at its disposal, which it apparently amassed from generous donations. Between 1941 and 1942, Kronika Tygodniowa expanded from four pages to eight. In 1943, the sppia’s Winnipeg branch managed to pay off the mortgage on its labour hall relatively quickly. And, as I discussed above, the organization also purchased a large building in Toronto to serve as its central office, which it quickly equipped with furniture and used to house a choir, a sports club, a Polishlanguage school, an amateur theatre group, and a youth club. sppia purchased the building for $14,000, a substantial sum for the period,

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paid half in cash, and was supposed to mortgage the rest over several years.85 In 1943, however, it paid off the entire mortgage, which suggests that it must have had access to outside resources, possibly in Moscow. Kronika Tygodniowa reported that the funds for the building had been collected by the Building Construction Committee (Komitet Budowy Domu) back in 1938. The rest of the money allegedly came from pious and munificent donors. Reczyńska rightly undermines these facts, and questions whether the sppia’s influence could have truly been so significant during this period.86 That Kronika Tygodniowa often stretched the truth is a known fact. For instance, it reported that the sppia collected $5,000 on the opening day of its new Toronto building, but an rcmp report noted that the amount was closer to $2,800. Kronika also reported that sppia received $4,300 in donations in 1943, and close to $6,000 by 1944.87 It seems doubtful that poor workers, who were making an average of fifty-five cents per hour, or about eighty dollars a month, could make substantial contributions. Typical donations were twentyfive or fifty cents.88 Other ethnic Communist branches also made contributions, but they typically never exceeded twenty-five dollars. The sppia’s reach should not be underestimated, however. It organized banquets, bazaars, concerts, and other social events more recurrently than other Polonia organizations. Most of these events were usually followed by collection drives. Larger banquets and special gatherings typically attracted 500 to 700 people, and were held several times a year. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Communists enjoyed more popularity, and individuals who had previously ignored their organizations suddenly started to support them. In 1945, for instance, the Calgary Herald reported that the sppia received $250 from Calgary’s city council. It also noted that Polish Communists were selling raffle tickets for a “two-storey Dutch colonial house valued at $7,250.00 at Brantford, Ontario.”89 While most patriotic Poles remained sceptical of the sppia, its success in collecting funds, especially from members outside the Polish community, must be viewed within the context of the unprecedented popularity of the cpc, which in 1943 changed its name to the Labour Progressive Party, and the Soviet Union. The bitter and hostile attitude toward the ussr was supplanted, almost overnight, by admiration and respect after the Red Army began to score victory after victory on the eastern front against the

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Germans in 1943.90 The Soviet Union’s prestige soared and thousands of supporters across Canada cheered for Stalin and the Red Army. In his report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, Polish consul Wiktor Podoski sarcastically noted that Communism was experiencing a romantic revival among Canadians.91 An article in the Toronto Star entitled “Let Us Repay Our Debt to Russia” praised the Soviet regime and Stalin’s position in the Allied camp.92 This euphoria culminated in June 1943 with the founding of the National Council for Canadian-Soviet Friendship at a rally in Maple Leaf Gardens that was chaired by Prime Minister Mackenzie King and attended by 15,000 supporters.93 Several other leading figures also endorsed the council, including the chief justice of Canada, Lyman Poore Duff; the lieutenant governor of every province; the chief justice of every province; the premiers of six provinces; the senior representatives of the three armed forces; the leaders of the three main Canadian political parties; and representatives of organizations such as the Imperial Order of Daughters of the Empire, the Canadian Legion, and the Canadian Jewish Congress. Never had Canadian Communists received such elation and support.94 The struggle between Germany and the Soviet Union was presented as a battle between good and evil. And the Soviet Union’s military victories were persuasive anti-fascist credentials for the Communists, who began to enjoy increasingly more support in the political sphere. On 4 August 1943, two Communists, A.A. MacLeod and J.B. Salsberg, were elected to the Ontario Legislature, and on 9 August, Fred Rose, a Polish Jew and prominent Communist, was elected to the House of Commons. This was an important victory, as it was the first time that a Communist had been elected to federal parliament.95 Unlike many Canadians, patriotic Poles did not buy into the proSoviet jubilation. The zzpwk, which became the Canadian Polish Congress in September 1944, tried to change Canadian public opinion. In 1945, it wrote to the Toronto Daily Star, emphasizing the fact that Communists became pro-war and pro-British only after Germany attacked Russia. It also chastised Morski, declaring that he had “never, in his publishing or social activities, represented the Canadian view, much less the Polish. His activities, it charged, “are merely a certified copy of orders received from outside.”96 When the war broke out, the non-Communist Polonia federations had somewhat different views about which political party should rep-

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resent the future Polish state. The zzpwk supported the politics of the Polish government in exile, which operated in London, England. The Oblate Fathers’ Society of Poles in Canada supported the views of groups that were connected to the church, and the zpk occasionally flirted with the programs of the Polish Socialist Party. By the end of the war, however, the zpk and the Society of Poles in Canada began to throw their support behind the politics of the Polish government in London. While they held different views on the realization of a political program for post-war Poland, they united in their anti-Soviet beliefs and resentment toward Soviet Russia’s transgressions: its attack on Poland in September 1939; the nkvd’s execution of over 20,000 Polish officers in the Katyn massacre in 1940; the dreadful treatment of Polish refugees in the ussr and Poland’s underground army; and General Władysław Sikorski’s mysterious death in July 1943, which most patriotic Poles suspected Soviet conspirateurs orchestrated. Although Poles everywhere were happy that the German Army was crumbling in 1944, the patriotic camp had little reason to cheer as the Red Army advanced along the eastern front as it became increasingly apparent that the Soviets would “liberate” Poland. The critical moment arrived in July 1944, when the Red Army crossed the River Bug, and captured territory that Stalin was prepared to recognize as belonging to the future Polish state.97 On 22 July 1944, the Moscow government established a provisional government, the Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego (pkwn, Polish Committee of National Liberation) in Lublin, and gave it the status of a temporary administration. The pkwn helped Stalin administer the lands liberated from German occupation, and in due course it became the core of the Provisional Government of the Polish Republic from January to June 1945, and the Provisional Government of National Unity from June 1945 onward, which formed the basis of the People’s Republic of Poland.98 Despite the pro-Soviet euphoria that enthralled many Canadians, the rcmp remained sceptical and vigilant about Soviet advances.99 In June 1945, it produced a special report entitled “Poland a Major Victim of Soviet Imperialism,” which indicated that it had no second thoughts about the nature of Soviet plans for Poland: In breach of several solemn treaties, the ussr has seized 40% of Poland’s territory, including a large Catholic, non-Communist

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population of Poles and Ukrainians larger than the whole population of Canada. Worse still is the imposition on what is left of Poland of a Moscow-sponsored puppet government and the systematic liquidation of Polish patriots by the nkvd. The Lublin stooges consist largely of (1) Communists, often with nkvd training, imported from Moscow, such as A. Zawadzki, B. Drobner, E. Osobka-Morawski and J. Haneman (2) men with disgraceful records, such as General Zymierski (head of the new Department of National Defense), who served a penitentiary term for embezzlement, General Berling (Deputy Head of the Department of National Defense), who was retired in 1939 because of scandals, and W. Razymowski (head of the Department of Culture and Art), who was expelled from the Polish Academy of Literature because of plagiarism, and (3) pliable nonentities such as J. Czechowski and E. Sommerstein. The real rule of the country, however, has been in the hands of the nkvd, which, as the British government has repeatedly complained, is filling concentration camps with the brave defenders of Poland.100 All Polonia newspapers, except of course Kronika Tygodniowa, denounced the pkwn program as a “manifesto of villainy and betrayal” and condemned its collaborators, mainly the members of the Polish Workers’ Party (created in Warsaw in 1942), as usurpers.101 Non-Communist newspapers showed concern over the Soviet “liberation” of Poland and the future of Poland’s eastern territories (from which many Polish immigrants came), and made predictions about the status of Poland’s frontiers. Occasionally, they also urged various Polish political parties to strike a compromise with the Soviet Union. There were groups in the Polonia who were sympathetic to the politics of Stanisław Mikołajczyk, who had tried to reach a settlement with Stalin.102 As political and military developments later showed, however, compromise was not possible. Polish Communists naturally embraced the Soviet program for Poland. Kronika Tygodniowa increased its assaults on the Polish government in London and those who supported it in Canada. Morski condemned London Poles and their Polish Canadian supporters as “reactionaries” who espoused a policy “that was in direct contradiction to the interests, aims and purposes of the Allies.”103 In a press statement, he accused the congress of trying to convince the Canadian

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public that the Churchill-supported solution regarding the Polish territorial question will “plunge the world into new disputes and conflicts and may culminate in a new and more terrible war.”104 He also attacked the Canadian Polish Congress, which declared its support for the London government, calling it “but an imitation of a similar body in the United States, organized by Col. Matuszewski and his Fascist colleagues. Nobody is serving better the cause of German Fascism than these Polish reactionaries who would again readily restore Colonel Beck’s Poland with all its faults.”105 In their newspapers, Polish non-Communists criticized Morski and his “democratic” organization and questioned his “Polishness.” For the most part, however, they reprinted Polish articles from England to inform their readers about the situation in Poland and the political developments in Europe. Their disparagement of the Soviet Union and its Polish followers mainly appeared on the pages of Canadian mainstream newspapers and in press statements to enlighten Canadians about Communist transgressions. In 1945, for instance, they wrote to the Daily Toronto Star and condemned the “one-sided decisions of the Soviet Government,” which, they argued, “contradicted the Atlantic Charter.”106 The Canadian public did not seem to absorb the congress’s efforts to “expose” Soviet wrongdoings. In 1945, an rcmp report sarcastically observed, “it is a commonplace with many Canadian newspapers that Russia, having fought bravely and suffered greatly, is entitled to territorial compensation at the expense of innocent neighbours and is entitled to impose on them puppet regimes acceptable to Stalin.”107 The rcmp ridiculed such logic in several reports: The sheer immorality of all this appears if we change the beneficiary. Poland has fought more bravely and suffered more drastically than any other belligerent. Therefore, by the same reasoning, Poland should be permitted to absorb Czechoslovakia and the western parts of the ussr, and to impose on Moscow a Polishsponsored government consisting largely of Poles, Soviet gaolbirds, and Czarist-Russian Red-baiters! The absurdity of the proposal is manifest; yet when the same sort of arrangement is proposed by Moscow, for Moscow’s advantage, Canadian mushheads and political charlatans outdo each other in their enthusiasm. Some even go so far in their folly (or

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criminality) as to urge that since the existence of a dozen small free states in the Baltic-Balkan zone of Europe is a constant source of temptation to the Soviet’s crocodile appetite, it will make for the peace and stability of the world if they are fed to the crocodile as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the crocodile appetite knows no limits.108 The coming of the war in 1939 significantly changed the position of working-class immigrants in Canadian society. Wartime industry supplied those who had been under- or unemployed with relatively stable jobs and better wages. The expansion of the labour movement also meant that immigrants could join labour unions, which gave them additional security and confidence. Moreover, the creation of government programs like the Nationalities Branch of the wartime Bureau of Public Information and the Committee on Co-operation in Canadian Citizenship in 1942 marked the first major steps toward actively integrating immigrants into Canadian society, though such initiatives were slow in the beginning. The start of the war was also the beginning of the end for Polish Communists in Canada. Despite their cultural-educational pretences and calls for Polish patriotism, they had demonstrated that they were willing partners of the Soviet Union. Embarrassing policy twists and Nazi-Soviet collusion had not made Polish Communists abandon mother Russia or cease executing Moscow directives. The consequences of that allegiance became apparent in the Polonia. While many Canadians were jubilant about the Red Army’s success, most Polish Canadians became even more vocal opponents of the Soviet Union. Soured Polish-Soviet relations over Soviet Russia’s transgressions against Poles and Stalin’s political machinations gave patriotic Poles well-grounded reasons to marginalize the Communist camp. By the war’s end, as I will show in the next chapter, the Polish Communist movement was beginning to slide downhill.

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10 The Last Leap of Faith

The end of World War II solidified the Communist takeover of Poland. In July 1945, Ottawa recognized the Soviet-backed Provisional Government of National Unity in Warsaw, which formed the backbone of the Communists’ fresh power. The new authorities in People’s Poland appointed Albert Morski, the chief editor of the Polish Canadian Communist newspaper Kronika Tygodniowa (Weekly chronicle), as their representative in Ottawa. Canadian authorities, however, rejected Morski because of his radical political past. After long deliberations, Dr Alfred Fiderkiewicz was appointed the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Canada in 1946.1 On the surface, the Polish Communists appeared to have won against their opponents in the Polish Canadian community. Poland was a Communist satellite, its bourgeois elements had been curbed, and the London Poles were cut off. In fact, the Polish Communist movement was decaying. Shunned by almost the entire Polish Canadian community, Communists gradually receded into the abyss. By the late 1950s, an influx of anti-Soviet conservative Polish ex-soldiers to Canada, coupled with factors such as the generally improved material conditions for most immigrants after World War II; ongoing resentment toward the Communist regime in Poland (especially after the fraudulent elections in 1947 that brought a Communist-backed president, Bolesław Bierut, to office); news about mass arrests and executions of former Polish underground Armia Krajowa soldiers; and Morski’s departure from Canada all contributed to Polish Communists’ steady isolation.2

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The fate of the Polish Canadian Communist movement was also linked to the life of broader Canadian Communist movement, which became increasingly less attractive for Canadians, especially after the Gouzenko Affair in September 1945 revealed the existence of a Soviet spy ring in Canada. As Cold War tensions crystalized and McCarthyism created anti-Soviet paranoia, Canadians and their patriotic Polish counterparts became increasingly hostile toward Communism.3 When the war ended, only Polish Canadian Communists and their sympathizers supported the new government in Poland. On 15 July 1945, the pro-Communist Stowarzyszenie Pomocy Polsce i Aliantom (sppia, Association to Aid Poland and the Allies) organized a rally in Toronto to commemorate the 535th anniversary of the victory at the Battle of Grunwald, when a Polish army defeated the Teutonic Knights. According to Kronika Tygodniowa, around 800 people took part in the celebrations, and Leopold Infeld, a renowned physicist, and Leon Krzycki, the president of the Polish-American Labour Council and the American Slav Congress, were among the invited guests. Attendees accepted a resolution in support of the new Polish government, and made an appeal to “all broader segments of Poles in Canada, [who] in spite of their views and religious beliefs and differences” should do the same.4 In September 1945, Polish Canadian radicals underwent an organizational change. At a meeting in Toronto attended by fifteen delegates representing fourteen Canadian cities and one hundred guests, the sppia and an organization called the Polish Democratic Union merged to become the Polskie Stowarzyszenie Demokratyczne (Polish Democratic Association, pda). The new organization declared that it represented all progressively minded Poles, and its members sent a letter of support to Bolesław Bierut, the head of the Provisional National Council; the Provisional Government of National Unity; General Karol Świerczewski; and the well-known Polish Communist activist Wanda Wasilewska. They also urged the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send a representative of the Polish government to help counter elements in the Canadian Polonia who opposed the new “democratic” order in Poland.5 In 1946, Alfred Fiderkiewicz, the new Polish envoy, arrived in Ottawa.6 Members of the pda and several thousand people, including members of American and Canadian progressive organizations, wel-

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comed him. On 30 June 1946, Fiderkiewicz officially greeted Polish Canadians in Toronto on behalf of Bierut and declared: “Feudal Poland ... in which all kinds of outrageousness thrived has disappeared. In her place democratic Poland has been established, a Poland based on the masses of the people, the labour class, the peasants and the intellectual workers.7 In the following months, Fiderkiewicz visited Polish, Ukrainian, Jewish, and other organizations to solicit support for the Polish government and laud the conditions in the “new” People’s Poland. Meeting with the women’s branch of the United Jewish People’s Order in Toronto, Fiderkiewicz spoke of his experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz. He urged Jewish Canadians to return to Poland, and ensured them that they would not be “barred from employment” and that they could work “efficiently in the government and other public offices, in industries, trades, and on farms.”8 Fiderkiewicz also underscored the historical break between the “fascist-style” government of pre-war Poland and the new “true democracy” that Polish workers and farmers were building. While he highlighted the positive progress in People’s Poland in his speeches, he also criticized those who remained loyal to the Polish government in exile in London in order to wield a wedge of disloyalty between Polish immigrants and the London camp. At a national convention of the pda in Toronto, he reminded his audience that a significant segment of the Polish population in Canada was loyal to the fascist Polish government in exile, “very well organized,” and “hostile to everything that our democratic Poland intends to do.”9 The new authorities made a sharp distinction between progressive Polish immigrants and those who maintained contacts with the Polish government in London. On instructions from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, new Polish consuls tried to persuade “progressive” Poles to support the new government. They avoided using radical Communist slogans, and they emphasized the democratic nature of the changes in Poland.10 They also published articles in Kronika Tygodniowa about rebuilding Polish ruins and important cultural symbols, granting land to peasants, new schools and libraries, and the government’s fight against illiteracy. Kronika Tygodniowa printed several letters from Polish immigrants who had allegedly returned to Poland to participate in building a “people’s society.” The letters relayed the impression that the majority

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of Poles, including the Catholic clergy, were content with the new system and supported the government. Attacks against the Church disappeared from Kronika’s pages entirely, and were replaced with news about celebratory masses organized to commemorate the liberation of Poland and about rebuilding churches. Between 1946 and 1947, Communists tried very hard to increase their support among Polish Canadians. They were particularly interested in targeting Polish organizations that were not connected to the conservative Canadian Polish Congress. At one point, they unrealistically hoped that the Związek Polaków w Kanadzie (zpk, Polish Alliance of Canada), which was known for its progressive outlook and its left-of-centre position, could be convinced to support the pda. Most zpk members were hard-line anti-Communists, and many of its supporters resented the pda for its allegiance to the Soviet way. In late 1945, several prominent Polish guests from the Warsaw government were invited to tour Canadian communities to bolster support for Communist Poland and relay first-hand impressions of the situation in Europe. Among them was Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Wincenty Rzymkowski, and General Karol Świerczewski, who also toured the United States. The minister of agriculture, Michał Szyszko, who represented the Polish Socialist Party, also visited Polish immigrant colonies and took part in rallies in Montreal, St Catharines, Hamilton, and Toronto.11 According to Kronika Tygodniowa, around 1,500 people attended the rally in Toronto. None of these impressive efforts, however, persuaded patriotic Poles to support the new regime in Poland. Many of them came to protest at the rally in Toronto, and Kronika Tygodniowa described their behaviour as “scandalous.”12 Most patriotic and religious Poles maintained a frigid attitude toward the Communist camp. Some of Poland’s pre-war diplomats and government officials, such as Tadeusz Brzeziński, remained in Canada and continued to represent the interests of the Polish authorities in London.13 The Polish clergy unofficially maintained a critical attitude toward the Communist government. In the western provinces, organizations affiliated with the Oblate Fathers’ Polish Society in Canada stopped participating in aid campaigns for Poland, especially when the collections were politically motivated. The Oblates’ official organ, the Gazeta Katolicka (Catholic gazette), was unsympathetic toward Moscow, although it refrained from making

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comments on or evaluating the political situation in Poland. The Canadian Polish Congress, which had a history of propagating loyalty toward the Polish pre-war government, followed a similar line and tried to remain apolitical. Its statute of October 1945 stated that it should “encourage and propagate in the Canadian Polonia, as much as possible, an interest in Canadian citizenship and the problems associated with our lives in this country.”14 The zpk also tried to maintain an impartial attitude, claiming that “infertile political discussions ... are not entirely beneficial for the Polish nation, Canada or for our emigration in this country.”15 The majority of Polish immigrants remained cynical. One reader asked why Stalin had cut the size of Poland in half and “why there can be no agreement between the Polish government in London and the Committee of National Liberation [since both are] Polish and fight for an independent Poland.”16 Farmers and workers were also suspicious of the new circumstances in Poland. One reader questioned whether the country was truly free: “I am not sure if we have a free Poland, one that we wanted, and one to which we would gladly return. Foreigners rule there, apparently they are taking our ... land, the fields which we bought for hard and toiling work in Canadian factories ... and paid for by years of separation ... Today everything has been lost.”17 The pda established several organizations like the Polskie Towarzystwo Wzajemnej Pomocy (Polish Mutual Aid Society) and the Komitet Współpracy Gospodarczej z Polską (Economic Cooperation Committee with Poland) to encourage Polish immigrants to send money home. In the autumn of 1946, Polish Communists organized a large campaign to sell bonds for the Polish Reconstruction Loan, and sold $62,000 of them.18 This was the pda’s most successful campaign, particularly because many non-Communist Poles also purchased bonds. Among them was the new editor of the Związkowiec (Alliancer), Leon Garczyński, who was removed from his post in 1948 because of his contacts with the Polish consuls and alleged flirtations with Communist circles. The bond campaign turned out to be the pda’s last major successful collection. Ironically, those who had purchased the bonds later publicly criticized it, because the organizers did not provide any certificates confirming their investments, and no one could explain how the money was used or even confirm if the funds had actually been sent to Poland. Angry Poles accused the pda

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of theft and financial abuse. It was not until 1948 that Kronika Tygodniowa tried to do some damage control by informing that the bonds had been received in Poland. It was too late, however, to reverse the bitter resentment and general suspicion that the affair had created.19 In the immediate post-war period, many Polish immigrants read Kronika Tygodniowa exclusively because it was the only source that printed news directly from Poland. Victor Turek, who studied the Polish Canadian press, notes that its circulation briefly increased after the war because it was the only Polish Canadian newspaper with wire service to Poland. But such facts should not be used to measure Communist influence in the Polish immigrant community. Even the purchase of the bonds for the reconstruction loan should not be considered an act of support for the Communist government. Many Polish immigrants purchased the bonds because they considered it their duty to help rebuild their war-torn homeland. Still others purchased them purely as an investment. In 1945, Polish organizations, both Communist and non-Communist, proposed sending a delegation to Poland to gather information about its political and social condition. Morski suggested that the Polish government should invite a delegation consisting of not only members from the Canadian Polonia, but also members representing war refugees, members of the Jewish community who had Polish roots, and two Canadian parliamentarians. The costs of sending a delegation of such size and political obstacles after the Gouzenko Affair delayed the undertaking. The Gouzenko Affair severely injured the Communist movement in Canada.20 For many patriotic Polish Canadians, the revelation of a Soviet spy network only confirmed their suspicions. Many Poles speculated as to whether any pda members were involved in the affair, and some predicted that Morski and his collaborators would be arrested. There is no available evidence to link any pda members to the Soviet spy network, even though Morski maintained contacts with Fred Rose, who was one of the leading figures in the Gouzenko Affair. But it is worth noting that Morski somewhat distanced himself from his activities in Communist circles during Gouzenko’s revelation. Another prominent member of the Polish Communist movement, Władysław Dutkiewicz, left for Poland for several months in 1946. Tadeusz Lewandowski edited Kronika Tygodniowa until Morski and Dutkiewicz returned to assume their duties. The paper denounced the

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entire Gouzenko Affair as an anti-Soviet ploy designed to discredit the Soviet Union. When Dutkiewicz returned from his visit to Poland, he toured Polish centres in June and in July 1946 to share the realities of daily life in his homeland. According to Kronika Tygodniowa, he met with over 7,000 people. He spoke mainly about the new reforms in Poland, working conditions, and rebuilding war-torn cities and towns. He did not try to hide the fact that there were some difficulties in Poland, though his opponents noted he definitely minimized them. A contributor to the Polish Canadian newspaper Czas (Time) mocked the entire affair: “All of us were disappointed listening to this nonsense, which was professed by this traitor of the Polish people ... he said what Osóbka21 told him to say ... that in Poland people have something to eat and something to wear.”22 According to the contributor, the audience at the meetings was mainly composed of Russian and Ukrainian Communists. When the aftershock of the Gouzenko Affair dissipated, a delegation representing the United Polish Relief Fund (uprf) was organized and sent to Poland in the spring of 1946. It consisted of A.F. Chudzicki, the editor of Czas who unofficially represented the Canadian Polish Congress; Wincenty Wojcik, of the zpk; Zygmunt Majtczak, of the Democratic Aid Committee for Poland; and Lawrence Johnstone Burpee, the Canadian president of the uprf, who died in London during the trip.23 Congress leaders instructed Chudzicki to “study the relations between poor Polish people in the villages and in the cities ... [and to examine] if Poles receive the donations sent by Polonia equally, or if there are some exceptions.”24 The delegates also carried letters, information, and money for relatives in Poland. Wojcik recalled that a shoemaker on Toronto’s Queen Street made a special pair of shoes for him in which he carried all of these donations.25 Unbeknownst to his family, he mortgaged their house to pay for the trip.26 As it turned out, the delegation did little to help Polish Canadians form a better understanding of the realities in Poland. Each of the delegates returned to Canada with a different opinion – in fact, three refused to meet together to present their observations. Chudzicki’s impressions, which he published in Czas and the Związkowiec, were denounced in Kronika Tygodniowa as “slanderous and deceitful.” Communists accused Chudzicki of being a “self-declared enemy of Poland”

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who lied “that only communists benefit from unrra [the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration], that “the Polish Army is led by Russians and that tanks with painted ‘onto London’ slogans waited on Polish streets.”27 Wojcik seemed to be split about the situation. He questioned whether the war was over in Poland, or whether a new one was just beginning. He also urged all Polish immigrants to continue sending aid to Poland to help rebuild their homeland.28 Only Majtczak, who had been associated with the Polish Canadian Communist movement since the early 1930s, praised the new Polish workers’ society and the situation in Poland.29 While most Poles were already sceptical of the situation in Poland, the thousands of Polish anti-Soviet ex soldiers, displaced persons, and political refugees who settled in Canada after the war solidified their position. Initially, the Canadian government was apprehensive about welcoming such individuals and denied their formal requests for permission to come to Canada. Thousands of them were still in Italy and scattered in special camps administered by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and the International Refugee Organization (iro) throughout Europe and as far as Lebanon and British East Africa. Though they faced pressure from prospective immigrants’ relatives and various organizations, Canadian authorities feared that they were not prepared to absorb so many people.30 In 1946, the iro and the British government began to pressure the Canadian government to help deal with the mounting international refugee crisis. Canada set up a special Senate Committee on Immigration to debate the desirability of opening its borders. Many of the committee’s sessions consisted of hearing petitions and pleas for policy reform presented by delegates who represented various organizations and ethnic groups,31 including Polish conservative organizations such as the Canadian Polish Congress as well as the pda. The hearings exposed serious divisions within Polish and other immigrant communities in Canada.32 As the official representative of the pda, Dutkiewicz supported the Soviet view that all Polish displaced persons should return to Poland because it was their responsibility to help reconstruct and rehabilitate it.33 He accused the Polish government in exile of spreading vicious propaganda about the Polish government in power, which he claimed discouraged refugees and ex-soldiers from returning. He also claimed that the majority of Polish ex-soldiers who remained outside of Poland had been soldiers in the

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German army who never fought on the allied side.34 Such information was widely published in several Canadian newspapers, and often propagated by editors who were hostile to non-British immigrants.35 In June 1946, the Canadian Polish Congress made a submission to the Senate Committee on Immigration urging Canada to accept up to 500,000 Polish refugees and veterans. Its representatives claimed that Canada should accept the displaced persons as political refugees because conditions in their former homeland had become undemocratic and not conducive to the development of individual liberties. J.S. Grocholski, the president of the Canadian Polish Congress, referenced the military contributions of the Polish Army, claiming that Polish soldiers would make excellent Canadian citizens.36 During the committee’s hearings, Polish Communists tried to convince broader segments of the Canadian population that many of the Polish displaced persons had collaborated with the Nazis and should therefore be denied entrance into Canada. Speaking at the International Labor Office, Fiderkiewicz exclaimed: “We know that the Anders’ Army is composed, first of some good patriots, but in addition, the Anders’ Army is reinforced by Germans, Polish Volksdeutsche, and different traitors that were acting in Poland.”37 At meetings with members of the Jewish community in Toronto and later in Montreal, Fiderkiewicz said that the Anders’ Army had been poisoned with “Nazi fascist and anti-Semitic venom,” and that many of the exsoldiers were hiding in forests and being subsidized by “the fascist, General Anders, and others of the former government who ran away from the country in its darkest hour and settled abroad.”38 Fiderkiewicz also wrote to Canadian authorities to tell them that they had no right to determine the fate of thousands of Polish citizens without a bilateral agreement with the Polish government. He sent a letter to the secretary of state for external affairs, in which he claimed that the Anders’ Army was composed of former concentration camp guards, German henchmen, SS-men, and other traitors who helped prolong the war by “helping the enemy, who killed not only Polish soldiers and civilians, but also soldiers of all Allied Armies.”39 Despite Communists’ clamour and vicious assaults, the Canadian government opened its doors to the Poles. In July 1947, the Senate Committee on Immigration submitted a report that advocated for a substantial increase in immigration in order to benefit the growth of Canadian industries. Between November 1946 and April 1947, the

