The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 6, 1926, Page 14

SSS ST Sess ssc es By Alex Reid, Secretary Progressive Miners’ Com- mittee of the United Mine Work- ers of America, HE workers of America will do well to turn their eyes towards Benton, Ill, at this time. Thirteen militant miners are placed on trial charged with conspiracy, and attempt to kill D..B. Cobb, sub-district vice- presi@ent of West Frankfort, Ill. World Labor Protests. From the labor movement, not only in America but also across the Atlan- tic and in far off Australia, come reso- lutions denouncing. the™ dastardly frame-up against the miners. These resolitions show the workers. are arouséd against the disgraceful frame- up, and°the workers stand amazed at the action of the fake labor leaders aiding in the prosecution. The victims of the frame‘up are all miners, formerly employed by the Zol- ler Coal company in Zeigler, Ill. These miners have been imposed upon for years, and the climax came when the coal company arbitrarily discharged the miners’ assistant check-weighman, thereby denying the miners. proper weighing service. Destroy Working Conditions. | The discharge of the assistant “check-weighman was the last act of a long series of wanton violations of the contract with the union. The miners have had their working condi- tions destroyed, one at a time, until they find themselves robbed of the re- sults of many years’ of bitter strug- gle on the industrial battlefield. All thru the summer of 1925, and the winter preceding that, the miners have had to guard their homes, their wives and families, from attempted outrages hatched by the coal operat- ors, who were ably supported by the ku klux klan and the fake labor lead- ers. : Aids Coal Company. It was a usual sight last summer to see these miners sitting in groups ready to protect their homes against the thugs who had threatened to shoot up their homes, because the coal diggers refused to submit meekly to the coal company outrages. Fox,. the sub-district president had been appealed to, many times, from the decision of the coal operators, and this individual sustained the decision of the coal owners in mostly every case. Lewis Compelied to Check His Farrington Allies. This is the same Fox that holds his office by the theft of the last ballot in that sub-district. This is the same Fox who has done his damndest to re- move all local union officials from their office; this the same Fox who, with the aid of Frank Farrington, did finally succeed in removing from the local unions most of the officers who tefused to bow their knee to the Farrington machine, and these are the same Farrington and Fox whom even John L. Lewis was finally compelled to stop in their process of destroying the miners’ union in Zeigler, Lewis having been forced to order a new election in Zeigler after Farrinton and Fox had firmly planted their tools in these offices in vialation of the con- stitutional law of the miners. | Militants Were Re-elected~ This re-election was held. It was presided over by the representatives of the International Union because John L. Lewis knew that the miners would have no confidence in an elec- tion held under the Farrington-Fox machine, the feeling being so bitter against it. Lewis, of course, was try- ing to cufry favor with the outraged miners, but the order that this elec- tion be held under the international auspices resulted in the re-election of the former militant group of miners who had been illegally removed, Expels Militants. The defeat embittered the Farring- tion-Fox-Cobb machine so much that [anatase enim cera etn tte etR NE AN RR Nt they set out to destroy all the influ- ence o fthe progressive miners. They expelled miners right and left, upheld the decisions of the operators against the miners, and created a reign of ter- ror in the Zeigler local of the union. The feeling became so _ intense against the Fox machine not only in Zeigler, but thruout the sub-district, that the Fox, and the Cobb, saw they were being repudiated to such an ex- tent that re-election was out of the question for them. The. Fox Gang Attends Local. Many meetings of the miners had been held to discuss the outrages, and the miners at each meeting had unani- mously registered themselves against the betrayals. Finally Fox agreed to attend a meeting of the miners to ex- plain his actions in sustaining the de- cisions of the coal company. Fox came to this meeting with dozens of carloads of men who were reported to be heavily armed, and prepared to bully thru their program in any way necessary. Brutal Murder of Coal Digger. After the miners had heckled Fox and had shown his excuses and expla- nations to be untrue, Fox, in despera- tion provoked a “rough-house.” One of his thug supporters, a Kentucky Coal company scab, drew his gun and shot a militant miner, a member of the Workers (Communist) Party, who vas taken to the hospital in Herrin vhere he died a few days attecwanted ‘his thug has never been tried, andj} today is at liberty with no charges against him. The lights in the hall were shot out, and chairs weré broken over the