The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 17, 1931, Page 3

f | i | eee JOURNEY MEN TAILORS’ STRIKE SOLD OUT BY CHICAGO MISLEADERS Union Heads Cut Off Strike Benefits And Urge Workers Accept Open Shop Conditions —— Needle-Trade Workers Industrial Union Urges Tailors to Reorganize 3 (By a Worker Correspondent) CHICAGO, Tll.—The A. F. of L, misleaders pulled another of their dirty tricks here recently.and sold out us journeyme’ tailors. ¢ The Journeymen Tailors’ Union, Local No. 5, was notified by the. bosses last September that they would discontinue the agreement that existed—that is, that we would have to return to the shops on October 1 under open shop conditions. On Qetober 1 our membership adopted a resolution which was presented by the left wing calling for resistance and putting forward demands for the 44 hour®- week with no wage-cut. Over two- thirds majority voted for the left wing resolution and we struck, Struck for 9 Weeks For nine weeks we have been striking in a most militant way. Mass picketing, rank and file strike com- mittee—we had it all. But the treach- erous leadership, which from the be- ginning was scaring with all kinds of defeatist talks, finally succeeded in dissolving the rank and file strike | committee, They said the committee | was unconstitutional! !-! "Denied Strike Benefits Alter they pulled that dirty trick, we exposed them, and they went further by refusing to pay strike benefits. While we were on strike for nine full weeks only $30 per member. ‘The ‘Iebor fakers said they could not de- plete the treasury. They told us that the money was git tied. up in banks that went bankrupt and advised us to return to work... |, ick The tailors and helpers did not want to go back’ to work. During the strike, out of 600 strikers only 20 went scabbing—and that was because ‘the union refused to pay strike bene- fits, a deliberate strikebreaking act, Betrayer Holrknecht After nine weeks one of the mem- bers of the G. E. B., Holzknecht, came to the strike meeting and told the members that everything was all up and advised us to go to work. He told us that everything was settled, which was & lie. went back and now it is piece no regulation.of hours and no :) umion agreement at-<all.. Over 200 HOOVER ASKS FOR) DISTRICT 8 5000-SUB DRIVE BULLETIN MORE FUNDS 10| €@fir - EDA DEPORT WORKERS) JS we a Not A Cent to Jobless In New Request = FOR 5000 NEW YEARLY SUBS — yy BUILD THE DAILY WORKER! iZ WASHINGTON, Dec. 15.—Besides Organizer ofthe Masses in Straggle OCMMUNIST PARTY DISTRICT LIGHT ---1413 W.18 at. the usual budget of over $3,000,000,000, President Hoover has asked Congress for an additional $136352,420, but not one cent of this will go for the unem- ployed. Out of this sum $475,000 will be given to the labor-hating Doak, sec- retary of the Department of Labor to be used to faciliate the deportation of thousands of workers. For terrorism and for attacking the foreign-born workers the Hoover government votes hundreds of thousands of dollars, but when it comes to the demand of the unemployed for unemployment insur- ance, the whole capitalist government is mobilized to terrorize the workers. Large sums of this additional ex- penditure will go tothe Army and Navy for war preparations. LANCASHIRE TEXTILE WORKERS TURN DOWN WAGE CUT PROPOSAL The proposals of the Lancashire cotton mil owners that the unions meet with them to negotiate a new agreement with lower wages and longer hours has been turned down, ‘The present agreement which the em- ployers have called off, has been in effect since 1919. The employers want a return to the old 5544 hour week, The union leaders only object to this phase of attack on the workers. Early this year the employers tried a “more loom experiment”, The workers turned this down and after a six week lock-out they went back vic- torious. In this case the Weavers’ Amalgamation officials were ready recommend to the workers that fe | try the “experiment” in three dis- tricts. ‘The president of the employers as- sociation states that this new agree- ment is necessary in order to enable British capitalists to compete more successfully in the Far Eastern markets. Philadelphia War Veterans Demand Bulletin fo.1 ‘The succesful finencial drive shows that the DAILY WORKDR has developod mase/ suppor’ BTION DRIVE started Nov,28th to Jens16 will conereti nally this support.the obtaining of 5000 néw year): scribers moa~ ne the adding ef thowssnie of now forces to the ra’ t the revolu- tionary ‘movemonte |. . Speer n of thie Drive,in addition to getting thoumnts reoruits for our movenent.4s to place the DAILY WORKER on a nore stable finanoial besie end to do awey with the Money Lppoaie> Zltho there hoe boen an inoroage of 15,000 reedere thru 9 r= ders, this did not stabelino the DgIL¥ WORKER, boonuso buntlos bring in little nonoy.HE MUS? OH.NGE PRT OF THIS BUNDLE CIROVL.210W INTO SUBSCRIPITONS.