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first groups of Polish ex-soldiers, totalling 4,527 people, arrived in Canada. In keeping with its traditional immigration policy, Canada accepted only individuals who were capable of physical labour. Canadian recruiting teams signed up Polish refugees for two-year contracts to work on beet farms, in factories, as domestics, or in construction. The British government arranged the transportation of many veterans and their dependants, which enticed the Canadian government to accept even more immigrants. Eventually, Canada admitted thousands of refugees through the iro. By 1952, some 55,000 Poles had settled in the country.40 In contrast to the pre-1939 migratory waves, which were composed primarily of immigrants from the peasant and labouring classes, the post-war wave was composed mainly of skilled and educated professionals such as engineers, physicians, lawyers, civil servants, teachers, and army officers. While pre-war immigrants had a difficult time establishing themselves in Canada because of widespread prejudice and harsh economic circumstances, their post-war counterparts adapted much faster because of their education and professional backgrounds. Some of them also had a working knowledge of English and French. The usual intolerance accorded to immigrants from Central Europe was not as virulent as in previous periods, allowing many, especially those with more desirable skills – namely engineers, mechanics, and skilled tradesmen – to find lucrative positions and personal satisfaction.41 The new arrivals significantly transformed Polish organizational life in Canada. They were highly politicized and abhorred the Moscow-imposed regime. According to Henry Radecki, they were exsoldiers who remained “on duty” as the “early stages of the Cold War, the Berlin blockade, and heightened East-West tensions all carried with them portents of real conflict, which could lead to a true liberation of Poland.”42 Many established organizations such as the Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantów w Kanadzie (Polish Combatants’ Association in Canada), which by 1958 had twenty-seven branches scattered across Canada, many with women’s and youth auxiliaries. In 1951, the Skarb Narodowy (National Treasury) was established, which was composed of a dozen local commissions and committees designed to collect funds in support of the Polish government in exile. Other organizations and clubs brought together individuals who had been deported to the Soviet Union or who came from Pol-

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ish territories that had been lost to the Soviets as a result of post-war border shifts. The newcomers also revitalized cultural life by forming new Polishlanguage schools, song and dance groups, recreational clubs, and scouting groups that articulated Poland’s pre-war traditions.43 Around twenty Polish-language schools were established in Canada before 1950, and another twenty by 1960. Among the new organizations was the Polsko Kanadyjski Instytut Badawczy (Polish Canadian Research Institute), which was founded in Toronto in 1956. Many of its members, such as Victor Turek and Benedykt Heydenkorn, who were also veterans of the war, published some of the first studies on the Polish community in Canada. The congress, together with its affiliates, formed the most noteworthy Polish Canadian anti-Communist bloc. It banned all official contacts with the Warsaw government and its representatives, and prior to 1956 forbid individual travel to Poland. Even after the political relaxation in post-1956 Poland, the congress continued to discourage contacts with Poland, arguing that the slightest exchanges could be interpreted as de facto recognition of the Polish People’s Republic. This position later led to a rift between the Congress and the zpk, which encouraged relations with Poland. Furthermore, all of the Polish Canadian newspapers, except the Communist Kronika Tygodniowa, produced Canadian-content news that focussed on local problems affecting Polish Canadian communities rather than on polemics about Communist Poland.44 Poles already settled in Canada helped their newly arrived compatriots by welcoming them into their parishes, organizations, and social clubs. They greeted the arrivals at train stations with bouquets and brass bands, and often welcomed them into their homes. Initially, even Polish Communists extended their help. The editors of Kronika Tygodniowa tried to obtain the addresses of many Polish soldiers to forward them complementary newspapers. They also printed letters, apparently free of charge, written by soldiers who were searching for relatives, work, and a place to live. And like the non-Communist Polish newspapers, Kronika Tygodniowa waged a crusade on behalf of the newcomers against “oppression and exploitation” and against the “disgraceful Canadian work contracts,” which it compared to slavery.45

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polish-canadian relations As the Cold War set in, Polish Canadian Communists were involved in three major incidents that strained Canada’s international relations with Poland. While Polish Canadian Communists unequivocally defended the Soviet position in all three cases, they lost even more support in the Canadian Polonia as a result of their ongoing obedience, which contributed to their demise. The first incident was related to Poland’s national treasures, which Canada had delayed in returning after the war. A few days after the Nazis invaded, the Polish government undertook a massive effort to protect Poland’s royal treasures, which included exquisite sixteenthcentury Flemish tapestries and an original copy of the first Gutenberg Bible. The Canadian government agreed to protect the treasures for the duration of the war; however it ended up keeping the treasures until 1961 because of the conflict over their ownership between the Communist regime in Poland and the Polish government in exile. The affair turned into a desperate hide-and-seek confrontation in which the apartments of former consular workers were searched and ravaged. Some individuals were even interrogated for secret passwords and signatures needed to access the treasures. Although the Canadian government retuned the valuables to People’s Poland after negotiating with Polish authorities, the controversy soured Polish-Canadian relations and led to an outcry by Polish Canadian Communists that accused Canada of stealing Polish cultural property.46 The second incident involved one hundred Polish women aged twenty to thirty who were resettled from a German Displaced Persons camp in 1947. A Liberal mp, Ludger Dionne, had personally recruited the women for a two-year contract to work in his textile mill in Quebec. Polish Communists accused Dionne of “importing slaves,” “lowering wages,” and “infringing the women’s personal freedoms,” and circulated rumours that he was mistreating the girls.47 Dutkiewicz got personally involved in the issue and established contact with the women to gain first-hand knowledge about their treatment. While most “Dionne girls” appeared content with their situation, some – perhaps because Dutkiewicz promised them better opportunities – complained and wanted to leave the mill.48 Dutkiewicz encour-

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aged them to flee and offered them free train tickets to Toronto. He also advised young single men to contact the women to convince them to get married and leave Dionne. One man wrote, “I am a farmer and a bush operator by trade ... Letters to me can be written in Polish or Ukrainian as I handle both languages ... P.S. I am single.”49 At least three women, Stasia Paluch, Bronisława Fornalik, and Maria Nowak, agreed to leave. Dutkiewicz hired the latter as his secretary, and the two others were employed as domestics, though rumours later circulated that they worked as agents for Kronika Tygodniowa.50 News of the Dionne girls’ inhumane treatment also reached Poland, where newspapers printed stories about their “slavery” and depicted the women as defenceless victims of capitalism. Polish authorities accused Canada of forming “slave plantations” and “slave camps for helpless girls.”51 The third, and perhaps the most notorious, incident that strained Polish-Canadian relations involved Polish orphans. In the spring of 1949, after conceding to pressure from the Canadian public and the Catholic Church, the Canadian government resettled 123 orphaned Polish children from Tengeru Camp in Tanganyika to Canada. Canadian immigration officials who admitted the children were guided by the iro’s constitution, which defined war orphans as children sixteen years of age or younger who were unaccompanied and whose guardians had disappeared. However, even before they arrived in Halifax on 7 September 1949, the Polish government argued that the war orphans’ resettlement violated international agreements and that it had the exclusive right to decide their fate. It also argued that many of the children had parents and guardians in Poland who were anxiously awaiting their return.52 The Communist press viciously accused the Western powers of trafficking and illegally deporting helpless children. An article in the Polish Życie Warszawy (Warsaw’s life) charged that the affair was “shameful” and “organized by international kidnappers supplying “merchandise” for the modern slave trade.”53 The Communist press also printed illustrations of children toiling on Canadian farms and cartoons depicting frightened children being carried away by shrewdlooking slave masters. Other editorials and interviews with the children’s alleged parents offered heartfelt accounts about how they missed their “abducted” children. One woman wrote that she hoped

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that the Polish government would repatriate her daughters soon so that they would no longer wander aimlessly in Canada and “work for strangers.”54 Others wrote that they feared their own children would soon be kidnapped and “deported for exploitation.” The affair’s narrative took on the dimensions of the Cold War, setting the Soviets against greedy Western capitalists who shamelessly forced innocent children into labour in order to fill their own pockets. The Canadian government tried to solve Cold War tensions by pursuing a moderate and less ideological approach to the disagreement over the resettled children. In fact, Canadian authorities almost immediately conceded that children who had parents in Poland should be reunited with them as quickly as possible. The Soviets and their Polish Canadian compatriots, meanwhile, tried to turn the incident into a propaganda ploy to accentuate the West’s legal transgressions on humanitarian and moral grounds. Polish Canadian Communists accused the Canadian government of harbouring children whose parents were still alive.55 The Warsaw government raised the issue at a United Nations General Assembly, and accused the iro and Canada of kidnapping and unlawfully resettling Polish children. To make matters worse, an iro investigation revealed that twenty-three of the children had parents living in Poland. Many were also over sixteen years of age, which according to the iro meant that they were no longer considered children under the constitution and were therefore able to decide where they wanted to stay.56 Partly out of its belief in ideal pragmatism and partly out of a genuine humanitarian desire to help, Canada agreed to assist the Polish government in reconnecting the children with their parents. It even provided their names to the Polish Legation in Ottawa and offered to send their addresses if needed. Despite these conciliatory efforts, Communists were more interested in milking the affair for propaganda. Proof of their intentions came in July 1950 when Polish authorities sent a note that ignored Canada’s offers of assistance and reiterated previous accusations. Canada chose to ignore the note in turn because the Polish authorities refused to cooperate and act for the greater good of the children. The un General Assembly supported this perspective and resolved to allow the children to remain in Canada.57

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repatriation Immediately after the war, Polish authorities in Warsaw instructed their representatives in Canada to encourage Polish citizens, including Polish Jews, to return home. In November 1946, on instruction from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Polish consulates printed a notice urging all Polish citizens who resided in Canada to register with the Polish government. Canadian authorities claimed that doing so was not compulsory, but Polish consular officials tried to force as many immigrants as possible, especially those without a Canadian passport, to register. The campaign was extended, but it had meagre results. By mid-1947, only 639 individuals, including 102 Jews, had registered. This poor outcome was undoubtedly linked to the fraudulent parliamentary elections in Poland, which were widely criticized by patriotic émigrés. Communists had promised free elections, but news quickly spread of violent discrimination against opposition candidates and rigged votes, which gave the Soviet Union and its Polish satellite government enough legitimacy to dominate the country’s political landscape. In Canada, Fiderkiewicz wondered why the Polish Canadian left had been isolated, and later observed that it was stigmatized by “some indefinite aversion.”58 Obviously, he had not considered the impact of the fraudulent elections and a score of other events that were detrimental to Communists’ popularity. Some idealists and pda members decided to return to Poland after the war. In 1945, the members sent a memorandum to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in which they ardently supported a campaign to encourage mass repatriation. Kronika Tygodniowa once again became the primary instrument of the Communist propaganda crusade. Its editors declared that all honest people should “return to their homeland [and that] fascists and [Poland’s] enemies, being enemies of democracy, should search for asylum elsewhere.”59 They published stories and biographies about soldiers, workers, and “democratically minded” public leaders who returned. They also declared: “Democratic People’s Poland will prevent fascist and aristocratic rascals from returning, regardless of their previous titles and positions.”60 Slogans such as “Enough Work on Foreign Land” and “It Is Our Duty to Rebuild Poland” were meant to encourage immigrants to head back. Already in October 1945, a Polish repatriation committee was established in Montreal, which was quickly overwhelmed and domi-

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nated by Morski and several dozen left-leaning Polish engineers and war refugees who came to Canada during the war. Attempts were made to form similar committees in Winnipeg and Toronto, where Communists planned to open a central office, but they did not materialize. By 1947, the committee began to coordinate its efforts with the Polish consul in Montreal, Władysław Ziemski, who supported its initiatives despite a lack of funds and resources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The pda also prepared a program to train and prepare the repatriates for work in Poland. Members organized courses in construction, carpentry, earthworks, and agriculture to prepare specialists who would be sent to Poland in groups. The candidates were also supposed to receive specialized tools and equipment, and there were even plans to send ten trucks and other mechanized vehicles with them. However, the number of people who registered for the courses and who planned to return to Poland was appallingly low. By mid-1947, the Polish consulate in Montreal registered only 231 potential repatriates. News about the bleak conditions in Poland, which were described in the anti-Communist press, persuaded even more individuals to change their minds. The Związkowiec and Czas published letters from families in Poland who wrote about poverty, distrust toward the authorities, censorship, and the lawlessness of the nkvd.61 Canadian and Polish bureaucrats who represented the London government also made it difficult to obtain visas for Poland, which prevented many potential repatriates from returning. It was also difficult to transfer savings and property from Canada. The Polish government allowed repatriates to posses only ten thousand złotych (zloty) and required they deposit the rest of their money in a bank. Canada also had strict laws that set limits on how much money could be removed from the country. A traveller was permitted to take enough to cover the costs of the trip, but had to declare larger sums and transfer them through banks. Some repatriates tried to smuggle undeclared sums but were often caught by border agents. One Polish repatriate, a W. Barabasz, had permission to take c$4,500 but tried to smuggle an additional us$2,500 in his suitcase.62 Polish repatriates also had problems acquiring American visas, which were necessary since the only direct trans-Atlantic connection with Poland was from New York. The trucks and other mechanized

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equipment that the pda had hoped to deliver to Poland could also only be exported to countries that were receiving aid through the Marshall Plan. Polish consuls tried to arrange to purchase the equipment in Italy, but such plans never materialized.63 Despite these considerable obstacles, several Polish Canadians returned to Poland. Between October 1946 and the spring of 1947, two groups totalling about thirty repatriates left for their homeland. In order to encourage more repatriation, the Polish government offered free transportation to Poland for a brief period in mid-1947, though most repatriates, however, still had to cover one-third or half of the fare. In most cases, individuals and entire families went on their own without any government assistance. As a result, it is difficult to estimate how many repatriates returned to Poland. Scholars estimate the total at around one hundred, which is not only significantly low, but also suggests the anti-Communist attitude in Polonia circles prevailed.64 The repatriates included a few veterans and displaced persons who became disillusioned with two-year work contracts on Canadian farms. The Warsaw authorities hoped to entice more veteran repatriates in order to use them for propaganda in Canada and elsewhere, and tried to obtain veterans’ Canadian addresses to send them Polish propaganda. A report produced by the Polish legation in Ottawa indicates that only thirty-six veterans registered to be repatriated. Only six actually returned to Poland.65 Among the repatriates were idealists who believed that it was their responsibility to return to their ojczyzna (fatherland). In 1950, the renowned Polish-Jewish physicist Leopold Infeld, who had worked with Albert Einstein, left his post as a professor at the University of Toronto and returned to Communist Poland. He felt that he had an obligation to return “to do a small part towards raising the level of Polish science” from the ravages of the war. Cold War tensions led many to accuse Infeld of betraying nuclear weapons secrets to Communists, and he was stripped of his Canadian citizenship and widely condemned as a traitor.66 The pda’s members and supporters also comprised a portion of the repatriates, although surprisingly not a significant one.67 Their departures were marked by ceremonial banquets during which they were lauded and showered with souvenirs. Kronika Tygodniowa later published the repatriates’ letters, which it used to show that they were

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prospering and satisfied in Poland. Some editorials even suggested that conditions in Poland were far better than those in Canada. The letters were also printed to dispel rumours from non-Communists that repatriates were being deported to Siberia. One repatriate, Antoni Gorczyński, who had returned to Poland in October 1949, created quite a stir in the Polish community. After his departure, Gorczyński’s family and friends did not hear from him for more than six months, and rumours circulated that he had been deported to the Soviet Union. The Polish consul in Winnipeg complained to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the entire episode was “spreading unrest in the local Polonia, since it is used as an example by reactionary activists ... [to suggest] that the repatriates are deported to Siberia and not to Poland.”68 One vocal admirer of the Polish regime, Jan Koziel, also left Canada in 1950, declaring that he was going to do his part to help build a new Polish society. No one heard from him until he returned in 1956, completely disillusioned with People’s Poland. He wrote to several Polish non-Communist newspapers, condemning Kronika Tygodniowa for spreading bogus information about life in Poland.69 Morski was particularly upset about the way Polish authorities in Canada handled the repatriation issue. In an extensive report addressed to General Komar of the Polish General Staff and to Ostap Dłuski, the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Morski criticized the Polish Legation, which included Fiderkiewicz and his successor Milnikiel, of mismanagement, manipulation, and political weakness. He also accused Dutkiewicz of fomenting discontent and misconduct. According to Morski, under the pretext of repatriation, “careerists, speculators ... [and] agents” left for Poland. He provided a list of these individuals, and claimed they were “returning to Canada disappointed ... and they are covering their desertion by vilifying People’s Poland ... or they emerge as downright agents of the Canadian reactionaries.”70 One of the disappointed returnees, noted Morski, even alleged that he planned to “send his sons to the rcmp to fight against communism.”71 Morski suggested that the problem should be solved immediately by confiscating the repatriates’ Canadian passports, hindering their efforts to purchase return tickets, and conducting more strenuous verifications. He must have wielded significant influence because his suggestions were implemented and several staff members, including Fiderkiewicz, were replaced.

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The relationship between pda members and Polish consular authorities was riddled with antagonisms. Fiderkiewicz bemoaned that Morski was occasionally too “hot in his polemics, which somewhat impeded contacts with other Polish organizations,” and the two men had a bitter relationship.72 Sokolowski, another Polish Communist, complained that the Polish consul in Winnipeg, Zygmunt Grele, allegedly compared the pda to a brothel and called its members “boors.” According to Sokolowski, Grele told him that he was too left leaning and that he “should forget about his leftist past.” Sokolowski also noted that Ziemski criticized active Communists because they do “more harm than good for Poland.”73 Morski left Canada in 1947,74 and his departure significantly weakened the pda and its ideological direction. Polish consular reports sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the beginning of 1947 claimed that the pda had some thirty-six branches and 800 members in Canada. A few months later, reports mentioned only about one hundred members in Montreal and no more than eighty in Winnipeg. They did not provide any information about Toronto, although other sources indicate that Communists had also experienced a dramatic decrease in that city.75 Attempts to form a branch of the Polish Socialist Party (pps) also failed. On 5 August 1946, the Polish consulate in Montreal helped establish a Canadian section of the pps, which was divided into three branches: one each in eastern, western, and central Montreal.76 Section members requested propaganda materials, resolutions, and instructions from the party in Poland; they made contacts with the Socialist Press Agency in Poland to obtain news they intended to publish in English, French, and Polish; and they helped form the Polish repatriation committee in Montreal. Three members were among the first repatriates from Canada. Despite their ambitions, however, the section met modest success. In July 1947, its chief representative, Stanisław Adamski, complained about the lack of evolution in the section which he noted had only thirty-six members. In January 1947, Adamski was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland and the Canadian section of the pps went into decline.77 By 1948, it became morbidly clear that most Polonia organizations could not be persuaded to support the “new” Poland and the pda. On 22 July 1948, Polish consuls invited members of Polonia to a banquet

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to commemorate the signing of the pkwn manifesto, which recognized the Communist-backed provisional government in Poland. Out of sixty-five invited guests, only thirty-five accepted, and most were pda supporters. The general anti-Communist attitude was hard to hide, especially following the fraudulent parliamentary elections in Poland and widespread news about police treachery, poverty, deportations to Siberia, and censorship. Many pda sympathizers became converts and crossed the threshold of patriotic organizations, though most were marginalized in the community because of their tainted pasts. The pda’s fate was intimately linked to that of the Communist movement in Canada, which started to fall apart after the Gouzenko Affair. Many Poles who had associated themselves with Communist organizations – even just as readers of Kronika Tygodniowa – lost interest. In later periods, events like the 1956 Poznań protests (the first of many massive anti-government demonstrations in Poland), the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, and later, the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia practically buried the Canadian movement, together with its pda affiliate. Kronika Tygodniowa continued to be printed, but it lost a considerable portion of its readership by 1948 and shrunk from sixteen pages to twelve in 1949. In later years, it published very little information about the pda’s activities, except on anniversaries. Dutkiewicz once again took over the helm of the paper as its chief editor, and when he retired in 1971 he became an honorary editor until his death a decade later. The bulk of Kronika Tygodniowa’s readers were mostly “old Communists,” the vieille garde who had been members of the movement since its early years and who remained loyal supporters until the paper folded in the wake of the Communist collapse in 1991.78 They had endured the movement’s many ups and downs and theoretical contortions. In their efforts, they had desperately tried to create a better society and, at least in their minds, a brighter future – but their time was up.

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4 Conclusion

Polish Canadian Communist organizations, like so many of their counterparts in Canada and elsewhere, were launched by a small group of alienated but highly dedicated individuals. Feeling at odds and out of place, and no longer attached to a world in which everything seemed to be chaotic, they longed for a doctrine that would explain the paradoxes and social ills around them. By becoming associated with Communism, these individuals exchanged a “normal” life for prosecution, insecurity, and total commitment. By becoming Polish Communists in Canada, they only rebelled against economic and social hardship, but also defied traditional forms of authority and culture. For Polish immigrants who could rely on little but their community organizations and parishes in the New World, becoming a Communist meant betraying and rebelling against the traditional Polish world, the values of their forbearers and of general society, and forfeiting diplomatic and religious protection. In other words, it was not always an easy choice. Those who joined the movement generally saw in it a credible solution to the anguish and the wretchedness of the capitalist world. Many of them had left their homeland to ameliorate their circumstances, but instead found hardship and misery. They were receptive to the messianic undertones of the radical ideology, but this receptivity constituted only a general background, which helps explain the multilayered phenomenon that led Polish immigrants into the Communist fold. The majority of Polish immigrants, including traditionally conservative ones, became receptive to Communism in the early 1930s when the Great Depression led to unemployment, strikes, and

Conclusion 191

general social unrest. The “non-preferred” position of central and eastern European immigrants in Canadian society and the chauvinism, exploitation, and discrimination accorded them prompted many to seek consolation in the Communist Party of Canada. The growing specter of Nazism also became a factor that compelled some to join the movement – even to volunteer for the Spanish Civil War, the first widespread clash with fascism. Władysław Dutkiewicz, Albert Morski, Zygmunt Majtczak, Jozef Polka (until his death in 1934), Tadeusz Lewandowski, Franciszek Baryła, and Antonina Sokolicz-Merkel constituted the movement’s vieille garde. They were the founders, promoters, and organizers who gave the Polish movement its direction. They had been associated with Communism since the early 1920s and the 1930s in Poland and transplanted their radicalism to Canada. Morski, Sokolicz-Merkel, and Majtczak were also active in the Communist Party of Poland. The vieille garde had joined as young adults who saw in the movement an outlet for their talents, ambitions, and hopes. Fresh recruits were certainly conscripted into the organizations – they formed a vital support component and they organized recreational and educational clubs and headed local women’s and youth committees – but they were rarely promoted into the inner core. The vieille garde was a closed circle of individuals who alone understood the true purpose and direction of the organization. Antagonisms, personal vendettas, and careerism occasionally plagued their ranks. Dutkiewicz, who had been at the helm of the party and its press until Morski arrived in 1935, felt threatened by the vibrant and eloquent agitator who had been sent by the Communist Party of Poland. The antagonism between the two never healed. After Morski departed Canada in 1947, he informed Communist authorities in Poland about Dutkiewicz’s misconduct and questioned his loyalty to the movement. But despite personal tensions and schisms, the Polish movement remained intact. There were no dissident groups like the Lobai movement, which broke away from the Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temple Association over the Holodomor (the Great Famine of 1932 and 1933) in Soviet Ukraine. While many Canadian Communist leaders left the movement for various reasons – such as Joseph Salsberg, who parted because of Stalin’s harsh treatment of Jewish people in Soviet Russia – no member of the vieille garde split from the movement despite Stalin’s ruthless deportation and murder of thousands of Pol-

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ish citizens. Even when the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany that left many Communists disillusioned, Polish Communist leaders continued to serve Stalin’s interests. Many ordinary Polish immigrants, like W. Szarek, also transplanted their radicalism to the New World. Polish blue-collar workers constituted a substantial segment of the Polish population (about one third of the population), and they were generally well organized and vocal. Throughout the 1920s and the 1930s, Polish workers handicapped the entire country with several nationwide strikes and violent protests. Nearly 20 per cent of the workers expressed some political involvement through membership in a trade union. It is difficult, therefore, to not acknowledge the residue of working-class militancy and the influence of organized labour on the approximately 100,000 Polish blue-collar immigrants who chose Canada as their new home in the interwar years. The contributions of the Polish Communist movement to Polish Canadian life should not be overlooked. Polish Communist organizations significantly improved the cultural and educational level of their members, especially youth. While the Communist curriculum has been regarded as unpatriotic, deviant, and misleading, it was also inclusive and taught pupils that they, too, could change the world and forge history. Despite the stigma that Communists faced as swindlers, foreign agents, atheists, and violent revolutionaries, they also provided hope for many immigrants. During the depths of the Depression, those who had lost optimism received a faith that helped them carry on through years of economic crisis. Proletarian ideology not only acknowledged the legitimacy of the immigrants’ anger, but also focused it. By providing specific targets such as businessmen, clergy, and Polish “fascist” consuls, Communists absolved immigrants from feeling responsible for their predicament. Despite the movement’s successes, however, its weaknesses were more apparent. The mere existence of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Polish Alliance of Canada, two organizations that tried to organize the Canadian working class with a more consistent ideology and program, further limited Communist popularity and siphoned off valuable recruits. This was aggravated by effective and vocal socialists such as Alfons Jan Staniewski, who pried away a significant following from the Polish Communist camp in Canada. Finally, Communists self-inflicted their wounds through their unrelenting support for the Soviet Union. Communists’ policy escapades,

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theoretical contortions, reversals, and blind faith in the Soviet Union were major factors that caused their isolation, discredited the movement, and led to its subsequent demise. Ironically, Polish Communists preferred to forfeit their support in Polonia in favour of highly contradictory Soviet policy turns that marginalized their movement. Their failure to deal with explosive issues, such as the mass murder of Polish officers and intellectuals in Katyn, the murder of countless Polish underground soldiers, the fictitious elections in Poland, and the Gouzenko Affair, left many Polish immigrants frustrated and sceptical. Idiosyncrasies set the Polish Canadian Communist movement apart from its counterparts in Canada and elsewhere. The nature of the Polish Canadian community demanded specific strategies and tactics for disseminating the Communist brand among traditionally conservative Polish immigrants. Hurrah revolutionism, as Morski discovered, was not the path for persuading Poles who were generally sceptical of atheism, class struggle, and internationalism. Recognizing that Polish immigrants longed for familiar cultural expressions – language, song and dance groups, and patriotic associations – the Polskie Towarzystwo Ludowe (ptl, Polish People’s Association) became an effective cultural-educational organization with a spiking membership in the late 1930s. The importance accorded to the cultural and educational sphere is an indication that national feelings and familiar cultural expressions are a potent force in the immigrant experience. The politicization of a group’s culture raises several considerations important to the study of immigrants. It was the culture of Polish immigrant communities, rather than a failure on the part of Polish radicals to live up to their ideals, which most often determined the limits of their radicalism. In this respect, while Communist organizations worked as a thought and structure system for their members, the Polish Canadian community was also a thought and structure system for Polish Communists and their patriotic counterparts. Political ideas became enmeshed in the immigrant experience along with other elements of immigrant culture, specifically language, drama, youth clubs, funerals, sporting events, and newspapers. While politicization within the Communist camp was more deliberate, patriotic organizations also relied on familiar symbols and romanticized depictions of Poland to transmit their nationalistic ideas and ideology. Consequently, the importance of immigrant culture as a transmitter of different – even conflicting – political ideolo-

