The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 4, 1931, Page 4

came —— Forced L Miners in Next War | abor for rison George to know some- “selected for service” You fought for “de- you see what you you mined coal dur- ar to “keep the home fires fiteers piled up 1 They But what have of have the doll: you? Some of you, of course, were too young to go to war or to mine coal during the past wa var to end war,” as the capitalists called it. But you are not to be missed, you young- er miners. The up a new war, bi than the last one. And they are goin should be more p last one, too, for 1 should get next co you what is being done talist government way. Over a year ago i and bloodier le than the You miners n we tell y the capi- nge that Of course, if the c: ts openly said that they were going to send you off to get gassed to death and shot full of holes, while they cleaned up bigger profits than ever, there would be a loud howl go up. So they lie about it, and Congress decided to cover the game up by setting up a Commission which supposed to “equalize the burdens of war” and to “consider amending the Constitution of the United States to provide that private property may be taken by| Congress for public use during war | and to remove the profits of war.” That’s what they were supposed to consider. But the Commission, when Mt got into meeting, just “forgot” about it entirely. What it fixed up under the guidance of secretary of | War Hurley, was a “Plan for Indus- trial Mobilization.” And please, miners, take note that | this “Plan” provides for “control of | the price of labor” as well as “control | of labor migration’—which means | that you will not allowed to ‘migrate’ or move about from one town or coal pit to another. The government | will make you stay on the job where | 4t wants you, whether you like it or mot. And it will “control the price” of your labor—that is, it will set your wages, and you must work for that! Get that? It is forced labor! Yet these hypocrites pretend to be against “forced labor” in the Soviet Union— where miners are “forced” to accept @ wage raise of 12 percent this year, | no unemployment, the six-hour day | and five day week, new houses and more education. So, this United States Commission has it all arranged for you to work at forced labor under a wage scale «~3eb by the capitalist government in the next war. But it also has it fixed so the capitalists, coal barons and all, will get a big profit in the mext war. Here are some of the apitalists who laid down the policy lists are fixing | and the tightening control of Mor- ments to get ready for war. 10,000 industrial plants, including coal mines are ready to produce for war and 14,000 capitalists have been given commissions as Reserve Officers, The war gets nearer every day! | Miners, you who know what the capitalist class is and how their gov- ernment is against you when you strike against starvation, should know also that all over the world on Aug. First, the militant workers are going | to demonstrate in protest at the ca- pitalist war makers, and their plots for war, and their plan to invade and | make war on the Soviet Union, the | workers’ only fatherland! | Come out on August Ist, miners, with the other workers of this coun- | try to demonstrate your protest | againts the next war now preparing! | Laborand Coal I AREVIEW vas planned. By WILLIAM Z. FOSTER Workers who want to know what | is behind the present revolt of 40,000 | miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio and} West Virginia should read Labor and | | Coal by Anna Rochester. It is one| of the labor and industry series pre- pared by the Labor Research Asso- | ciation and issued by the Interna- tional Publishers, 381—4th Avenue, | New York and sells at $1 a copy. | What does this book do? It tells us first “what is the matter with | coal” as mined in the capitalist Uni- ted States. It traces brilliantly the: war boom, the depression in the in- dustry that began long before the general economic crisis, and carries | the story of the mining collapse right down to the beginning of the cur- rent year. Then it reveals as no other book} has ever revealed the deceptive | methods of the companies to hide| their profits, and proceeds to exa- | mine in detail the various channels through which the capitalist class | extracts toll from a “sick” industry | even when it is apparently “earning” no “net profits.” Along with this it shows the steady growth of mergers | gan, Mellon and the other big bank- | ers on the mines. It brings out as; particularly significant the control over coal by other industrial com- panies such as U. S. Steel Corpor- ation. Coal miners who want to know just what combination of financial buzzards they are working for or striking against can readily find the | answer in these splendid chapters on | the