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August 31, 1992. An interview with Leon Olsen. He was president of Local 21, the Bay Area Typographical Union, from 1969 to 1987. Talk to you. Um You were busy. I thought, what is he busy with, He gave up the presidency. He retired. What are you working

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on? Well, it, it's, it's not any one thing, it's a, a whole number of things. Uh I'm in the Federation of Retired Union members. Uh, I Edit a uh Newsletter for the retirees. We have some. I guess it's about 900 retirees in our local. So we

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print a newsletter that comes out every 3 months. Which is very well received. Uh, we don't even have to. Uh Pressure people to uh Pay their dues to the retirees club because uh Uh, the members love to get the newsletter because we print all the correspondence

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from people they've worked with throughout their life. And occasionally I do something in the union, you know. Uh, right now, uh. Uh Our retirees club mainly through uh. The efforts of uh Maury Goldman and myself. Maury Goldman was the one that was president after myself. Have

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uh Really initiated a campaign against Kaiser in Northern California. Uh, because, uh, We feel that for good reason that In Northern California they've been gouging the seniors compared to what Kaiser elsewhere in the country has done. So we've got a campaign going with Kaiser to try

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and force them to Reduce the Uh Premiums for people on Medicare. And I'm on a labor council, so it's a little bit of everything. And my wife is, uh, not well. She doesn't drive. She always has doctor appointments, so, Uh, ever, you know, you're doing a

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lot of things personally that keep you busy. So that's it. That's it. Well, I think I will go back to the Kaiser business a little later, but I was interested when we first talked and I told you my last name is Vakolinski and you said your

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last name was Olshansky. Um-hum. So, your father came from Ukraine? My father and mother came from Ukraine, a small village, uh, In the Kiev area. And uh They came here and uh. About 19. About 1911, somewhere around there, 1910, 1911. Philadelphia? Uh, to Philadelphia and then

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from Philadelphia they, My mother had a lot of rheumatism and things like that, so they moved to a A little town near Buffalo, New York. Which is where I spent my childhood. And uh And then they decided to move to Los Angeles. And there were 4

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children. I was the youngest. And we were And route from Los uh from. Alden, New York to Los Angeles at the time that the Big, uh, stock market crash of 1929. So we hit Los Angeles in the beginning of the horrible depression. What was your father

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doing in uh New York? Well, actually, uh, We had a little store. As I remember it. And uh He was a broom maker. In the days when most brooms were made by hand. From what? From, uh, uh, broom corn, you know, the, just like the broom,

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the, the regular broom, not the plastic ones that you buy. Um It's made from what they call broom corn that grows. You know, they, it used to grow. I guess it still does somewhere. Yeah, I didn't know that was called. Yeah. Um-hum. I didn't know exactly

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what that was. I thought it was, Uh, something like a rush, you know, that they can make things from. Uh, it, uh, When he would get it. It, uh, It was on long. Yellow stems, you know, the stems were probably about This long It would almost

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uh Uh, would almost remind you of, uh, Wheat that you would see when when it's harvested, you know. So he would have to get this from the farmers. I guess he would buy it from uh suppliers. Um-hum. So, he did this in his own little shop,

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uh. His own little shop, yeah. And that's what he did when we, when he came out to, uh, Los Angeles also. So, were you, did, were you helping him, you and your brothers or, Uh Not really, uh. Because, uh, There was hardly Any way that It

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could support. More than one person, you know. The only way I would help was when uh When I was still in high school. He had an old beat up uh. Model A Ford that he had built the. Uh, structure on, you know. And he would have

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me go out to stores and try and sell the brooms, uh, you know, wholesale them. Which is a pain in the neck. But you know, for a couple years there I would go out and Knock on the doors of the various uh groceries uh trying to

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sell the uh brooms that he made. Uh, do you remember what they sold for? Well, as I remember it, uh, The cheaper ones would sell for about $2.25 a dozen. And the better ones that he made, uh, would sell. 3 to $4 a dozen. And it

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was the difference in quality was what the broom handle or well put together uh there there are different grades there was different grades of broom corn there was good broom corn and not such good broom corn. And uh so that was the main difference. And there

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is also a. Uh, the looks, you know, the, the more expensive ones looked a little better. Uh, they may have had, uh, The cheap ones may have had only 3 strings holding it across if you, you know how you see. The better ones would have 4