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gies not only sheds insight into how culture influences community politics, but also demonstrates how immigrant identity intertwines with political ideologies. Many immigrants could move from a patriotic organization into a more radical one, only to return to their original organization, suggesting political identity and affiliations were fluid. Polish Communists remained highly critical of the Polish inter-war government and its representatives in Canada. They sharply differentiated nationality and love for one’s native land from political patriotism. The attitude of Canadian and Polish authorities toward them was marked by considerable restraint and surveillance. Polish consulates compiled blacklists and reports on Communist activities in every jurisdiction and exchanged information with their counterparts in the United States and Europe. The Canadian government and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (rcmp) assigned translators to monitor the Polish Communist press, deported Polish agitators, and, when necessary, raided and closed their meeting halls, clubs, cells, and press agency. The cooperation between Polish authorities and the rcmp was occasionally marred by superficial strains. Polish officials intermittently expressed frustration and doubts about the effectiveness of the rcmp’s ability to crush the Communist movement, prompting Polish consuls to hire their own informants to infiltrate the movement. In spite of the numerous factors that favoured their growth in the 1930s, Polish Canadian Communists attracted only a small percentage of the total Polish immigrant population. But patriotic organizations did not fare much better. The circulation figures of the mainstream Polish Canadian non-Communist press and the membership rates in their organizations were comparable to their Communist counterparts, especially throughout the 1930s. Considering the risks and the drastic break with traditional values that a decision to join the Communist movement entailed, Communist recruiting efforts were quite successful. In fact, the ptl was not an obscure and marginalized singular federation as some scholars have suggested. On the contrary, it played an active role in shaping the Canadian Polonia and in vying for the hearts and minds of the Polish immigrant population. In 1938, Polish consuls anxiously observed that “patriotic” Polish organizations received comparable financial support from Polish immigrants as the Communist-sponsored ones. Moreover, the vote by which ptl delegates were asked to leave the founding meeting of the patriotic Fed-

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eration of Polish Societies in Canada (twenty-seven to eighteen) in 1931 is additional proof that the movement was not entirely isolated and ostracized. Polish Communists could not have existed, much less functioned and flourished, without the degree of tolerance accorded by Polish immigrants who held politically diverse views. The movement began to dissipate in the wake of the Cold War, following the influx to Canada of conservative and decidedly anti-Communist Polish war veterans and displaced persons after 1945, and the growing sceptre of McCarthyism, which unleashed widespread revulsion toward Communism. The majority of Polish ex-soldiers were frustrated and fearful of the Communist takeover in Poland, which prevented them from returning to their homeland. They established patriotic organizations through which they voiced their disdain, lobbied the Canadian government, and preserved their Polish traditions. Together with the clergy, they formed a bulwark against the Communist camp and worked tirelessly to destroy it. Another cause for Communists’ decline was the disappearance of the circumstances that had originally provided such strong incentives for their emergence and development: unemployment, poverty, and the immigrants’ isolated status in Canadian society. After the war, Canadian industry was booming, Canadian society became increasingly inclusive, and the government opened its doors to traditionally non-preferred newcomers. Polish skilled and educated immigrants, once relegated to the lowest rungs of society, could excel and live comfortably. The Polish Canadian Communist camp received a decisive blow when Morski left for Poland in 1947, leaving the movement without firm direction and a vibrant leader. But even Morski, despite his talents, could not have saved Polish Canadian Communists after the war. Those who had travelled to see first-hand the new “democratic” Poland came back disillusioned and discouraged. Many adamant Communist supporters folded into the patriotic camp after witnessing the poverty, post-war destruction, and, as one former Communist described “the gray skyline and filthy sidewalks in Poland.”1 The demise of Polish Canadian Communism was also marred by several contradictions. People who had dedicated themselves to the Communist cause indulged in the promotion of their private interests, and instead of transforming capitalist society partook in its benefits. Those who began as revolutionaries opposed to the exploitation

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of labour, such as Dutkiewicz and Tadeusz Lewandowski, became capitalist careerists and employers of hired hands. By the early 1960s, support for the Polish Canadian Communist movement had almost entirely evaporated, and membership cannot have been greater than one hundred. Those who remained loyal represented the last remnants of a breed of individual who had rebelled against the rules of the general society, both because they found these rules unjust and because they found rules that better suited their visions of society. For them, joining the movement was a crossing of the Rubicon that shaped the course of their lives and placed them as actors on the stage of history. In the end, all that remained of the Polish Canadian Communist movement was a handful of diehards. But even they knew that their time was up. As one of them said, “We are reaching the end. The old die, young ones do not join. We are finished.”2

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8 Appendix

x

List of Tables and Figures

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Table A.1 Polish Canadian volunteers in the Spanish Civil War Home

Date of Birth

Occupation

Fate

Antoszczak, F. Bariwnski, Jan Baryla, Franciszek

Edmonton, ab – Toronto; Kenora, on; Winnipeg, mb Montreal, qc Toronto, on Port Arthur, on Toronto, on Mundare, ab; Toronto, on – Fort William, on Toronto; Windsor, on Montreal, qc Toronto, on Winnipeg, mb Winnipeg, mb

– – 1 April 1908 – – c. 1902 c. 1899 c. 1903

– – farmer; lumberjack; Communist organizer – – – –

– – wia, survived, died in Poland, 6 February 1969 – hospitalized, unknown kia kia, Battle of the Ebro, August 1938 wia, survived

– 8 November 1901 c. 1901 – 18 August 1909 c. 1910 c. 1903

– blacksmith – – miner barber; lumberjack farm worker

Fort William, on Port Arthur, on – –

– c. 1909 – c. 1902

– – – –

Blok/Bloch Bramberg, Ephraim Bucior, Stanislaw Chalimoniuk, Stefan Czyzewski, Jan Dack, Steve Droch, Matao Dubel/Duviel, Vincent Dziki Falkowski, Nikodem Franchuck, Jozef Fronczysty/Franczysty/ Francis, Karol/Karl Galka Gawda, Władysław Gendy Glowacki/Glogowski, Bazyli/Wasil

unknown survived unknown – survived survived kia when Ciudad de Barcelona was torpedoed, 10 May 1937 unknown kia, March, 1938 unknown kia

Appendix 199

Volunteer

200

Table A.1 (continued) Home

Date of Birth

Occupation

Fate

Halimoniuk/ Chalimoniuk, Stefan Jablowski, Henryk Janicki, Sewerin Janiszewski, Frantiszek

–

–

–

unknown

– – St Catharines; Port Arthur, on Winnipeg, mb Montreal, qc; Windsor, on Toronto, on Toronto; Kitchener, on Montreal, qc Montreal, qc – –

– 4 May 1903 c. 1905

– – –

unknown mia wia, survived

Kandia, Anthony Kempa, Walerian/Walter Kierpaul, Casimir K. Koslowsky/ Kozlofsky, Stefan Kucz/Kurz/, Mikhail Kudebski, Michal Kwiatek, Antoni Lewandowski, Tadeusz/ Alex* Lucasiewicz, John Mangel, David Martyniuk, Władysław/ Walter Matlak, Jozef Mazurkiewicz, Władysław

c. 1906 – 27 September 1905 –

survived survived

c. 1906

–

survived

c. 1907 c. 1903 c. 1902 c. 1890 –

teacher painter – – –

kia, September 1937 wia, survived survived unknown unknown

Montreal; Rouyn, qc Toronto, on; Montreal, qc Montreal, qc

c. 1909 9 October 1900

miner painter

kia, Battle of the Ebro, July 1938 wia, survived

10 October 1901

plumber

survived

Toronto, on Edmonton, ab

c. 1901 –

– –

kia, Retreats, died in hospital, March 1938 –

Appendix

Volunteer

Nagorny, Sedor Nus, Olik Okonski, Jakob Opanowski, Kazimir/ Kostur Orlovitch/Osemlak, Filip Osemlak, F. Pacyna, Jozef Palak, Stanislaw Poniedzielski, Joseph Ramonovich, Stanley Rawicz, Michael Rice, Benjamin Rudzinski, Feliks, Felixs Russel, Tomasz/Thomas Rutkowski, Jozef Sidor, Victor

16 February 1904 – 4 June 1912

miner – miner

23 December 1905 blacksmith; welder

hospitalized, survived

Vancouver, bc – – Winnipeg, mb Montreal, qc Toronto, on – Toronto, on Windsor, on Montreal, qc; Toronto, on Edmonton, ab Toronto; Fort William, on Toronto, on Port Arthur, on

29 April 1901 – – – 3 March 1907 c. 1903 12 January 1915 c. 1907 c. 1899 c. 1899

survived – unknown unknown survived survived kia, Segura de los Banos, February 1938 survived wia, survived survived

Fort William, on – Fort William, on Leamington; Windsor, on

– – – – artist – mechanic – – carpenter

survived unknown wia, survived

c. 1896 – 11 December 1903 –

kia survived

c. 1904 27 March 1905

– construction worker

survived wia, survived

c. 1900 c. 1898 c. 1897 10 April 1906

– – – worker

survived kia, March 1938 kia survived

Appendix 201

Skibinski, Stanislaw Slobodzian/Woodman, Walter Smalec, Jozef Wijatyk, Antoni Filip Wilk, Frank Witczak, Ignacy

Val d’Or, qc – Winnipeg, mb; Edmonton, ab Toronto, on

202

Table A.1 (continued) Home

Date of Birth

Occupation

Wolek, John Woloncewicz/Wolancewicz Vincent/Stefan/William Zaremba/Zaramba, Jan Zdybel, Wojcicek Ziemski, Jan Zojda, Bogdan Zygarowicz, Kornil

Winnipeg, mb Toronto; Fort William, on Hamilton, on Sudbury, on Winnipeg, mb – Toronto, on

c. 1902 – 12 December 1898 worker

unknown survived

c. 1898 c. 1903 1 June 1914 – c. 1899

unknown survived mia, Retreats, April 1938 unknown kia, March 1938

– – – – roofer

Fate

Source: aan, Warsaw, Consul Jan Pawlica to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, special report on volunteers for the Spanish Civil War, 5 March 1939; Michael Petrou, Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2008); lac, Mackenzie-Papineau collection, r2609-0-0-e. * This may have been Taduesz Lewandowski of Toronto who was a prominent activist in the Polish Canadian Communist movement.

Appendix

Volunteer

Appendix 203 Table A.2 List of Polish Communist branches in Canada for 1938/39 Branch

Location

Central Executive of the Polish People’s Association

Toronto, on

Głos Pracy

Juliusz Slowacki Branch Gabriel Narutowicz Branch Gabriel Narutowicz Branch Polish Pioneer Group Emily Plater Polish Women’s Section of the Polish People’s Association K. Frączysty Young Communist League Jan Polka Branch A. Kochanek Branch Marie Curie-Skłodowska Branch Antonina Sokolicz-Merkel Branch Mikołaj Kopernik Branch Maria Konopnicka Branch Polish People’s Association Branch Polish People’s Association Branch Adam Mickiewicz Branch Polish People’s Association Branch Polish People’s Association Branch Polish People’s Association Branch Polish People’s Association Branch Polish People’s Association Branch Dąbrowski Branch Polish People’s Association Amateur Circle Polish People’s Association Branch F. Płaskowicka Women’s Section Stanisław Żeromski Branch Lelewel Branch Polish Women’s Section W. Łukasiński Branch L. Waryński Branch

Leader(s)

Albert Morski, Tadeusz Lewandowski Zygmunt Majtczak, Gronowicz, Kierpaul, Paulin Falkowski Toronto, on Albert Morski, Władysław Dutkiewicz, Tadeusz Lewandowski Winnipeg, mb M. Choptiany Port Arthur, on – Kenora, on – Winnipeg, mb – Winnipeg, mb K. Paczkowska, K. Kuchta Winnipeg, mb – Brandon, mb M. Hurkot Cadomin, ab A. Sagala Fort William, on W. Wiłkołaski, L. Abroziak Edmonton, ab J.C. Królik, E. Strojicz Vancouver, bc – Spruce Valley, ab S. Bator Diamond City, ab – Calgary, ab – Blairmore, ab Jan Jakubiec, A. Pcion Lethbridge, ab – Saskatoon, sk – Cochrane, on – Athabasca, ab – The Pas, mb J. Takuski Toronto, on S. Kochmański, F. Krasocki Toronto, on Regina, sk Toronto, on Montreal, qc Montreal, qc Montreal, qc Windsor, on Hamilton, on

– – – – – – P. Kuliszko –

204

Appendix

Table A.2

(continued)

Branch

Location

Leader(s)

Kazimierz Pułaski Branch Polish People’s Association Branch Polish People’s Association Branch Stefan Kozłowski Branch Tadeusz Kosciuszko Branch Independent Worker’s Section

St Catharines, on Kitchener, on Sydney, ns Mountain Park, ab Driftwood, on Hamilton, ab

– – – – – –

Source: aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa, Consul Juliusz Szygowski to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, report on Polish Communist organizations, 12 December 1938.

Appendix 205

a.3 list of active communist organizers in the polish people’s association by province for march 1939 Ontario toronto Dalach, A. Dutkiewicz, Władysław Gronowicz Mazur T. Morski, A. Polaniec, L. Rzepiennik, P. Zaleska, J.

hamilton Glaba, J. Majtczak, Z. Thili, J. Zaremba

windsor Kuliszko, P. Mieśnik, Jan Rudziński, Feliks

st catharines Czuchnicki, B. Jakubiszyn, K. Kasińska, Zuzanna Keller, S. Suduł, B.

Bąk, T. Bończak Bucior Fulawka, T.A. Genda Gonyk, M. Holewicki, A. Janeczek, B. Łabacz, K. Macała, S. Macura, J. Ochal, J. Pobiega, Jan Rybaczek Sołtys, L. Steczewicz, M. Tarnawa, S. Urbaś, T. Widak, G. Wikolalawski, W. Zuchowicz, J.

sault ste marie Krzeczkowski

vineland station Gęsior, P.C.

kapuskasing Mizun

fort arthur Bąk, T. Janiszewski, F. Steczowicz, M.

delhi Bożek, J.

geraldton golden valley

Doplaga

Jankowski, Jozef

grimsby fort william Abroziak, L. Bajdas, Karol

Andruszkiewicz Stolarz

206

Appendix

Quebec

Manitoba

montreal

winnipeg

Cichowski, P. Dragen, J. Glista, J. Hambar, A. Klotz, N. Kopec, K. Krzysztofel, M. Maziarczyk, J. Moska, F. Nowakowski, W. Palenik-Kolporter, J. Pisarek, J. Pochnagel, A. Pomichowski, A. Romuch, J. Sigda, S. Steczyński, F. Stopkiewicz, F. Szpak, P. Wasilewski, B.

Biegacz Brogowaka, M. Choptiany, M. Jurjkowski, J. Kołt, M. Krajewski, S. Kuchta K. Łysiec Maciejewicz, Anna Mamroch Marak, A. Orobko, S. Paczkowska, K. Pajk, J. Polubiec, H. Radymski, L. Radynska [Radymska?] Sawał, J. Sokołowski, H. Szajowska, S. Szczepanik, W. Tyczyńska, M.W. Wiecha, Stan

brandon Ficzek, J. Grabas, W. Grabowski, W. Hicza, A. Hurkot, M. Majchar, S. Pirożekm, J. Wilkołaski, W. Wiszniowski, Feliks Wiszniowski, Franciszek Zochowski, M.

Appendix 207

Alberta

Saskatchewan

edmonton

Czerwiński, J. Falkowski, P. Jarosz, J. Jasiński, K. Kaldun, J. Kardys, J. Kołodziejczyk Kopacz, F. Kryskow, A. Kwas, J. Lasek, J.S. Lasota, J. Lewicki, W. Maj, J. Metelski, D. Orlita, D. Owczar, N. Piragis, P. Rybak, J. Salapatek, M. Sawuła, S. Strojwąs, K. Strzelecki, J. Walch, M.

Antoszczak, F. Bielak Jasiński, Jan Królik, J.G. Lewandowska, A. Mokrzycki, W. Nowakowski, P. Słoski, J. Strojicz, A Szura Wojnowski, J.

cadomin Dąbrowski, J. Salka, Anna Salka, J. Sromek, J.

coleman Cuchla, Wł. [Chuchla?] Lenard, A. Mikus, J. Poroń, W. Puzon, W. Werysko, A.

tilley

Nova Scotia Clasz, S.T.

Warsksa, C.

diamond city Zawada, C. Source: aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa, Consul Juliusz Szygowski to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, report on Polish Communist organizations, 12 December 1938.

208

Appendix

a.4 members elected to the central executive committee of the polish people’s association in toronto, 1939 executive committee

central educational committee

S. Jastrzębski (chairman) J. Jaworski (vice-chairman) L. Pałka (protocol secretary) T. Lewandowski (treasurer) A. Morski A. Zawisza (member of the executive) F. Jacewski W. Dutkiewicz J. Żurawski

A. Morski (chairman) J. Żurawski F. Jacowski Z. Zawisza (executive member) J. Jaworski (executive member) N. Falkowsi (executive member) L. Pałka (executive member)

steering committee J. Glaba (Hamilton, on) Z. Glaba (Hamilton, on) Z. Jakubiszyn (St Catharines, on) J. Miednik (Windsor, on) S. Sigda (Montreal, qc)

central organizing committee T. Lewandowski (chairman) W. Dutkiewicz (chairman) F. Krasocki (chairman) S. Serafin (executive member) Skrobutan (executive member) J. Jacowski (executive member)

central control committee

central women’s committee

F. Krasocki N. Falkowski S. Sarafin J. Jacewski Skrobutan

Brogowska (chairman) Widniowska (chairman) Dubaj (executive member) Zawiszowa (executive member)

Source: aan, Warsaw, Consul Jan Pawlica to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, special report on the status of the Central Executive Committee of the Polish People’s Association, March 1939.

Gorączka Emigracyjna: Emigration Fever 209

8 Notes

preface 1 The influx of Polish immigrants to Canada was not very high during the 1930s. Between 1931 and 1940, approximately 6,500 Poles arrived in Canada, compared to almost 30,000 during the 1920s. Victor Turek, Poles in Manitoba (Toronto: Polish Alliance Press Limited, 1967), 14. 2 Norman Davies, God’s Playground: A History of Poland, vol. 2 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), 406, 410; and Jerzy Topolski, ed., Dzieje Polski (Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1981), 664–5, 746. See also Laura Crago Ann, “Nationalism, Religion, Citizenship, and Work in the Development of the Polish Working Class and the Polish Trade Union Movement, 1815–1929: A Comparative Study of Russian Poland’s Textile Workers and Upper Silesian Miners and Metalworkers.” PhD diss., Yale University, 1992. 3 As cited in James S. Pula, “Polish Workers and Strikes, 1900–1937,” in The Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History, ed. Aaron Brenner, Benjamin Day, and Immanuel Ness (Armonk, ny: M.E. Sharpe, 2009), 144. 4 Ibid.

chapter one 1 G.P. Maximoff, ed., The Political Philosophy of Bakunin: Scientific Anarchism (New York: The Free Press, 1953), 324; and Michael Schmidt and Lucien van der Walt, Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism (Oakland: ak Press, 2009), 309. 2 Until the 1930s, Polish Canadian Communist editors relied heavily on their English-language counterparts for news content, which they often translat-

210

3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12

13 14

15 16

Notes to Pages 5–9

ed. As of the 1930s, the Polish Communist press focused more on Polish issues, the political and economic conditions in Poland, and relaying local news. At a fundraising meeting organized in the Polish labour hall in Winnipeg in 1936, Lewis St George Stubbs, a left-leaning politician, former judge, and the guest of honour, regretted that he was unable to understand what was being said in Polish, but assured the audience that he understood almost all of the remarks for “the spirit of the workers is one, no matter in what language it may be expressed.” See Gregory S. Kealey and Reg Whitaker, eds., rcmp Security Bulletins: The Depression Years, Part III (St John’s, nl: Canadian Committee on Labour History, 1995): no. 836, 9 December 1936, 537. Ian McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals: Rethinking Canada’s Left History (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2005), 117. Rudolf Kogler, The Polish Community in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Polish Research Institute, 1976). See Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 2006). McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals, 130. Ibid., 131. See Ian Angus, Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early Years of the Communist Party of Canada (Montreal: Vanguard, 1981). For more on the Comintern, see Kevin McDermott and Jeremy Agnew, The Comintern: A History of International Communism from Lenin to Stalin (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996); and Duncan Hallas, The Comintern (Great Britain: Bookmarks, 1985). Ibid., 96. Lenin died in early 1924 and the Stalinists isolated and censored Trotsky’s left opposition. William J. Chase, Enemies within the Gates?: The Comintern and the Stalinist Repression, 1934–1939 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001). Ibid., 1. Doug Nesbitt, “J.B. McLachlan, the Communist Party of Canada and the United Front,” Socialist History Project, accessed July 2012, http://www.socialisthistory.ca/Docs/History/Mclachlan.htm. See Anthony Kemp-Welch, Poland under Communism: A Cold War History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). Lewis Coner and Irving Howe, The American Communist Party (Boston: Beacon Press, 1957), 404; and John McIlroy, “The Establishment of Intellectual

Notes to Pages 9–11

17 18

19 20 21

22 23

24 25 26 27

28

211

Orthodoxy and the Stalinization of British Communism 1928–1933,” in Past & Present 192 (August 2006): 187–230. Bryan D. Palmer, “Maurice Spector, James P. Cannon, and the Origins of Canadian Trotskyism,” Labour/Le Travail 56 (Fall 2005): 91–148. Buck was the cpc’s general secretary from 1929 until 1962, and later chairman until his death in 1973. He was also a member of the Comintern’s Central Executive Committee from 1935 until its dissolution in 1943. Buck ensured that the cpc was deeply devoted to defending the Soviet Union and Stalin. Norman LaPorte, Matthew Worley, and Kevin Morgan, Bolshevism, Stalinism and the Comintern (Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). Stanley G. Payne, The Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), 269. Faith Johnson, “The Communists, the ccf, and the Popular Front” (Seventh Annual Roberts S. Kenny Prize lecture, May 2007), http://www.library.utoronto.ca/fisher/kenny-prize/faith-johnston.html. On the Stalinization of the Comintern, see LaPorte, Worley, and Morgan, Bolshevism, Stalinism and the Comintern. Albert Morski, a prominent leader in the Polish Canadian Communist movement, used “hurrah revolutionism” to describe the rigid and militant nature of Communist agitation in the pre-Popular Front period. He argued that revolutionary Communism had to be abandoned if the movement were to gain traction among Polish immigrants. Vladimir I. Lenin, “What Is to Be Done?,” in Vladimir I. Lenin Collected Works, vol. 5 (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1961), 22–3. Victor Turek, Polish Language Press (Toronto: Polish Alliance Press Limited, 1962), 118. Jan Pawlica to msz, Archiwum Akt Nowych (aan, Archive of New Records), Warsaw, 761d, 5. The estimates in table 1.2 may have been inflated by the editors of each respective newspaper to exaggerate their popularity. See Turek, Polish Language Press. Franca Iacovetta, Such Hardworking People: Italian Immigrants in Postwar Toronto (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1992); Franca Iacovetta, Gatekeepers: Reshaping Immigrant Lives in Cold War Canada (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2006); Carmela Patrias, Patriots and Proletarians: Politicizing Hungarian Immigrants in Interwar Canada (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1994); Varpu Lindström, Defiant Sisters: A Social History of Finnish Immigrant Women in Canada (Toronto: Multicultural History Soci-

212

Notes to Page 12

ety of Ontario, 1992); and Anthony Rasporitch, For a Better Life: A History of the Croatians in Canada (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1982). See also Reymond Breton et al., Ethnic Identity and Equality: Varieties of Experience in a Canadian City (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990); Jorgen Dahli and Fernando Tissa, eds., Ethnicity, Power and Politics in Canada (Toronto: Methuen, 1981); Dirk Hoerder and Inge Blank, eds., Roots of the Transplanted (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994); Dirk Hoerder and Jorg Nagler, eds., People in Transit: German Migrations in Comparative Perspective, 1820–1930 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995); Bryan D. Palmer, Working-Class Experience: Rethinking the History of Canadian Labour, 1800–1991 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1992); and Barbara Roberts, Whence They Came: Deportation from Canada 1900–1935 (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988). Similar developments have occurred in the United States. See, for example, Herbert G. Gutman, Work, Culture and Society in Industrializing America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976); Josef Barton, Peasants and Strangers: Italians, Romanians and Slovaks in an American City, 1890–1950 (Cambridge, ma: Harvard University Press, 1975); John Bodnar, Immigration and Industrialization: Ethnicity in an American Mill Town, 1870–1940 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1977); John Bodnar, The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987); John Bodnar, B. Simon, and M. Weber, Lives of Their Own: Blacks, Italians and Poles in Pittsburgh, 1900–60 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982); and Ewa Morawska, For Bread with Butter: The Life-Worlds of East Central Europeans in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 1890–1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985). 29 Edward W. Laine, The Shattered Illusion: The History of Ukrainian Pro-Communist Organizations in Canada by John Kolasky, review in Archivaria 11 (1979): 247–48. 30 Gregory S. Kealey, Workers and Canadian History (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1995), 114. 31 For example, on Hungarian radicals, see Patrias, Patriots and Proletarians. On Ukrainians, see Kolasky, Shattered Illusion; John Kolasky, Prophets and Proletarians: Documents on the History of the Rise and Decline of Ukrainian Communism in Canada (Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 1990); Thomas Prymak, Maple Leaf and Trident: Ukrainian Canadians during the Second World War (Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1996); and chapters by Rhonda L. Hinther, Jaroslav Petryshyn, Jennifer Anderson, Jim Mochoruk, Andrij Makuch, S. Holyck Hunchuck, and Stacey

Notes to Pages 12–14

32

33 34

35 36 37

213

Zembrzycki in Rhonda L. Hinther and Jim Mochoruk, eds., Re-imagining Ukrainian Canadians: History, Politics and Identity (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011). On Finns, see Varpu Lindström, From Heroes to Enemies: Finns in Canada 1937–1947 (Beaverton, on: Aspasia Books, 2000); E.W. Laine, “Finnish Canadian Radicalism and Canadian Politics: The First Forty Years, 1900–1940,” in Ethnicity, Power and Politics in Canada, ed. Jorgen Dahle and Tissa Fernando (Toronto: Methuen, 1981); and Canadian Ethnic Studies, special issue on ethnic radicals, 10 (2): 1978. On Jews, see Ruth Frager, Sweatshop Strife: Class, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Jewish Labour Movement of Toronto, 1900–1939 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992). See, for example, Donald Avery, Dangerous Foreigners: European Immigrant Workers and Labour Radicalism in Canada, 1896–1932 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979). Anna Reczyńska, “Początki działalności radykalnych ugrupowań Polonii Kanadyjskiej,” Przegląd Polonijny 2 (1994): 84–102. The history of the Polish American left and Polish labour activism in the United States has received more attention from scholars. See, for example, Mary E. Cygan, “The Polish-American Left,” in The Immigrant Left in the United States, ed. Paul Buhle and Dan Georgakas (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996); T. Radzilowski, “Interplay of Class and Ethnicity in Polish-American Radicalism” (paper presented at Social Science History Association Conference, Baltimore, 1993); T. Radzilowski, “Polish American Workers and Interwar Unionism” (paper presented at Polish-American Historical Society panel at the American Historical Association annual meeting, Washington, dc, 1999); Dominic A. Pacyga, “Villages of Steel Mills and Packinghouses: The Polish Worker on Chicago’s South Side, 1880–1921,” in The Polish Presence in Canada and America, ed. Frank Renkiewicz (Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1982); Edward Kantowicz, PolishAmerican Politics in Chicago, 1888–1940 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975); and Bodnar, Simon, and Weber, Lives of Their Own. Turek, Polish Language Press, 118–29, 152–5. Victor Turek, Poles in Manitoba (Toronto: Polish Alliance Press Limited, 1967), 212–13, 300. Benedykt Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure of the Polish Canadian Community (Toronto: Canadian Polish Research Institute, 1979); Benedykt Heydenkorn, Past and Present (Toronto: Canadian Polish Research Institute, 1974); William B. Makowski, The Polish People in Canada: A Visual History (Montreal: Tundra Books, 1987); William B. Makowski, History and Integration of Poles in Canada (Niagara Peninsula: Canadian Polish Congress, 1967);

214

38 39 40 41

42 43

44

Notes to Pages 14–17

and Henry Radecki, Ethnic Organizational Dynamics: The Polish Group in Canada (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1980). Turek, Polish Language Press, 118. Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 212. Turek, Polish Language Press, 75. Bryan D. Palmer, “Listening to History Rather than Historians: Reflections on Working-Class History,” Studies in Political Economy 20 (Summer 1986): 50. Patrias, Patriots and Proletarians. Josef Barton, “Eastern and Southern Europeans,” in Ethnic Leadership in America, ed. John Higham (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978). Bodnar, Transplanted, xvii.

chapter two 1 As the minister of the interior, Clifford Sifton helped populate the Prairie provinces through a vigorous immigration policy that encouraged immigrants to settle in Western Canada. While many immigrants came from Britain and the United States, Canada also experienced a large influx of Ukrainians, Scandinavians, Doukhobors, and other groups from the AustroHungarian Empire. Although immigration policies under Sifton were less restrictive than those under his Conservative predecessors, he still lobbied to keep “undesirables” from immigrating to Canada, including Asian and especially Jewish and black people. Between 1891 and 1914, more than three million people came to Canada, largely from continental Europe. See Avery, Dangerous Foreigners; and Howard Palmer, ed., The Settlement of the West (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1977). The second migratory wave can be divided into two sub-periods: pre-and post-1918. Polish immigrants who entered Canada before World War I were less educated and nearly 90 per cent illiterate. They were mainly drawn from the poorer classes of small landowners and landless peasants who inhabited Galicia in the Austrian partition. Approximately 75 to 80 per cent of Polish immigrants in Manitoba, which had the largest concentration of Polish immigrants in Canada, originated from Galicia. The postwar newcomers distinguished themselves from their predecessors by an advanced level of education, a better understanding of urban conditions, and significantly more experience in political activism. The increase in Polish industry contributed to a mushrooming of radically progressive parties

Notes to Pages 17–20

2

3 4 5 6

7

8 9

10

11

215

in all areas of partitioned Poland at the turn of the nineteenth century. As a result, the post-1918 immigrants were no longer only content with gaining land and money like their predecessors. Many became entrepreneurs, teachers, and community leaders. They also founded quasi-political and social organizations that mirrored those to which they had belonged in Poland. Approximately one thousand Polish engineers, technicians, and skilled workers arrived in Canada in 1941 as refugees. They contributed significantly to the war effort and most of them remained in Canada after 1945. Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 33. Kogler, Polish Community in Canada, 4. See Donald H. Avery and Jan K. Fedorowicz, The Poles in Canada (Ottawa: Société Historique du Canada, 1982). See Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 300. See also Anna Reczyńska, For Bread and a Better Future: Emigration from Poland to Canada, 1918–1939 (Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1996). On Polish immigration statistics in secondary source literature, see Turek, Poles in Manitoba; Makowski, Polish People in Canada; and Kogler, Polish Community in Canada. On problems with Canadian immigration statistics, see Charles H. Young, Ukrainian-Canadians: A Study in Assimilation (Toronto: Nelson, 1931); and Avery, Dangerous Foreigners. According to Turek, about 75 per cent of Polish immigrants who settled in Manitoba before 1951 came from Galicia. Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 33. David H. Kapland and Jouni Häkli, eds., Boundaries and Place: European Borderlands in Geographical Context (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), 228–34. Ukrainians and Jews also tended to identify themselves as Polish immigrants in order to receive Polish diplomatic protection in cases of criminal offence or deportation. Diplomatic relations between Poland and Canada were first established in 1919 and coordinated from the Polish Embassy in London. The first consulates opened in Montreal and in Winnipeg between 1919 and 1920. A Consulate General opened in Ottawa in 1933, and prior to this date, Polish consuls reported directly to the embassy in London and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland. For more information about Polish consulates in Canada, see Edward Kołodziej and Tadeusz Radzik, eds., Zjazdy i konferencje konsulów Polskich w usa i Kanadzie: Protokoły i refereaty 1920–1938 (Lublin: Wydawnictwo Marie Curie-Słodowskiej, 2004). Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 13.

