Biography
Sam Krieger was an unemployed Bridgeport, Connecticut worker jailed for participation in the March5,1934 snow shovelers’ demonstration demanding back wages. The Daily Worker of July5 reports the formation of a defense committee and identifies Mayor McLevy and police officials as prosecution witnesses. The newspaper does not establish an individual release date or sentence.
In an undated letter printed in the Daily Worker of February 5, 1935, page 6, Krieger wrote from jail commending the Labor Research Association and recommending its economic and political research to field organizers and Communist Party functionaries. The letter adds his own account of organizing work while confined. Its publication date does not establish when he wrote it or prove uninterrupted confinement from March 1934 through February 1935. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n031-Nat-feb-05-1935-DW-LOC.pdf
In a signed first-person account in the Daily Worker of February 16, 1935, page 5, Krieger describes his separate prosecution after an October 1934 Bridgeport anti-Nazi demonstration protesting a visit by German Consul General Hans Borcher. Six were arrested for breach of peace; three cases were dismissed and three defendants, including Krieger, received $25 fines and costs. He describes their conviction on appeal and a campaign for release, with Mayor McLevy testifying and police superintendent Wheeler defending a permit restriction. The report alleges police brutality and criticizes both the administration and the ACLU's qualified response. No exact arrest day, individual jail-admission date, jail term or actual release is established.
The November 12, 1934 Daily Worker dates the Bridgeport anti-Nazi demonstration arrest to October 26. It reports that he conducted the defendants’ defense, arguing for speech and assembly rights despite the denied permit. He, Jean Mureika and Ray Cohen received twenty-five-dollar fines plus costs and appealed. The article counts seven arrested, whereas another account counts six; neither count is treated as a new individual custody event. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n270-NY-nov-12-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The report identifies him with the Bridgeport snow shovelers arrested March 5 while demanding wages and announces a June 5 trial. This corroborates the already recorded arrest; the scheduled hearing supplies no actual verdict, release or time served. Daily Worker, May 11, 1934, page 4. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n113-may-11-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=4
A resolution in the July 11 issue names Samuel Krieger as jailed in Bridgeport under the McLevy administration. This supplements the existing snow-shovelers’ defense campaign without establishing a new arrest or exact physical endpoint. Daily Worker, July 11, 1934, page 3. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n165-jul-11-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
A June 27, 1934 courtroom report describes Mayor Jasper McLevy admitting that he ordered police to disperse the March 5 snow-shovelers’ back-pay demonstration. An officer admitted kicking Krieger while on the ground. The pending counts were resisting arrest and disorderly conduct; the possible two-year punishment was exposure, not an imposed term. Defense attorney Edward Kuntz cross-examined witnesses and proceedings were adjourned to June 28. No new arrest, actual release or completed sentence is established. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n154-jun-28-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1 ; continuation page 2.
The Fairfield County Jail letter places him in Bridgeport after the snow-shovelers’ protest against unpaid wages. The writers refuse to pay fines; $146 is the combined amount printed for them, not an individual fine or a completed custody duration. Labor Defender, September 1934, original PDF page 22. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1934/v10n08-sep-1934-orig-LD.pdf#page=22
PDF page 3's Bridgeport trial report, printing Kreiger, describes Mayor Jasper McLevy and police officials as prosecution witnesses concerning the snow-shovelers' unpaid-wages protest. Socialist selectman Tibbe Lukoskey testified for the defense about delayed pay, City Hall waiting and McLevy's direction of the police attack. Attorney Kuntz challenged the prosecution; the judge instructed the jury to disregard political affiliation. This is an ongoing trial, without an announced verdict, new arrest or proved release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n155-jun-29-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
The Daily Worker, August 14, 1933, page 3, expressly names Sam Krieger, TUUL organizer, with Gussie Weiner of the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union, as arrested for participating in picket lines at the Mitchell Brothers shirt-and-dress strike in Bridgeport. Both were actually out on bail when reported; trial was expected Wednesday. This distinct 1933 union-organizing arrest predates his 1934 snow-shovelers and anti-Nazi cases. No exact arrest or bail-release day, charge, bail amount or final outcome is printed. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1933/v10-n194-aug-14-1933-DW-LOC.pdf
Daily Worker, February 16, 1935; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The November 4 Bridgeport dispatch reports Judge Shannon continuing the six anti-Nazi demonstrators’ case to the following Saturday, explicitly to avoid pre-election publicity. It names Sam Krieger as protesting the delay. The relative last-Friday wording is not used to replace the existing October 26 arrest date or create a duplicate episode. The postponed hearing is prospective, and three separately arrested leaflet distributors are unnamed.
Daily Worker, June 29, 1934; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, August 14, 1933; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.