The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 30, 1933, Page 4

Page Four ~ DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1933 MINERS CALL STEEL WORKERS TO FIGHT FOR BETTER CONDITIONS Fighting Spirit - Stirs Rank and File in Strike Rapid Progress of Strike Shows Miners Learn- ing How to Combat Slave Conditions, and Treachery of UMWA Leaders By JACK STACHEL ] ‘The present strike of 70,000 miners | 1 the soft coal fields of Pennsylvania | $ one more proof that the miners re in the front ranks of the strug- les of labor in the United States. hroughout the years of the crisis Qe miners have occupied this posi- ‘on of distinction. They are, through aeir present action, fully maintain- ag this position of honor. Not only hat. The miners are making his- ory for labor of this country. What are some of the outstanding zatures of the present miners’ strike? a the first place the present strike }@ re-strike movement. The miners, tho less than two months ago were ricked back to work by Lewis and he Roosevelt representative, Mc- frady, are out again. Some of these ainers were also on strike in March ind April. In some of the mines the iiners struck a half dozen times and tore in the course of the last year. uch is the militancy of the miners, heir tenacity and courage. Secondly, this strike, like the last ne but even more so, is the result f the initiative of the miners them- elves, who are fighting in spite of nd over the heads of the Lewis- ‘agan-Feeny leadership. The initia- ive of the miners is such that was ¢ ardly witnessed before in the his- ory of labor in this country. The aimers themselves organize march: fom mine to mine. They elect the wn committees. They are more and aore learning how to defeat the abotage of the top leaders of the T.M.W.A. In this strike, like in the ‘resent national silk strike, this ini- iative stares one in the face and orces the conclusion that much is ppening in the labor movement of his country. That without doubt the evolutionary trade union movement ‘as not yet fully understood and util- zed this development among the yasses. To a certain extent it must admitted that we lag behind the asses considerably. The third important feature of the resent strike is the fact that it is irected against the coal code signed y the operators, the Lewis machine md President Roosevelt. There are ready increasing signs of disillu- jonment with the NRA. This again 4 @ feature of the strike also common 2 the great silk strike now in prog- ass. In that strike one of the work- ts in Allentown who was still imbued ith many illusions stated quite well he growing spirit among the workers then he said, “If the NRA means $13 week for us silk workers then the ell with the NRA.” The miners are even expressing nemselves in less polite language. On he face of it the present strike of the tiners has the appearance of being Strike merely to force the big coal ompanies to sign agreements with he U.M.W.A. But it is much more han that, It is objectively a strike gainst the code. In many of the mines this opposi- jon is taking on a more clear ex~- Yession. Miners are demanding the ix-hour day instead of the eight ours under the code. They are de- ianding higher wages. They are de- handing guarantees for the rights of he miners, an expression of dis- | eust not only in the operators and he NRA but also in the top leader- ip of the U.M.W.A. While the timers do not yet clearly realize the ost vicious section of the code that dbs them of the right to strike, of ae right to collective bargaining arough representatives of their own hoosing, the miners are very prac- al. They consider the strike itself ‘The great strike of the miners is acing a crucial point next week. The al code goes into effect Monday, i 2. So does the Lewis agree- ‘with the independent operators. Unions of the United Mine are passing resolutions to ited to the Uniontown Con- with the demand that the ime contained in these resolutions be ) by the conference. At the the locals are electing de- to the conference that will for the adoption of these reso- i i U.M.W.A. Local Union No. 5071, at Ontario, Pa., unanimously opted a resolution at its last meet- over 300 members present, omdemning the U.M.W.A. officers and coal code and wage agreement Roosevelt, and declaring: 5071 of the U.M. record to remain on the following demands $5 @ day, 6-hour- 2) Machine coal pick coal 85 cents; for anything; 4) Full to organize and strike.” resolution stated further: since no strike has been miners under the lead- and other officials due of the 1922 strike, strike since then, particu- the last strike of 70,000 in Penn- well ss the attempt to present strike, that we and file miners of Workers to reject ROTTEN EGG & i lent as the best answer as to what they think of this section of the code. Another important feature of the strike is the adoption of the sl ns and fighting methods of the N.M.U. by the rank and file. To be sure the miners are fighting for recognition of the U.M.W.A,, but they always add that they are also going to clean house as far as Lewis and Co. are concerned. Among the present re- sponsible leaders of the strike ther are without doubt some misleaders, and above all, people who because of their lack of understanding and ex- perience cannot lead the miners to victory. But already there are signs that a real left wing will be crystal- i in a short period of time. bs gs are already under way. the members of the .U., former ‘Miners Form Group to Aid Daily Worker | | LSE SHADYSIDE, Ohio.