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strings across. So, um, if he came out in 29, uh, he had saved up money. Or what was his reason for coming out? I was only 9 years old. But uh We had a fire In our in our uh We had an old 2 story. Uh,

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home alongside the Erie Railroad. Just just feet away from the Erie Railroad when the train would go by, it would shake the house. So, uh We had had a fire, and I think that was one of the main reasons. Secondly, I think that They felt that

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uh My mother's health would be better. In Southern California, you know, just like uh. The people have been coming to California for the last 50-60 years. Uh, we were in the early, uh, amongst the early ones that made the trek, uh, coming in 1929. That was

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before the, uh, The Oklahoman Uh Yeah, so. I, I think that the health, you know, the factor was a big one. And uh As I say, the house had burned. So you all came by car? Mhm. An old 1924 Peerless. So, uh, did you remember stopping

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overnight in certain places? What did you do? Camp or. Uh, Almost all the time we camped, you know, they had a great big tent. And uh You know, those were in the days before motels meant very much, you know. Plus the fact that we didn't have

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that much money, so almost all the time was spent. Camping, uh, overnight. Yeah, that's quite an experience. Did you continue camping when you got to California? Did you go on camping trips? He had to settle down, you know, he. Found a house to rent. And uh

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You know, Dad had to continue trying to make a living. Which was uh Next to impossible. He had a distant relative who who owned a. A very, uh Successful Furniture store in Long Beach. And uh I remember the extremely distasteful. task of him asking me to

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go down to Long Beach to borrow some money from And the relative. So All those collected, uh, memories of. Sure. Depression and, Um, so, uh, did you hear talk of unions during that time? Well, we were in We were in the very Early stages of being

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involved, uh. My father was uh. My, my father was a socialist. Uh And a pacifist. And my older brother. Um You know, he sent my older brother to. A Quaker school during World War II. Because uh Uh You, you know, because of the persecution that, uh,

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My brother would bump into. In public school because they were against the war. And uh Uh You know, I remember even as a kid I remember that my Father would uh Make the 2020 mile trip into Buffalo to make lectures. And of course I didn't know

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what the lectures were all about or anything like that. Who was he lecturing for? What I still don't know to this day, but you know I'm sure that. It was probably uh Some of the uh Jewish fraternal organizations or the socialist organizations, whatever. So you grew

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up with all this in the atmosphere. And you know, one of the first things that I can remember as a kid was uh When they got one of their first radios. And the entire Family Being glued to the radio to listen. To the reports of uh

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The fight to save Sacco and Vanzetti. And how uh What a terrible blow it was when uh When Sacco and Vanzetti were finally executed. You know, I was just about 6-7 years old. But uh it still made an impression on me, you know, seeing how the

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rest of the family. I felt about it. So, uh, When we got to Los Angeles, uh, And it was the beginning of the depression, uh. Uh, my brothers, uh, immediately got uh. Involved in the radical movement. My father was involved, so Um You know that, uh,

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I was in on the early stages of, uh, of the unionization. I can remember. I can remember when I was still in high school, uh. Being asked to get on the soapbox and talk about The need for unemployment insurance. When people thought you were crazy to

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talk about unemployment insurance, what, what are you talking about? Unemployment insurance, you know. And uh Uh, who, uh, had you give these talks? Well, the radical organizations, you know, the, the communists, uh, Young Communist League, uh. The student organizations. And they used to have uh. I

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don't know if you know anything about Los Angeles. But uh to this day. Los Angeles Plaza is a free speech zone. And you know anybody can Get up on the soapbox and speak about anything they want to. Los Angeles Plaza, it's only about uh 2 or

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3 blocks from Los Angeles City Hall. And a half a block or a block from O Vera Street, which is the. So Yeah. So, um, You know, we grew up in the radical movement and uh did you have many friends among your high school pals that

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were also in the movement with you? Yeah, yeah, so that you felt as though you had support, support groups. And uh You know, a few of them. I've remained friends. No, up until. The present time, you know, uh. You know, one of them Who lived in

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Sebastopol for more years and. I've been up here practically, uh, just died about two years ago. Another one of them still lives in LA, and every couple 2 or 3 years we hear from them. Uh Couple of them Moved up to Northern California and uh. So

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you know, to this day, uh, we still see or hear from a few of them. Mhm, mhm. So then you lived in Los Angeles how long? I came to San Francisco in 1939. It was uh The year of the uh. World's Fair on Treasure Island. I

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had graduated high school and uh. The summer of '37. And uh I didn't go to college. I went to trade school in Los Angeles for A year or over a year. And took printing And when I got out of trade school. I came up here to

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uh. Try and get an apprenticeship or a job in printing. But there was nothing to be had at that time. Uh You were lucky to get Employment any place. Uh So, uh, When I came up here in 39, uh, I went to work on Treasure Island.