economic and financial aspects | of the industry. The worker em- ployed by Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Co., for example, can find on page| 66 what other mining companies are tied in with the operators who profit from his exploitation. Then we come to the coal digger himself. All the necessary facts are here in brief readable yet adequate | of the Commission: form along with data on wages, | < immediate relief for their families, no evictions, immediate release of all food for their children. various demands of the striking miners. other miners have the same tale to tell. to ithe hunger marchers. Answer by rushing relief. Scenes of Pittsburgh Hunger-March of Mine Pouring in from all points in the Pittsburgh mine area, thousands of striking miners and sympa- thetic steel workers, who are facing conditions equally as bad as those of the miners, placed demands for imprisoned strikers, free milk and Upper picture shows the section of young workers carrying placards with the Lower picture, Frank Hollerick and his five children, Henry, 14, Margaret, 11, Joe, 8, Mary, 5, and Albert 3, who came all the way from Finleyville by foot and trolley, a distance of 14 miles. Thousands of Despite the hardships thas the miners had to undergo, the Pittsburgh authorities, following out the Pinchot-U.M.W.A. strikebreaking policy, refused the slightest aid rs, Steel Workers) Above, Tom Campbell. and his three-year-old daughter marching across Sixth Street Bridge. Camp- bell came the whole distance from Library, where some of the first mines struck, and he walked a distance of twelve miles. He then took his stand in the Hunger March. By ANNA ROCHESTER. Toll of dead and wounded up to June 30: Three killed, over 50 wounded, over 500 arrested, Countless clubbings and gassings, May 27—One thousand miners, un- der the leadership of the NMU at the Atlasburg, Macdonald and Cedar Grove mines of the Carnegie Coal Co., Washington, Pa., struck against @ wage cut announced for June 1. Eight hundred miners of the Vesta No. 8 mine near Scotts Run, W. Va., struck and invited the NMU to or- ganize. * May 28—Strikes spreading rapidly through Washington County. United Mine Workers of America officials entered into agreement with Con- tinental Coal Co. officials near Mor- gantown, W. Va., accepting wage scale lower than union standard. June 1—Three thousand four hun- dred miners at eight mines. struck, | bringing total to 5,500 already out| on strike in 14 mines. Strike spread | to Allegheny and other sectidris: Over | 2,000 joined the National Miners Union. June 3—General Strike Committee met at Pittsburgh with 275 striking | miner delegates. Several women| among pickets arrested. cer | June 5—Total number of ‘strikers already 9,000. Solidarity of Negro and white workers strong. -Negroes refusing to scab, when informted of | strike. Companies posted notices of evictions of strikers from their homes. June 6—Striker injured near Wash- ington, Pa. State troopers and county deputies used tear gas against pickets. June 8—Pittsburgh Post arid Ga- zette announced Sheriff Cain of Al- legheny County promised 10,000 dep- uty sheriffs “to show a proper dem- onstration of authority at the out- set.” Tri-State Mine Strike Number of men out, 40,000. Led by National Miners’ Union, affiliated with the Trade Union Unity League. Number of strikers killed, three. Number of strikers wounded, seriously injured, 53, with more than 2,000 miners clubbed and gassed. Number of miners arrested for picketing, 553. Amount of bail demanded from arrested miners, $1,000,000, with International Labor Defense rais- ing $500,000 towards that end. Miners’ relief, Penn.-Ohio Min- ers Relief Committee, 611 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, and at room 614, 799 Broadway, New York City. oa Daniel Willard, President of the| hours, piece rates, speed up, new B. & O. Railroad, said he is “opposed | machinery, unemployment, accidents, to taking profits out of war since | geaths, occupational diseases. Those | business is entitled to a reasonable | who cannot go to Pittsburgh to see profit in war or peace or any other | with their own eyes how miners live | time.” can with the aid of this book form | Howard E. Coffin, an official of the|2 very clear picture of mining and | Navy, who helped the grafters in the | the conditions that foreran the pre- last war as chairman of the Aircraft | sent, revolt. Board, said to the members of the| ‘The great strike now in progress Commission: “I assume that none! is not just another coal strike. It of us are contemplating taking the| has specific features which I shall profits out of war.” discuss in another place. But it can What do you think of that, after} only be seen in its full historical the resolution of Congress had plainly said that the Commission should try | [ to “remove the