Boleslaw Gebert
Encyclopedia
Bolesław Konstantin "Bill" Gebert (1895–1986) was a top Communist Party
official, remembered as one of the organization's top Polish-language speaking leaders. He is presumed to have been a Soviet agent during the years of World War II
and was an official of the Polish government after the war.
the Białystok area, near the current border of Poland
and Belarus
. His father was a peasant of German-Jewish
extraction, his mother an ethnic Pole
.
prior to the Russian Revolution and found work as a miner. He was an active member of the Socialist Party of America
working in the SPA's Polish Federation by 1915. He took part in the creation of the Kosciuszko
League. Gebert was active in the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
In 1919 and a founding member of the Communist Party of America (CPA), and edited a Polish socialist newspaper. He was arrested in the Palmer Raids
at the end of 1919 but was not deported. He was named to the governing Central Executive Committee of the CPA as an ostensible representative of the Polish Communist Federation in the wake of the deportation of Polish leader Daniel Elbaum in 1920.
Gebert was in Detroit, Michigan
by 1920, where he was editor of the three primary Polish-language
publications: Głos Robotniczy (Workers' Voice), Trybuna Robotnicza (The Workers' Tribune), and Głos Ludowy (People's Voice).
As well as working in his editorial capacity, Gebert was the Secretary of the Polish Bureau of the Workers (Communist) Party and was a fraternal delegate to the party's 6th National Convention, held in New York City in March 1929.
In 1932, Gebert was a founder of the Polonia Society from the existing Polish-language section of the International Workers Order
(IWO), an organization for which he remained as a national officer. He also served in the first half of the 1930s as District Organizer of the CPUSA's Chicago
and Pittsburgh districts. Louis F. Budenz
wrote of a conflict between Gebert and Morris Childs
, District Organizer for Illinois
, over Gebert's intrusion into Chicago and, in particular, over a "Czech comrade who was doing vital underground work for Gebert."
In 1936 he went to work for the Steel Workers Organizing Committee
(SWOC) of the Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO) in charge of efforts to organize fraternal organizations of foreign-born Americans. As such, Gebert organized a conference of said organizations in Pittsburgh at the end of 1936 — a gathering attended by 447 representatives of various national origins. The gather was addressed by Phillip Murray and greeted by John L. Lewis
of the SWOC.
Gebert was a frequent contributor to the theoretical monthly of the CPUSA, The Communist, between the years 1933 and 1939.
Gebert appears in nine intercepted KGB
messages between May and October 1944. Gebert was the contact of fellow Soviet agent, Oskar Lange
, a Polish-American economist who was a personal emissary from President Franklin D. Roosevelt
to Joseph Stalin
on the "Polish question". Another Venona message reports Gebert's demand for a $500 balance the KGB still owed him on a one thousand dollar contract to publish a Polish-language book.
After World War II
, Gebert returned to the now Communist-dominated
Poland, where he assumed a leading position in the state-controlled labor unions. From 1949 to 1950, Gebert was Secretary of the World Peace Council and from 1950 to 1957, the editor of Glosu Pracy.
He returned to the United States in 1950 as United Nations
representative of the World Federation of Trade Unions
.
From 1960 to 1967 Gebert served as the Polish Ambassador to Turkey
.
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
official, remembered as one of the organization's top Polish-language speaking leaders. He is presumed to have been a Soviet agent during the years of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was an official of the Polish government after the war.
Early years
Bolesław Konstantin Gebert was born July 22, 1895 in the TykocinTykocin
Tykocin is an old, smaller size town in north-eastern Poland, with 1,800 inhabitants , located on the Narew river. Tykocin has been situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship since 1999. Previously, it belonged to Białystok Voivodeship...
the Białystok area, near the current border of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. His father was a peasant of German-Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
extraction, his mother an ethnic Pole
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
.
Political career
Gebert immigrated from Poland to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
prior to the Russian Revolution and found work as a miner. He was an active member of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
working in the SPA's Polish Federation by 1915. He took part in the creation of the Kosciuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
League. Gebert was active in the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
The Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party was an organized faction within the Socialist Party of America in 1919 which served as the core of the dual communist parties which emerged in the fall of that year — the Communist Party of America and the Communist Labor Party of America.-Precusors:A...
In 1919 and a founding member of the Communist Party of America (CPA), and edited a Polish socialist newspaper. He was arrested in the Palmer Raids
Palmer Raids
The Palmer Raids were attempts by the United States Department of Justice to arrest and deport radical leftists, especially anarchists, from the United States. The raids and arrests occurred in November 1919 and January 1920 under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer...
at the end of 1919 but was not deported. He was named to the governing Central Executive Committee of the CPA as an ostensible representative of the Polish Communist Federation in the wake of the deportation of Polish leader Daniel Elbaum in 1920.
Gebert was in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
by 1920, where he was editor of the three primary Polish-language
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
publications: Głos Robotniczy (Workers' Voice), Trybuna Robotnicza (The Workers' Tribune), and Głos Ludowy (People's Voice).
As well as working in his editorial capacity, Gebert was the Secretary of the Polish Bureau of the Workers (Communist) Party and was a fraternal delegate to the party's 6th National Convention, held in New York City in March 1929.
In 1932, Gebert was a founder of the Polonia Society from the existing Polish-language section of the International Workers Order
International Workers Order
The International Workers Order was a Communist Party-affiliated insurance, mutual benefit and fraternal organization founded in 1930 and disbanded in 1954 as the result of legal action undertaken by the state of New York in 1951...
