Wheeling's Polonia: Reconstructing Polish Community in a West Virginia Steel Town by William Hal Gorby (review)

If you have Polish ancestors, the new book Wheeling's Polonia: Reconstructing Polish Community in a West Virginia Steel Town, by William Hal Gorby, is a must-read. If your Polish ancestors lived in Wheeling's Polonia, this book could add even more material to your family history. The author conducted many interviews and extensive research that help convey the story of the early struggles of the Polish immigrants entering Wheeling's workforce and how the Poles became a powerful force in the community. It is an excellent source of Polish history in America.

The book has many examples to show the initial resistance the Poles met from the German and Irish immigrants who had come before them and who feared that the "Polanders" and other eastern Europeans would take their jobs. It describes how the Poles were a factor in the rising tensions between Wheeling's workers and the industrial owners as the city grew dramatically during the 1800s with the addition of steel mills and factories. The employers at the factories, steel mills, and nearby coal mines demanded more workers and increased productivity to meet the demand, and they were greedy to create more profits. Labor conditions deteriorated with longer hours, lower wages, and higher quotas. The book also describes the unsafe working conditions causing the death or permanent injury to many workers with total disregard by the employers.

In the late 1800s, the workers organized strikes to force better conditions and higher pay. The owners fought back with threats and strike-breakers. New immigrants arriving from primarily eastern Europe filled the need, first as strike-breakers but also filling new labor demands at growing factories. The Poles and other eastern Europeans were not welcome in the Wheeling neighborhoods but fought to stay. Ethnic groups laid claim to neighborhoods, and there were fights between the different groups at the borders of the ethnic neighborhoods.

The author describes the rough living conditions in the immigrant neighborhoods of Wheeling. The immigrant neighborhoods had shoddy homes, tenement houses, and unsanitary conditions. There were also frequent floods, which caused further damage to the immigrant homes and living conditions. The Poles endured unstable employment, loss of jobs, and poor economic conditions triggered by recurring recessions. As the city grew, there was an increase in crime and gang activities. The book further describes the illicit happenings in the many saloons and other establishments, with the immigrants losing their weekly pay.

A unifying force arrived when Father Emil Musial was assigned to care for the Polish immigrants in Wheeling. He developed a Polish community that processed the social, financial, and cultural institutions to survive independently. Father Musial worked tirelessly in the building of St. Ladislaus Catholic Church and made it the epicenter of a unified Polish community. He maintained a close-knit community by unifying the diverse-thinking German, Russian, and Austrian Poles to share in Polish nationalism.

The complexity of the Polish working class had competing facets, which often created a tangled identity for Wheeling's Poles. The socialism presented by the unions seemed to be very different from their Catholic life. The Poles developed a unique subculture of opposition that did not separate their ethnic, religious, or class feelings. Each tugged at their loyalties. Thus, interethnic working-class solidarity was challenged by the employers' anti-unionism, the mainstream press, and nativism during the 1890s. Still, competing forces also helped foster the politicization and class consciousness of Wheeling's Poles.

Immigrant communities provided mutual assistance during periods of economic want, but by 1908 Wheeling's immigrants pushed for changes in the causes of their problems. The city's Polish and other eastern European immigrants were increasingly politicized "from the bottom up" by poor living conditions. Immigrant workers were increasingly receptive to unionization as they suffered the most from dangerous working conditions and low-paying jobs. By the start of World War I, Wheeling's Polish immigrant...