profits of war?” Such ‘hypocrites! Ralph T. O'Neil, na- tional commander of the strike-break- "ing American Legion, which hollers | about “drafting” dollars as well as ™men”—when it came his time to .. Speak, he was’ for a seven percent profit for the “drafted” dollars, and nothing but death for the drafted _ men. | The whole scheme is part of the| preparations by the capitalist govern- oF ane. ‘US cme By Jack Hardy The coal miner who is lucky | enough to have a days’ work, never knows, when he leaves his shack in the morning, whether he will return | that night or not. For as speed-up and mechanization continue apace, the death and accidént t21l mount simultaneously. Under the steady drive for increased production, coal-mining has c to be more hazardous than wi in the steel milis, en the railroads, structural iron work and many of fe other jobs commonly looked upc as the most hazardous occupations in the country. During the ten year period ending December 31, 1929, there were 22,500 fatal and 1,500,000 non-fatal acci- dents to coal miners on the job. Large mine disasters such as great Rexer ume Macey 0 We're With | N. M. U: | Perspective by those who know the story told in the final chapters of this book. It runs from about 1849 to 1931 and covers every great strike as well as the scores of minor strug- gles that have given the coal dig- gers their fine traditions of militancy. There were many betrayals along the way, and many tools of the mine owners who sold out the interests of the workers: at every opportunity. “The Reign of Lewis” is the title of one of these chapters which tells of the traitor John L. Lewis who as- sisted by Pat Fagan and his kind | Played deliberately into the hands of |the Rockefellers, Schwabs, Peabodys, U. &. Steel Corporation and others. The crooked dealings of the Far- ringtons, Nesbits, Fishwicks, Murrays and Kennedys as well as the vacil- lations of the Howatts and Brophys are also exposed in detail. Liberals, Socialists, Musteites, as well as the big labor fakers have tried to discredit this book and have made vicious attacks on the author. This was to be expected, for Com- rade Rochester's facts are so straight and so effectively presented. they cannot be “answered” exeept by scof- CHORUS: Smash the U.'M. W.! It’s the last time they'll trouble you. "You know, I know, our enemy— ‘We're with the N. M. U. With them we'll follow through. Fight on with might on right on to . Victory! * " “We're with the N. M. U.! We're with then. Mv! ~~ “The labor-faker : Joins the strike-breaker ‘And fights against his class ‘They join with Pinchot, /They’ll have no cinch-o, Our lines won't let them pass, © Pennsylvania, ~Q West Virginia And men of Ohio, Don’t let them bluff you, You've had enough, you Know well who is your foe. ‘The working masses who their class is, with us till the end. _ They're in the fuss now, ‘They'll stick with us now, On them we will depend. floods and spectacular mine fires, which make front page news, fre- quently are called to general atten- ers, at least one out of every six is injured during the course of a year. Among those having full-time work the rate is at least one out of every four. These accidents can be largely, if not entirely checked. But safety cost money. Power lines, motor haul- age and Safety devices would elimi- nate the largest part of the fatalities But besides being expensive to install, safety measures interfere with speed- up. Under capitalism the interests of large profits are better served by paying meager compansation to the injured worker than by taking the precautions necessary to forestall the killing or maiming of the workers on the job, fing and epithets. She has torn the mask from all the right wing pre- tenses of “progressive” leadership. Her book is thus a powerful weapon in the hands of the National Min- ers Union and the fighting workers. Finally, the book carries a vital de- scription of how the Russian miners live and organize and help to build socialism in the Soviet Union. “Labor and Coal” can be secured from the National Miners Union in Pittsburgh, from the Workers Book Shops or from International Pub- Ushers, 381—4th Avenue, New York. | Physical Danger, Poverty and Mass Unem- ployment Have Been Coal Miners’ Lot In return for facing such risks,wing union, not only led the opera- the miner is rare, indeed, who earns enough to keep his family far above the poverty line. There are increas- ingly few even in the anthricite fields, who can $7 for a day’s work. In many states, as Alabama and Ten- nessee, the average of many has pushed below $3 a day. Surface work- ers average even less. Meanwhile, as Anna Rochester clearly shows in Labor and Coal, the wage cutting campaigns of the bosses are continuing with increased fury— are just beginning, as a matter of fact. The Mellon controlled Pitts- burgh Coal