216

Notes to Pages 20–5

12 The decade between 1921 and 1931 showed an 18 per cent increase in the overall Canadian population and a 172.5 per cent increase among Polish immigrants. Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 10. 13 Davies, God’s Playground. 14 This section focuses on Galicia because the majority of Polish immigrants who arrived in Canada from continental Europe came from this geographic area. 15 According to Canadian statistics, 104,716 persons from the multinational and multilingual Austro-Hungarian Empire arrived in Canada between 1900 and 1910. Between 1903 and 1904, 9,307 out of 9,914 immigrants from Austria were Poles from Galicia and Ukrainians (Ruthenians) from Galicia and Bukovina. 16 Melchior Wańkowicz, Three Generations (Toronto: Canadian Polish Research Institute, 1973), 11. 17 Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 44. 18 Wańkowicz, Three Generations, 14. 19 Krystyna Łukasiewicz, “Family and Work: Polish Immigrant Women in Alberta, 1920–1950,” in Polonia in Alberta, ed. Andrzej M. Kobos and Jolanta T. Pękacz (Edmonton: Polish Centennial Society, 1995), 72. 20 Turek, Poles in Manitoba; and Makowski, Polish People in Canada. 21 Wańkowicz, Three Generations, 25. 22 By the late 1870s, nearly 90 per cent of village commune officials were illiterate. See Keely Stauter-Halsted, The Nation in the Village: The Genesis of Peasant National Identity in Austrian Poland, 1848–1914 (Ithaca, ny: Cornell University Press, 2005), 86, ft. 23. 23 Lilia Kluck, “The ‘Firsts’ in a Pioneer Family’s Life,” in Kobos and Pękacz, Polonia in Alberta, 55. 24 Stella Hryniuk, “‘Sifton’s Pets’: Who Where They?,” in Canada’s Ukrainians: Negotiating an Identity, ed. Stella Hryniuk and Liubomyr Luciuk (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991), 4. 25 Brian Porter, When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth Century Poland (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). 26 On Polish nationalism and the rise of progressive though in Poland, see Andrzej Walicki, Philosophy and Romantic Nationalism: The Case of Poland (Notre Dame, in: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994). 27 Ibid., 112–38. 28 Thomas W. Simons, Jr, “The Peasant Revolt of 1846 in Galicia: Recent Polish Historiography,” Slavic Review 30 (4): 795–817; and Arnon Gill, Die Polnische

Notes to Pages 25–8

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32

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Revolution 1846: Zwischen nationalem Befreiungskampf des Landadels und antifeudaler Bauernerhebung (Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1974). Stauter-Halsted, Nation in the Village. Stefan Berger and Angel Smith, eds., Nationalism, Labour and Ethnicity 1870–1939 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999), 121–7. The Austrian constitution of 1867 arranged, at least in theory, that all nationalities should enjoy equal rights and guaranteed that each ethnic group could use its mother tongue in education, administration, and public life. In 1868, the Hungarians passed a law that allowed minorities to conduct local government in their own language, to hold the chief posts in the counties where they were in the majority, and to have their own schools. The Ukrainophile Prosvita Society in Galicia, founded in 1868, issued 348 educational booklets (three million copies) between 1877 and 1914. Prosvita and its Moscowphile rival, the Kachkovski Society, founded in 1872, encouraged their readers to found co-operative shops, savings and loan societies, and grain storage facilities. Peter Brock, Polish Revolutionary Populism: A Study in Agrarian Socialist Thought from the 1830s to the 1850s (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977). Hryniuk, “Sifton’s Pets,” 12. Ibid., 9. Stauter-Halsted, Nation in the Village. Peter Brock, “Bolesław Wysłouch, Founder of the Polish Peasant Party,” The Slavonic and East European Review 30 (74, December 1951): 139–63. Patrias, Patriots and Proletarians, 31. Stauter-Halsted, Nation in the Village, 51. Hryniuk, “Sifton’s Pets,” 12. In the other partitioned territories, namely Prussian Poland, Polish peasants had much greater organizational experience than their Galician counterparts. Organic work and enlightenment circles had already made inroads in Prussian Poland in the early nineteenth century. Brock, “Bolesław Wysłouch,” 139–63. See also Brock, Polish Revolutionary Populism. Ibid. See Stauter-Halsted, Nation in the Village. Jan Slomka, From Serfdom to Self-Government: Memoirs of a Polish Village Mayor, 1842–1927, trans. William John Rose (London: Minerva Publishing Co, 1941).

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45 The party eventually suffered from a three-way split. In 1913, the leadership of the more radical wing psl-Lewica (Left) of Jan Stapiński passed into the hands of the more moderate psl-Piast under Wincenty Witos and Jan Dąbski. From 1915, another wing, the psl-Wyzwolenie (Liberation), operated in Prussia and Russia. The Polish socialist movement at the time continued to suffer as the nationalist movement weakened it; most socialists could not agree whether social revolution or the national issue should take precedence. Despite these tensions and schism, the psl remained a major factor in Polish politics for fifty years. 46 Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 229–30. 47 Morski was a member of the Communist Party of Poland. 48 Padraic Kenney, Rebuilding Poland: Workers and Communists 1945–1950 (Ithaca, ny: Cornell University Press, 1997), 12. 49 Berger and Smith, Nationalism, Labour and Ethnicity, 136. 50 Davies, God’s Playground, vol. 2, 307–15. 51 Ewa Morawska, “Labor Migrations of Poles in the Atlantic World Economy, 1880–1914,” in European Migrants: Global and Local Perspectives, ed. Dirk Hoerder and Leslie Page Moch (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996), 175. 52 Ibid. 53 On the roots of Polish socialism, see Lidia Ciołkosz and Adam Ciołkosz, Zarys dziejów socjalizmu polskiego, vol. 1 (London: Gryf, 1966). 54 Berger and Smith, Nationalism, Labour and Ethnicity, 121–30. 55 The pps, like the psl, managed to survive World War II as a leading political force of the Polish left. 56 The movement was initiated by the intelligentsia that had been exposed to radical literature in Russian universities, in student self-education circles, and by Marxist and socialist émigrés. The revolutionary movement in Russia ignited their activities and lent credence to their radical theories. 57 See Paweł Samuś, Dzieje sdkpil (Socjaldemokracji Królewstwa Polskiego i Litwy) w Łodzi: 1893–1918 (Łódź: Wydawnictwo Łódzkie, 1984). 58 Berger and Smith, Nationalism, Labour and Ethnicity, 136–42. 59 Kenney, Rebuilding Poland, 13. 60 Ciołkosz and Ciołkosz, Zarys dziejów socjalizmu polskiego, vol. 1. 61 Henryk Cimek, “Koncepcje i problemy sojuszu robotniczo-chłopskiego w ruchu rewolucyjnym w Polsce 1918–1939,” in Komunistyczna Partia Polski, 1918–1938, ed. Henryk Cimek and Lucjan Kieszczynski (Warsaw: Książka i Wiedza, 1984). For more on the kpp, see Antoni Czubinski, Komunistyczna Partia Polski (1918–1938) (Warsaw: 1985); and Gabriele Simoncini, The Com-

Notes to Pages 32–7

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65 66 67 68 69 70

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munist Party of Poland 1918–1929: A Study in Political Ideology (Lewiston, ny: Edwin Mellen Press, 1993). The party’s illegal status was self-imposed. Polish Communists wanted to sell themselves as genuine revolutionaries and were not interested in parliamentary activity. See Jaff Schatz, The Generation: The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Communists of Poland (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991). Jaff Schatz, “Jews and the Communist Movement in Interwar Poland,” in Dark Times, Dire Decisions: Jews and Communism, ed. Jonathan Frankel (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 18; See also Cimek, “Koncepcje i problemy sojuszu.” Ibid., 18. Ibid. Stauter-Halsted, Nation in the Village, 59. Hryniuk, “Sifton’s Pets,” 16. Porter, When Nationalism Began to Hate, 5–6. Kenney, Rebuilding Poland, 14.

chapter three 1 Debbie Anne Seipert, “Follow Me, Stanisław Sarnecki, ‘The Moses of Rabbit Hill,’” in Kobos and Pękacz, Polonia in Alberta, 38. 2 A.M. Woźniak, “Biuletyn,” Edomonton, 3 May 1973, 4, Library and Archives Canada (lac), Walter Chuhcla Fonds, mg 31, h 58. The size of a morgen varies from half an acre to two and a half acres. 3 Łukasiewicz, “Family and Work,” 73. 4 See Reczyńska, For Bread and a Better Future. 5 Aleksander Świętochowski, Historia chłopów polskich w zarysie (Lwów: Wydawnictwo Polskie, 1928). 6 Monica Primrose, “Good Times in the Coleman Polish Hall,” in Kobos and Pękacz, Polonia in Alberta, 85. 7 Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 34. 8 Sir Clifford Sifton, “The Immigrants Canada Wants,” Maclean’s Magazine, 1 April 1922, 16, 32–4. 9 Appointed minister of the interior in 1896, Sifton immediately set out to revitalize a moribund immigration service that had left the Canadian West a sparsely populated hinterland. Realizing that government’s British-oriented immigration policy was too costly and ineffective, he opted to lure other immigrants, especially stalwart farmers from the central and eastern Euro-

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16 17

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Notes to Pages 37–43

pean countryside. For more on Canada’s immigration policy during the Sifton years, see Avery, Dangerous Foreigners; and Valerie Knowles, Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy 1540–1997 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997). Reczyńska, For Bread and a Better Future. Andrzej Kipiniak, interview with the author, 14 July 2009, Toronto. Peter Rachleff, “The Dynamics of ‘Americanization,’” in Labor Histories: Class, Politics, and the Working-Class Experience, ed. Eric Arnesen, Julie Greene, and Bruce Laurie (Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 347. Census of Alberta 1936. “Population and Agriculture,” 1,025; Census of Alberta 1936, “Occupations, Unemployment, Earnings and Employment, Household and Families,” 941; and Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 12. cpr London memorandum to Mr Colley, 28 February 1930, Glenbow Archives, Calgary, cpr Papers, box 149, file 1,481. W.J. Egan, “Report of the Department of Immigration and Colonization 1928–1929,” Annual Departmental Reports 1928–1929 (Ottawa: King’s Printer, 1930), II:81. Patrias, Patriots and Proletarians, 61. Julian Topolnicki, “Na miejskim bruku,” in Pamiętniki imigrantów polskich w Kanadzie, ed. Benedykt Heydenkorn (Toronto: Polish Alliance Press Limited, 1975), 262. Egan, “Report of the Department of Immigration and Colonization 1928–1929,” II:81. Patrias, Patriots and Proletarians, 61. Łukasiewicz, “Family and Work,” 73. Frank S. Polanski, “With Faith, Hope, and Charity: Jan and Maria Polanski Never Looked Back” in Kobos and Pękacz, Polonia in Alberta, 47. Hryniuk, “Sifton’s Pets,” 14. Izabella Wik, “Conquering the Peace River Country,” revised by Roman Wozniak, in Kobos and Pękacz, Polonia in Alberta, 91. F.B. Kirkwood, “Report on Athabasca District of Alberta,” 1 November 1928, cnr Department of Colonization, Edmonton, lac, Ottawa, rg 30 5894, file 12. Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 229. He was probably referring to a very popular book written by Arkady Fiedler, Kanada pachnąca żywicą (Resinscented Canada), which was published in Warsaw in 1935. Fiedler portrayed Canada as an unspoiled natural paradise and recounted marvellous stories about Native Americans, formidable hunting grounds, and breathtaking

Notes to Pages 44–5

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

35 36

37 38

39

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wildlife. Many Polish immigrants claimed that the book inspired them to settle in Canada. See Topolnicki, “Na miejskim bruku.” Embassy in London, “Report to the Consulate in London from the Polish Office for Repatriation in Antwerp,” 11 November 1921, aan, Warsaw, 56. Andrew Kipiniak, interview, 23 July 2009, Toronto Woźniak, “Biuletyn.” Wik, “Conquering the Peace River Country,” 93. Seipert, “Follow Me,” 38. Łukasiewicz, “Family and Work,” 75. John Huculak, History of the Holy Rosary Parish in Edmonton 1913–1988 (Edmonton: Holy Rosary Parish, 1988), 112. The majority of immigrants who settled in large urban centres like Toronto and Montreal were peasant farmers who migrated out of the prairies in search of work, especially in the industrial sectors. But because few Poles had training or experience in industry, their prospects were limited to those types of factory employment – unskilled or, at best, semi-skilled – for which competition was the most prevalent. Nevertheless, the Depression’s disastrous impact hastened the trek from country to city and from the west to central Canada. Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 79. Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 7 March 1939, aan, Warsaw, 1,372; and Consul in Winnipeg to the msz, confidential, 1 January 1938, Archives of Ontario, Malatyński Papers, 9,695.5. Heydenkorn, Past and Present, 35. “No. 757,” 29 May 1935, in rcmp Security Bulletins: The Depression Years, Part II, ed. Gregory S. Kealey and Reg Whitaker (St John’s, nl: Canadian Committee on Labour History, 1995), 312. With only a few dollars in their pockets, immigrants were naturally anxious to take whatever employment was offered. They were willing to work harder, for longer hours, and for less pay. The majority hoped to reduce their vagabondage on the prairies by finding more lucrative and steadier employment in the cities. Between 1925 and 1929, Canada experienced an economic boom, with the greatest expansion occurring in its two central provinces: Ontario and Quebec. Over 63 per cent of Canadians of Polish origin lived in the western provinces in 1931, but by 1951, that number had declined to 50 per cent. In 1921, 15,787 Poles resided in Ontario, and by 1931, that number had increased to 42,384. Although significantly less Poles settled in Quebec, census data reveals that more than six thousand

222

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44

45 46 47

48 49 50 51 52

Notes to Pages 46–9

Polish Canadians considered that province their home in 1931. See Kogler, Polish Community in Canada. Władysław Chuchla, Memoir, lac, mg 31 h 58, 13–14. Chuchla was a selfdeclared anti-Communist, but it is worth noting that he may have been registered as a Communist orgnaizer for Coleman, Alberta, by Polish authorities. See A.3 in the appendix. In his memoir, Chuchla mentions that his brother, a Communist sympathizer, often argued with his father over his Communist outlook. Patrias, Patriots and Proletarians, 63. Chuchla, Memoir, 15. Author’s collection: Letter from the Canadian Polish Congress to Adam Kipiniak, Manitoba, July 1946. Kipiniak was a Polish soldier who settled with his family in Canada after World War II. In 1946, he wrote to the Canadian Polish Congress to inquire about living conditions in Canada. He received a discouraging reply, in which he was advised to prepare for hard work and hazardous working conditions if he wanted to “become someone” (kimś zostać) in Canada. William I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America: Monograph of an Immigrant Group, vol. 5, Organization and Disorganization in America (Boston: Badger, 1920), 166. Ibid., 166. See Donald Avery, Reluctant Host: Canada’s Response to Immigrant Workers 1896–1994 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1995). James R. Barrett and David R. Roediger, “In-between Peoples: Race, Nationality, and the New Immigrant Workers,” Journal of American Ethnic History 16 (May 1997): 3–44; and James R. Barrett and David R. Roediger, “The Irish and the ‘Americanization’ of the ‘New Immigrants’ in the Streets and in the Churches of the Urban United States, 1900–1930,” Journal of American Ethnic History 24 (Summer 2005): 3–33. Eric Arnesen, “Whiteness and the Historians’ Imagination,” International Labor and Working-Class History 60 (Fall 2001): 3–32. Carmela Patrias, “Race, Employment Discrimination, and State Complicity in Wartime Canada, 1939–1945,” Labour/Le Travail 59 (Spring 2007): 9–41. Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 80. In the 1930s, the zpk added “Friendly Society” to its English-language name, thus becoming the Polish Alliance Friendly Society of Canada. Joanna Matejko, “Polish Immigration to Alberta before the Second World War,” in Kobos and Pękacz, Polonia in Alberta, 25; and A report from Lon-

Notes to Pages 49–53

53 54 55

56 57 58 59 60

61

62 63 64

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don to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (msz) in Poland, 4 October 1919, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 897, 28–9. Chuchla, Memoir, 15. aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, 964, 5. This figure includes all ethnic backgrounds, not just Poles. Unfortunately, statistical data on how many Polish immigrants were deported during this period is not available. Łukasiewicz, “Family and Work,” 77. Martha Henderek and Helen Henderek, “Alberta Coal Branch and the Polish Pioneer Life,” in Kobos and Pękacz, Polonia in Alberta, 102. Wik, “Conquering the Peace River Country,” 93. See Patrias, “Race, Employment Discrimination, and State Complicity,” 9–42. For more on Canada during the Great Depression, see Blair Neatby, The Politics of Chaos: Canada in the Thirties (Canada: Macmillan of Canada, 1972); and Katrina Srigley, Breadwinning Daughters: Young Working Women in a Depression-Era City, 1929–1939 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010). Mental Health Division, Health Services Directorate, Health Canada, “Suicide in Canada: Update of the Report of the Task Force on Suicide in Canada” (Ottawa: Published by authority of the Minister of National Health and Welfare, 1994). See Avery and Fedorowicz, Poles in Canada. Kolasky, Shattered Illusion, 25. Ibid.

chapter four 1 Very little information is available on the early history of the Polish socialist organizations in Canada. Dziennik Ludowy (US), 2 June 1908 and 12 February 1914, cited in Reczyńska, “Początki działalności,” 84. 2 Unfortunately, aside from their names, not much information is available about these organizations. Glimpses of their existence are available in a few Polish consular reports, rcmp surveillance records, and some general outlines of Polish Canadian community organizations compiled by Polish scholars who obtained their information through direct interviews with former members in the 1950s and 1960s. 3 Matejko, “Polish Immigration to Alberta,” 26.

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4 See Avery, Dangerous Foreigners. 5 See Robert Babcock, Gompers in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974), 116. 6 See “Register of Bolshevist and Agitator Investigations, 1920” in rcmp Security Bulletins: The Early Years, 1919–1929, ed. Gregory S. Kealey and Reg Whitaker (St John’s, nl: Canadian Committee on Labour History, 1993). 7 Turek, Polish Language Press, 119. Bolesław Konstantin “Bill” Gebert is presumed to have been a Soviet agent with ties to the kgb during World War II. He returned to Poland after the war and became a high-ranking Communist. Between 1960 and 1967, he served as the Polish ambassador to Turkey. See Randi Storch, Red Chicago: American Communism at its Grassroots, 1928–1935 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007). 8 “No. 332,” 19 August 1926, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 339. 9 Turek, Polish Language Press, 116. 10 The Royal North West Mounted Police merged with the Dominion Police in 1920 to form the rcmp. 11 Circular memorandum C.I.B. No. 72 to Officer Commanding, “Statute of Polish Council in Canada,” 17 June 1919, lac, Polish Council in Canada, rg 95, vol. 1805; and Matthew J. McCarron, barrister, to the Under-Secretary of State, St Catharines, 11 April 1919, lac, Polish Council in Canada, rg 95, vol. 1805. 12 At around the same time, Polish consuls in the United States were also beginning to notice an emerging radical movement among Polish American immigrants. In 1923, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland instructed Polish consuls in the United States to produce two annual reports, in triplicate, on Communist and anarchist organizations in their consular jurisdictions. Legation in Washington to all Polish consulates in the United States, 22 October 1924, aan, Warsaw, Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Buffalo, 173 (3). 13 Consul Bukowiecki-Olszewski in Winnipeg to the msz, 31 August 1920, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 1,372. 14 msz to the embassy in Washington, 8 November 1919, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, 2,352 (1). 15 Polish consul in Winnipeg to the legation in Washington, 23 September 1921, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, 1,019. 16 Ibid. 17 The Polish consul in Winnipeg informed the rcmp, which spoiled the Com-

Notes to Pages 55–8

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munists’ plan to bomb the embassy. Vice-consul in Winnipeg to the legation in Washington, 29 November 1923, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, 1,111 (62). During the Polish-Soviet War, the Communist movement in Canada was still in its nascent stage. It is difficult to estimate how many Polish immigrants in Canada had been radicalized by this time because of a lack of sources. The first Polish Communist branch opened six years after the Polish-Soviet conflict in 1926. Polish consular sources suggest that during the early 1920s, there could have been no more than a few hundred Polish radicals (most likely less than 300) in Canada. The Polish consul Walerian Bukowiecki-Olszewski observed that there were only eight active Polish Communists in the Ukrainian Workers’ Temple in Winnipeg, and that many Poles had left Communist organizations as a result of the Polish-Soviet War. Polish consul in Winnipeg to the legation in Washington, 23 September 1921, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, 1,019; and “No. 39,” 2 September 1920, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 97. “No. 37,” 19 August 1920, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 58. Ibid., 59. “No. 39,” 2 September 1920, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 92. Ibid., 92–3. “No. 41,” 16 September 1920, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 136; “No. 48,” 4 November 1920, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 271. Mail and Empire, Toronto edition, 29 April 1932. See Angus, Canadian Bolsheviks. Irving Abella, The Canadian Labour Movement, 1902–1960 (The Canadian Historical Association: 1975), 16–19. The policy of the “Second Period,” or “boring from within,” encouraged Communists to join mainstream labour unions and progressive organizations in order to move them to the revolutionary left. In 1938, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs intercepted a Comintern document containing detailed instructions on how Communist conspirateurs – fanatically dedicated spies, artists, and people willing to work for money – should infiltrate “enemy” organizations in Canada. According to the instructions, the best way was to “drill from within” by having agents join enemy organizations and participate in their day-to-day activities. The instructions recommended

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31 32 33 34 35

36 37

Notes to Pages 58–60

that agents should act “discretely” and earn the trust of the most vocal and active members of the organization. Only then should an agent begin to “gradually” question and discredit the relations between members in the organization (psucie stosunków pomiędzy członkami organizacji). The instructions also noted that agents should spread “private rumours” (powiem Pani, lecz proszę nie powtarzać) about members; make members feel as though their work is not appreciated; harness the support of the most “lazy,” “marginalized,” and “untalented” members; and undermine the authority of the leaders. Polish consuls in Canada reprinted the Comintern’s instructions in the Gazeta Katolicka (Catholic gazette) on 4 May 1938 to warn Polish Canadians about Communist machinations. msz to Consul General in Ottawa, aan, Warsaw, Polish Legation in Ottawa, 761d; Note on Comintern Instructions, marked “secret,” 16 February 1938; and Juliusz Szygowski to the msz, 19 May 1938, aan, Warsaw, Polish Legation in Ottawa, 761d. Initially, only about 10 per cent of the party was composed of Anglo-Saxon Canadians. See Avery, Dangerous Foreigners. Relations between the cpc and the Ukrainian Communists were occasionally marred by schisms. Throughout the 1930s, for instance, Ukrainian Communists clashed with the cpc over its failure to question the Stalin-orchestrated Famine-Genocide of 1932 and 1933, which led to the defection of many Ukrainians under the Danylo Lobai movement. Kolasky, Prophets and Proletarians, xxiii. Tim Buck, Thirty Years, 1922–1952: The Story of the Communist Movement in Canada (Toronto: Progress Books, 1952), 28. “Some Outstanding Facts behind the Deportations,” Mail and Empire, 29 April 1932. See “Register of Bolshevist and Agitator Investigations, 1920,” in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years. Warrant to search Dan Chomicki`s residence, Dan Chomicki (alias Holmes, Homes or Homitski), Winnipeg, Manitoba, lac, rg 76, file 513,111, reel c–10,274; and Shin Imai, “Deportation in the Depression,” Queen’s Law Journal 7 (1): 1981. See also Avery, Dangerous Foreigners, 131; Reczyńska, “Początki działalności,” 88; Barbara Roberts, “Shovelling out the ‘Mutinous’: Political Deportation from Canada before 1936,” Labour/Le Travail 18 (Fall 1986): 77–110. See Imai, “Deportation in the Depression,” 86. Polish authorities repeatedly helped the rcmp by providing the names, identification documents, and addresses of radical agitators, and by revoking

Notes to Pages 61–2

38

39 40

41 42 43 44

45 46

47

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their Polish citizenship to prevent them from becoming naturalized Canadians. Juliusz Szygowski to the Consul General in Ottawa, a note regarding Grzegorz (Harry) Okulewicz, 20 January 1939, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa. Chomicki was eventually deported back to Poland. Warrant to search Dan Chomicki`s residence, lac, rg 76, file 513,111; and Imai, “Deportation in the Depression.” “Some Outstanding Facts,” Mail and Empire, 29 April 1932. “No. 333,” 2 September 1926, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 350. Sokolicz-Merkel helped form two more branches during her visit in Winnipeg: a Ukrainian branch with about 300 members, and a Jewish branch with about thirty-five members. “No. 330,” 5 August 1926, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: The Early Years, 320. Evidence suggests that Sokolicz-Merkel worked, and was perhaps even an emissary for, International Red Aid, which formally offered apolitical aid to political prisoners, and helped set-up Communist organizations. She wrote a book about Ludwik Waryński, a pioneer of the socialist movement in Poland. “No. 333,” 2 September 1926, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 350. “No. 332,” 19 August 1926, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 339. The St Catharines branch had fifteen members in 1926. Turek, Polish Language Press, 119. Dutkiewicz may have been exaggerating, although the number is not very high. It should be noted, however, that Budzik may have also had a broader readership since one newspaper typically circulated between several individuals. Turek, Polish Language Press, 121. Turek suggests that no more than three copies of Czerwona Jaskółka were ever printed. Kronika Tygodniowa, 13 September 1947, 14; see also Turek, Polish Language Press, 119. Ukrainian Canadians once again played a helpful role in establishing the ptrf. In fact, Pawlica noted that Polish branches in Montreal, Toronto, Windsor, Kitchener, Brandon, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Calgary, and Vancouver, among others, were established with help from two Ukrainian pro-Communist organizations: Turfdim and Todowyrnazu. See Jan Pawlica to msz, note on “Communist Organizations in Canada,” 15 March 1937, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa, 5–6. Consul General to the msz, 3 March 1939, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 1,372.

