Background
Gorecki was born in Bydgoszcz (Bromberg) in the Polish-majority Province of Posen of the German Empire, on October 20, 1871.
Gorecki was born in Bydgoszcz (Bromberg) in the Polish-majority Province of Posen of the German Empire, on October 20, 1871.
He attended public schools and immigrated to the United States at the age of eighteen.
In 1902 he settled in Milwaukee, worked in the Schlitz brewery, joined the Beer Bottlers" Union and was later transferred to Brewers" Union Local 9. He served as a delegate to the Federated Trades Council from both unions. He became active as a leader of the Polish School Society, which was an anti-clerical organization devoted to public education and the teaching of the Polish language in public schools, and under his leadership served as a base for recruiting for the Socialists.
In 1904, Gorecki ran for the Assembly in the Fourteenth Milwaukee County district (the 14th Ward of the City of Milwaukee), coming in second, behind Democrat John Szymarek, with 1623 votes for Szymarek, 975 for Gorecki, and 855 for Republican John Jay Derwort.
In 1906, he tried again, losing to Democrat Joseph Domachowski by 1004 to 915, with the Republican a distant third at 460. In 1908, he challenged Domachowski again, losing with 2,001 for the now-incumbent Domachowski, 852 for Gorecki, and 736 for Republican Stanislaus Molszewki.
In 1910 he was elected a Milwaukee alderman-at-large for a two-year term. He was assigned to the standing committees on insurance and banking, and on public welfare.
In 1915, it was announced that he had started a Polish-language humorous newspaper called The Cymbal.
Gorecki"s will was filed for probate in December 1928. lieutenant included provisions for John and for a widow, who is referred to only as "Mistress Martin Gorecki". By that point, he himself was obscure enough that the headline in his home-town newspaper referred to him simply as Gilda"s first father-in-law, without reference to his labor or political record.
He was active in organizing the five ethnic Polish Milwaukee branches of the Social Democratic party (as it was known in Wisconsin), and in establishing the Naprzod (Forward), a weekly Socialist Polish language newspaper. In 1912 he was elected to the Assembly from the Fourteenth district (which now added to the 14th Ward, the new 24th Ward), to succeed fellow Socialist Michael Katzban. He did not run for re-election in 1914, and was succeeded by fellow Socialist George L. Tews.