—I am a former member of the N. M. U. and part time reader of the Daily Worker. I see more and | }more the necessity of reading | |the Daily Worker. Not only by me, but by other thousands of workers. Therefore, I’ve called a group of five workers to my house, we had a discussion, and we came to the conclusion that we'd become steady readers of the Daily Worker, and open a drive for new readers, Also, We're preparing a dance for| | |helping get the $40,000 needed | | |by the Daily Worker. I will | |inform you later on about our! | | work for the Daily Worker. UMWA Bosses Try to Smash W. Va. | | Strike Movement | By a Mine Worker Correspondent | ARNETTSVILLE, W. Va—In the mines of the New England Fuel and Transportation Oo. they say if we “Steel Workers, Join Our Strike” members of the N.M.U., the miners |join any union we will get fired and who went through the schooling of |the company will black ball us from) the left wing, are beginning to assert |the mines. When the National Min- | themselves and will gain the confi- |ets’ Union would hold meetings on dence of the miners. The N.M.U. is |Sunday the company would make the A group of striking miners, Negro and white, sleep ing outdoors waiting for the morning picket lines that surrounded the Carnegie Steel Co. mill at Clairton, Pa, The Carnegie Steel Co. is a subsidiary of the U. S. UMWA Locals Hit Lewis in Resolutions for Uniontown helping the miners to carry through Men work on Sunday and tell them this policy within the U.M.W.A. That there exist great possibilities in this | direction is also indicated by the fact ihat U.M.W.A miners are joining in picket lines with the striking steel workers of Greensburg, who are or- d in the Steel and Metal Work- strial Union. The road to e united class struggle union in the mining industry may not be a smooth one. But the N.M.U. and the left elements in the UM.W.A. are Jy takine some important steps that direction. One of the most important features of the strike is the march of the min- ers to the Clairton works of the U. S. Steel Corporation in order to strike the coke and tar plants that furnish power to many of the stee} mills. The iners are beginning to grasp the ity of ihe joint struggle of the miners and the steel workers. They 4 importance ation. This s 'T quences in the very near future. It represents a very important develop- ment of the struggles of the workers of this country to a much higher level. The outcome cf the miners’ strug- gle is still to be determined in the field of battle. But surely the miners have great opportunities. The strug- gle will become more bitter. operators refuse to recognize the UM.W.A. That is the big open shop operators who operate the so-called captive mines — mines produging for the various steel and other mills and not for commercial purposes. Ac- cording to the claims of the operators this represents the majority of the tonnage mined in these regions. This means that the situation is about at the same stage as it was before the code was signed. It means that the whole “Lewis” victory for the miners was a big swindle in which also the NRA and President Roosevelt par- ticipated. In this situation the Lewis machine is caught in a very tight corner. It is facing a real crisis. The miners will not accept conditions as they are. They will continue the struggle. The whole labor movement must not only carefully watch and follow up the great struggle of the miners, but mobilize all its forces to help the miners. The workers throughout the country, especially the members of the A. F. of L., must help the miners to fight against the operators-Lewis- NRA conspiracy to keep them in slav- ery. To help the miners in the heroic struggle for their demands. this leadership of Lewis and his ap- pointed organizers and to elect a real rank and file leadership from our own ranks that will fight for our inter- ests, and be it further “That we call on all the locals of the United Mine Workers to adopt this resolution and present it to the rank and file conference in Union- town, September 30, with the demand that it be adopted by the Conference and put into effect at once, and finally “That copy of this resolution be sent to President Roosevelt and the newspapers.” In spite of several serious short- comings of this resolution it never- theless expresses a correct line which can still be further developed. This re- solution can serve as a basis for the mobilization of all sincere forces to organize the strike so that it can be Jed to @ victorious conclusion, The “DAILY’S” POWER Powhatan Pt., O. Comrade Editor: I believe that to have a good circulation in the mine would help us to expose and break down any illusions that the workers have in the N.R.A. and will go a long way in helping to build the only union that is fighting for the ev- ery day rights of the workers and to raise the living standards of bah miners. ie six-page “Daily” is a “knock-out.” It is the only paper in the United States that talks the language of the workers. ‘The heroic struggles of the Utah and New Mexico miners should be spread to all miners throughout |all that didn’t report out to work to come to the office Monday morning jand get their time. Since Pennsylvania has been on strike they have had men over in | West Virginia to try and get them to come out. The U.M.W.A. bosses went to the Morganstown Press and had them put a piece in the paper that the men were well pleased with the price that they were gtting, and that | jth Pennsylvania strike did not mean | anything to the West Virginia miners. | | Here are some of the prices that | we were receiving: Motor men—$3.80; drivers—$3.80; snappers—$3.20; tim- ber men—$3.80; pumpers—$3.80; coal} loaders—22c per ton and about three tons in one; cutters—3c per ton. They have 315-ton cars in this| mine and they won't let the drivers | pull the car unless it is full six inches above the bed and when it reaches the scales the weight runs from 217 to 219. When the men come out at Steel, which also owns the Frick Coke Co. Three hundred thousand too many) In the Soviet Union new shafts are miners in the United States, not/being sunk, production increased. enough miners in the Soviet Union.