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48 Jan Pawilca’s confidential report entitled “Poglądy komunistyczne w wychodztwie polskim w Kanadzie Zachodniej,” 1 September 1933, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 1,372. 49 “No. 711,” 20 June 1934, in rcmp Security Bulletins: The Depression Years, Part I, ed. Gregory S. Kealey and Reg Whitaker (St John’s, nl: Canadian Committee on Labour History, 1993), 79. 50 Turek, Polish Language Press, 121. The newspaper was first published using facilities provided by Ukrainian Communists in Winnipeg. 51 Mail and Empire, Toronto edition, 30 April 1932. 52 “No. 776,” 9 October 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 525. 53 Pawlica to msz, note on “Communist organizations in Canada,” 15 March 1937, 6. 54 Ibid. 55 “No. 817,” 29 July 1936, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins, Depression Years, III, 311. 56 Turek, Polish Language Press, 121. 57 Ibid., 120. 58 Tytus Zbyszewski to the Ambassador in Washington, 1 March 1934, aan, Warsaw, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York, 403 (171). It appears that Polish Communists in the United States also benefitted, or at least tried to solicit help, from the Communist Party of Poland. In 1934, the Polish Chamber of Labor held a meeting that secretly called for the infiltration of the embassy in Washington. Harry A. Jung of the American Vigilant Intelligence Federation warned that members of the chamber prepared a program, “which seems to be under way, of obtaining from Communist comrades in Poland, with whom they seem to be in correspondence, the names of some Washington dc comrades who might be persona grata, that is, without knowledge of the Embassy of their communist connections – should such make application for employment at the embassy in the capacity of guards or on the clerical staff.” See Harry A. Jung (American Vigilant Intelligence Federation National Headquarters) to Tytus Zbyszewski, 5 March 1934, aan, Warsaw, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York, 403 (173). 59 Consul Juliusz Szygowski made a similar observation in his 1938 report to the msz. Juliusz Szygowski to msz, “Communist pressures on Polish immigrants in Western Canada,” 13 January 1938, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa. This figure may have been exaggerated by Szygowski because he did not provide any evidence to support his estimate.

Notes to Pages 64–5

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60 Kolasky, Shattered Illusion, 8. 61 Consul of the Republic of Poland in Winnipeg to msz, 8 January 1939, aan, Warsaw, 11,430 msz files. 62 Consul General Jan Pawlica to msz, “confidential report,” 7 March 1939, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 1,372. In the United States, Communist literature was also imported from Poland and sold very cheaply – for between one and ten cents – or occasionally distributed for free. aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, 1,051 (32). 63 The Polish consul may have made a mistake in his report, as it seems more likely that the route for smuggling Communist literature would have been from the Soviet Union to Poland and then to Canada. Pawlica to msz, 3 August 1933, aan, Warsaw, 1,372; and msz to the Consul General in Ottawa, note on Polish immigrants in Canada, 11 January 1937, aan, Warsaw, Polish Legation in Ottawa, 761d. 64 Pawlica to msz, 3 August 1933. 65 See msz to embassy in Washington, 8 November 1919, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, 2,352 (1). See also “Canadians Arrest Count Max Potocki,” New York Times, 9 October 1919. 66 “No 711,” 20 June 1934, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins, Depression Years, I, 79. See also The Worker, 9 and 25 June 1934. Polka was a veteran of World War I who came to Canada on 1 May 1926 at the age of twenty-four and was employed by the Ford plant in Windsor, Ontario. He became a member of the cpc and the national secretary of the Polish Workers’ and Farmers’ Association in Winnipeg. He was crushed by a freight train on 27 May 1934 in Saskatchewan while on an organizing trip. He was buried by the Department of Health but was later exhumed by his comrades, who buried his corpse in Winnipeg on 9 June 1934. Jacob Penner, a prominent Canadian Communist, spoke at his funeral. See chapter 8 in this volume for a further discussion of Polka’s funeral. 67 It is likely that other organizers were sent to Canada, including Zygmunt Majtczak, who created a Polish Communist Youth Section in Winnipeg in 1935. In 1939, a consular report revealed the names of eighteen “communist activists of Polish nationality who were active among the Polish emigration in Canada.” “No. 748,” 13 March 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 167; and Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa to the msz, 7 March 1939, aan, Warsaw, msz files 11,470. Morski is not on that list. See also Reczyńska, “Początki działalności,” 92. 68 Morski had a long and distinguished career in Canada and in Poland. He

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Notes to Pages 65–7

served on Głos Pracy’s editorial committee in Winnipeg. By 1937, he was the chief representative in Canada of the International Union of Workers and Red Aid. In February 1941, he became the first editor of Kronika Tygodniowa in Toronto. He also served in the Canadian Army Reserves during World War II. In August 1943, he joined the Labour Progressive Party. He left Kronika Tygodniowa in 1945 when he was appointed chief of the Ottawa office of the Polish Information Agency. In this capacity, Morski began to represent the Polish People’s Government in Ottawa. He was involved with the Polish Repatriation Committee in Montreal, and he returned to Poland in March 1947, where he became the chief of division in the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In late 1947, he was appointed consul general at the Polish Embassy in London, and in 1955 and 1956 was the chief of the Polish delegation to the International Armistice Commission in Korea. He was the Polish ambassador to Norway from 1957 to 1961, and was later the chief of the Polish Delegation to the International Control Commission in Laos. In subsequent years, he served as the Polish ambassador to Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia. He retired in 1971 and died on 17 July 1994 in Warsaw. See Turek, Polish Language Press; Longin Pastusiak, Polska Kanada 1945–1961, Kraje odległe a jednak bliskie (Toruń, Poland: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, 1994); Anna Reczyńska, “Początki działalności,” and Piętno Wojny: The Official Gazette of the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, vol. 50 (17), 27 April 1948, 291; “Sen Finds ‘Encouraging Signs’ in Laos,” Amsterdam Evening Recorder, 10 May 1961, 1; Ang Cheng Guan, Vietnamese Communists’ Relations with China and the Second Indochina Conflict, 1956–1962 (Jefferson, nc: McFarland & Company, 1997), 210; and “Laos Control Unit to Meet Rebels,” Evening Independent, Florida edition, 10 May 1961. “No. 776,” 9 October 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 525. Turek, Polish Language Press, 123. “No. 870,” 16 September 1937, in rcmp Security Bulletins: The Depression Years, Part IV, ed. Gregory S. Kealey and Reg Whitaker (St John’s, nl: Canadian Committee on Labour History, 1997), 370. “No. 836,” 9 December 1936, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 537; and “No. 842,” 3 February 1937, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, IV, 71–2. “No. 842,” 3 February 1937, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, IV, 71–2. John Manley, “Introduction,” in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II. See also Angus, Canadian Bolsheviks.

Notes to Pages 67–9

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75 The following three new branches were organized on 10 March 1937: St Charles District, Montreal (seven members); Spruce Valley, Alberta (sixteen members); Cadomin, Alberta (nine members). 76 “No. 847,” 10 March 1937, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, IV, 125. 77 “No. 862,” 30 June 1937, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, IV, 278. 78 Szygowski to the msz, 31 December 1938, aan, Warsaw, msz files 11,430. 79 “No. 861,” 23 June 1937, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, IV, 266. 80 Turek, Polish Language Press, 123. 81 Ibid.; and “Głos Pracy,” 3 March 1938. Although there is no evidence to suggest that the ptl ever collaborated with religious groups, rcmp agents noted on several occasions that Catholic Poles were attracted to the worker-friendly character of the Polish Communist movement. Some rcmp reports indicated that Polish Catholics joined the ptl. “No. 757,” 29 May 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 312. 82 “No. 757,” 29 May 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 312. 83 “No. 874,” 27 October 1937, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, IV, 433. 84 Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 7 March 1939, aan, Warsaw, 1,372; and Consul in Winnipeg to the msz, confidential, 1 January 1938, Archives of Ontario, Malatyński Papers, 9,695.5. 85 Juliusz Szygowski to the msz, report on the status of Polish Communist organizations in Canada, December 1938, Polish Consulate in Winnipeg, aan, Warsaw, 761d. 86 Pawlica to the Polish Consulate in Montreal, 27 May 1938, Polish Legation in Ottawa, aan, Warsaw, 761d. 87 Juliusz Szygowski to msz, “Communist Pressures on Polish Immigrants in Western Canada,” 13 January 1938, Polish Legation in Ottawa, aan, Warsaw, 761d. 88 “Suspicion Reds Active among dps in Canada,” Globe and Mail, 26 October 1947; Dick Jackson, “Communist Activity Suspected by Ottawa,” Edmonton Bulletin, 25 October 1947; and John Leblanc, “Polish Girls Said Lured to Toronto,” Globe and Mail, 24 October 1947. 89 Polish Mutual Aid Society, Srebrny Jubileusz Polskiego Towarszystwa Wzajemnej Pomocy w Prowincji Quebec, Kanada: 1934–1959 (Montreal, 1959), lac, mg55/28 26 1, 30.

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Notes to Pages 70–6

chapter five 1 According to Anderson, an imagined community exists when there is no face-to-face interaction between its members. A good example of an imagined community is a nation, because it is socially constructed by the people who perceive that they belong to it. Anderson, Imagined Communities. 2 Helena Znaniecka Lopata with Mary Patricem Erdmans, Polish Americans (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1994), 55. 3 Thomas and Znaniecki, Polish Peasant in Europe and America, 99. 4 Gabriela Pawlus Kasprzak, “Patriotic Priests and Religious Consuls: Religion and Nationalism in the Polish Diaspora, 1918–1939,” Polish American Studies 68 (2): 13–42. 5 See Makowski, Polish People in Canada. 6 Joanna Matejko, “Polish Farmers in Alberta, 1896–1939,” in Renkiewicz, The Polish Presence in Canada and America, 57. 7 Turek, Polish Language Press, 65. 8 Wańkowicz, Three Generations, 381. 9 Ibid., 361. 10 Ibid. 11 Turek, Polish Language Press, 65. 12 Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 197. 13 For a discussion on Polonia federations, see Turek, Poles in Manitoba; Reczyńska, For Bread and a Better Future; and Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure. 14 See Claire Nolte, The Sokol in the Czech Lands to 1914: Training for the Nation (New York: Palgrave, 2002). 15 Donald E. Pienkos, One Hundred Years Young: A History of the Polish Falcons of America, 1887–1987 (Boulder, co: East European Monographs, 1987), 39. 16 See Turek, Polish Language Press; and Makowski, Polish People in Canada. 17 Following disagreements over the seemingly authoritarian attitude of the Oblate priests of the Holy Ghost Parish in Winnipeg, a group of Polish parishioners broke away and formed an independent congregation in 1904. By 1907, they made contacts with the US-based Polish National Catholic Church and began to set up a National Catholic parish in Manitoba. In later years, the Church formed parishes throughout Canada and bishopric in Toronto. Its membership peaked in the 1960s with nearly five thousand parishioners. For a discussion on the Polish National Catholic Church, see Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 176–82. 18 Turek, Polish Language Press, 67.

Notes to Pages 76–81

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24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31 32 33 34

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Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 206. Ibid. Ibid., 197. Ibid. See also Makowski, Polish People in Canada. The Polish Alliance of Canada, established in 1922, was the oldest Polish federation in Canada, but unlike the Communist federation its activities were mainly limited to central Canada. Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 216–17. See Turek, Polish Language Press. Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 134. Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 82. Heydenkorn, Past and Present, 127. The zpk was often considered “pink” by conservative Poles and the Polish consuls, who it leaned too close to Communism. In later periods, Polish Communists tried to capitalize (with no success) on the zpk’s left-leaning outlook by encouraging its members to join them. When World War II broke out, the zpk adopted a more conservative position and waged a vocal anti-Communist campaign. Turek, Polish Language Press, 133. Heydenkorn, Past and Present, 126. Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 83. Benedykt Heydenkorn, Monografia Pisma Polonijnego (Montreal: McGillQueen’s University Press, 1972), 65. “Consulate of the Republic of Poland, Montreal-Ottawa, 1937–1942,” letters from Związkowiec to the Consulate, December 1937, lac, Benedykt Heydenkorn Fond, mg 31 d237 vol. 7; “Consulate General of Poland, Montreal, 1931–1941,” letter to the Consulates in Montreal and Winnipeg from the Consul in Ottawa, 23 December 1937; and Turek, Polish Language Press, 135. Kasprzak, “Patriotic Priests,” 13–42. Adam Walaszek, “Wychodzcy, Emigrants or Poles? Fears and Hopes about Emigration in Poland, 1870–1939,” aemi Journal 1 (2003), 4–5. Ibid., 6. Ibid., 7. The Polish government had good reasons to maintain a loyal Polonia, especially from an economic perspective. While there is no data available to quantify the amount of money that was sent from Canada to Poland, it is possible to illustrate the importance of remittances by examining the Polish community in the United States. According to Adam Walaszek, $3.5 million in money orders was sent from the United States to Galicia in 1902; an

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46 47

48

49 50

Notes to Pages 81–3

additional $4 million was brought by re-emigrants; $3.5 million was sent to Russian Poland; and an estimated $12 million was sent privately in letters. Mieczysław Szawleski notes that $200 million was transferred from the United States to Poland between 1921 and 1923, and Zbigniew Landau estimates that 291 million złoty was transferred to Poland in 1930. The Polish community in Canada was considerably smaller than its US counterpart, but Polish Canadians undoubtedly sent substantial sums of money to their families in Poland. Edward Kołodziej, Wychodźstwo zarobkowe z Polski 1918–1939: Studia nad polityką emigracyjną II Rzeczypospolitej (Warsaw: Książka i Wiedza, 1982), 61; Adam Walaszek, “Overseas Migration Consequences: The Case of Poles Returning from the usa, 1880–1924,” in Eastern Europe and the West: Selected Papers from the Fourth World Congress for Soviet and East European Studies, Harrogate, 1990, ed. John Morrison (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1992), 194; and Celina Bobińska and Andrzej Pilch, eds., Employment-Seeking Emigrations of the Poles World-Wide, XIX and XX (Kraków: Jagiellonian University, 1979), 119. Report of the Consulate General in Montreal, 14 June 1923, aan, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, 964, 19–28. Ibid., 11. Ibid. Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 15. Walaszek, “Wychodžcy, Emigrants or Poles?,” 11. In 1938, Consul Juliusz Szygowski emphasized that it was of utmost importance that the Polish government’s support for the zzpwk be “entirely hidden, in such a way, that only necessary consular functionaries know about it.” Juliusz Szygowski to msz, “Communist Pressures on Polish Immigrants in Western Canada,” 13 January 1938, Polish Legation in Ottawa, aan, Warsaw, 761d. Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, ft. 1, 48. Pawlica to msz, 16 November 1938, aan, Warsaw, msz 10,838, 237; Zagadnienie rozwoju działalności zjednoczenia zrzeszeń polskich w kanadzie oraz wzmocnienia jego podstaw finansowych” (speech, 1938), Archives of Ontario (ao), Multicultural History Society of Ontario Fond, Federation of Polish Societies in Canada, paper file, pol0236, mu 9066. Jan Pawlica to the msz, “Counter-Actions against Communist Influences among Polish Immigrants in Western Canada,” 13 January 1938, Polish Legation in Ottawa, aan, Warsaw, 761d. Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 10–15. Ibid., 12.

Notes to Pages 83–5

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58

59 60 61 62 63

64

65

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Ibid. Ibid., 13. aan, Warsaw, Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Winnipeg, 599, 2. Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 26. Pawlica to msz, 14 November 1933, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 898, 3. Wnioski i umotywanie w sprawie kolonizacji i wychodźtwa do Kanady, 11 January 1933, aan, msz, 9825, 118–34. Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 216. Despite their antagonisms, the competing patriotic and religious groups collaborated. Several Polish consuls, especially Szygowski, believed that only the Church could hinder Communism in the Canadian Polonia, and argued that Polish consuls should work closely with clergy members and use the parishes to inform Polish immigrants about the dangers of Communism. The zpk and the zzpwk gradually overcame their sharp differences. In 1938, for example, the two federations, together with several Polish parishes, formed a Canadian branch of the National Defence Fund (Fundusz Obrony Narodowej), which collected relief for Poland. Juliusz Szygowski to msz, “Communist Pressures on Polish Immigrants in Western Canada,” 13 January 1938, Polish Legation in Ottawa, aan, Warsaw, 761d. Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 86–91. Reprint of a ptrf poster published in Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 88. Ibid., 87. Ibid., 88. Ibid., 93. The Communists’ attacks appeared to be effective. By 1938, several important zzpwk functionaries had left the organization on account of Głos Pracy’s propaganda. According to Pawlica, some of those individuals had been committed patriots who had worked in the Polish community for more than twenty years. Jan Pawlica to msz, “A Chronicle of Communist Activities in the Canadian Polonia,” Polish Legation in Ottawa, aan, Warsaw, 761d, 4. Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 88. Heydenkorn provides conflicting information: on page 14, he notes that Communists were asked to leave by a vote of twenty-nine to eighteen, while on page 88, which contains a typed version of an original ptrf poster, he indicates that the result of the vote was twenty-seven to eighteen. See Reczyńska, “Początki działalności,” 84–102; Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 88; and Turek, Polish Language Press, 119–28.

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Notes to Pages 86–9

66 Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 14–15. 67 Adamkiewicz to msz, 6 November 1931, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, aan, Warsaw, 964 (55). 68 Paul MacEwan, Miners and Steelworkers: Labour in Cape Breton (Toronto: S. Stevens, 1976), 176. 69 Consul in Montreal to the Consul in Winnipeg, 29 October 1938, aan, Warsaw, msz 10,466. Polish consuls also noted that Poles employed in the lumber mills in The Pas, Manitoba, were also “under a strong communist influence under the leadership of two agitators named Takowski and Maria Dubieńska.” Polish Consul in Winnipeg to msz, 25 August 1938, aan, Warsaw, msz 10,466. 70 Federation of Polish Societies in Canada, Directory, 1939 (Acme Advertising Agency, Montreal, 1938), 73. 71 B. Liszkowski, Kronika Towarzystwa “Zgoda” od 1926 do 1966 roku (Vancouver: Głos Polski, 1966), 11. 72 msz to the Consul General in Ottawa, note on Polish immigrants in Canada, 11 January 1937, aan, Warsaw, Polish Legation in Ottawa, 761d. 73 Jan Pawlica to msz, note on “Communist Organizations in Canada,” 15 March 1937. 74 Ibid., 6. Polish authorities were also occasionally interested in monitoring Rusyns and the Lemko Association of the United States and Canada together with its mouthpiece, Lemko, which was published in Cleveland, Ohio. Jan Pawlica to msz, note on Lemko organizations in Canada, Polish Legation in Ottawa, aan, Warsaw, 761d. 75 msz to Polish Consulate in Ottawa, “Paczki” (packages), 26 March 1938, Polish Legation in Ottawa, aan, Warsaw, 761d. The consuls also sent American students who finished a special course entitled “Wiedza o Polsce” (Knowledge about Poland) to speak to students in Canada. 76 Ibid. After World War II, Baczkowski moved to Washington, where he wrote several studies on Soviet policy, including Soviet Policy in the Middle East, published in 1958. 77 ao 9,695, cited from Tadeusz Brzeziński’s correspondence with the msz in 1939. 78 “Przesladowany za ‘Glos Pracy,’” Głos Pracy, 16 November 1933. 79 Reczyńska, “Początki działalności,” 101. This report referenced a Polish veterans’ association that Polish consuls liquidated because it had been infiltrated by Communists. 80 Pawlica to msz, 14 November 1933, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London 898(3).

Notes to Pages 89–94

81 82 83 84 85

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Daily Clarion, 9 July 1938. Reczyńska, “Początki działalności,” 99. Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 184. Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 82. Władysław Dutkiewicz, private notes, undated, author’s collection.

chapter six 1 Sean Purdy, Radicals and Revolutionaries (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998); and A.R. McCormack, Reformers, Rebels and Revolutionaries: The Western Canadian Radical Movement, 1899–1919 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977). 2 See Ian McKay, Reasoning Otherwise: Leftists and the People’s Enlightenment in Canada 1890–1920 (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2008). 3 As I discussed above, information on Polish Canadian Communist members is scarce. In this section, I draw conclusions based on the experiences and biographical data of those individuals for whom archival materials are available. 4 Staniewski was a political exile from Russian Poland. 5 There is no available data on how many Polish Communists in Canada came from leftist households. 6 “No. 757,” 29 May 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 312. Polish authorities also noticed that the pro-Communist Ukrainian organization Todowyrnazu attracted Ukrainian nationalists and members from several religious organizations. Pawlica to msz, note on “Communist Organizations in Canada,” 15 March 1937. 7 Polish Mutual Aid Society, Srebrny Jubileusz, 30. 8 Raya Dunayevskaya, “News & Letters” in Two Worlds: Notes from a Diary, 19 August 1955. 9 Consul General in Chicago Zbyszewski to msz, 7 July 1933, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York, aan, Warszawa, 403 (4). 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 “Local Boy Makes Good,” Time, 8 May 1944. 13 For more on Orlemański, see chapter 9 in this volume. 14 Tadeusz Brzeziński to msz, “top secret,” lac, r3920–0–9–e. 15 Polish Jews such as Henryk Dworkin were active in Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish Communist circles, making it difficult to discern if they identified with a particular ethnic branch. Another Polish Jew, Fred Rose, who was

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18 19 20 21

22 23

24

25

26 27 28 29 30

Notes to Pages 94–7

elected to the Canadian Parliament in 1945 and later deported in connection to the Gouzenko Affair, was also active in Polish, Jewish, and other cpc branches. Michael Petrou, Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2008), 196; and Lista inwigilacyjna, 28 June 1937, Consul General in New York, 399: 133. In other instances, the Slavic surnames of many Communist activists appear in an Anglicized form: Karol Fraczysty, a Spanish Civil War volunteer and ptl member, was also identified as a Karl Francis. Meanwhile, Władysław Dutkiewicz occasionally appears as Walter or Wasyl Dutkiewich in the Canadian security and immigration reports. Turek, Polish Language Press, 154. Władysław Kicki to the msz, “Polish Immigration in Canada,” 3 March 1937, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa. See Turek, Polish Language Press; Radecki, Ethnic Organizational Dynamics; and Reczyńska, “Początki działalności,” 84–102. As mentioned earlier, Pawlica reported that around 40,000 Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish immigrants allegedly read Głos Pracy in 1938. Jan Pawlica to msz, “A Chronicle of Communist Activities in the Canadian Polonia,” aan, Warsaw, 761d. Polish Legation in Ottawa, 4. Reczyńska, “Początki działalności,” 98. Radecki, Ethnic Organizational Dynamics, 72; and Henry Radecki, “Poles,” in Encyclopaedia of Canada’s Peoples, ed. Paul R. Magocsi (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999), 1,064, http://multiculturalcanada.ca/Encyclopedia/A-Z/p6/5. 1 February 1945, in rcmp Security Bulletins: The War Series, Part II, ed. Gregory S. Kealey and Reg Whitaker (St John’s, nl: Canadian Committee on Labour History, 1992), 259. Cited from a confidential note produced by the Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa on Communist activities among Polish immigrants, aan, Warsaw, msz 11,470. Consul Szygowski to the msz, 31 December 1938, aan, Warsaw, msz 11,430. Theodore Draper, American Communism and Soviet Russia (New York: Viking Press, 1960), 195. Frank S. Meyer, The Moulding of Communists (The Training of the Communist Cadre) (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1961), 13. Muszynski to Podoski, 20 July 1942, aan, Warsaw, 599. Paweł Samuś makes similar observations about the Communist movement in Poland, and argues that the Polish Party was successfully largely because

Notes to Pages 97–103

31 32 33 34 35 36

37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

53 54 55

239

of the discipline and ideological purity of its core elite. Samuś, Dzieje sdkpil. Świątnicki, “List do redakcji,” Związkowiec, 15 October 1939, 8, cited in Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 61. Ibid. Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 230. Ibid. Anderson, Imagined Communities. John C. Hopwood, “Albert Maltz: Conscience of the Hollywood 10,” October 2007, http://voices.yahoo.com/albert-maltz-conscience-hollywood-10600273.html. Jan Pawlica to the msz, 3 August 1933, aan, Embassy in London, 1,372. See also Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 89–90. Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 230. Władysław Chuchla, Memoir, lac, mg 31 h 58, 4. Ibid., 229. Ibid., 230. Ibid. Ibid. Turek, Polish Language Press, 122. Reczyńska, Piętno Wojny, 286. Ibid. “No. 785,” 11 December 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 630. Turek, Polish Language Press, 120. “No. 817,” 29 July 1936, Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, III, 311–12. Ibid. Turek, Polish Language Press, 120. Unfortunately, because sources on these individuals are not available, it is difficult to discern whether they became radicals in Canada, or whether they had been active in leftist organizations in Poland or elsewhere. Morski, Polka, and Majtczak were undoubtedly affiliated with the Communist movement in Poland. For a list of Polish Canadian Communist members, see A.3 and A.4 in the appendix. Turek, Polish Language Press, 119–28. Władysław Dutkewicz, Dan Chomicki, Tadeusz Lewandowski, and Jozef Polka joined the Communist movement in their early twenties. See chapter 4 in this volume.

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66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74

Notes to Pages 103–8

Jan Sikora to Consul General in Winnipeg, 6 September 1935, aan, 385/III. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.; and Pawlica to Watson Kirkconnell, 17 September 1935, aan, 385/III. Turek, Polish Language Press, 122. Ibid. Letter from M. Sasiela, 5 October 1938, aan, Warsaw, Polish Legation in Ottawa, 761d. Władysław Dutkiewicz clippings, no date, author’s collection. It appears that some Polish consuls were disappointed with the rcmp’s antiCommunist efforts. In a report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland, Adamkiewicz questioned whether the rcmp, which he claimed had only 1,225 members, was capable of combating Communism, especially in a vast country like Canada. He also noted that the Canadian government was open to leftist tendencies: “Since the Communist party was banned, the government has allowed another party to maintain power, the Co-operative Commonwealth Party under J.S. Woodsworth,” which he claimed professed “communist principles.” Szygowski also complained that the Canadian authorities “had offered them little effective protection against Communist attacks.” Adamkiewicz to msz, 2 September 1933, aan Embassy in London, 1372 (21); and Juliusz Szygowski to the Consul General in Ottawa, 9 July 1939, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa, 2. Merrily Weisbord, The Strangest Dream: Canadian Communists, the Spy Trials, and the Cold War (Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1983), 30. Roberts, Whence They Came, 3. Ibid., 130. Ibid. Ibid., 132. Ibid., 131–53. Manley, “Introduction.” See also Angus, Canadian Bolsheviks. See chapter 6 in this volume. Pawlica to msz, note on “Communist organizations in Canada,” 15 March 1937, 6.

chapter seven 1 McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals, 124. 2 Ibid.

Notes to Pages 108–11

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3 Norman Penner, The Canadian Left: A Critical Analysis (Scarborough, on: Prentice-Hall of Canada, 1977), 85. The Comintern complained that the cpc had neglected French Canadian workers. The virtual absence of Communists in Quebec and the cpc’s failure to extend into Quebec weakened its position as a “Canadian” political party. Led by well-known pamphleteer Albert St-Martin, Quebec Communists generally limited their activities to propaganda attacks and minimal agitation aimed primarily at the Catholic Church. 4 Turek, Polish Language Press, 118. 5 “No. 904,” 1 November 1938, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, IV, 323. 6 Ibid. 7 Polish Mutual Aid Society, Srebrny Jubileusz, 30. 8 Ibid. 9 “No. 39,” 2 September 1920, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 92. 10 Władysław Dutkiewicz clippings, no date, author’s collection. 11 “No, 785,” 11 December 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 630; and “Polish Politicians Are Good Bumblers,” Windsor Star, 6 September 1944. 12 “Register of Bolshevist and Agitator Investigations, 1920,” in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years. 13 “Some Outstanding Facts,” Mail and Empire, 29 April 1932. 14 “No. 760,” 19 June 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 349. 15 Ibid., 350. 16 This militant policy was dropped after Morski’s arrival, which coincided with the Comintern’s Popular Front policy. 17 “No. 904,” 324. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 Polish Mutual Aid Society, Srebrny Jubileusz, 30. Many of the articles in Głos Pracy were reprinted from the Polish American Codzienny Głos Robotniczy (Daily worker’s voice). 21 “No. 755,” 15 May 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 268. 22 John Manley, “The Popular Front, 1938–39: Hoodwinking the Public?” in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, V, 14. As I will show in subsequent chapters, Polish Communists maintained a constant

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44

Notes to Pages 112–15

presence within the larger Canadian Communist movement through various sociocultural initiatives, political lobbying, and fundraising. Heydenkorn, Organizational Structure, 89–91. Ibid. Głos Pracy, 9 May 1936, 2. “No. 756,” 22 May 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 297. “No. 770,” 28 August 1935, in rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 462. Ibid. “No. 38,” 26 August 1920, and “No. 41,” 16 September 1920, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 74 and 136. “No. 49,” 11 November 1920, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 238. “No. 756,” 22 May 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 296. “No 785,” 630. Ibid. “No. 904,” 323. Ibid. “No. 749,” 20 March 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 175. “Polish Politicians Are Good Bumblers,” Windsor Star, 6 September 1944. Kolasky, Shattered Illusion, 18. Ibid. The Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temple Association was established in Winnipeg in 1918 as an umbrella organization for left-leaning cultural societies and community halls, as well as the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party of Canada. It had over 160 branches across Canada in 1928. Turek, Polish Language Press, 120. “No. 785,” 630. Ibid., 629. As I will show in chapter 8, Głos Pracy was a well-developed newspaper with a circulation of approximately 3,000 in the mid-1930s. It grew to include a women’s section, a “youth corner,” and a legal section to attract a broader following, and expanded from four pages in 1932 to eight pages in 1936. Evidently, a number of Polish Communists, such as Franciszek Baryła and Dan Chomicki, became affiliated with non-Polish Communist groups before they became movement organizers. Baryla first joined the Young Communist League and became a member of the cpc in 1931. After becoming a member of the cpc’s executive committee in Kenora, Ontario, between 1935 and 1937, he helped found the ptl.

