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Carl Vedro

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vedro in 1936

Carl Vedro (born Leo Krassen; 1908 – September 10, 2006) was a Ukrainian American communist activist who served as chairman of the Kings County Communist Party in the late 1940s, as well as campaign manager for Peter V. Cacchione, the first open member of the Communist Party elected to public office in the state of New York.

Early life

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Vedro was born Leo Krassen[1] in Ukraine (then a part of the Russian Empire) in 1908 to a Jewish family. His family fled the pogroms of the Russian Civil War, arriving at Ellis Island in 1922. Krassen was radicalized by a trip to the Pennsylvania coalfields in 1930, joining the Communist Party USA under the name "Carl Vedro" upon his return.[2]

Campaign manager

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Vedro (left) views election returns with Peter and Dorothy Cacchione at the 102nd Quartermaster Regiment Armory in Brooklyn, New York, November 12, 1941

By April 1936, Vedro was section organizer of Section 17 of the Party,[3] covering Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Kings Highway, Midwood, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach.[4][5] In 1937,[6] after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade but the Party did not allow him to leave, reassigning him to be campaign manager for Peter V. Cacchione, its candidate for New York City Council in the Brooklyn at-large district.[2] Although unsuccessful, Cacchione outperformed expectations, coming within 367 votes of winning.[7]

After the election, Vedro became section organizer in Brownsville.[8] In 1939, he was again named Cacchione's campaign manager. This time, the Party was struck from the ballot on a procedural technicality, forcing them to wage a write-in campaign.[5] Once again unsuccessful, Cacchione nevertheless earned 24,132 first-choice votes (just 6,000 less than his 1937 voteshare) thanks to campaign songs, radio addresses, and pencils inscribed with his name.[9]

After a stint as section organizer in Williamsburg, Vedro was once more named Cacchione's campaign manager in 1941.[5] Despite the fact that a heart condition kept Cacchione from campaigning for most of the race, he was finally elected with 34,748 first-choice votes and 48,629 votes after eliminations.[10] In an interview with George Morris of the Daily Worker, Vedro stated:

The main thing I want to drive home... is that this campaign was put over by thousands of people and a lot of hard work. We didn't have the money and newspaper publicity that other candidates had, but we had the people who were willing to give their time, work from morning until night, and do their work conscientiously. They went into every neighborhood, faced numerous obstacles, prejudice, and deliberate obstruction. But it is to the credit of our people and Communist Party branches that they have shown initiative and an ability to overcome difficulties.

— Daily Worker, November 17, 1941[11]

Later career

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Vedro views a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Richmond Memorial Youth Center, November 24, 1968

Vedro served as a tank driver in the U.S. Army during World War II, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and the Liberation of Paris and receiving two Purple Hearts.[2][12] After returning home he served as executive secretary of the Kings County Communist Party from 1946[13] to 1947,[14] then as chairman from 1947[15] to 1950,[16] succeeding Cacchione in the latter position following his death.[17] Vedro supported the Party's campaign against "White Chauvinism", comparing anti-Black racism to antisemitism.[18]

Vedro was forced to go underground during the Red Scare,[19] relocating to California by the 1960s,[20] where he collaborated with Sue Bailey and Howard Thurman in managing progressive art exhibits and events.[2][12] He was politically active as late as 2005 when, as a resident of the Jewish Home in San Francisco, he refused to be fed by scabbing workers.[2][21] He died at the Home on September 10, 2006, aged 98. He was survived by his second wife,[2] four children, and eight grandchildren.[12]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Paid Notice: Deaths VEDRO, CARL (LEO KRASSEN)". The New York Times. New York. September 21, 2006. Retrieved June 1, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Carl Vedro, 98 fighting years". peoplesworld.org. People's World. October 13, 2006. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Party Life". Daily Worker. New York. April 7, 1936. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Sporadic Work Endangers Brighton Campaign in Spite of Bright Spots". Daily Worker. New York. September 14, 1936. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 "Cacchione Reviews Campaigns That Made History". Daily Worker. New York. June 12, 1946. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Greet Delegates to Third Convention". Daily Worker. New York. June 26, 1937. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  7. ↑ Gerson 1976, pp. 81–85.
  8. ↑ "Brownsville Labor Goes to Town Against Relief Cuts; Fights for Better Housing". Daily Worker. New York. March 25, 1938. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  9. ↑ Gerson 1976, pp. 98–102.
  10. ↑ Gerson 1976, pp. 106–112.
  11. ↑ Morris, George (November 17, 1941). "A Volunteer Army Manned All Posts -- And Elected Cacchione". Daily Worker. New York. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  12. 1 2 3 "Carl Vedro (Leo Krassen)". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco. September 21, 2006. Retrieved June 4, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Map CP Membership Drive". Daily Worker. New York. May 8, 1946. Retrieved June 2, 2026.
  14. ↑ "The Brooklyn Communist Party". Daily Worker. New York. November 10, 1947. Retrieved June 2, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Communist Leaders Mourn Cacchione". Daily Worker. New York. November 7, 1947. Retrieved June 2, 2026.
  16. ↑ "10 Flatbush Communists Chalk Up 2,100 Signatures for A-Bomb Ban". Daily Worker. New York. June 15, 1950. Retrieved June 2, 2026.
  17. ↑ "CACCHIONE DEAD; COUNCIL MEMBER; First Avowed Communist Ever to Hold Elective Office in State Victim of a Heart Attack". The New York Times. New York. November 7, 1947. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
  18. ↑ Vedro, Carl (June 1950). "The Menace of White Chauvinism". Jewish Currents. IV (8). New York: 8–11. Retrieved June 3, 2026.
  19. ↑ Rushmore, Howard (July 1, 1952). "Mexicoan Tells of Commie Underground In US Names Leaders Who Have Faded from Sight". The Mexico Ledger. Mexico. Retrieved June 4, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Personals". Palladium-Item. Richmond. July 30, 1967. Retrieved June 4, 2026.
  21. ↑ Eskenazi, Joe (January 7, 2005). "Strike off, but dispute still on at Jewish Home". jweekly.com. J. The Jewish News of Northern California. Retrieved June 4, 2026.

Further reading

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[edit]
  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Carl Vedro at Wikimedia Commons
  • Black-Jewish relationship scrutinized at Jewish Museum. Northern California Jewish Bulletin, October 9, 1992
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