(IWO), an organization for which he remained as a national officer. He also served in the first half of the 1930s as District Organizer of the CPUSA's Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Pittsburgh districts. Louis F. Budenz
Louis F. Budenz
Louis Francis Budenz was an American activist and writer, as well as a Soviet espionage agent and head of the Buben group of spies. He began as a labor activist and became a member of the Communist Party USA...
wrote of a conflict between Gebert and Morris Childs
Jack Childs
Morris Childs was an American political activist and American Communist Party functionary who became a secret operative on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the summer of 1952...
, District Organizer for Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, over Gebert's intrusion into Chicago and, in particular, over a "Czech comrade who was doing vital underground work for Gebert."
In 1936 he went to work for the Steel Workers Organizing Committee
Steel Workers Organizing Committee
The Steel Workers Organizing Committee was one of two precursor labor organizations to the United Steelworkers. It was formed by the CIO in 1936. It disbanded in 1942 to become the United Steel Workers of America....
(SWOC) of the Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
(CIO) in charge of efforts to organize fraternal organizations of foreign-born Americans. As such, Gebert organized a conference of said organizations in Pittsburgh at the end of 1936 — a gathering attended by 447 representatives of various national origins. The gather was addressed by Phillip Murray and greeted by John L. Lewis
John L. Lewis
John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960...
of the SWOC.
Gebert was a frequent contributor to the theoretical monthly of the CPUSA, The Communist, between the years 1933 and 1939.
Gebert appears in nine intercepted KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
messages between May and October 1944. Gebert was the contact of fellow Soviet agent, Oskar Lange
Oskar Lange
Oskar Ryszard Lange was a Polish economist and diplomat...
, a Polish-American economist who was a personal emissary from President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
to Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
on the "Polish question". Another Venona message reports Gebert's demand for a $500 balance the KGB still owed him on a one thousand dollar contract to publish a Polish-language book.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Gebert returned to the now Communist-dominated
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
Poland, where he assumed a leading position in the state-controlled labor unions. From 1949 to 1950, Gebert was Secretary of the World Peace Council and from 1950 to 1957, the editor of Glosu Pracy.
He returned to the United States in 1950 as United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
representative of the World Federation of Trade Unions
World Federation of Trade Unions
The World Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1945 to replace the International Federation of Trade Unions. Its mission was to bring together trade unions across the world in a single international organization, much like the United Nations...
.
From 1960 to 1967 Gebert served as the Polish Ambassador to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
Death and legacy
Bill Gebert died in 1986. He was survived by his wife, Krystyna Poznanska-Gebert (1916–1991), and was the father of two children: a daughter and a son, Konstanty Gebert (b. 1953).Books and pamphlets
- Factionalism -- the enemy of the auto workers (with William WeinstoneWilliam WeinstoneWilliam Wolf "Will" Weinstone was an American Communist politician and labor leader. Weinstone served as Executive Secretary of the unified Communist Party of America, the forerunner of today's Communist Party USA, from October 15, 1921 to February 22, 1922 and was an important figure in the...
) Detroit, Communist Party of Michigan 1938 - New Poland. Introduction by Arthur Upham Pope. New York: Polonia Society of the International Workers Order, 1945.
- Polacy w amerykańskich związkach zawodowych : notatki i wspomnienia. Krakow: n.p., 1976.
- Z Tykocina Za Ocean (From Tykocin Beyond the Ocean). Warszawa: Czytelnik, 1982. —Autobiography.
Articles
- "Trotskyism, Vanguard of the Counter-revolutionary Bourgeoisie," The Communist, vol. 13, no. 1 (January 1934), pp. 62–71.
- "Check-Up on Control Tasks in the Chicago District," The Communist, vol. 13, no. 7 (July 1934), pp. 711–717.
- "The General Strike in Terre Haute," The Communist, vol. 14, no. 9 (September 1935), pp. 800–810.
- "Our Tasks in Developing Activity Within the Company Unions," The Communist, vol. 15, no. 1 (January 1936), pp. 47–57.
- "The United Mine Workers' Union Convention," The Communist, vol. 15, no. 3 (March 1936), pp. 211–219.
- "The Steel Workers Give Their Mandate for Organization," The Communist, vol. 15, no. 6 (June 1936), pp. 498–507.
- "Smashing Through Barriers to the Organization of the Steel Workers," The Communist, vol. 15, no. 8 (August 1936), pp. 759–768.
Additional reading
- FBI Venona file
- Budenz, Louis, Men Without Faces: The Communist Conspiracy In America. New York: Harper, 1950, pgs. 55–58, 60–61, 252.
- Haynes, John EarlJohn Earl HaynesJohn Earl Haynes is an American historian who is a specialist in 20th century political history in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress...
and Klehr, HarveyHarvey KlehrHarvey E. Klehr is a professor of politics and history at Emory University; he is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist movement, and on Soviet espionage in America ....
, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999, pgs. 234, 235, 239. - Klehr, HarveyHarvey KlehrHarvey E. Klehr is a professor of politics and history at Emory University; he is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist movement, and on Soviet espionage in America ....
, The Heyday of American Communism: The Depression Decade. New York: Basic Books, 1984. - Ottanelli, Fraser M., The Communist Party of the United States: From the Depression to World War II. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1991.
- Storch, Randi, Red Chicago: American Communism at its Grassroots, 1928-35. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
- "W Polsce nie jestem sam" (I Do Not Feel Alone in Poland), an interview with Robert Mazurek, "Przekroj," Issue 28, 2010. http://www.przekroj.pl/ludzie_rozmowy_artykul,7197.html?print=1