| There are now 500,000 mincrs steadily The rapid decline in the living stand-| employed, working a <-hour- ards of the miners in the U.S.A. as| This means that more than three compared with the continuous higher} times as many miners are employed level being reached in the living} than in the days of the Czar, that standards of the miners of the Soviet} the hours have been cut from 12 to 6. Union, expresses in practice the dif-| The living and cultural standards ferent status of the workers in aj} of the Soviet miners stands out c) Life of the Miners, in Penna. and---in the Soviet Union The | 4 o'clock, if they haven’t cleaned up| Country run by the workers for the they get two weeks’ lay-off and they| benefit of all as compared with the have worked from 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20/| capitalist world run for the benefit hours without any overtime pay. of the capitalist class. and is a challenge to the exploiters and an incentive to the miners of our} Year Pian| country. The first Five began in 1928 and the latest figures A fellow who lives next door went in the mines on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 5 pm. and came out Sept. 21 at 11 am. without any overtimé pay. And the superintendent asked him what he was doing out so early. Se How a Local Was Built to Serve the | Miners’ Interests By a Worker Correspondent ONTARIO, Pa.—For some time | there was a bitter fight in this lo- cal union. The president of the) local, Mr. Sokol, refused to call local meetings. His wife, son and jhimself beat up some of the com-| |mitteemen, breaking a rib off one} of them. He was also a check-| weighman. When we _ elected| another checkweighman he refused to turn over his job. | | Sheriff Seaman stopped some of | jour meetings, In this fight four | miners were fired for being mem- | They Have No NRA Slave Codes Two miners in the Soviet Union where the workers rule. look very much like their American brothers but work under quite di They |bers of the National Miners Un-| jion. Sokol was responsible. Through a bitter fight these four miners got their jobs back. Not only this but the local decided to pay them for the lost time. These four miners and some more active ones decided to clean our local and to make it really a local that will fight for our interests. We went from house to house and spoke to all the miners about the situation in our local and what should be done to change this situation. After we convinced the miners of the role of the officials and that they should be kicked out, a special meeting was called. At this meeting we fired all old officers and elected new ones. Two out of four min- ers that were fired by Mr. Sokol Were elected as local officers. Now our local really serves our interests. ‘Gangsters Fail to Stop Strike in Coverdale By a Worker Correspondent COVERDALE, Pa.—The Hyman |gang in Mine No. 8 Was chiefly responsible for the breaking of the strike in 1931. This same gang: Hyman, McCurry, McCraken, Ren- ton, etc. are still here. They are now again trying to break the strike. On Sept. 10 we held a meeting to take up the question of strike. The officers of other Ter- minal Mines came to our meeting to see whether we will decide to strike, But the Hyman gang de- veloped fight and prevented the question of strike coming up. The miners from other mines picketed our mine and We ¢ame on strike. Last Tuesday this same gang forced a vote to go back to work. Few of the fellows came down ready to work only to find a picket line of over 2,000. The pick- ets were militant, Only about 4 or 5 attempted to go to work. the country, and this can be done by every reader of the “Daily” do- ing his damndest, working unceas- ingly, to bring new subscribers and boosting the six-page workers’ paper. 0. ) _ Help improve the “Daily Worker.” Let us know what the workers in your shop think about the “Daily.” ferent conditions. Read the article above for a description of the con- ditions of miners in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. UMWA Refuses ‘ ProtectMen Forced to Break Mining Laws By a Mine Worker Correspondent COVERDALE, Pa.—Two miners, a cutter and a scraper, were recently president of the U.M.W.A., demanding that they be given back their jobs. Fagan told them he can do nothing because they violated mining laws by fired by the company. They went to P. T. Fagan, self-appointed district | cutting under,a cut of slate. In this mine, working under the U.M.W.A, agreement since 1931, ev- ery miner is forced by the company to violate the mining laws. It is against the law to push the cars, put we must do it. But Mr. Fagan has nothing to say about these things when reported to him by the miners. On the contrary, he supports the company whenever we raised the question of forcing the company to do the things it must do. Our local did not undertake to fight for the re-employment of these two men, but decided to give them relief until they obtain employment somewhere else. This is how the miners are protected by the U.M.W.A. officials. Fired for Activity ‘These two men were not fired be- cause they violated any mining law, They were fired because one of them Jed a fight against John