Notes to Pages 115–18

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45 “No. 749,” 174. 46 Ibid. 47 W. Chuchla, “Na roli i w kopalni,” in Pamiętniki polskich imigrantów w Kanadzie, ed. Benedykt Heydenkorn (Toronto: Polish Alliance Press, 1975), 118; and S. Konopka, “Wspomnienia działacza społecznego,” in Pamiętniki polskich imigrantów w Kanadzie, vol. 3, ed. Benedykt Heydenkorn (Toronto: Polish Alliance Press, 1978), 184. 48 “No. 749,” 174. 49 Ibid. 50 “No. 836,” 9 December 1936, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, III, 537. 51 Jan Pawlica to msz, section E.II, 23 June 1934, aan, Warsaw, 599 (13), 298/46. 52 “No. 732,” 14 November 1934, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, I, 392. 53 Turek, Polish Language Press, 120. 54 Ibid., 121. 55 “No. 750,” 198. See also “No. 749,” 174–5. 56 Resolution of Protest to the Polish Consulate in Canada, 14 July 1938, aan, Polish Legation in Ottawa 761d. 57 “No. 743,” 6 February 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 90. 58 Ibid., 90. Ukrainian Communists also exploited the anti-Polish propaganda campaign to attract new recruits. One rcmp agent noted: “The Ukrainian Communists in Canada, in their endeavour to build a United Front among the Ukrainian people, are using the alleged persecution of Ukrainians in Poland by Polish authorities as a lever to obtain recruits for their movement.” The result was quite successful. Todowyrnazu reported that it received 362 new members in January 1936, and 600 new members total that year. “No. 826,” 30 September 1936, and “No. 807,” 20 May 1936, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, III, 415 and 208. 59 “No. 807,” 208. 60 “No. 797,” 11 March 1936, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, III, 121. 61 Ibid. 62 Consul J. Marlewski to msz, Political Department in Warsaw, 5 July 1934, aan, Warsaw, General Consulate of the Republic of Poland in New York, 403. Polish Communists organized similar demonstrations in the United States. In 1934, Polish supporters of the International Labour Defence and the Polish Chamber of Labor demonstrated on Washington Square in

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Notes to Page 119

Chicago and sent a resolution to the Polish consulate, declaring: “As the Negroes are lynched in the United States and the Scottsboro boys are held by the landlords of the South here in the United States, so the Ukrainians in Poland suffer the most outrageous persecutions. The Polish workers have time and again demonstrated for the release of Tom Moonet and the Scottsboro boys. International Solidarity demands of us that we here in America raise our voices high for the release of the Ukrainian Fighters.” “No. 866,” 5 August 1937, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, IV, 323. See also “No. 743,” 90. “No.743,” 91. Ibid., 90. See also “No. 739,” 9 January 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 32. “Police Terrorism in Poland Charged,” New York Times, 20 May 1927. Patriotic Poles wrote letters and petitions to protest the Communists’ anti-Polish propaganda, while Polish consular officials contacted police authorities to disperse the demonstrators. Interestingly, some non-Polish immigrants, in some cases even those who were critical of the Polish government, also protested against Communist propaganda. One German American who described himself as a self-professed critic of Poland objected to the anti-Polish propaganda in a letter to the Communist-sponsored International Committee for Political Prisoners in New York: Gentlemen: I read your pamphlet “Political Prisoners in Poland” but I am surprised to see that you Americans print such fiddle-faddle about Poland. I am a German and I cannot say that I do sympathise [sic] with Poland, but in the name of truth I must say that all “brutalities and persecutions” of political prisoners in Poland is a lie. Why? For this simple reason that I know Poland better than you do, being born in Posen, the German land taken forcibly by Poland. I hope that Posen my birthplace will be retaken by Germany some day. But this is her own affair. I hate to see and read any lie against anybody and any country. If anybody wants to fight, let him fight for his rights but honestly and in a gentlemanly manner. Only recently I received a letter from my brother-in-law who has been imprisoned in Poland for a certain crime (political). He served two years in a Warsaw prison but he frankly admits that Germany and any other country would punish him for similar offense much more severely. He has not been treated brutally and never heard about maltreating of any other fellow-prisoner confined in the Warsaw prison. And this happened only five months ago. And again I say: you may hate Poland as you please, but do hate her honestly. Do not promote any crooked Jewish of

Notes to Pages 119–21

67

68 69 70 71

72

73

74 75 76 77 78

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Bolshevick [sic] work against Poland just because you hate her. This is my opinion about your silly book, and I hope that no well aducated [sic] American having heard reports of different American missions that were sent to Poland for investigations against this and other similar atrocities will pay any attention. Hoping that my opinion will help you to fight this Jewish propaganda against Poland and hoping that Poland will begin modus Vivendi with Germany, I remain very respectfully yours, – signed. See Letter sent to Polish Ambassador Ciechanowski by Herman E. Brandmeier, aan, Warsaw, Polish Embassy in Washington, 873 (67). “No.743,” 9. See also “No. 747,” 6 March 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 154; and “No. 789,” 15 January 1936, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, III, 41. “No. 866,” 5 August 1937, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, IV, 323. “No. 733,” 21 November 1934, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, I, 403. Gerald Tulchinsky, Canada’s Jews: A People’s Journey (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008). Fred Rose was born in Lublin, Poland. During the 1930s, he unsuccessfully ran for provincial and federal office in Montreal. However, in August 1943, he won Montreal-Cartier in a by-election, and he successfully defended his seat in 1945. Later that year, he was arrested during the Gouzenko Affair and charged with espionage. Joseph Salsberg was born in Łagów, Poland. He was an activist in the United Hat, Cap, and Millinery Workers Union during the 1920s and 1930s and a member of the Toronto City Council in 1938. He entered provincial politics in 1943 and served until 1955. He left the Communist movement over Stalin’s persecution of the Jews in the Soviet Union. See the discussion on Henryk Dworkin above. Dworkin was a Polish Jew who was a frequent guest speaker in Polish Communist circles. No information is available about his background. The Polish government established itself in exile following the GermanSoviet invasion in September 1939. See chapter 9 in this volume. “Sosnkowski Bandits Hunt Jews Hiding in Nazi-Occupied Poland,” Daily Worker, 15 September 1944. Ibid. Ibid. 15 January 1940, in rcmp Security Bulletins: The War Series, Part I, 1939–1941,

246

79 80

81 82

83

84 85 86

87 88

Notes to Page 121

ed. Gregory S. Kealey and Reg Whitaker (St John’s, nl: Canadian Committee on Labour History, 1989), 117. Ibid. Głos Pracy, 30 April 1938. Information about Polish-Canadian volunteers fighting in the Spanish Civil War appeared in Głos Pracy from 22 May 1937 until 8 February 1939. Petrou, Renegades, 190–241. An additional ten names appear in the Polish consular reports that were not mentioned in Petrou’s study. For a list of Polish Canadian volunteers for the Spanish Civil War, see A.1 in the appendix. Petrou, Renegades, 202. For instance, Karol Frączysty, a Polish Canadian volunteer, was also recorded as a Karl Francis. Frączysty was a Polish citizen born in Chochołów (near Nowy Targ) in Poland, and a frequent contributor to Głos Pracy. See 28 March 1934, aan, Warsaw, Polish Consulate General in New York, 398 (34). Petrou, Renegades, 12. Jan Pawlica to the msz, “Polish Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War,” 6 March 1939, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa, 2. For more information about the Dąbrowski Battalion, see Józef Mrożek, Dąbrowszczacy (Warsaw: Książka i Wiedza, 1956); and Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War (London: Penguin Books, 2001), 323–5. Jan Pawlica to the msz, 9 May 1939, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa. Franciszek Baryła was born on 1 April 1908 in Zawala, Austria-Hungary, to a peasant family. After completing school he worked as a farm labourer and completed military service in the Polish Army. In 1929, he immigrated to Canada, where he worked as a farm labourer in Manitoba, and later, with the Canadian Pacific Railway in Winnipeg. He joined the Young Communist League, and in 1930 he moved to Kenora, Ontario, where he worked as a driver for various firms and supplemented his income by working on road construction and in the lumber industry. In 1931, he joined the cpc, and between 1935 and 1937, he was a member of the executive committee in Kenora. He later assisted in founding the Polish People’s Association in Kenora. In March 1937, he volunteered for Spain, and he served in the thirteenth International Brigade starting 14 August 1937, in the Taras Shevchenko Company as of March 1938. After returning to Canada in February 1939, he returned to Winnipeg to work in the Ukrainian Cooperative. When the cpc was banned in 1940, he worked as a local secretary. At the start of 1942, he left for England, and

Notes to Pages 121–22

89 90

91 92

93

94

95 96 97 98 99

247

in March, he joined an armoured unit in the Polish Army, most likely the First Polish Armoured Division. He helped found Jednosc i Czyn, an association of Polish Communists, and became active in the Polish Section of the British International Brigades Veterans Association. In July 1944, he took part in the invasion of France. He was wounded in November and was shipped back to England. He returned to Poland in February 1946 and worked as an information officer in the Polish People’s Army in Gdansk and Warsaw, and held various administrative positions until his death on 6 February 1969 in Gdansk, Poland. Feliks Tych, ed., “Franciszek Baryla,” in Slownik Biograficzny Dzialaczy Polskiego Ruchu Robotniczego, vol. 1, A–D (Warsaw: Książka i Wiedza, 1978); and lac, rg76 – Immigration, series c–1–c, vol. 4, 159. The author would also like to thank Myron Momryk for providing additional information about Franciszek Baryła. The fate of the remaining volunteers is unknown. See A.1 in the appendix for additional information. In some records his name also appears as Stefan Koslowsky. See Petrou, Renegades, 190–241; Jan Pawlica to the Polish Embassy in Washington, 21 February 1939, aan, Warsaw, Polish Legation in Ottawa 761d; Consul in Montreal to the msz, 8 March 1939, aan, Warsaw, msz 5289. Petrou, Renegades, 202. The service records of many Polish Canadian volunteers were lost, though at least one made his way to France in search of sanctuary. During the last chaotic months of the Spanish Civil War, many volunteers were separated from their units. Their fate is unknown and they were reported as missing in action. Most of the Polish Canadian volunteers returned to Canada on the ss Duchess of Richmond, which arrived in Halifax in February 1939. lac, Immigration Branch Records, rg 76, vol. 429, file 635,107, pt. 2. Jan Pawlica to the Polish Embassy in Washington, 21 February 1939, aan, Warsaw, Polish Legation in Ottawa 761d; Consul in Montreal to the msz, 8 March 1939, aan, Warsaw, msz 5,289. lac, rg 146, Personal History File of Ignacy Witczak, 88, 109–11; and Myron Momryk, “Ignacy Witczak’s Passport,” Polish American Studies 68 (2): 72. Momryk, “Ignacy Witczak’s Passport,” 70. Personal History File of Ignacy Witczak, 109–11; and Momryk, “Ignacy Witczak’s Passport,” 71. Ibid. Momryk, “Ignacy Witczak’s Passport,” 71.

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Notes to Pages 123–7

100 Personal History File of Ignacy Witczak, 1,115; and Momryk, “Ignacy Witczak’s Passport,” 72. 101 Momryk, “Ignacy Witczak’s Passport,” 83. 102 For more information on the Gouzenko Affair, see Jack L. Granatstein and David Stafford, Spy Wars: Espionage and Canada from Gouzenko to Glasnost (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1990). The Gouzenko case is also discussed in chapter 6 in this volume. 103 Ibid. For additional information about the Ignacy Witczak case, see Momryk, “Ignacy Witczak’s Passport”; Petrou, Renegades, 41; and John Earle Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), 183–4. For additional information about Litvin, see Mike Gruntman, Enemy among Trojans: A Soviet Spy at usc (Los Angeles: Figueroa Press, 2010), 11–12. 104 “No. 711,” 20 June 1934, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, I, 79; “No. 748,” 13 March 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 167; and Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa to the msz, 7 March 1939, aan, Warsaw, msz files 11,470. 105 Głos Pracy, 22 October 1938, 6. 106 “No. 13,” 15 January 1940, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, I, 117; and Reczyńska, “Początki działalności,” 100. 107 Though they occasionally mentioned the work of fellow working-class activists in Poland, Polish Canadian Communist newspapers did not devote much attention to the kpp, possibly because Polish Canadian Communists may not have wanted to openly disclose their support for it, as it was not very popular among Stalinists or, of course, broader members of the Polish immigrant community. Moreover, the Polish Canadian Communist movement styled itself as sociocultural and jettisoned any references to Communism in its public outreach work. 108 Gregory S. Kealey, “The rcmp, the Special Branch, and the Early Days of the Communist Party of Canada: A Documentary Article,” Labour/Le Travail 30 (Fall 1992): 193–4. 109 Ibid. 110 Ibid. 111 See M.K. Dziewanowski, The Communist Party of Poland: An Outline of History (Cambridge, ma: Harvard University Press, 1959); Czubinski, Komunistyczna Partia Polski; and Simoncini, Communist Party of Poland. 112 “No. 785,” 11 December 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 630.

Notes to Pages 127–31

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113 Ibid. 114 “Polish Politicians Are Good Bumblers,” Windsor Star, 6 September 1944. 115 Nathan Glazer, The Social Basis of American Communism (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1961), 98.

chapter eight 1 Norbert H. Gaworek, “Education, Ideology, Politics: History in Soviet Primary and Secondary Schools,” in Society for History Education 11 (1 November 1975): 1. 2 Austin John Rodden, Repainting the Little Red Schoolhouse: A History of Eastern German Education, 1945–1995 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 18. 3 “No. 822,” 2 September 1936, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, III, 376. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Berger and Smith, Nationalism, Labour and Ethnicity, 128. 7 Pawlica to msz, note on “Communist Organizations in Canada,” 15 March 1937, 6–7. Other Polish Communist-sponsored cultural-educational organizations included the Marie Curie-Skłodowska Society in Fort William and the Maria Konopnicka Society in Spruce Valley. Juliusz Szygowski to msz, “Communist Pressures on Polish Immigrants in Western Canada,” 13 January 1938, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa. 8 ao, Malatyński Papers, 9,695.5. 9 “No. 904,” 1 November 1938, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, V, 323. 10 McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals, 117. 11 “No. 42,” 23 September 1920, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years. 12 Memo prepared by Starnes for Gouin on “Revolutionary Schools,” 30 December 1922, Public Archives of Alberta, Accession no. 75.126, vol. 218, file 4,618. 13 In 1938, Consul Juliusz Szygowski reported that a special training course, which was coordinated by the Comintern, was organized to prepare a new cadre of ptl agitators. Juliusz Szygowski to msz, “Communist Pressures on Polish Immigrants in Western Canada,” 13 January 1938, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa. 14 The English version is an adaptation of the original song written by Czerwieński, and is not a literal translation of the lyrics.

250

Notes to Pages 133–8

15 By 1928, the Young Communist League operated some forty schools in Canada with an attendance of 2,000. Stewart William M., ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, vol. 2 (Toronto: University Associates of Canada, 1948), 108–9. 16 Głos Pracy, 31 May 1934. 17 “No. 832,” 12 November 1936, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, III, 491. There were two Polish Communist-led schools in Winnipeg, located on 1039 Pritchard Avenue and on 215 Selkirk Avenue. The two schools had a combined enrolment of over sixty pupils. 18 Jan Pawlica to msz Section, 23 June 1934, aan, Warsaw, Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Winnipeg, 599 (13), 298/46. 19 Ibid. 20 “No. 334,” 9 September 1926, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 356. 21 Memo prepared by Starnes for Gouin on “Revolutionary Schools,” 30 December 1922, Public Archives of Alberta, Accession no. 75.126, vol. 218, file 4,618. 22 Marx’s letters to his confidant Dr Louis Kugelmann, Głos Pracy ex-libris, author’s collection. 23 Letter to the Polish Embassy in London from Jan Pawlica, 18 August 1933, aan, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 897, 141. 24 Kolasky, Shattered Illusion, 132. 25 Pawlica to msz, “Polish Courses in Winnipeg,” aan, Warsaw, Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Winnipeg, 599, 298/47. 26 Ibid. 27 “Training Young Communists,” R.C.M.P. Quarterly 3 (2, 1935): 185, 187. 28 “No. 734,” 28 November 1934, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, I, 412. 29 Ibid. 30 Daily Press, Timmins, Ontario, 30 October 1944. 31 csis, Document 22, pt. 7, Report of [deleted], 3 April 1923, rcmp Records Related to the Communist Party of Canada in Edmonton, vol. 22, file 88–A–61. 32 “Arrest Monk for Murder: Confessed Killing Cousin after Despoiling Image of the Virgin,” New York Times 9 October 1910; and “Z Przyjazdu Amatorów T-wa Robotniczego w Brandon,” Głos Pracy, 26 October 1933. 33 “Z Przyjazdu Amatorów,” Głos Pracy, 26 October 1933. 34 Thirty-two delegates from Polish branches in Montreal, Oshawa, Kitchener, St Catharines and Hamilton, along with other ethnic Communists and over

Notes to Pages 138–40

35 36 37 38

39

40 41

42

43 44 45 46 47

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500 Polish immigrants, attended the opening ceremony of the ptl’s new Toronto office. See “Managements Are Criticized by Mr Heenan,” Globe and Mail, 4 January 1943, 4. ao, Malatyński Papers, 9,695.5. 1 February 1943, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, II, 58; and Kronika Tygodniowa, 12 December 1942, 4. Richard Taylor, The Politics of the Soviet Cinema, 1917–1929 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 2–54. Polish consular authorities in the United States also feared that the highly anti-Polish film The Polish Terror was circulating in Canada. The film was produced by Wufku, a Ukrainian-Soviet company in Odessa, and was based on “an alleged episode of a revolt of the Ukrainian peasants against their Polish rulers in 1627.” It starred Amvrossi Buchma as Taras Triassilo, a dashing peasant leader who helped free Ukrainians peasants from their native and Polish oppressors. The New York-based Polish-language newspaper Nowy Świat (New world) noted that the “audience is left with a dark stark image of every Pole as a barbarian.” The New York Times observed that the film “exalts the valor of the rebels and paints their oppressors ... in the darkest colors” and delivered the message “that Lenin’s dream is coming true.” See Nowy Świat, 15 March 1933; and “Movie Review: A Russian Historical Film: The Polish Terror,” New York Times, 13 March 1933. Dr Sylwester Gruszka and the Consul General to msz, 17 May 1938, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, 490, 874 (69–71). Ibid. The Socialist Workers’ Sport International was also informally known as the Lucerne Sport International, after the location where it was originally formed. See William John Morgan, Leftist Theories of Sport: A Critique and Reconstruction (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994); and George Eisen and David Kenneth Wiggins, eds., Ethnicity and Sport in North American History and Culture (Westport, ct: Praeger Publishers, 1994). Eisen and Wiggins, Ethnicity and Sport, 207. Ibid., 209. “No. 745,” 20 February 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 120. “No. 718,” 1 August 1934, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, I, 193. Eisen and Wiggins, Ethnicity and Sport, 211.

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Notes to Pages 141–4

48 Turek, Poles in Manitoba, 207. 49 “No. 748,” 13 March, 1935, rcmp Security Bulletins, Depression Years, Part II: 167. 50 The ptl occasionally invited Polish sports teams from the Unites States to compete against its “Canadian” teams. In February 1939, for example, the ptl invited a Polish women’s soccer team from Cleveland, Ohio. The consuls were furious when such events were staged because many of the PolishAmerican teams had no idea that they were invited by a Communist organization. Jan Pawlica to the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, 4 February 1939, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa. 51 Lenin, “What Is to Be Done?,” 22–3. 52 Robert Ezra Park, The Immigrant Press and Its Control (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1922; Montclair, nj: Patterson Smith, 1971), 9. 53 Susan Olzak and Elizabeth West, “Ethnic Conflict and the Rise of and Fall of Ethnic Newspapers,” American Sociological Review 56 (4): 458–74. 54 Ibid., 458. 55 See chapter 4 for a discussion of earlier Polish Canadian Communist newspapers, such as Budzik (Alarm clock) and Czerwona Jaskółka (Red swallow). 56 Turek, Polish Language Press, 120. 57 Głos Pracy ex-libris, author’s collection. 58 Turek, Polish Language Press, 121. 59 Ibid., 75. 60 Ibid., 120–4. 61 Ibid., 121. 62 Ibid., 123. 63 Ibid., 122. 64 Tadeusz Brzeziński to the msz, 17 July 1939, ao, 9,695, 4. 65 Turek, Polish Language Press, 121–3. 66 Ibid., 152. 67 Ibid. Between 1937 and 1938, that amount decreased substantially to only 37 per cent. 68 Polish consuls estimated that the newspaper received around $8,000 in donations in 1937. Jan Pawlica to msz, note on “Communist Organizations in Canada,” 15 March 1937, 6. 69 Jan Pawlica to the msz, 7 March 1939, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 13,726. 70 Turek, Polish Language Press, 118. 71 Consul General to the msz, 3 March 1939, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 13, 726. In 1941, out of 167,485 Poles in

Notes to Pages 145–9

72 73 74 75 76 77

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Canada, 121,860 were Roman Catholic. Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 6. Catherine Merridale, Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Russia (London: Granta, 2000), 336. “No. 780,” 6 November 1935, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, II, 573. “No. 711,” 20 June 1934, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, I, 79. Ibid., 79–80. Patrias, Patriots and Proletarians, 210. “No. 732,” 20 June 1934, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, I, 390. Red weddings were also bereft of any religious symbolism and turned into proletarian events. rcmp agents, who attended a wedding in a Polish pro-Bolshevik organization in 1920 as part of an undercover operation, found the event to be “entirely Communist, with no religious ceremony.” One guest “deplored the attention given by local Russians, Ukrainians and Poles to Church, drunkenness and card-games.” Red weddings were also used for fundraising, and money collected by the couple was donated to the party and its newspaper. “No. 39,” 2 September 1920, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Early Years, 92–3.

chapter nine 1 Although the cpc was outlawed until 1936, persecution against Communists had effectively ended by 1934, and Communists began to enjoy considerable popularity. Tim Buck was released from Kingston Penitentiary in 1934, and was welcomed at a rally at Maple Leaf Gardens by 17,000 people. About 8,000 more were turned away. 2 Ivan Avakumovic, The Communist Party in Canada: A History (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1975). 3 Coner and Howe, American Communist Party, 404. 4 Manley, “The Popular Front,” 1–2. 5 Ibid. 6 Głos Pracy, 23 August 1939, 1. A similar rally, attended by 250 supporters, was held in the Polish Labour Hall in Winnipeg on 10 April 1939. A copy of the Communists’ resolution sent to the Polish Consulate in Winnipeg, 10 April 1939, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa. 7 “No. 3,” June–September 1939, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: Depression Years, V, 413.

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Notes to Pages 150–4

8 Ibid. 9 Związkowiec, 27 August 1939, 1. The Nazi-Soviet Pact is also known as the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, named after the German and Soviet representatives who signed it in August 1939. 10 Daily Clarion, 26 August 1939, 1. 11 “No. 3,” 413. 12 Buck, Thirty Years, 159. 13 “No. 3,” 414. 14 Ibid., 415. 15 Ibid., 413. 16 See Reg Whitaker, “Introduction,” in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, I. 17 “No. 13,” 15 January 1940, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, I, 117. 18 Ibid., 117–18. 19 Daily Clarion, 9 September 1939, 1. 20 Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 226. 21 “No. 3,” 414. 22 Daily Clarion, 10 May 1940. 23 Głos Pracy, 30 August 1939, 1. 24 Saulius Suziedelis, “The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the Baltic States: An Introduction and Interpretation,” Lituanus Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences 35 (1, Spring 1989). 25 “No. 2,” 30 October 1939, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, I, 35. 26 Ibid. 27 “No. 3,” 414–18. 28 Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 225. 29 Reczyńska, Piętno Wojny, 58. 30 Ibid., 58. 31 Głos Pracy, 23 February 1940. 32 Ibid. See also “Listy w Wiadomości z Byłey Wschodniej Polski,” Głos Pracy, 6 April 1940; and “Listy ze Stron Rodzinnych,” Głos Pracy, 7 April 1940. 33 “No. 1,” 23 October 1939, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, I, 24. 34 Turek, Polish Langauge Press, 123. 35 Głos Pracy, 29 September 1939, in Władysław Dutkiewicz, newspaper clippings, author’s collection. 36 “No. 1,” 23.