\t tho pamo tino of eourse wo must continus to spread ont with bundio ordors, Thru changing the irregular buying of the DaILY WORKER dy Aolivory-rontos into regular subseriptions wo will be able to stabolize our pupor.$000 new yoerly subs.will aloo ensblo the D.ILY WORKER to got out 6 9 5 Througheut this Quapasen we must efueate the Party momborship to un- Corsten that ali our Party eotivity ean bo dono more effootively thru tke DIILY WORKER-By integrally: Linking up the Drive with ell our Party oanpnigns wo will establish oontacts of thousands of new wor- kera for our movonont.In el) work of the Party:in builfing shop nuo- Leljin our work to mobilise tho messes in tho fight for immediato relief and unemployomont insurango;against imperielsiet war and for $he defence of the Savio’ Untonjagainet tho bosses! attack on tho foreign-born workers ~ ell activity in rellying the messed can bo atfeotivoly only if wo make uso of our best Organizor of tho masses - ‘THE D.ILY WORKER. What oan bo dono in thie respect 19 shown by a worker in a Pord Flant.thig workore in tho process of builfing a shop nuclous secured over 160 subsoribore for the Di.ILY WORKGR,from the workers in and around tao plant. Tie shows the inestimable velue of tho D.:TLY WOR- KER in the building of shop nucloi snd in all work of the Porty. of the DAILY WOREER geotely antes the SUBSCRI~ organisation Correspondence Briefs SELLS TOOTH FILLING FOR MEAL SEATTLE, Wash.—An unemployed worker sold his silver filling in a tooth for twenty-five cents this week! He had been eating on the soup line for a long time. He is a worker past the sixty mark and can never hope for work again, This is capitalism. P.M, « Coming on the heels of Dis- trict-wide mobilization, Chicago issnes this effective messenger for action and solid work in the 5,000 12-month Daily Worker \Drive, Chicago, Detroit, Cleve- ~ Kentucky Miners Prepare to Strike * * STORM, STUDEBAKER PLANT DETROIT, Mich.— Thousands of workers are storming the Studebaker plant on Piquette St. every day as a result of the company announcing that it will begin work on a new model. The bosses, however, have hung a sign on the door stating that no help is wanted.—F, 8. Ps ea he ° land so far are the only Districts which have issued Drive Bulletins to Sections, Units and Mass Or- ganizations, Where are the other Districts? SAW MILLS FIRE MORE SPOKANE.—The saw mills here are laying off more men. Those who still have jobs work only three days a week.—-Y. B. (CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE) in a coal mine, I got a wife and five children who 1 left home with- out any breakfast this morning, My kid died of starvation, and by wife couldn’t go to the burying ground without going in her one calico dress. I came here today to see if the N.M.U. could tell me what I can do. Now Tt know. You all can count on me.” A miner from Tennessee described the house he lived in. “We don’t have to call the cat and dog in through the door to get something to eat, They just walk in through the cracks. I’m ready to lay down my tools any time.” “We're not red--we're hungry,” a young miner stated. “There are two by teh company. 11, Abolition of bucking the coal. 12, Equal turn in the entire mine. 13, Yardage to be paid for in the necks, entries and all narrow places. 14. Re-employment of all black- listed miners. 15. No discrimination against any of the strikers, and especially not against; colored miners. 16, Withdrawal of all armed forces from the coal ffelds and release of all miners in jails for union activity. 17. Enforcement of the 8-hour day. 18. Recognition of the union check-weighmen in all mines, tite system, of TACOMA'S ANTI-RELIEF PLAN ‘TACOMA, Wash.—When the work~ ers here sign up for jobs at the free employment bureau, they are forced to sign over their rights for relief. After the jobless register there are no jobs forthcoming. In this way the bosses keep the workers from getting either relief or work,—R. M. MORE SPEED FOR FURNITURE _ WORKERS NEW YORK.—At the Chesterfield helpers lost their jobs because we | Purniture Co, in Long Island City we classes, as I can see it—the rich and have to make our own work now by | are working on the average of four Bonus Payment! yoo eomnition, of the Nations! | the poor. And I hope to see the time piece. All this because the union of- |hours per week. The slogan of the Jaton a Miners’ Union and Mine Committees. | ynen the line will be smashed. Then ficals want’ to “hold oni to’otr money | bosses is SPEED. Apprentices are 20. Installment of man-trip iN | we can live like human beings. It'll PHILADELPHTA, Dec, 14,—Fifty world war veterans began a hike to ‘| Washington today to place before Congress demands for the immediate full cash payment of the soldiers tombstone bonus. The Workers Ex~- servicemen’s League, which is leading the fight of the war| vets for the bonus, supports the demands of these veterans and all veterans for the pay~ ment of the bonus and calls for a solid united front of ex-soldiers to carry on the fight te victory. mines when necessary. 