William Krehm facts for kids

William Krehm (born November 23, 1913 – died April 19, 2019) was a Canadian writer, journalist, and activist. He was also a real estate developer. In the 1930s, he was a strong supporter of Trotskyism, which is a type of Marxism (a political and economic idea about how society should be organized). He even went to Spain to fight in the Spanish Civil War. Later, in the 1980s, he helped start a group called the Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform (COMER). He led this group until he passed away in 2019 at the age of 105.

Early Life and Interests

William Krehm was born in Toronto. His parents, Hyman and Sarah Krehm, were Jewish immigrants who came from the Russian Empire. They met and married in Toronto's "The Ward," a neighborhood where many new immigrants lived and worked. William's father and uncle were furriers, making and selling fur items.

William was a very talented violinist, and his sister, Ida, was a promising pianist. Their parents sent them to Chicago in the 1920s to study music. Ida stayed in Chicago and became a famous pianist and conductor. William, however, moved to New York City and worked selling hats.

After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, a time when the stock market crashed and many people lost money, William became interested in Marxism.

He later returned to Toronto and finished high school at Parkdale Collegiate Institute. He also studied mathematics at the University of Toronto for two years. He married Gladys Cowan, whom he had tutored in high school.

Becoming a Trotskyist

By 1932, William Krehm became a Trotskyist. This meant he believed in the ideas of Leon Trotsky, who was a leader in the Russian Revolution. William joined the early Canadian Trotskyist movement in Toronto. He became a leader in the group's branch in Montreal and edited their newspaper, Workers' Voice.

Fighting in the Spanish Civil War

In July 1936, William Krehm traveled to Europe. He went to Spain and became one of about 1,600 Canadians who volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War. This was a big conflict between different groups in Spain.

William worked as a propagandist, translator, and journalist for a group called POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista). He sometimes visited the front lines where the fighting was happening. He was one of the last people alive who had fought in that war.

While in Barcelona, he met another POUM member, Eric Arthur Blair, who is better known as the famous writer George Orwell. They would often chat in cafes. William was in Barcelona during the "May Days" street battles, when different political groups fought each other.

In June 1937, the POUM group was made illegal. The house where William was staying was searched by police, and he was detained. He spent three months in jail. After going on a hunger strike (refusing to eat), he was released and sent to the French border in August 1937. He returned to Toronto and wrote a pamphlet called Spain: Revolution and Counter-Revolution, sharing his experiences.

Activism Against Fascism in Canada

Back in Canada, William continued to lead his political group. In July 1938, he was charged with blocking police during an anti-fascist rally. This rally was held to protest against a fascist group at Massey Hall. William was arrested because he refused to stop the protest. He was found guilty and had to pay a fine.

Working as a Journalist in Latin America

William became less involved in revolutionary politics after his experiences in Spain. He moved to Mexico hoping to work as a foreign correspondent (a journalist who reports from another country). When World War II started, he wanted to return to Canada to join the military, but he couldn't cross the border into the United States.

While in Mexico City, he planned to interview Leon Trotsky, but Trotsky was sadly assassinated before they could meet. William even stood guard over Trotsky's body at his funeral.

William stayed in Latin America for eight years. His wife, Gladys, joined him, and they got married and had their first son, Adam, while living in Peru. After working as a freelance journalist for a few years, William was hired by Time Magazine in 1943 to report from Latin America. He was fired in 1947 because he wrote articles and a book that were critical of how the United States was involved in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Returning to Canada

In 1948, William returned to Canada with his family. He worked as a music critic for The Globe and Mail newspaper and for CBC Radio.

In the 1950s, it became harder for William to find work because of his past political beliefs. The RCMP Security Service (Canadian police) often visited his home, and his appearances on CBC stopped.

To support his growing family (he had a second son, Jonathan), William decided to start his own business. In the mid-1950s, he became a home builder and property developer. In 1963, he and his brother-in-law started O'Shanter Development Co. This company grew very successful during the time when many new homes were being built in Toronto. William became wealthy, and O'Shanter became one of Toronto's largest landlords. In the 1970s and 80s, he spoke out against rent control, which are rules that limit how much landlords can charge for rent.

William retired from O'Shanter in the 1980s, and his sons took over the company.

Leading COMER

After retiring, William Krehm spent his time studying and writing about economics. He helped create the Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform (COMER) in the 1980s.

In 2011, William and COMER filed a lawsuit against the Bank of Canada. They wanted the bank to help fund public projects for the government without creating more debt. They argued that the bank was not following the Bank of Canada Act. The lawsuit was dismissed by the Federal Court of Appeal in 2016, and the Supreme Court of Canada did not allow them to appeal the decision in 2017.

Later Life

William Krehm continued to play the violin even into his 90s. He passed away in Toronto in 2019, at the age of 105.

Works by William Krehm

• SPAIN: Revolution and Counter-Revolution (1937?)
• Democracia y tiranias en el Caribe (1947)
• Growing Pains for Latin America (1948)
• Price in a mixed economy: Our record of disaster (1975)
• Babel's tower: The dynamics of economic breakdown (1977)
• How to Make Money in a Mismanaged Economy and Other Essays (1980)
• Democracies and tyrannies of the Caribbean (1984, originally published in Spanish in 1947)
• A power unto itself : the Bank of Canada : the threat to our nation's economy (1993)