Notes to Pages 155–8

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37 “No. 13,” 15 January 1940, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, I, 116–17. 38 Reczyńska, Piętno Wojny, 61. 39 “No. 15,” 29 January 1940, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, I, 132. 40 Świątnicki, “List do redakcji” (Letter to the editor), Związkowiec, 15 October 1939, 8, cited in Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 61. 41 “No. 1,” 24. 42 Ibid., 25. 43 Biuletyn zzpwk 12 (25 September 1939), 2. 44 Związkowiec, 24 September 1939, 6, 8. 45 Polish Consul General in Ottawa to the Consulate in Winnipeg and Montreal, 6 December 1939, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 1803; and Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa to the Consulate in Montreal, 23 April 1940. 46 Związek Polaków w Kanadzie (Polish Alliance of Canada) petition letter to the Honourable Godron D. Conant, K.C. Attorney General for the province of Ontario, aan, Warsaw, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, 1803 (3). 47 “No. 1,” 24. 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid. 50 The organizations that were outlawed included the Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temple Association, the Finnish Organization of Canada, the Hungarian Workers’ Club, the Russian Workers’ and Farmers’ Club, the Canadian Ukrainian Youth Federation, the Croatian Cultural Association, the Canadian Labour Defence League, and the League for Peace and Democracy. 51 One can only speculate as to why Canadian authorities in 1940 did not crack down as much on Polish Canadian Communists as on Ukrainian Communists. Since most cpc leaders were of a Ukrainian extraction, the rcmp was presumably more concerned with taking out the Ukrainian leadership to weaken the entire Canadian Communist movement. The Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temple Association was much larger than its Polish counterpart, the ptl, and much more influential in the cpc. Ukrainian Communists also contributed the largest share to cpc coffers. The rcmp had active agents and informants in various Communist organizations, and may have decided to leave the Polish leadership intact to maintain its spy operations within the movement. rcmp security bulletins published in the 1920s

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52

53 54 55 56

57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67

68 69

Notes to Pages 158–60

and 1930s suggest that undercover agents regularly monitored the Polish Communist movement. Tim Buck, A National Front for Victory (Communist Party of Canada, 1941), 2–3. Buck’s report was adopted by the Political Bureau of the cpc, 28 August 1941. The National Council for Democratic Rights was also established in part to rally for the release of Communists and anti-fascists from internment. “Toronto Slavs Seek ‘Yes’ Vote,” Globe and Mail, 20 April 1942. Toronto Star, 16 July 1942. Since the cpc was outlawed, Canadian Communists founded the Labour Progressive Party in 1943 as a legal front and ran candidates under that name until 1959. In the mid-1940s, the party had fourteen elected representatives at the federal, provincial, and municipal level. Leon Malanczek to Wiktor Podoski, 24 February 1940, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa. Turek, 125. 1 February 1943, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, II, 57. Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 113. Ibid., 177. 1 February 1943, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, II, 58. “Managements Are Criticized by Mr Heenan,” Globe and Mail, 4 January 1943, 4. 1 February 1943, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, II, 58. Ibid., 56. Ibid., 57. Ibid. The question of becoming more Canadian and the promotion of assimilation did not appear to be a major concern for Polish Communists. They generally emphasized class over ethnicity and nationality. One reason the sppia may have decided to publicize its Canada-first attitude was to gain favour with Canadian authorities and to divert Poles who had been affiliated with the zpk, which was progressive in outlook and favoured a Canadafirst position. Ibid. Kronika Tygodniowa, 20 September 1941, 1, cited in Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 112. While Polish Communists encouraged Polish immigrants to join the Canadian army, their attitude towards the London Poles’ recruiting

Notes to Pages 161–3

70

71

72

73 74 75 76

77 78 79 80

257

drive for a Polish army in Canada varied. Initially, Communists opposed the creation of Polish training centres in Canada, though they encouraged such efforts following the German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. But in 1943, when Polish-Soviet relations soured, they once again opposed the initiative. Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 79–80. In 1945, the Canadian Red Cross, with help from the uprf, distributed one million dollars for Poland. It purchased food (for $124,029), clothing (for $174,720), medicine (for $281,696), hospital equipment (for $299,995), ten ambulances, and an X-ray machine. The remaining funds were used to transport the goods and to aid Polish refugees in Western Europe. Kronika Tygodniowa, 1 May 1946. The uprf continued to play a major role in charitable work for Poland until it was dissolved in 1949. The Pan-Slav Committee was formed during World War II in Canada to coordinate fundraising and lobbying efforts among Slavs in North America. Albert Morski chaired the committee on several occasions during the war. Author’s collection: private news clipping from W. Dutkiewicz; and “Priest Describes Movement for Real Democratic Poland,” Winnipeg Free Press, 19 November 1943. Juliusz Szygowski to the Consul General in Ottawa, 8 July 1939, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa. See also Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 81. Kronika Tygodniowa, 3 June 1944, 5. Toronto Star, 18 November 1943, 6. Private news clipping from W. Dutkiewicz, author’s collection; and “Priest Describes Movement for Real Democratic Poland,” Winnipeg Free Press, 19 November 1943. Kitchener Record, 9 November 1943; London Free Press, 8 November 1943; Toronto Daily Star, 15 November 1943; and Toronto Star, 13 November 1943. Orlemański’s visit to the Soviet Union is discussed in chapter 6 of this volume. Kronika Tygodniowa, 13 November 1943, 7, cited in Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 82. Conflicts between religious and secular organizations continued to broil, especially in the Prairies, over the direction of the aid effort. The clergy preferred that the money go to churches in Europe or to prisoners in Germany, while most non-Communist secular organizations preferred that it go to the Anders Army. The Canadian government did not get involved in the conflicts, and supported the collection efforts of the entire Polish community, which were supposed to be coordinated by the apolitical uprf.

258

Notes to Pages 163–5

81 It is not possible to verify whether this information is accurate or just fictitious propaganda to exaggerate the Communists’ efforts. 82 Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 84. 83 Ibid. 84 In 1947, Polish Communists claimed that, together with their sympathizers, they had spent around $200,000 during the war to help collect aid for Poland. See Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 90. In total, $6,647,500 was sent from Canada to help Polish refugees and Poland. In addition, parcels worth an estimated $1,248,909 were also sent to Polish prisoners. 85 Kronika Tygodniowa, 12 December 1942, 4. 86 Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 84–90. 87 Turek, 152. 88 According to some Polish immigrants, a salary of forty cents per hour for men and twenty-eight cents per hour for women was considered good. See Chuchla, “Na roli i w kopalni,” 118; and Konopka, “Wspomnienia działacza społecznego,” 184. Reczyńska observes that 40 per cent of Polish men made less than fifty-five cents per hour in Sidney, Nova Scotia, in 1943. Workers in automotive and paper factories had a slightly better salary, at about sixty-one to seventy-one cents per hour, while legislation demanded that women employed in urban centres receive a minimum of fifteen dollars a week. See Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 91. It is not possible to confirm whether the donation lists in Kronika Tygodniowa were accurate – in some instances, names are listed more than once, while larger sums are listed under anonymously. 89 Calgary Herald, 1 January 1945. 90 The German Army invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. The Soviet victory over the Germans at Stalingrad significantly contributed to the popularity of the Soviet Union. 91 Podoski to msz, 21 July 1944, aan, Warsaw, 52. 92 “Let Us Repay Our Debt to Russia,” Toronto Star, 7 August 1943. For similar articles, see Canadian Tribune, 17 January 1942; Toronto Star, 7 August 1943; Globe and Mail, 6 November 1943; and Globe and Mail, 20 November 1943. 93 Not all Canadians got caught up in the pro-Soviet euphoria. One newspaper labeled the meeting at Maple Leaf Gardens and a Back-the-Attack rally as “an out and out Communist meeting,” and mocked Communists who wore military uniforms to show their support for the war. The rcmp also remained vigilant and continued to monitor Communist activities. “Look Who Is ‘Backing the Attack’! – or Supposed to Be,” newspaper clipping, undated, aan, Warsaw, 761d, Polish Legation in Ottawa.

Notes to Pages 165–8

259

94 In the United States, the Soviet Union’s popularity had also increased. In April 1943, for example, Life published an article that praised Stalin and the ussr. The editorial compared the nkvd to the fbi and explained: “So far as our intentions are concerned, they are warm and friendly. We respect the mighty Russian people and admire them ... They live under a system of tight state-controlled information. But probably the attitude to take towards this is not to get too excited about it. When we take account of what [Russia] has accomplished in the 20 years of its existence we can make allowances for certain shortcomings, however deplorable.” See Life, 29 March 1943, 20–1. 95 See Weisbord, Strangest Dream. 96 1 February 1943, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, II, 259. 97 In 1944, Kronika Tygodniowa was the last Polonian newspaper to admit that Polish insurgents had begun the Warsaw Uprising. In several articles, the editors even denied the fact that Polish underground soldiers were fighting against the German army. The purpose of this was to show that Warsaw was being “liberated” by the Soviets and not by Polish insurgents loyal to the Polish government in London. Kronika Tygodniowa, 24 August 1944. On 27 August 1944, Związkowiec attacked Kronika Tygodniowa and accused the Polish radicals of whitewashing and “deliberately falsifying war news.” 98 These provisional governments helped solidify Stalin’s influence over Poland and paved the way for the Constitution of 22 July 1952, which marked the declaration of the Polish People’s Republic. The 1952 Constitution was based on the 1936 Soviet Constitution, which introduced the Soviet practice of a dictatorship of the proletariat. 99 See Whitaker, “Introduction,” 9–24. 100 June 1945, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, II, 317. 101 Związkowiec, 10 September 1944, 4. 102 Mikołajczyk ran for office as leader of the Polish People’s Party in post-war Poland. He was constantly intimidated by Soviet agents. Following the election results, which had been rigged to establish Soviet rule in Poland, Mikołajczyk left the country and settled in the West. 103 1 February 1943, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, II, 259. 104 Ibid. 105 Ibid. 106 Ibid., 260. 107 June 1945, in Kealey and Whitaker, rcmp Security Bulletins: War Series, II, 317. 108 Ibid., 317–18.

260

Notes to Pages 170–1

chapter ten 1 Fiderkiewicz was born in 1886 in Horodenka in modern day Ukraine. He was educated at Boston University and worked as a surgeon. He returned to Poland in 1922, and became active in the labour movement and the Independent Peasant Party, and later the Communist Party of Poland. He was arrested by Polish authorities for his Communist activities and later went to the Soviet Union. Between 1943 and 1945, he was imprisoned at Auschwitz. See Gordon Swoger, The Strange Odyssey of Poland’s National Treasures, 1939–1961 (Toronto: Dundurn, 2004), 74–5; and Jacek M. Majchrowski, Kto był kim w Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej, vol.1 (Warsaw: bgm, 1994), 276. The arrival of a Polish envoy to Canada was significantly delayed, partly because of communication difficulties in post-war Poland, but more significantly because of bureaucratic obstacles created by the Canadian government after the Gouzenko Affair. 2 The first parliamentary elections held in the People’s Republic of Poland in January 1947 were widely seen as fraudulent. According to the official results, the Communist-controlled Democratic Bloc won 80.1 per cent of the vote and 394 of the 444 seats, though in reality, it won only about 50 per cent of the votes. Polish underground leaders were also rounded up and executed, which caused widespread disdain toward People’s Poland. Already in March 1945, sixteen leaders of the Polish underground state were murdered following a staged trial held by the Soviet Union in Moscow. See Norman Davies, Rising ’44: The Battle for Warsaw (New York: Viking Books, 2004). 3 The term “McCarthyism” has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from 1950 to 1956 and characterized by heightened fears of Communist influence on American institutions and espionage by Soviet agents. 4 Kronika Tygodniowa, 21 July 1945, cited in Reczyńska, Piętno Wojny, 253. 5 Reczyńska, Piętno Wojny, 252–6. 6 Other members of the Polish legation in 1946 included Dr Zygmunt Bielski (first secretary); Kazimierz Gumkowski (secretary); Władysław Zbik; Edmund Semil (cultural attaché); Danuta Witczak; Władysław Pietka; Wanda Uminska; Władysław Fiderkiewicz; Nanci Morska; Ludwika Rzepiennik; Antonina Westwell; Bronislawa Andrzejec; Tadeusz Wiewiorowski; Hilary Kozlowski; and Stanislaw Sigda. Władysław Ziemski was consul in Montreal and Zygmunt Grela was consul in Winnipeg. Fiderkiewicz to Henry Birks & Sons, note on Polish Legation, 19 December 1946, aan, War-

Notes to Pages 172–6

261

saw, Alfred Fiderkiewicz, 472 II–3. 7 Speech delivered on 30 June 1946 in Toronto, aan, Warsaw, Alfred Fiderkiewicz, 472 II–4 (8) 8 Speech delivered to the Women’s Branch of the United Jewish People’s Order in Toronto, aan, Warsaw, Alfred Fiderkiewicz, 472, II–4 (52). 9 Speech delivered at a national convention of the Polish Democratic Association in Toronto, aan, Warsaw, Alfred Fiderkiewicz, 472; II–4 (96). 10 The Polish consul general, Tadeusz Rakowski, refused to answer questions from Canadian reporters about his affiliation with the Communist Party in Poland and questions about Soviet influences on Poland’s domestic policies. See “New Polish Consul-General Here Refuses Comment on Home Politics,” Montreal Gazette, 14 November 1947. 11 Kronika Tygodniowa, 10 November 1945, 1. 12 Ibid. 13 See Swoger, Strange Odyssey. 14 Czas, 31 October 1945, 1. 15 Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 266. 16 Związkowiec, 29 December 1945, 5, cited in Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 266. 17 Ibid. 18 One Polish immigrant had purchased a fifty-dollar bond and sent it to Wanda Wasilewska, the chief deputy of the Polish Committee of National Liberation in 1944. Dluski to Minister Olszewski, 20 November 1947, aan, Warsaw, kc ppr, Department of Foreign Affairs, 925/xx–66; and aan, Warsaw, Alfred Fiderkiewicz, 472; II–4. 19 Ibid. 20 Aside from Fred Rose, another Polish Jew was involved in the affair. Dr David Shugar, who was born in Poland, was accused of being an active spy, though he was acquitted for lack of evidence in 1946. He tried unsuccessfully to find work in Canada and left with his wife for Europe. 21 Edward Osoóbka-Morawski was the prime minister of the Communistbacked Polish Government of National Unity. 22 Czas, 24 April 1946, 5. 23 Burpee was replaced by Morris McDougall, who was president of the parliamentary press gallery in Ottawa. “Morris McDougall Is Honored at Reception,” Ottawa Citizen, 7 November 1946, 12. 24 Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 269. 25 Irena Wojcik Gabon, “Wincenty Wojcik Prepares to Go to Poland,” Wincenty Wojcik (1899–1976): A Lifetime of Service to the Polish Community, Ancestry.com, 20 November 2001, accessed October 2011,

262

26 27 28 29

30 31 32

33

34 35 36 37 38 39

Notes to Pages 176–8

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~atpc/heritage/articles/ wojcik/part3.html. Ibid. Kronika Tygodniowa, 21 December 1946, 4. Ibid. Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 270. These conflicting viewpoints only contributed to the two opposite perceptions about post-war Poland already present in the Polish community. Patriotic Poles continued to oppose the new Polish government and marginalize the pda and its supporters. Non-Communist newspapers informed their readers about the deceitful Soviet-backed Polish government, censorship, mass arrests, and the ruthlessness of the nkvd. Kronika Tygodniowa continued to refute such polemics and to enthusiastically exaggerate the reforms and democratic nature of the new regime. See Makowski, Polish People in Canada; and Turek, Poles in Manitoba. Kogler, Polish Community in Canada, 4. Freda Hawkins, Canada and Immigration: Public Policy and Public Concern (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1988), 83. The Ukrainian community was also divided between nationalists and Communists. Both groups also presented their opinions at the hearings. The displaced persons category included individuals who had been deported from Poland to Germany and who were in special camps administered by United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and the iro; refugees who were deported to the Soviet Union between 1939 and 1941 who managed to escape with the Polish Army to Iran in 1942; and other individuals who found themselves outside of Poland and refused to return because of the Communist regime that had been established there. Speech on Displaced Persons at the International Labor Office, 1946, aan, Warsaw, Alfred Fiderkiewicz, 472; II–4. See, for example, Ottawa Citizen, 10 August 1946. Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 274. Speech on Displaced Persons at the International Labor Office, 1946, aan, Warsaw, Alfred Fiderkiewicz, 472; II–4. Fiderkiewicz to the Women’s Branch of the United Jewish Peoples Order in Toronto, 1946, aan, Warsaw, Alfred Fiderkiewicz, 472; II–4. Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, Documents on Canadian External Relations, chapter 4, part 5, 247, dea/621–pf–40; and Minister of Poland to Secretary of State for External Affairs, “Memorandum Concerning Some Members of the Anders Army,” Ottawa, 11 September 1946,

Notes to Pages 178–83

40 41

42 43

44 45 46

47 48

49 50 51 52

53 54 55 56

263

accessed October 2011, http://www.international.gc.ca/department/historyhistoire/dcer/details-en.asp?intRefid=11455. Kogler, Polish Community in Canada, 4. See Martin Thornton, The Domestic and International Dimensions of the Resettlement of Polish Ex-servicemen in Canada, 1943–1948 (Lewiston, ny: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000); and Makowski, History and Integration. Radecki, “Poles.” By the 1950s, Polish veterans formed Polish branches of the Royal Canadian Legion in larger cities. Four were organized by Polish Air Force servicemen, four by the Polish Underground Army Association, and others by the Parachute Brigade, Armoured Division, Horse Artillery and Cavalry, Cadets, and Junior Cadets associations. Former concentration-camp inmates also established six branches of their organization in major Canadian cities. Turek, Polish Language Press, 27. Kronika Tygodniowa, “Polscy Pracownicy w Kanadzie,” author’s collection. See Swoger, Strange Odyssey; and Dag Hammarskjold, “Aide-Memoire Re: Polish Wawel Treasures,” 19 September 1957, United Nations Archives, accessed September 2011, http://archives-trim.un.org/webdrawer/rec/445905 /view/Items%20-%20in%20-%20%5BMiscellaneous%20records%5D%20%20Aide-Memoires%20re%20Polish%20Wawel%20Treasures.PDF. Władysław Dutkiewicz’s personal notes, 1947, author’s collection. In one letter to the Dionne girls, Dutkiewicz wrote that they should escape that “prison house” and come to Toronto where “jobs are exploding with rewards of $20 to $30 a day.” Władysław Dutkiewicz to Ms Mary, 5 September 1947, author’s collection. Adam Brown to Władysław Dutkiewicz, 4 September 1947, author’s collection. Dutkiewicz’s personal notes, 1947, author’s collection. Władysław Dutkiewicz, note on Polish reaction to the Dionne girls, undated [1947?], author’s collection International Refugee Organization, Transport of Polish Children from Tanganyika to Canada, Draft memorandum to Cabinet, 23 September 1949, lac, Department of External Affairs, rg25–g–2, vol. 1. Newspaper clippings, lac, Department of External Affairs, rg25–g–2, vol. 1, file 7. Ibid. Kronika Tygodniowa, November 1949. Statement by the Director General of the iro at the Third Committee of

264

57

58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73

74

75 76 77

Notes to Pages 183–8

the un General Assembly, 10 November 1949, lac, Department of External Affairs, rg25–g–2, vol. 1, file 8. Note concerning the Polish orphans brought to Canada from East Africa under the auspices of the iro, un, div. file copy, 22 August 1950, lac, Department of External Affairs, rg25–g–2, vol. 1, file 8. See Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 256. “Akcja repatriacyjna czyni postępy” (Repatriation campaign makes progress), Kronika Tygodniowa, 21 June 1947, 1. Kronika Tygodniowa, 1 December 1944, 4. Czas, April 1946, 5. See also Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 265. Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 283. Ibid., 284. Ibid., 279–88. Ibid. Professor Leopold Infeld to S. Beatty, University of Toronto, 25 May 1950, aan, Warsaw, kc pzpr pps, 237xxii–476. According to Reczyńska, many of them settled near Wrocław and in Żuławach. Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 285. Ibid. Turek, Polish Language Press, 154. Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 286. Ibid. Ibid., 287. It is difficult to confirm whether Sokolowski’s grievances about the political views of the Polish consuls were true, or if he exaggerated them because of his personal conflicts with these individuals. The exact reason for Morski’s departure is not known. He may have been ideologically motivated (to return and help build a People’s Poland), or he may have been fed up with the stagnating situation in Canada and his poor relations with Fiderkiewicz and other Polish diplomats. He may also, more plausibly, have been called back by the Communist Party of Poland, which employed him in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw in a Political Department. In late 1947, he was appointed counsul general at the Polish Embassy in London. Reczyńska, Pięteno Wojny, 287. Adamski, Report on Polish Repatriation Committee, 2 January 1948, aan, Warsaw, 235/xix–58 pps. Report on the Canadian pps Section, Montreal, 26 August 1946, aan, Warsaw, 235/xix–58 pps; and Adamski’s report on the status of the Canadian pps Section, 19 July 1947, aan, Warsaw, 235/xix–58 pps.

Notes to Pages 189–96

265

78 That the paper survived for this long, especially with a small circulation, suggests that it may have received help from outside sources, quite possibly from Poland or Moscow.

conclusion 1 Dutkiewicz papers, newspaper clipping, undated, author’s collection. 2 Makowski, Polish People in Canada, 230.

x

List of Tables and Figures

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Gorączka Emigracyjna: Emigration Fever 267

8 Bibliography

This bibliography does not represent a complete record of all the materials that I consulted. It includes the most important sources that I used to support and inform my ideas and observations.

archival sources Archiwum Akt Nowych (Archive of New Records), Warsaw, Poland Alfred Fiderkiewicz Records Antonina Sokolicz-Merkel Records Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in London Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa (surveillance files) Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Buffalo Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Montreal Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Pittsburgh Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Winnipeg Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Moscow Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington Generalny Pełnomocnik Rządu rp do Spraw Repatriacji w Warszawie (General Plenipotentiary for the Polish Government for Repatriation in Warsaw) kc ppr (The Central Committee of the Polish Workers’ Party) kc pzpr pps (The Central Committee of the Polish Workers’ Party; Polish Socialist Party)

268

Bibliography

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Warsaw Polish Legation in Ottawa Polonia in Australia Canadian-Polish Research Institute, Toronto, Canada Unordered collection; documents relating to the Polish Canadian Congress Zjednoczenie Zrzeszeń Polskich w Kanadzie [Federation of Polish Societies in Canada], Biuletyn zzpwk, no. 12, 25 September 1939. Czas microfilms Związkowiec microfilms Provincial Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Canada Antoni Malatyński Papers Canadian Polish Congress Papers Julian Topolnicki Papers Polish Alliance of Canada Papers Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario Benedykt Heydenkorn fonds, mg31–d237 Canadian Polish Congress fonds, mg28–v10 Chuchla, Walter F. fonds, mg31–h58 Communist International fonds, mg10–k3 Czas newspaper collection, mg28–v100 Dan Chomicki or Chomicky (Polish) (alias Holmes or Homes, or Homitski, Winnipeg, Manitoba, undesirable) (Communist) (pamphlets), r1206–127–4–e Department of Immigration, rg 76 Department of Internal Affairs, rg 15 Department of Justice, rg 13 Department of National Defence, rd 24 F.B. Kirkwood, Report on Athabasca District of Alberta, 1 November, 1928, cnr Department of Colonization, Edmonton, rg 30 5894, file 12 Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion fonds, mg10–k2 Michal Nedza fonds, mg30–c118 Polish Alliance Friendly Society of Canada, mg 28, v 55 Polish Society for Brotherly Aid, mg 28, v 37

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Polish Mutual Aid Society, mg 55, v. 28 Royal Canadian Mounted Police, rg 18 Tadeusz Brzeziński fonds, mg31–h77 Tadeusz Romer fonds, mg31–d68 Taschereau-Kellock Royal Commission, rg33/62 Wiktor Podoski fonds, mg30–e230 William B. Makowski fonds, mg31–h57 Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Minister of Poland to Secretary of State for External Affairs. “Memorandum Concerning Some Members of the Anders Army.” Ottawa, 11 September 1946. Documents on Canadian External Relations, Chapter IV: Immigrants and Refugees. Accessed October 2011. http://www.international.gc.ca/ department/history-histoire/dcer/details-en.asp?intRefid=11455. United Nations Archives Hammarskjold, Dag. “Aide-Memoire Re: Polish Wawel Treasures,” 19 September 1957, accessed September 2011, http://archives-trim.un.org/ webdrawer/rec/445905/view/items%20-%20in%20-%20%5bmiscellaneous %20records%5d%20-%20aide-memoires%20re%20polish%20wawel %20treasures.pdf. Glenbow Archives, Calgary, Canada cpr London memorandum to Mr Colley, 28 February 1930, cpr Papers, box 149, file 1,481. Public Archives of Alberta, Canada Public Archives of Alberta, Accession no. 75.126, vol. 218, file 4,618. Memo prepared by Starnes for Gouin on “Revolutionary Schools,” 30 December 1922. Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich [Ossolineum], Wrocław, Poland Antonina Sokolicz-Merkel (monographs)

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newspapers Amsterdam Evening Recorder, 10 May 1961 Budzik, Toronto, 1931–32 Calgary Herald, 1939–42 Czas, Winnipeg, 1938–50 Daily Clarion, 9 July 1938 Edmonton Bulletin, October 1947 Evening Independent, Florida, 10 May 1961 Gazeta Katolicka w Kanadzie, Winnipeg, 1930–41 Globe and Mail, 1943–45 Głos Polski – Gazeta Polska, Toronto, 1950–55 Głos Pracy, Toronto, 1932–40 Jutrzenka, Toronto and Montreal, 1944 Kronika Tygodniowa, Toronto, 1941–56 Mail and Empire, 1933–35 Montreal Gazette, 1947 New York Times, 9 October 1919 Nowe Zycie, Toronto, May 1920 Odsiecz: Polska Walcząca w Ameryce, Windsor, 1941–42 Official Gazette of the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, vol. L (n17), 27 April 1948, 291 Prawo Ludu, Montreal and Toronto, 1943–45 Register of Persons of Polish Origin Actively Engaged in Canada in Scholarly Pursuits or Scientific Research, Toronto, 1959–68 Winnipeg Free Press, 1939–42 Związkowiec, Toronto, 1933–45

other archival sources Sources related to Władysław Dutkiewicz, which include personal notes, photos, and correspondence related to the Dionne girls, 1946; personal notes and documents; newspaper clippings from Głos Pracy, Kronika Tygodniowa, and Mail and Empire; a scrapbook (containing various newspaper clipings, photos, and notes, undated); ex-libris materials from Głos Pracy; and monographs are part of the author’s collection. Buck, Tim. A National Front for Victory. Communist Party of Canada, 1941. Department of Trade and Commerce. 1938. “Population and Agriculture.” Census of Alberta 1936, 1,025. Ottawa: J.O. Patenaude.

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Dunayevskaya, Raya. “News & Letters” in Two Worlds: Notes from a Diary, 19 August 1955. Egan, W.J. “Report of the Department of Immigration and Colonization 1928–1929.” In Annual Departmental Reports 1928–1929, II:81. Ottawa: King’s Printer, 1930. Federation of Polish Societies in Canada, Directory, 1939. Acme Advertising Agency, Montreal, 1938. Heydenkorn, Benedykt, ed. Pamiętniki imigrantów polskich w Kanadzie [Memoirs of Polish immigrants in Canada]. Toronto: Polish Alliance Press, 1975. – Pamiętniki imigrantów polskich w Kanadzie [Memoirs of Polish immigrants in Canada], vol. 3. Toronto: Polish Alliance Press, 1978. Kojder, Apolonja, and Barbara Głogowska. Marynia Don’t Cry: Memoirs of Two Polish-Canadian Families. Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1995. Kolasky, John. Prophets and Proletarians: Documents on the History of the Rise and Decline of Ukrainian Communism in Canada. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 1990. Lenin, Vladimir I. “What Is to Be Done?” In Vladimir I. Lenin Collected Works, vol. 5. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1961. Majchrowski, Jacek M. Kto był kim w Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej [Who was who in the Second Republic], vol. 1. Warsaw: bgm, 1994. Mental Health Division, Health Services Directorate, Health Canada. “Suicide in Canada: Update of the Report of the Task Force on Suicide in Canada.” Ottawa: Published by authority of the Minister of National Health and Welfare, 1994. Samulski, Jozef. Pamiętnik emigranta polskiego w Kanadzie [The memoir of a Polish immigrant in Canada]. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 1978. Sifton, Clifford. “The Immigrants Canada Wants.” Maclean’s Magazine, 1 April 1922, 16, 32. Słomka, Jan. From Serfdom to Self-Government: Memoirs of a Polish Village Mayor, 1842–1927. Translated by William John Rose. London: Minerva Publishing Co, 1941. “Training Young Communists.” R.C.M.P. Quarterly 3 (2, 1935): 185, 187. Tych, Feliks, ed. Słownik biograficzny działaczy polskiego ruchu robotniczego [Biographical dictionary of Polish labor movement activists], vol. 1, A–D. Warsaw: Książka i Wiedza, 1978.