Company, one of the companies against whom the present strike is being waged by our left- tors of Western Pennsylvania in breaking the Jacksonville Agreement in 1924 and 1925, but it again initi- ated a wage cut in April, 1929, which was quickly followed up by other op- erators in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and the Southern fields. Between 1925 and 1930 wages fell 40 percent in most fields. Mean- while daily cuts are an almost daily occurrance. The 8 to 10 hour day underground is also far from uncom- mon. Unentvloyment Fewer and fewer miners are able to find work, even under these miser- able conditions. Underground load- ing machines, giant power shovels, Working Conditions in the Mine Fields improved cutting machines, multiple drills, and scores of other mechani- cal devices, coupled with terrific speed-up, are depriving greater and greater numbers of their only means of earning a livlihood. Some $200,000 000 has already been invested in new mechanical equipment, $44,000,022 of this being in 1930 alone. Between 1913 and 1929, the average miners output has increased 34 percent as @ result. Such factors as these, coupled with the closing down of the less produc- tive mines, have naturally resulted in mass unemployment among miners. In the single year 1927, 72,000 men were eliminated from the industry. Fully a third of the bituminous min- ers in the States of Pennsylvania and Illinois and over half those in Ohio and Indiana have been per- manently thrown out of jobs. South- ern states produced 44,500,000 more tons of coal in 1929 than in 1923 With 25,500 fewer miners. In the ‘Western fields over 20,000 fewer had jobs during the same period. In all, there are now around 225,000 fewer miners in the industry than there were seven or eight years ago. In addition, thousands of additional skilled craftsmen have been replaced by unskilled labor, as machinery in- stallations have rendered old skills obsolete, Moreover, those remaining on the job are plauged by the continual un- certainty of short time. Mines are being worked with greater and great- er irregularity. Whole fields are now operating fewer than 200 days a year. Struggle Ahead Against such a background of phy- sical danger, poverty and mass un- employment, the A. F. of L. United Mine Workers has openly exposed itself as the ally of the mine owners. It accedes to wage cuts with merely verbal protests—never mass struggle; it accepts speed-up and rationaliza- tion on the operators’ terms; it frankly concedes that thousands of miners must be eliminated from the industry; it embarks on an open po- Ucy of strike-breaking—as in the pre- sent strike, ‘Under such circumstances, the pre- sent Miners’ Strike becomes merely a forerunner of long, militant and bitter battles ahead. This will of necessity be waged not only against the mine owners but against the labor betrayers in the camps of the A. F. of L,, and the Conference for Progressive Labor Action as well. June 9—Conciliator from the U. S. Conciliation Service visited the of- fice of the National Miners Union and stated: "My check-up of the strike field shows that 95 per cent of the miners are for the NMU.” June 10—Three strikers shot by deputies at iKnloch mine, near, Ken- sington. Two small children injured by tear gas. June 11—Over 2,000 pickets sur- rounded Warden mine of Pittsburgh Coal Co., Westmoreland County. ‘Gov. Pinchot announced he would con- duct a secret investigation of con- ditions in the coal fields. Leo Thomp- son and 12 others arrested at pro- test demonstration, Belmont, Ohio. Tear gas and blackjacks used against | Ohio miners. fa Pape.) June 12—Fifteen hundred workers | of the Vesta No. 4 mine of Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp., near Cal- ifornia, Pa., joined the strike. June 13—Strike spread in West Virginia panhandle, when 1,200 min- ers joined strikers. Many evictions} of strikers from their homes. June 14—Miners’ meeting at St. Clairsville, Ohio, broken up by dep- uties and legionnaires. Wm. Z. Fos- ter spoke to great meeting of miners in a field. f June 15—Four more strikers wound- ed by gunmen in and around im- mediate Pittsburgh district. Strikers of Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Co., mines 2, 3, 4, 8, repudiated Pinchot conference with company officials and United Mine Workers officials. June 16—Butler Consolidated Coal Co., Wildwood, Pa., secured frém Judge H. H. Rowand, sweeping in- junction against National Miners Union. Pres. McQuade of Ben Frank- lin Coal Co., invited strike breakers to form local of UMWA in Mounds- ville, W. Va. Many arrests through- out strike area. Guns and tear gas used against pickets. Strike spread to three more Ohio mines. June 17—Over 15,000 strikers and unemployed miners marched to Washington, Pa., to demand relief and withdrawal of coal and iron po- Day