21,-All miners to be paid in U.S. currency. Regular pay days to be on 15th and 30th of each month. Every miner to have the right to trade wherever he chooses. Frank Borich, national secretary of the NMU outlined the organiza- tional measures necessary to the set~ ting up of a strike apparatus, From the District Secretaries of Ohio and Pennsylvania, Sivert and Kenmeno~ vich, pledges of solidarity and sup~- port to the strike of the Southern miners was made. Ike Hawkins, Negro Director of the National Miners Union, was greeted with an outburst of applause as he took the floor to speak on the neces~ sity of bringing Negroes into the Union. In the preudice ridden South the Chief of Police and the Mayor looked on with astonishment as the miners, “white Americans,” greeted his “you are just as much slaves as my grand- father was” with murmeurs of “you're right!” A pouring rain did not halt the miners, many walked thirty miles from Harlan to Pineville. The rest came in cars, open-trucks, with wives and children. Harlan thugs threat- ened to prevent the miners from ‘leaving Harlan. The city of Pine- ville authorities told the Convention it was not welcome in Pineville. But the miners came and the Convention was held and sounded a note of re- bellion against starvation and terror as a»New Year's gift for the opera- tors. Bill Meeks, Straight Creek miner, chairman, contemptously denied the lies of the U.M.W.A. that the N.M.U. was a white man’s union against the Negre. “We brother you,” he said, “makes ho difference if you're black or white. Wa brother you if you are a Jaboring man who will stand square to the battle for better conditions.” Throughout the Convention the doing the work of journeymen. that they can get their fat salaries. M. M. We tailors must Organize ourselves | THREATEN TO JAIL CALIF. in the shop from now on. But not in JOBLESS fakers’ outfit. We must organize | _ MONROVIA, Calif.—We have been r the leadership of the “Needle | informed here through the boss press ‘Trade Workers Industrial Union on | that the jobless men will either have the basis of: shop units based on the /to work on the roads here for their class conscience principle. Organize |room and board or be arrested for right now:.and wait for.a call for | yagrancy and forced to work on the sotion. roads under guard. Sounds like forced labor, eh? And not in the Soviet Union either—w. R. L. be peaceable if it can, but forcible if tt must.” “They're trying to force us coal diggers down to rice and water for a living.“ You can’t, get nothing from the Red Cross without they see the coal operator first,” one quiet-spoken miner stated. Mary Smith, women’s organizer for the National Miners’ Union, ad- dressed herself to both men and women. “You've got to get the women into the strike—their place is not in the home when there's a strike, but on the picket line alongside you. Afterward, there will be food in the house to cook, clothes to wash—but you got to fight for them first.” ‘The newly elected District Board of 27 will draft an appeal to the rail- toad men not to haul scab coal, and to give support to the strike of the Kentucky. miners financially, with food and clot , a8 well. Alfred Wag ht, for the Work~ ers’ International Relief, gave as- surance that the miner» would be backed up by the workers’ organiza- tions, and that measures would be a The Journeymen Tailors Union is dead, Long live the N. W. I. U. against the Soviet Union and the Chinese Revolution, the Japanese ere strengthening their puppet govern- ments in Manchuria, As the masses sweep forward in armed struggle and militant protests against the Im- perlalists and the Kuomintang party, the Chinese militarist generals, land owners and bankers are coming out in more open support of the Japar nese invaders, General Tsang Hsih- yi, former governor of Fengtien Pro- vince under Marshal Chang Tso-lin, was released by the Japanese yes- terday after entering agreement with them. Tsang is head the Jepanese puppet government in Muk~- den. A Mukden dispatch to the New York Times reports: Militarists, Landowners Sup- porting Japan. “This re-emergence of General Tsang Hsih-yi is an extremely im- portant advancement for the Japa- nese in their aim of founding 2 stable Chinese