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Gorączka Emigracyjna: Emigration Fever 289

8 Index

Adamkiewicz, Jerzy, 64, 240n65; and zzpwk, 82, 84, 86 Adamski, Stanisław, 188 Amalgamated Mineworkers of Nova Scotia, 87 Association of Merchants and Businessmen, 78 Association of Polish Veterans in the United States, 89 Association to Aid Poland and the Allies (Stowarzyszenie Pomocy Polsce i Aliantom, sppia), 159–64, 171, 256n67 Baczkowski, Włodzimierz, 88, 236n76 Baderski, Stanisław, 135 Bakunin, Mikhail, 4 Bałucki, Michał, 38 Barabasz, W., 185 Baryła, Franciszek, 94, 121, 135, 191, 242n44, 246–7n88 Beck, Jozef, 81, 168 Bennett, Robert, B., 106, 110, 148 Berling Army, 162 Berling, Zygmunt, 162, 167

Bierut, Bolesław, 170–2 Bloch/Blok, Jozef, 88, 102 Bobak/Bobakowa, Maria, 66, 104, 144 Bobak, J., 66 Bojko, Jakub, 28 Bolshevik Revolution, 53–4 Borden, Robert, 54 Boychuck/Boyd, John, 136 Britain: Communists in, 8, 64, 148; and World War II, 151–2 Brzeziński, Tadeusz, 88, 143, 173 Buck, Tim, 9, 57–60, 115, 211n18; and Antonina Sokolicz-Merkel, 113; imprisonment, 58, 60, 157, 159, 253n1; and Polish Communists, 113, 115, 125, 133, 136; Tim Buck Plebiscite Committees, 158; and Władysław Dutkiewicz, 101, 115; World War II, 150–1 Budzik, 61–2, 227n44 Bukowiecki-Olszewski, Walerian, 55, 225n18 Burpee, Lawrence Johnstone, 176, 261n23 Calgary Herald, 164

290

Index

Canadian Labour Defence League (cldl), 60, 112, 117–8, 146, 255n50 Canadian National Railway, 43 Canadian Pacific Railway (cpr), 41, 42 Canadian Pacific Steamship Company, 44 Canadian Polish Congress. See Zjednoczenie Zrzeszeń Polskich w Kanadzie, zzpwk. See also Polish Canadian Research Institute Canadian Tribune. See Daily Clarion Canadian United Allied Relief Fund, 161 Carr, Sam, 23, 157 Cecil-Smith, Edward, 122 Central Women’s Colonization Board, 42 Chamberlain, Neville, 150 Chicago (Illinois), Polish Communists in, 93, 243–4n62, Chomicki, Dan (Holmes, Homes, Homitski), 60, 92, 227n38, 242n44 Christian Mutual Aid Society of Upper Silesian Workers (Związek Wzajemnej Pomocy Chrześcijańskich Robotników Górnośląskich), 30 Chudzicki, A.F., 176 Circle of Polish Academics (Winnipeg), 135 Clarion. See Daily Clarion Cleveland (Ohio), 252n50; Lemko, 236n74; Polish Communists in, 93 Cohn, Ludwik (Kohn/Konecki/Luis Cohn/Ludwik Kohn), 55

Coleman (Alberta), 36, 46, 99, 22n40 Comintern (Communist International): and cpc, 57, 108, 140, 241n3; and Communist Party of Poland, 126; policy of, 8, 10, 158; and Polish Communists in Canada, 108–9, 97, 144; and Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 225–6n27, 249n13; and Popular Front, 65; Stalinization of, 8–10 Communist Party of Canada (cpc), cultural outreach, 139–40; and Comintern, 108, 241n3; development, 8, 57, 64, 85, 99, 148, 157, 253n1; elections, 59; immigrant recruiting, 58–9, 120; as Labour Progressive Party, 164, 256n56; outbreak of World War II, 150–3, 157; Polish consuls on, 95; and Polish Peoples’ Association, 108–9, 115, 125; and rcmp, 59–60; and Ukrainians, 114, 117–18, 153, 226n30, 255n51; Stalinization of, 9, 58; membership of, 9, 58–9, 67, 107 Communist Party of Poland (Komunistyczna Partia Polski, kpp), 8, 31–2, 123–6; Albert Morski, 124, 191; 228n58; Alfred Fiderkiewicz; Antonina SokoliczMerkel, 61, 65; and Polish Communists in Canada, 123–6, 248n107; and Polish Communists in the United States, 260n1, 264n74; and Communist Party of Western Belarus, 32; and Communist Party of Western Ukraine, 32

Index

Communist Workers’ Party of Poland (Komunistyczna Partia Robotnicza Polski), 31 Comte, August, 24 Conant, Gordon, D., 156, 159, 255n46 Congress of Poles Abroad, 81 Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, 58, 60, 106, 192 co-operative movement (Poland), 26 Croatia(ns), 58, 137, 160, 265n50 Cuchla, Władysław, 46, 49, 99, 222n40 Czas (Time), 78, 82, 156, 163, 176, 185 Czechoslovak(s), 47, 117, 168, 189 Czernyshevsky, Nikolaj, 96 Czerwieński, Bolesław, 131, 133 Dąbrowski Battalion, 121–2 Daily Clarion, 5, 89, 150, 152 Daily Press (Timmins), 136 Damięcki, Edward. See Morski, Albert Darbininku Zodis (Worker’s word), 116 Democratic Committee to Aid Poland (Demokratyczny Komitet Pomocy Polsce), 163 Department of Immigration (Canada), 106 Detroit (Michigan), 54, 163 Dionne, Ludgar, 181–2; and Dionne girls, 181–2. See also Dutkiewicz, Władysław Dmowski, Roman, 30, 89 Dominion Communist-Labor Total War Committee, 158 Dominion Labour Party, 56

291

Duff, Lyman Poore, 165 Dutkiewicz, Władysław, 63, 92, 101, 175, 191, 196, 238n17; and Albert Morski, 102, 144, 187, 191; on Budzik, 61, 227n44; as delegate to the Senate Committee on Immigration, 177; and Dionne girls, 181–2, 263n48; as editor, 33, 62, 90, 101, 189; and Głos Pracy, 144, 151, 155; on Joseph Polka, 146; as journalist, 14, 112, 142; and Kronika Tygodniowa, 159, 176, 189; and Marciak, 138; as organizer, 61, 101–2, 107, 111, 138, 144, 155; and Polish Worker’s Association, 101; and Tim Buck, 115 Dworkin, Henryk, 56, 113, 237n15, 245n73 Dziennik Ludowy (People’s journal), 52 Economic Cooperation Committee with Poland (Komitet Współpracy Gospodarczej z Polską), 174. See also Polish Mutual Aid Society; United Polish Relief Fund Education (Oświata, organization), 53, 75 Falkowski, Paulin, 102 Federation of Polish Societies in Canada (Zjednoczenie Zrzeszeń Polskich w Kanadzie, zzpwk), 77, 80–87, 90, 156, 234n45, 235n58; as Canadian Polish Congress, 165, 168, 173–4, 177–8; and Communists, 85–7, 90, 109, 235n58, 235n63; membership, 95; statute, 85; and World War II, 156, 165–6

292

Index

Ferdinand, Franz, 64 Fiderkiewicz, Alfred, 170–1, 260n1; and Polish diaspora in Canada, 172, 178, 184; and Albert Morski, 101, 187–88, 264n74 Finnish, 12, 57, 114, 153, 255n50 Fornalik, Bronisława, 182 Frączysty, Karol, 122, 246n83 Franco, Francisco, 120 Galicia(ns), 18, 21, 24–6, 28, 117; 1846 uprising in, 24; Polish immigrants from, 20–6, 35, 214n1, 215n8, 216n15, 233n39; Jews from, 94; Polish Socialist Democratic Party in, 31; Prosvita Society in, 217n32 Garczyński, Leon, 174 Gąsior family, 21–2 Gazeta Katolicka (Catholic gazette), 78, 163, 173, 225–6n27 Gebert, Bolesław Konstantin “Bill,” 54, 224n7 George, David Lloyd, 154 German(y/s): Communists in, 8; Nazi-Soviet Pact, 10, 143, 148–53, 169, 254n9; Poles and, 20, 23; in Poland, 18, 20; and Soviet Union, 125–6, 151, 154, 158–9, 165; turnverein, 75 Głos Polski. See Gazeta Katolicka Głos Pracy (Voice of labour), 11, 62–3, 66–7, 116, 135, 142, 144; circulation, 11, 94–5, 115; dissolution, 158; format, 63, 65, 109, 142–3, 155, 242n43; on Jan Sikora, 82; on Polish Communist movement in Canada, 67; Polish consuls and, 88, 95, 143, 238n21; propaganda,

110–12, 127, 130, 138, 143, 241n20; on Soviet Union, 114; and Spanish Civil War, 121–2, 246n80; and Władysław Dutkiewicz, 14, 62, 101; and World War II, 152–4, 156; and zzpwk, 109 Gorczyński, Antoni, 187 Gouzenko Affair, 171, 175–6, 237–8n15, 245n71, 260n1 Gouzenko, Igor, 123. See also Gouzenko Affair Grele, Zygmunt, 188 Grocholski, J.S., 178 Gronowicz, 88, 102 Grossman, Henryk, 134 Gwiazda (Star). See Ignacy Daszynski Society Hamilton (Ontario), Polish Communists in, 62, 79, 83, 85, 155, 159, 174 Hammer and Sickle Club, 140 Henryk Sienkiewicz Society (Towarzystwo Henryka Sienkiewicza), 87 Heenan, Peter, 159 Hepburn, Mitchell, 159 Heydenkorn, Benedykt, 180 Holodomor, 9, 191 Holy Ghost Fraternal Aid Society, 75, 77; parish, 78, 135, 232n17; St Michael Union, 78 Huculak, John, 45 Hungary(ians), 12, 27, 32–3, 41, 53, 146–7, 217n31; and Polish Communists in Canada, 111, 116–17, 142, 146, 255n50 Ignacy Daszynski Society

Index

(Towarzystwo Ignacego Daszyńskiego), 53, 75 Independent Polish National Catholic Church, 93 Industrial Workers of the World, 53, 58 Infeld, Leopold, 171, 186 Institutes of Marxism-Leninism, 64 International Brigades. See Spanish Civil War International Left Opposition Canada, 9 International Red Aid, 65, 103, 227n40 International Refugee Organization (iro), 177, 179; and Polish orphans, 182–3 Iwaszczyszyn, S., 112–13 January Uprising (1863–64), 21 Jaskółka (Red swallow), 11, 62, 227n45 Jews, Antonina Sokolicz-Merkel and, 103, 227n40; Canadian Jewish Congress, 165; and cpc, 9, 114, 119, 148–9; Fred Rose, 119; Henryk Dworkin, 56, 113, 237–8n15, 245n73; immigration to Canada, 47, 94, 215n10; Leopold Infeld, 168; Morgenstern, 139; in Poland, 18, 24, 30, 32, 139; and Polish Communists in Canada, 11, 103, 119, 120, 148–9, 163, 172, 238n21; and Polish consuls, 11, 55, 88, 94, 184, 238n21; Polish Jews, 9, 55, 113, 119, 175, 192, 237n15; Joseph Salsberg, 9, 119, 192, 245n72; United Jewish People’s Order,

293

172; repatriation, 184; Worker’s Sport’s Federation (Winnipeg), 140; Juliusz Słowacki Society, 130 Kaszuby Poles, 21 Kazmierczak, J., 102 Kicki, Władysław, 95 Kierpaul, K., 159 King, William Lyon Mackenzie, 80, 84, 106, 148, 165 Kluck, Lila, 23 Koldofsky, Samson, 113, 103–4 Komitet Współpracy Gospodarczej z Polską. See Economic Cooperation Committee with Poland Komunistyczna Partia Polski (kpp). See Communist Party of Poland Komunistyczna Partia Robotnicza Polski, See Communist Workers’ Party of Poland Kon, Feliks, 55 Kościuszko, Tadeusz, 68, 129; Division, 162; League (Detroit), 162 Koziel, Jan, 187 Kozłowski, Stefan, 121–2, 144 Krajowy Komitet Polskiej Ligi Antyfaszystowskiej. See National Committee of the Polish Anti-fascist League Kreuz, J.M., 81, 86 Kronika Tygodniowa (Weekly chronicle), 161–4, 167, 171–3, 175–6, 180, 182, 258n88, 259n97; dissolution, 189; editors, 101–2, 159, 170, 175, 181, 229–30n68; establishment of, 159; format, 163; on repatriation, 184, 186–7, 262n29 Krzyżanowska, Helen, 137

294

Index

Kugelmann, Louis, 134 Labour Progressive Party, 164, 229–30n68, 256n56 League against War and Fascism, 9, 113 Lemberg (Lwów, L’viv), 112, 117, 152, 175 Lenartowich, M., 147 Lenin, Vladimir, 8, 10, 57, 96, 127, 138, 141, 210n11; School in Moscow, 64 Lewandowski, Tadeusz, as editor, 102, 143, 159, 175; on membership, 95, 99–100; as organizer, 102, 151, 159, 239n54; and Polish consuls, 89; on Soviet Union, 151, 153 Limanowski, Bolesław, 30 Lithuanian(s), 116, 160 Litterick, James, 148 Litvin, Zelman V., 123 Lobai Movement, 9, 191, 226n30 Lutsk (pre-war Poland), 118 MacDonald, Jack, 9 Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, 121–2. See also Spanish Civil War MacLeod, A.A., 165 Macoch, Damazy (Damascus), 137–8 Mail and Empire, 62 Major, Maks, 54 Major, W.J., 133 Majtczak, Zygmunt, 34, 102, 125, 239n52; as correspondent, 144, 159; as organizer, 117, 141, 151, 176–7, 229n67 Malisz, Michał, 103

Maltz, Albert, 98 Manitoba Royal Commission on Education, 135 Maple Leaf Gardens, 58, 165, 253n1, 258n93 Marlewski, Jozef, 84 Marxism, 14, 30; Karl Marx, 52 Mazur, John, 93 McLachlan, J.B., 87 Mickiewicz, Adam, 129–30 Mikołajczyk, Stanisław, 167, 259n102 Mill, John Stuart, 24 Milstone, M.S., 143 Mniszkowa, Helena, 138 Molotov, Vyacheslav, 94, 150, 152, 254n9 Morska, Irena, 104, 144. See also Morski, Albert Morski, Albert: on Alfred Fiderkiewicz, 187; and Communist Party of Poland, 124–5; consuls and, 88; as editor, 102, 143–4, 159, 162–3, 167–8; Irena Morska, 104, 144; on Milnikiel, 187; as organizer, 65–6, 100–2, 124, 129, 151, 159–63, 175, 191, 211n23, 229–30n68; and Pan-Slav Committee, 161, 257n71; repatriation, 185, 187–8, 264n74; as representative of Peoples’ Poland, 170; on Władysław Dutkiewicz, 187; on Zygmunt Majtczak, 141; on zzpwk, 165 Mościcki, Ignacy, 86, 152 Nalecz-Dobrowolski, Dr, 86 National Committee of the Polish Anti-fascist League (Krajowy

Index

Komitet Polskiej Ligi Antyfaszystowskiej), 86 National Council for CanadianSoviet Friendship, 165 National Treasury (Skarb Narodowy), 179 National Unemployed Workers Association, 60 National Union (Spójnia), 34, 54, 79, 124 Navizivsky, Ivan, 58 New York Times, 64, 119, 251n38 November Uprising (1830–31), 21 Nowacki, Julian, 83 Nowak, Maria, 182 Nowe Życie (New life), 53–5, 91; Slavonia Steamship Agencies Limited, 54 Ogrodnik, E.M. See SokoliczMerkel, Antonina One Big Union, 58 On-to-Ottawa Trek, 59, 87, 110 Orlemański, Stanisław, 93–4, 162 Oświata. See Education (organization) Ottawa (Ontario), Polish consuls in, 62, 68, 81, 83, 170–1, 183, 186, 215n10 Paluch, Stasia, 182 Pan-Slav Committee, 161, 257n71 Pawlica, Jan, 89; on Communist activities, 68–9, 88, 103–4, 107, 227n46, 235n63; on Głos Pracy, 11, 144, 238n21; and Polish community, 89, 133–5; and zzpwk, 83 Penner, Jacob, 146, 150, 229n66 Piękoś, Jan, 104

295

Piłsudski, Jozef, 31–3, 52, 54, 86, 89, 112, 125 Podoski, Wiktor, 165 Polanski family, 42 Polish Academic Club (University of Manitoba), 78 Polish Alliance of Canada (Związek Polaków w Kanadzie, zpk), 49, 66–7, 79–84, 90, 222n51, 235n58; and Communists, 155–6, 161, 166, 173, 233n29; and Poland, 79, 174, 176, 180, 256n67 Polish American Communist(s), 54, 65, 171; activities of, 224n12, 260n3, 243–4n62; agitators, 213n34; and Communist Party of Poland, 228n58; and Socialist Party of the United States, 59. See also Chicago (Illinois); Cleveland (Ohio); Gebert, Bolesław Konstantin “Bill”; Orlemański, Stanisław Polish Canadian Research Institute (Polsko Kanadyjski Instytut Badawczy), 180 Polish Combatants’ Association in Canada (Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantów w Kanadzie), 179 Polish Council in Canada (Rada Polska w Kanadzie), 55 Polish Democratic Association (pda, Polskie Stowarzyszenie Demokratyczne), 171–2, 173, 176; and Alfred Fiderkiewicz, 188; dissolution, 188–9; Economic Cooperation Committee with Poland, 174; and Gouzenko Affair, 175; membership, 188; Polish Mutual Aid Society, 174; repatriation, 184–6

296

Index

Polish Educational Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Oświatowe), 87 Polish Emigration Society, 81. See also Światpol Polish Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, 80–1 Polish Mutual Aid Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Wzajemnej Pomocy), 34, Communist sponsored, 174; in Quebec, 69, 92. See also Holy Ghost Fraternal Aid Society; Society of St John Cantius; Związek Wzajemnej Pomocy Chrześciańskich Robotników Górnośląskich Polish National Alliance (US), 75 Polish National Catholic Church (us), 76, 93, 232n17 Polish Peasants’ Party (Polska Partia Ludowa), 92, 100 Polish People’s Association (Polskie Towarzystwo Ludowe, ptl), 3, 66, 69, 108–9, 113–4, 155, 194; and Albert Morksi, 66, 151; branches of, 66, 68, 108, 122, 130, 147; and Comintern policy, 68, 108–9, 111, 121; and cpc, 115–17; and Communist Party of Poland, 123–5; cultural outreach, 130–1; 133–6, 138, 141, 251n50; dissolution, 157–9; establishment of, 63–4, 66, 242n44, 249n13, 250–1n34; and Głos Pracy, 142–4, 147; on members, 68, 95, 103–7, 117, 122, 151; Polish consuls and, 95; and Polish “patriotic” and religious organizations, 66, 77, 90, 150–1, 156–7, 231n81; and Spanish Civil War, 121–2, 238n17; Tadeusz

Lewandowski and, 95; and World War II, 149, 155 Polish Progressive Society, 79 Polish Roman Catholic Union (us), 75 Polish Socialist Party (Polska Partia Socjalistyczna), 29, 30–1, 52, 100, 218n55; pps-Lewica, 31; 30–1, 55, 218n45; pps-Rewolucja, 30; section in Canada, 188. See also Polish Progressive Society; National Union Polish Society of Brotherly Aid, 49, 50 Polish Times, 83 Polish Veterans’ Association in Canada (Stowaryszenie Weteranów Polskich w Kanadzie). See Union of Polish Defenders of the Fatherland in Western Canada Polish Word, 83 Polish Worker’s Association, 86, 101 Polish Workers’ and Farmers’ Association (Polskie Towarzystwo Robotniczo-Farmerskie, ptrf), 3, 85, 88, 111, 125; and Antonina Sokoloicz-Merkel, 124; and Albert Morski, 65; and anti-Polish propaganda, 112–3; and Communist Party of Poland, 123; cultural outreach, 128, 142; dissolution, 66; establishment of, 62–3, 227n46; and Joseph Polka, 145; Polish consuls on, 64; members, 10–3, 105, 155; and Polish “patriotic” and religious organizations, 81–3, 85, 90; structure of, 63, 142–3; and Władysław Dutkiewicz, 63

Index

Polish Workers’ Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Robotnicze), 61 Polish Workers’ Sport Federation (Związek Robotniczych Stowarzyszeń Sportowych Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), 140 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 20–5 Polish-Soviet War (1919–21), 31, 43, 55–6, 125, 225n18 Polka, Joseph, 62, 65, 102, 124, 229n66, 239n54; as editor, 62, 144; funeral of, 145–6, 191 Polska Partia Ludowa. See Polish Peasants’ Party Polska Partia Socjalistyczna. See Polish Socialist Party Polski Committee of National Liberation (Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego), 166–7, 174, 189, 261n18 Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego. See Polski Committee of National Liberation Polskie Socjalistyczne Stowarzyszenie im. Stefana Okrzei. See Stefan Okrzeja Polish Socialist Society Polskie Stowarzyszenie Demokratyczne. See Polish Democratic Association Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (Peoples’ Party, Poland), 28, 100. See Polish Peasants’ Party Polskie Towarzystwo Ludowe. See Polish People’s Association Polskie Towarzystwo Oświatowe. See Polish Educational Society Polskie Towarzystwo Robotnicze. See Polish Workers’ Society

297

Polskie Towarzystwo RobotniczoFarmerskie. See Polish Workers’ and Farmers’ Association Polskie Towarzystwo Wzajemnej Pomocy. See Polish Mutual Aid Society Polsko Kanadyjski Instytut Badawczy. See Polish Canadian Research Institute Popowicz, Matthew, 58, 110, 133, 136 Popular Front, 8–9, 58; and Communist movement in Canada, 8–9, 67, 140; and Polish Communists in Canada, 65, 68, 107, 143 populist movement, 23, 26 positivists, 24. See also Świętochowski, Aleksander Potocki, Maximilian Egon, 64–5 Pravda, 93 Prokopchak, Peter, 136 Provisional Government of National Unity, 166, 170–1 Przyjaciel Ludu (People’s friend), 27 Pszczółka (Bee), 26 Rada Polska w Kanadzie. See Polish Council in Canada Radymski, L., 138 Red Hope Club, 140 Relief Camp Workers’ Union, 60 Rivett-Carnac, Charles, 148–50 Romania(n), 117 Rose/Rosenberg, Fred, 119, 135, 165, 175, 237–8n15, 246n71, 261n20 Royal Canadian Mounted Police (rcmp), 224n10; Charles RivettCarnac, agent, 148; and cpc,

298

Index

59–60, 111, 119, 153, 258n93; on ethnic school, 131, 134, 136; on Finnish Communists, 153; Głos Pracy on, 110; Henryk Dworkin, 56, 113; on Jewish Communists, 119, 148–9; on Joseph Polka, 62, 145–6; on Kronika Tygodniowa, 164; and Polish Communist organizations, 61, 63–4, 68, 128, 140, 155, 159–60; on Polish Communists, 67–8, 94–5, 102, 110, 137–8, 151; and Polish consuls, 64, 133, 194, 224–5n17, 226–7n37, 240n65; on Polish immigrants, 46, 231n81; on Polish “patriotic” and religious organizations, 92; Polish radical organizations, 53–4, 56; on S. Iwaszczyszyn, 112–13; on Soviet Union and Poland, 155–7, 166–9; Spanish Civil War, 121; surveillance, 56, 92, 105, 194, 253n77, 255n51; Tim Buck, 115; on Ukrainian Communists, 131, 243n58; World War II, 154–5 Rózalski, T., 83 Rydz-Śmigły, Edward, 112, 152 Rzymkowski, Wincenty, 173 Salsberg, Joseph, 9, 119, 165, 191, 245n Samokształcenie. See Self-Education Sarnecki family, 35, 44–5 Scott, Charles Edward, 125–6 Self-Education (Samokształcenie, organization), 53 Sembay, Ivan, 135 Sifton, Clifford, 17, 37, 214n1, 219–20n9

Sikora, Jan, 82 Sikorski, Władysław, 166 Skarb Narodowy. See National Treasury Skelton, Oscar D., 84 Słomka, Jan, 28 Slovaks, 58 Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, 30–1 Social-Democratic Party of Canada, 57 Socialist Party of Canada, 57 Socialist Party of North America, 57 Socialist Society Power (Towarzystwo Potęga), 53 Socialist Workers’ Sport International, 139 Society for the Liberation of Western Ukraine (Todowyrnazu), 88, 117, 227n46, 237n6, 243n58 Society of Poles in Canada (Towarzystwo Polaków w Kanadzie), 84, 90, 111 Society of Polish Socialists (Towarzystwo Socialistów Polskich), 30 Society of St John Cantius, 76; Hall, 162; parish, 135 Society of St Stanislaus, 79 Sokol (Falcon, gymnastic group), 75–6, 78, 124, 141 Sokolicz-Merkel, Antonina: and Communist Party of Poland, 124–5; as E.M. Ogrodnik, 144; and consul Jan Pawlica, 103–4; as organizer, 61, 64–5, 103, 227n40, 124; and Polish Communists, 103, 113; and Polish Writers’ Association, 103

Index

Sokolowski, 188, 264n73 Sons of Poland, 34, 79, 124 Spanish Civil War, 59, 66, 120–3, 246n80 Spector, Maurice, 9 Spencer, Herbert, 24 Spójnia. See National Union St Andrew’s Concord (Zgoda św Andrzeja), 53 St Catharines (Ontario), 48; Polish Council in Canada, 55, 173; Polish Communist organizations in 61, 79, 159, 227n42, 250n34; rcmp surveillance in, 56 St Michael Union. See Holy Ghost Fraternal Aid Society Staniewski, Alfons Jan, 33, 54, 91, 160, 192, 237n4; as editor, 54, 79, 80, 91 Stanley Park (Regina), 111 Stapiński, Jan, 28, 218n45 Starczewski, J., 138–9 Stawicki, Edward, J., 54 Stefan Okrzeja Polish Socialist Society (Polskie Socjalistyczne Stowarzyszenie im. Stefana Okrzei), 29, 52, 75, 102 Stojałowski, Stanisław, 26–8 Stolc, Ferenc, 146 Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantów w Kanadzie. See Polish Combatants’ Association in Canada Stowarzyszenie Pomocy Polsce i Aliantom (sppia). See Association to Aid Poland and the Allies Stowarzyszenie Weteranów Polskich w Kanadzie. See Polish Veterans’ Association in Canada Strazhevichus, Vladas, 116

299

Stubbs, Lewis St George, 65, 115–6, 128, 133, 210n3 Światpol (Światowy Związek Polaków z Zagranicy). See World Union of Poles from Abroad Świerczewski, Karol, 171, 173 Świętochowski, Aleksander, 36 Sydney (Nova Scotia), 67, 87 Szarek, W., 29, 91, 100, 192 Sztafeta Robotnicza (Workers’ relay), 139 Szygowski, Jan, 67, 235n58, 240n65; on Communists, 69, 155, 234n45, 249n13 Szylla, Franciszek, 53 Szyszko, Michał, 173 Time (magazine), 94 Todowyrnazu. See Society for the Liberation of Western Ukraine Topolnicki, Julian, 22, 41, 44, 82 Toronto Daily Star, 165 Toronto (Ontario), Poles in, 5, 45–6 Towarzystwo Henryka Sienkiewicza. See Henryk Sienkiewicz Society Towarzystwo Ignacego Daszyńskiego. See Ignacy Daszynski Society Towarzystwo Polaków w Kanadzie. See Society of Poles in Canada Towarzystwo Potęga. See Socialist Society Power Towarzystwo Socialistów Polskich. See Society of Polish Socialists Trades Labour Congress, 53 Trędowata (The leper), 138–9, 147 Trybuna Robotnicza (Workers’ tribune), 54, 62 Turek, Victor, 180

300

Index

Turfdim, 88, 227n46 Ukrainian(s): and cpc, 58, 64, 114, 117–18, 153, 226n30, 255n51; cultural work, 135; in Poland, 117; and Polish Communists, 61, 88, 109, 116, 118, 155, 160; and Polish consuls, 88, 94 Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temple Association, 58, 114, 146, 157, 191, 242n39, 255n50 Union of Polish Catholic Societies. See St Michael Union Union of Polish Defenders of the Fatherland in Western Canada (Związek Polskich Obrońców Ojczyzny na Kanadę Zachodnią) United Polish Relief Fund (Zjednoczony Polski Komitet Ratunkowy), 161, 163, 176, 257n70, 257n80 United Farmers of Canada, 58 United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, 176, 262n33 Vapus, 153 Wallace, J., 118 Wasilewska, Wanda, 171 Weir, John, 136 Welland (Ontario), 113 West Ukrainian Peoples’ Republic, 117 Western Social Credit League, 58 Wiczkowski, K., 113 Wieniec (Wreath), 26 Winnipeg General Strike, 54, 57 Winnipeg (Manitoba), Poles in, 46

Witczak, Ignacy, 122–3 Wojcik, Wincenty, 176–7 Woll, Ramen, 44 Woodsworth, James, S., 60, 240n65 Worker, 5, 106 World Union of Poles from Abroad (Światowy Związek Polaków z Zagranicy, Światpol), 80–1, 83–4. See also Congress of Poles Abroad; Polish Emigration Society Workers’ Olympics, 139 Workers’ Party of Canada, 57 Workers’ Unity League, 57, 59, 60 Working Man, 147 Woźniak family, 43–4, 50 Wysłouch, Bolesław, 26–8, 34 Young Communist International, 139 Young Communist League (ycl), 92, 119, 135, 146, 242n44, 246n88, 250n15 Yugoslav(s), 116, 142 Zgoda (Vancouver), 87–8 Zgoda św Andrzeja. See St Andrew’s Concord Zielonka, Igantius, 135 Ziemski, Władysław, 185, 187 Zjednoczenie Zrzeszeń Polskich w Kanadzie (zzpwk). See Federation of Polish Societies in Canada Zjednoczony Polski Komitet Ratunkowy. See United Polish Relief Fund Związek Polaków w Kanadzie (zpk). See Polish Alliance of Canada Związek Polskich Obrońców

Index

Ojczyzny na Kanadę Zachodnią. See Union of Polish Defenders of the Fatherland in Western Canada Związek Robotniczych Stowarzyszeń Sportowych Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. See Polish Workers’ Sport Federation Związek Wzajemnej Pomocy Chrześcijańskich Robotników

301

Górnośląskich. See Christian Mutual Aid Society of Upper Silesian Workers Związkowiec: Alfons Jan Staniewski, 33, 79–80, 91; Leon Garczynski, 174; on Poland, 176, 185; Polish Communists, 98, 150, 155–6, 259n97 Życie Warszawy, 182, 260–1n6