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While the World's Fair was still on. What did you do? Oh, there's a dishwasher, busboy, etc. And uh They were union jobs, so I got into the uh. Culinary employees, dishwashers union, they had, they didn't have one big union at that time. They, you know, each.

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The dishwashers had their own local. The waiters had their own local. The waitresses had their own local. You didn't have one local for waiters and waitresses naturally. Uh, and the cooks at another local and the bartenders another local. So after uh. After the World's Fair was

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finished, uh. I was able to get the part-time employment in various restaurants. The biggest chain of restaurants at that time was Foster's. You remember them, yeah, so I worked at Foster's. And then my brother was uh very active in the ILWU. And I was able to

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Uh, get into the ILW and work in the warehouses. Until after uh. Uh, Pearl Harbor And after the beginning of the war, The ILWU. cooperated and setting up What they call the army port battalions. The army asked them to. Help them recruit people. That would go

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into a port battalion to help them load and unload ships, you know. So I uh volunteered and went into the army. And uh Went overseas to the exotic place of New Guinea. Spent spent 2 years in New Guinea. And uh I came out of the service

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the end of '85, 85, 85. Ah, pardon me, the end of 45. Yeah, the end of 45. And I got out. Earlier than a lot of the GIs. Because I, I lucked out, you see, I had spent 2 years in New Guinea. And They were offering

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30 days leave at home in the states. If you would, if you would agree to come back overseas again. After your 30 days leave at home. Most guys turned it down. They figured if they ever went home for 30 days, they'd never want to come back.

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No way would they come back. So most guys turned it down, so I figure what the hell. I'll take it, take my chances, you know. And I was on the slow boat back to the states. When FDR died. And uh Shortly after I got back to

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the states. The war in Europe was over. So they didn't bother sending me back to overseas. So I was able to get discharged a lot earlier than A lot of other people. And I was able to get an apprenticeship, you know, by that time. You know,

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printers and newspapers were looking for. Apprentices, you know, so there was no trick to, to get an apprenticeship then. Your timing was right, Lucked out again. What goes with this parking. Yeah. Yeah, so then. Then what? Well, uh You know, it was a six-year apprenticeship. Um.

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And uh They would, uh In some cases they would agree to upgrade the apprentice so that If you worked hard at it and uh Did well. Uh, a lot of the apprentices made it in 5 years. I think I made it in 5.5 years. Uh And

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uh Were you paid for your work then as an apprenticeship? Oh yeah, yeah, you know, they were, it was a union apprenticeship. And the contracts uh spelled out uh. The scale of wages for apprentices, uh. I think when I first uh became an apprentice if I

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remember correctly. Uh, apprentice scale for the first, uh. First year was about 30% of journeyman scale. And then it would go up every. 6 months, you know. So you started at 30% and then eventually you'd get up to about 80% before you became a journey before

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you became a journeyman. What did that translate in actual care? I forget right now. I'd have to look up my old contracts from those days. It was a wage that you could live on. No, not really. So how did you manage? Well, uh, My wife went

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to work. So the wife uh. Had to work while we had a young daughter. So it was no easy life for her. Uh And uh I was still, you know, uh. Interested in the labor movement, uh, I was very happy to get the apprenticeship because You

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know, I knew of. The typographical union even before I got into it. And uh I knew of it. Reputation as being a democratic union, you know. And uh In those days, When you told the person you were a printer, their reaction was that, uh, Well, you

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were fortunate you were an aristocrat of labor. You know that's that's the way they would refer to people that were printers they were the they were the aristocrats of labor because uh. Uh, not only the wages. But uh The other conditions that they had been able

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to establish and maintain for themselves. Uh, it was a fraternal union that had uh. That as a union, Had uh Conditions that no other union at that time had, I mean. At that time they had a uh what they called the fraternal pension. At a time

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when the unions had never even thought of pensions yet. I had the Union Printer's home in Colorado.