Postek, Stanley, 1912-1991.

Stanley Postek was born Ladislaus J. Szeliga on February 5, 1912, in Lowell, Massachusetts. Mr. Postek was a visible unionist throughout his life. He left school in the mid-thirties and went to the sea. He was a union organizer for the International Seamen's Union of America at the age of twenty-five, and as the rank and file broke away to form the National Maritime Union, so did he. Shortly thereafter, he volunteered for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade serving in Spain. In World War Two, he served as a merchant seaman, most notably on the Murmansk Run. After the War, he joined the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union. He was one of 2000 men "screened" off the waterfront-- barred from employment by the Coast Guard during the Korean War for his association with the Communist Party. After his retirement, Mr. Postek was involved with the Maritime Worker's Historical Association, as well as teaching college courses and running a macrame and yarn shop in Greenwich Village.

Postek was, for a time, a light heavyweight boxing champion for which he won brief notoriety after he knocked out the favored champion in the P.A.U. Tournament in 1937. Postek also enjoyed brief fame as an extra in the entertainment business; chief among these is being on the cast of "On the Waterfront".

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