French, Daniel, 1908-

Daniel French was born in Malta in 1908. The family emigrated to Toronto, Canada when he was a young child. French followed his brother Ralph to New York City in 1926 and got a job working for the Equitable Insurance Company. Hard times during the Depression convinced him to take up his brother's trade as a painter. He was organized into the Painters union in 1934. A corrupt kick-back scheme which deprived him of the increase in his union wages led him to participate in a protest action. He voted in his first election in 1937, as a member of Local Union 1011. The blatant corruption involved in the election disgusted him and he switched membership to Local Union 848.

Local 848 was one of the strongholds of Communist Party activity within the Painters union. French's strict adherence to his Catholic faith precluded his membership in the Party. As he saw it, he faced a choice between "the thieves and the crooks on the right and the Communists on the Left". He chose to work with the Communists and supported their program through the United Rank-and-File Caucus. He was elected as a delegate to the District Council in 1939. In 1940, he served as the "Impartial Distributor" of jobs during the last general strike by the Painters before World War II. When Louis Weinstock was elected Secretary-Treasurer on the "Rank-and-File" ticket, French was elected as a Council trustee on his slate. He was elected Business Agent in 1946 and was re-elected successively for six years.

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