heads of many of the audi- ence, In the melee, the Fox got his cranium cracked-and spent a few days in the hospital. Provoked Trouble. All eye-witnesses state that the Fox gang provoked trouble from the mo- ment they ‘entered the> hall, and vin! their desperation was prepared to £0 to any length to gain their ends, immediately after the murderous shooting in the union hall, Fox, with the support of the coal company and the ku klux- klan, had the state au- thorities bring the charges of conspir- acy and attempt to murder against the militant miners who had been present at that meeting. Never since the frame-up against Tom Mooney has the world of labor stood aghast at such a disgraceful spectacle as the one now to be seen in the courts at Benton, Ill, Militant Labor Shocked, It is well for the laboring class to stop and ask, what is the significance of this trial, To what extent will the verdict affect the laboring masses. {f the frame-up should succeed in rail- roading these men to jail it will set yack the militant movement for many years, and in many places will prac- tically destroy all organized labor in the United Mine Workers’ Union for a long time to-come. Not only will it have this effect in the U. M. W. of A., but all organized labor will be sub- jected to similar processes, World Labor Rallies to Aid, This fight is the fight of all organ- ized labor in America, AH organized labor must rally to the support of the Zeigler victims of the frame-up, From many trade unions come the report that they have passed resolutions and donated as much money as they can to aid’ the. miners in their noble fight against this crime. From Gréat Brit- ain, France, Germany, Canada, Aus- tralia, and- in fact from all over the world the workers are denouncing the outrage, Rally to the miners’ defense, and send resolutions to Frank. Far- rington protesting against his aid to the prosecutors of the miners! The Workers’ Defense. The International Labor Defense is defending the miners, four of the best lawyers in the state have been en- gaged to fight the case for the victims. Rally to their support! Smash the frame-up! ; Want to Jail the Coal Dinoers And the Cat Sniffs the Bird em gemnncee . Pd ot Ss 7. ? VEey 7 f ee Mr. Capitalist has a Cat and a Bird. He likes the Bird— under some circumstances and at some critical times. LOVES the Cat and cannot live without her. But he Unfortunately for Mr. Capitalist; Cats eat Birds—inevitably and always—and the nature of cats cannot be changed. Mr. Capitalist would like to keep the Bird now for a while—but the Cat will and must eat the Bird. Only when the Cat and Mr. Capitalist are dead, can the Bird of Peace live. Former Political Exiles Meet in By WILLIAM F. KRUSE. HE second federal conference of “Association of Former Political Exiles” has just ended with a big meeting at which speeches were de- livered in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Dekabrist Upris- ing and of the 20th anniversary of the 1905 revolt, the speakers including F. Kon, Vera Figner and Leon Trotsky. The former war commissar especially received an unprecedented ovation and delivered a classic speech. The society now consists of 1129 who have undergone penal servitude, 129 who were exiled, 485 who were banished, 129 sentenced to death, and 83 who had been sentenced to impris- onment for life. Totalling up their various punishments it was found that they had to their credit 10,086 years of imprisonment, 1,041 years of exile, 1,244 years in emigration, while one had been 29 years in solitary confine- ment, others 22, 19 and 15 years, and some had spent as much as 15 years in chains, Considerable interest in the revolu- tionary past is being stimulated by excellent exhibits in the revolutionary museums in Moscow and Leningrad. The various revolutionary periods are Moscow separated and consist of paintings, original drawings, cartoons, and vari- ous documents of the periods in ques- tion. More and more material is be- ing unearthed even concerning the Dekabrist revolt of a hundred years back, often coming from simple Siber- ian peasants among whom the exiles spent many weary years. “The Men. agerie” the famous torture cell at Schluesselberg is reproduced, as is the cell in which Vera Fenger spent many years. Originals and replicas of the most noted underground print- ing presses, diagrams of the methods of their concealment, original copies of some of the most impdrtant edi- tions, all these contribute greatly to the interest and value of the exhibits, Constant streams of workers, school children, peasant delegations and sol diers stream thru the musuems under capable guides to make acquaintance with their illustrious revolutionary past. The story is also being told in in- numerable forms in films and stage plays, and all the thousands of Rus- sian bookstores feature an unlimited libarary of books and pamphlets, while clubrooms, factories, and store windows put forth no end of inspiring picture of the revolutionary days, Even the new commemorative postage stamps serve the memory of the great past struggles for the emancipation of the workers, ’