govrenment in Man- churia which will have the respect and support of the better classes of Chinese residents. It is confidently 4 expected that under Governor Tsang’s leadership many high- class Chinese will soon emerge from retirement and join government circles in attempting to make the best of the existing situation.” While this betrayal of China by the landowning classes is going on, the Manchurian workers and peas~ ants are increasingly taking up arms against the Japanese invaders. Three Japanese soldiers were killed yester- day in @ fight with Chinese frregu~ Jars about 30 miles from Mukden. Another clash occurred 30 miles northeast of Mukden, Encounters be- tween Japanese and Chinese irregu- Jars took place within a radius of ten miles of Tsitsihar. Two Japanese were killed and several wounded. The Japanese are rushing reinforcements. Fierce fighting occurred near Tieh- ling, when fifty Chinese police sent there by the Japanese were repulsed by a force of Chinese irregulars. Chi- nee peasants from the surrounding districts flocked“to help the irregu- lars and the police were beaten off. Japanese soldiers arriving to rein- force the police were also beaten back. ‘The Stock and Rice Exchanges in Japan remained closed again yester- day, A Tokyo dispatch to the New York Times reports that “because of the confused exchange situation the : Mass Anti-Imperialist Movement Con- _ tinues Forward Surge In China Chinese Soviets, which were already streng, have been gaining tremen- dously in power and influence within the past weeks. After beating off three major attacks by the Nanking militarists and their imperialist mas- ters, the Chinese Red Army is again advancing. Imperialists Growing More Desperate. Before this growth of the Chinese Soviet Power and the upsurge of the Chinese masses in Kuomintang China, the imperialists are becoming des- perate and ate frenziedly pushing their murderous attacks on the Chi- nese masses, The imperailists are rushing their plans for the partition of China and armed intervention against the Chinese Revolution. French troops have invaded Kwangst Province, in South China, and are Pressing their attack, at the same time that the Japanese are rushing ; | additional troops to Manchuria to | (CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE) | ‘scores of other cities. Coincident sufficient food and Strengthen their strike. ‘The National Board of the National Miners’ Union will immediately issue an appeal to all workers and work- ing-class organizations to mobilize immediately, funds, food and cloth- ing, so that immediately, Jan. 1, when the miners lay down their tools, the support of the working-class will be there. Fifty per cent of the miners in these fields are organized into the National Miners’ Union. The rank and themselves go out and or- ganize it. Every day they come back to the center, their hands filled with application cards. The Union is al- ready a mass organization here, and has an even greater support and sym~ pathy. The weapons of the coal op- erators are sharp and severe ones. if the working-class stands back of the miners and exerts its greate est capacity in support of the strike, neither the coal operators, their thugs, their rifles, or any other tool of the coal operators can stop the march of these Kentucky miners to vietory for thelr demands, 5,000 Greet Marchers Returning To Chicago {CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE) clothing to i 8 i mo 2 z 2M gig al 3 | TR > : é é e the of the UM.W.A. end the 1.W.W. A miner g a g ‘The N.M.U. came along like a good Samaritan and took us out.” i Finley Donaldson bluntly an- swered another popular attack of the coal operators. “I'm not a Russian Red,” he said, “I don’t know what I am. But I believe I’m an overworked, underfed coal digger. And here I stand today rebelling against misery and starvation. Conditions are so bad that it would make a rabbit spi in 2 bulldog’s face!” : Repeatedly the miners pledged loy- alty to the National Miners’ Union. One from Middlesboro stated: “I ain’t no speaker; I'm a coal digger, but I'd like to say @ few words, We work 12, 13, 14 kick, they go to’ I T don't of Mid- T pay 5 and immediatae relief were yelled into the ears of Congress, they pene~ trated the innem sanctums of the White House, and they drove William Green to a frenzy of rage. The mere fact that the marchers did not offi- cially get on the floor of congress or into Hoover's private office did not keep out of the demands, At all meetings last night the workers pledged to organize the Un- employed Councils, to continue the fight against evictions and for relief fram the city, and to prepare a giant demonstration February 4. y Workers Correspondence is the came from