By Day in the Great Mine Strike syndicalism charges filed aaginst Leo Thompson and 12 other NMU organ- izers and strikers in St. Clairsville, June 18—Gov. Pinchot’s conference with Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Co, officials and UMWA officials at Har- risburg opened with company’s agree- ment to recognize UMWA in return for a wage reduction. National Min- ers Union delegation of 35 rank and file miners were refused admission to conference, Strike spread to five more mines, June 19—Strikers form relief com- mittees. Fifty women on Creighton picket line attacked by deputy sher- iffs; three workers arrested. Sheriff at St. Clairsville, O., given $35,000 by county commissioners to hire dep- uties. June 21—Demonstration at Castle Channon against P. T. Fagan, UMW district official. June 22—Wildwood massacre. Peter Zigaric killed and 12 other strikers wounded by deputies firing on miners near Wildwood mine. Butler oCn- solidated Coal Co. 50 strikers arrested, One deputy slightly hurt by a stone. Strike spread into Armstrong County, Pa., and to Wheeling, W. Va. June 23—Strike sympathizer, Nick Filipovich, killed and six strikers wounded by deputies at Arnold City, Pa. Wounded included pres .sec. and two active members of National Min- ers Union. Six deputies and six coal | and iron police arrested in connection + with massacre. June 24—Agreement of Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Co. officials rejected by over 2,000 miners of the company, who picketed in mass demonstration. Pinchot ordered concentration of the state troops in Pittsburgh district, Many arrests in Ohio, including wom- en workers. June 26—Theodore Dreiser, novel- ist, investigating strike, issued a state- ment, hailing the NMU and denounc- ing the UMWA. Arrests and evic- tions continue. Joseph Vargo, 16- year-old boy miner, shot and possibly fatally injured by scab near Vesta mine No. 4, Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp. Tom Myerscough, NMU leader, held under $10,000 bail, after arrest at Wildwood mine. June 29—Striker shot and wounded and another severely clubbed at Bradley mine No. 1, Smithfield, 0. Arrests, including woman worker, at. Ellsworth, Pa. where coal and iron police attacked and gassed pickets. At Mollenauer, mines 2 and 3, troop- ers attacked picket lines. June 30—Great hunger march of 20,000 strikers and unemployed miners demonstrate in Pittsburgh against starvation. Ann Rochester, author of “Labor and Coal” in the July Labor De- lice from mining districts. ‘Criminal ‘The material for this page has been by the John Reed Club of New York. “4 The John Reed Club is an organ- ization of writers and artists dedi- cated to the ideals of that deathless revolutionist and writer whose ashes lie under the Kremlin Wall in Mos- cow. This page is an expression of our solidarity with the 40,000 miners and their families in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia who are fighting against starvation and “for the right to live, oat The John Reed Club takes sides in this struggle as it does in all the struggles of the working class. It takes sides with the heroic miners and against the united front of coal operators, state government and. the strikebreaking officials of “the c¢éal operators’ union, the United Mine Workers of America, Plundered and betrayed for years, living under conditions that. mean disease, suffering and slow starva- tion for tens of thousands, the re- volting miners are today marching in the vanguard of history, fighting the battle of the entire American working class. Every worker, every honest intellectual must support their struggle. Every worker, every honest intellectual must condemn fender. Greetings tothe Fighting Miners | Jaunched against the strikers by the “liberal” governor, Pinchot, and his allies of the U. M. W. A. The John Reed Club declares its unqualified support of: The National Miners’ Union which is leading and organizing the strike. The Workers International Relief, which is organizing relief to strengthen the strike. The International Labor Defense which is leading the fight against the terror and providing legal de- fense for arrested strikers. We call on all workers, all writers, artists, scientists, educators, ete. to give their utmost moral and finan- cial support to these three organiza- tions. é Theodore Dreiser, which has had the courage to break with the hypocri- tical “neutrality” of the majority the American intellectuals and gone into the mine fields, is ing at first-hand the horrible ditions of the miners’ lives and lishing them to the world. To the fighting miners we warmest revolutionary greetings and our pledge to do our utmost to help their struggle. All forces to the sid of the coal strike! The striking miners must win! the unparalleled terror that has been John Reed Club of New York, f »