Cumberland, Ky.,”| baekbone of the revolutionary press. wy \ . } \ willbe able to take ‘hold in the it Organize anti-war united fronts in your factories, in ing Shatin Ba mee China!) bani: refrains from stating offictal Demand the withdrawal of American herve for yen, ine gba troops and gunboats from China! |.were reporting doing business at 40 Stop the new world war that th®) cents per yen and bankers at 411-2 |hosses are preparing! cents.” The fall of the yen followed Plans to convert | the collapse of the gold standard last |“ We ci g z z ¥ $ DAILY WORKER, EW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1931 taken immediately to assure them | ov + Teng angther raings, “7 gpant 20. ynaryt Rel rower areas by yriting for Pits teres ~ East St. Louis Police Kill Own Man In Raid On Unemployed (CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE) cils of St. Louis, and from Secretary M. Kraft, of the Trade Union Unity League. The police declare they will continue their terror and will ignore the protests. Cop’s Gas Fatal Pete Logue is quoted by the local tack as follows: “Logue said the meeting wes one of unemployed persons to discuss the situation and to counsel together as to methods of alleviating their con- dition. They were in the midst of ®@ discussion of the police actions in breaking up @ similar meeting three weeks previously. “Logue said Chief Leahy was car- rying a rifle or shotgun; Lieut. ‘Thomas O’Brien a submachine gun, and Sergeant Floyd Combs a pistol and a nightstick. Logue said Leahy came in swear- jing and fired the gas shell in his weapon, whereupon O’Brien dropped his machine gun and ran for the open air, Combs volunteered to retrieve the gun, Logue sald, and he and his companions heard the sergeant ex- claim as he emerged from the gas- filled room, ‘I'm suffocating’ Then he collapsed.” Chief of Police Leahy, anxious to avoid responsibility for the killing of one of his own men, lies and says that Combs did notgenter the room but was “stationed o nthe back porch to prevent any of them escaping that way.” There is no mention of injuries to the workers. ‘ A. FL. WORKERS HELP MARCHERS FIGHT TERROR Kalamazoo Cops Break Meeting; Reynolds Speaks from Window. Column Two Successful BUFFALO, N. Y., Dec, 16.—Three meetings in different sections -of Buffalo last night gave hundreds of workers their chance to hear the report of the National Hunger March- ers of Column Two, which finished its march here in highly successful style yesterday Immediate results of the march are shown by the establishment of a new center for the Unemployed Councils here at 161 Ellicott St., and by scores joining the council. Throughout the return march the delegates were greeted with utmost enthusiasm, and the livening up of the drive of the jobless and workers with jobs, for unemployment insur~- ance, relief, and for bigger struggles, was evident. In Binghampton, 800 workers pack- ed the hall to capacity and a crowd assembled outside. The windows were opened so they could hear the reports. ‘There were 300 assembled to greet the returning marchers at Syracuse. At Rochester 500 attended. At Lackawanna, 2 steel town, 200 were present. Two hundred more were st the meeting in Tonowanda ‘There were 200 in Niagara Falls. Lawrence Organizing LAWRENCE, Mass., Dec. 16.—Over 200 workers gathered in Lawrence, Mass,, to hear the reports of textile i striker and other worker delegates from this city who went with Column one of the National Hunger March to Washington, Speekers were Fred Biedenkapp, captain of Column One; Angelo Sasso, a young worker. A report in Italian was made by Tripoli. ‘The meeting pledged to carry on jthe fight, and sent atelegram of solidarity to Edith Berkman, jailed for activities during the strike and ; held in Boston for deportation, Martha Stone, secretary (Succeed- ing Berkman) of the National Tex- tile Workers Union in Lawrence, and Rubin Pizzer, district organizer of the N. T. W., spoke on the problems of unemployed workers and called for stronger organizations of the union and of the Unemployed Council as an answer to the attacks on the job- less by Hooyer. Miners Pack Hall LIBERTY, W. Va., Dec. 16.-—-At 2 o'clock Monday afternoon Liberty Hall was packed with miners, their wives and children who came to hear the report brought back by the del- egates of Column Four who rep~ resented North and West Virginia on the National Hunger March to Wash- ington. Much enthusiasm attended the meeting. The delegates were cheered by groups of young workers. In the reports made, the delegates told of the struggle with the Helping Hand in Pittsburgh, where the city and its welfare agencies lied to and swindled the marchers and were finally forced to apologize, and told of the great demonstration in Wash- inaton itself. Some of the crowd at this meeting marched later in the day to Osage, where the unemployed won a pitched battle with the thugs sent against the meeting by the United Mine Workers, (This fight is described in Wednes- day's issue of the Daily Worker. — Editor). 1,000 DEMAND MOONEY'S RE- LEASE By « Worker Correspondent LL.D, secured 1,000 signatures for the immediate release of 'Tom Moony In @ spcial two day drive, Besides getting these signatures, capitalist press as describing the at- | AGAIN STAUNTON, IIL, Dec, 16—Con- ferences are being organized in prep- aration for a huge campaign for the release of the six workers indicted on eriminal syndicalist charges in Frank- lin County, Illinois, and for the re- peal of the criminal syndicalist law. | Thes ix are B. K. Gebert, organizer, |Communist Party; Joe Tash, Ralph Shaw, Zipp Kutchinsky, Anthony Aiman and Clara Saffren According to-the indictment re- leased by the grand jury, their crime mington and Franklin Coal Co.” The second point in the indictment sta’ that the defendants “maliciously and wickedly Mijured the character 0 the United Mine Workers of Amer ica.” In other words. the six workers was that of or: izing miners for better conditio against the bureaucracy of the Mine Workers of America. It is clear that the attacks mad by the bosses in the Illinois coal fields is part of the general attack of the capitalist class to drive the Commu- nist Party underground and to cripple the establishment of the National is “injuring thebusiness of the Wil- | the crime of | SEVEN CONFERENCES START FIGHT ST ILLINOIS JAILINGS Miners’ Union. With the organizm- tion of the following conferences (to which all working-class organizations in the vicinity are invited to send delegates) throughout tht coal re- gions of Illinois, a mass campaign | will be swung into action as a soun- | ter-offensive against the terror of the | coal operators and their government. | The conferences to be held are as | follows: St, Louis, Jan. 10; Collins- ville, Jan. 10; Staunton, Dec, 27; field, ML, Jan. 17; Ziegler, rry the campaign out of the state and give it a broader scope, a conference is to be held in Indianap- Indiana, Jan and one in Haute, Jan, ‘ On Feb, 7 te Con- pringfield. 8 & move- peal of the criminal ndic laws and for the defense the six leaders of the working class, jcharged with law. Ulinois ce at | Ali of the above r nal confer- ences ar state con- ferences all working- - class or, end delegates. PNEVILLE, Ky., Dec. 16. In the heart of terror-ridden Kentucky, the National Board of the National Miners Union held a meeting immediately preceeding and another follo ing the adjournment of the District Convention here to prepare for the strike Jan. Ist. Never in the histtory of Ken- tucky has such a thing hap- pened. Nor, for that matter, has any convention of miners met openly during the past decade. United Mine Workers of America officials, before the last strike, would “direct” from distant points, and lo-~ cal points, and local miners came for “orders” and brought reports. But all through the period of terror and strife, never once did the UMWA fat bellied organizers who collected a dol- lar a head from the miners eager for a union only to resert them, every venture into the sphere of warfare, Only recently, when this union ex- Posed itself completely as an excellent tool for the operators and the UMWA organizers are guarded instead of at- tacked, do they venture into the heart of Kentucky. Thuzs Didn't Dare Attack. Frank Borich, national secretary, held “a conference two weeks ago right in Harlan County. This con- ference decided to call the memor- ; able convention to which hundreds of delegates walked in a driving rain. Others came in open trucks. The convention was held thirty miles from Harlan. Opposite the hall, the thugs were quartered in a house. But so well were the miners organized— lines of them leading right up to the hell on guard throughout—that the thugs didn’t dare attack. They knew they'd get the worst of it. At the joint meeting of the Na~ tional Board and the District Com- mittee of 27 elected at the Conven- tion, an appeal to the workers of the country calling upon them to support the strike, was issued. ‘The meeting recommended to the Workers Inter- national Relief that it issue an ap- peal for relief and mobilize all of its forces to help the coming strike. Pro- visions were made for establishing the relief headquarters in Kentucky. Extensive organizational plan. to mobilize the miners of the state and organize the strike in. Kentucky, as well as mobilize the entire union na- tionally for the support of the strike, were adopted, . “The United Mine Workers left us | Kentucky Mine Convention Breaks Thru Terror; Build Union to Prepare for Strike a ditch. The National came and pulled us delegate said at the Convention. Under the leadership of the Na- tional Miners Union, a union con- trolled by the rank and file, with leadership that the miners have im- plicit trust in, Kentucky is girding for struggle. January first will see the outbreak of a strike against star- vation, terror and the blacklist, a strike that must and will be won! Miners ” one Convention Brings Union Into Open PINEVILE, Ky., Dec. 15.—The suc- cessful convention of the National Miners Union held here last Sunday decisively answered the attempts of the coal operators and their agents to brand the N. M. U. as an “outlaw organization. This convention, being the first open meeting of the Ken- tucky miners since the reign of terror was instituted, succeeded in breaking the “illegality” thrown around the Kentucky miners which has lasted for nearly half a century. Another attacg is contained in a leaflet issued to the miners in the coal camps and distributed just be- forethe Convention, It is signed by “disgusted members of the N. M. U.’ and is widely known to be the work of stooi-pigeons backed by coal op~ erators' money. The leaflets tell the miners to stay away from the NMU, attacking it as “red” against home, religion, ete. The miners know this as one of the bosses’ weapons to keep the miners from striking on Jan, 1, against starvation and terror. ‘The Benedict Coal Company, of St Charles, Virginia, immediately after the Convention sent its agents to militant blacklisted miners and of- fered them jobs as stool pigeons. Strike preparations nevertheless, are going forward full blast. Aboiit 50 rank and file organizers are busy throughout the field, building the union, arranging mass meetings, set- ting up comrmmittees, etc. Greetings to the historic convention in Kentucky, came from N. M.-U. locals, and other working-class’ or- ganizations. Local 33, Bradley, Ohio, sent its grectings, also @ local in Washington Pe. The Nat Turner Branch ofthe League of Struggle for Negro Rights pledged the solidarity of Negro with the white workers. The Workers Ex-Servicemen's League Branch 2272 sent solidarity greetings. ‘The Sothern District I. L. D. wired pledging their support with mass de- fense and mass protest against the terror of the coal operators. The editorial staff of the Daily Worker wired the convention pledging full support. DEMAND RELEASE BERKMAN, (CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE) tation to Great Britain. Their crime is that they led active organization work to unite the textile workers against the starvation.conditions that exist in every section of the textile industry, Just a few months ago, the department of labor tried unsuc- cessfully to deport the native born Anna Burlak, a prominent leader of the NTWU. In Paterson the bosses framed up 5 of the local leaders for murder. One of the most courageous cases that this union and the TUUL gen- erally, have had to contend with was the arrest and threatened deportation of Edith Berkman, leader of the Feb- ruary 1931 Lawrence strike of 10,000 workrs, and on of th organizers of the recent Lawrence strike of 23,000 workers, Comrade Berkman was arrested in the midst of the strike, along with Comrade Murdoch ‘and local com- rades, The purpose of these arrests was to prevent the National Textile Workers Union from establishing a solid organization among the striking textile workers and securing their leadership. At the time of the ar- rests: the masses were rallying very strongly to the lead of the NTWU. Undoubtedly the seizure of the lead- ers at this strategic moment worked very much against the NTWU and very favorably for giving the A. F. of L. union « foothold in Lawrence, with rates fad the, strike. OF EDITH STRIKE LEADER! ported. The case of Comrade Berk- man is still pending. But every at: tempt to get her released on befl haz failed. So feerful are the bosses of! her influence ameng the Lawrenes ing her out on bail. The fight for the release of Gom-~ rade Berkman and the other leaders of the NTWU has not been teken up vigorously engugh by the various TU UL organizations. This weaknese must be corrected. The case of Com~ rede Berkman, as well as that -of the Paterson workers, must be made a national issue, Mass meetings must be held, especially in the tex- tile centers. Funds need to be col-~ lected. These should be sent to the International Labor Defense, as 790 Broadway, New York tions of protest should be all organizations and sent partment of Labor, with 'TUUL, The case of Berkman is of na-~ . Bound up in. it is the question of the legulity revolutionary unions, We must against every attempt of the goverme