Hayman, notorious agent of the company and the right hand man of Fagan. Hay- man caused the discharge of scores of militant miners. He, with his sons, never permitted any motion to be passed in the local that would bene- fit the miners, He always fought for the company and Fagan. No one was permitted to speak at the local union meeting. One of these two fired men drafted a petition to the company demanding the discharge of the stool-pigeon Hayman. He went from house to house collecting signatures. Practi- cally every miner signed it, Hayman was not fired but the company was forced to push him in the back- ground for the time being. So did Fagan. The way to fight the agents of the company and Fagan is not to cir- culate any petitions. The best way to send in your suggestions and criticism! fight them is to organize a real rank- — Miners’ Pay Robbed for “Back Rent” By a Worker Correspondent COKEBURG, Pa. — When the “truce” was reached in August and the miners driven back to work we were promised a checkweighman, mine committee, and the right to belong to any union. We elected our checkweighman five times, Even Dr. Springer Was .a midwife to one of the elections. The elec- tions were held in a hall on com- pany property. Yet our coal so far is not being weighed. Our local president, Andy: Dem- eter, was elected each time, but he never went on the tipple. When some of the members wanted to make a motion for a strike to force the company to accept our checkweighman the president re- fused them the floor. No dead work is being paid for. Two men put up 17 posts, but re- ceived no pay. After shooting the coal we must pull down slate be- fore loading coal, but get no pay for it. This mine was shut down for 8 years. Some families remained in the house all the time. Now the company is deducting from the small pay we make for the back rent. and-file movement in every local union and clean out of our ranks ev- ery agent of the company. {in x | have more than doubled in that time. y.| Here are the figures: | 1928, 1929, 1930, | 1931, 60 roubles a month per workor. 65 roubles a month per worker. ‘71 roubles a month per worker. 99 roubles a month per worker. 122 roubles a month per worker. ‘A 1933, 146 roubles a month per worker. 1933 Increase In 1933 the plan for the coal in- d y calls for a further increase of | 19 per cent, in the wage standards | of the miners. Besides these money wages, the miner has the advantage ofa complete system of social. in- | surance, for sickness, unemployment, old age. for which he pays no con- tribution at all. He has free medical attention, a vacation with full pay | of one month per year if he is an underground worker (2 weeks if above ground) and free accommoda- tion in a health resort or rest home. | The miners in the Soviet Union pay nothing for their commissary sup- plies. They receive these and their | work clothes free of charge from the} industry. The standard of living of the miners in the Soviet Union is not determined by money wages as | it is in the U.S.A, The elaborate | system of social insurance, workers’ | parks, theatres, clubs, institutions for learning, planned increased ion and controlled prices are | worked out for the benefit of those who work. |'Poo Many Miners—No Unemployment | Insurance The conditions of the miners in | the United States presents an en- | tirely different picture. In 1923 there were, not figuring the capi lve mines, 9,331 commercial mines. By 1931 there | were only 5,642 with a capacity of 736,000,000 tons a year. Over 3,000 mines have been closed. Here are some figures to ponder over which are conveniently ignored by the NRA | code makers; In 1923 there were 704,793 miners who worked 213 days at $7.50 per day. In 1932 there were 379,565 miners This means that not only has the wages per day been cut, that more than 300,000 miners will not again | be hired, but that even those who find work are only employed about five months per year. Qne hundred and forty-five days | work in 1933 at the code scale of | $4.60 for eight hours, and there is no reason to believe that there will be any more work in 1933 than there was in 1932; means a yearly income of $667. However, the miner has many things to pay before he gets his pay. Commissary supplies, etc. eat up everything except the pay en- velope sometimes. There is no pro- vision for sickness, accidents, unem- ployment; the living standard of his family depends upon this meager pay envelop. But only 379,000 miners got 145 days work. What about the other | 325,230 who are totally unemployed? |The NRA, Roosevelt, John L. Lewis code just leaves them out of the pic- ture altogether. $4.60 if you can find a job, starve if you can’t! But even though the money wages does not determine the living standards of the Soviet miner, an analysis shows that the miners in the Soviet Union are far ahead of their Amer- ican brother even in his money wages. The militant strike of the Western Pennsylvania miners can result in bettering the conditions of the miners but only if they conduct their own strike, raise the demand for unem- ployment insurance, continue and spread the strike until all their de- mands are won. But this will only be one step in the fight against the bosses way out of the crisis expressed most vividly in the NRA. The Soviet miners along with the rest of the Russian workers and peasants in 1917 won their final struggle against cap- italist exploitation, which was the cause of all hunger, misery, unem- ployment, crises and wars. That is why they are marching to greater and greater victories... 4 Hunger Coal Code Is Met With Huge Strike in Penna. |Close to 100,000 Out in Pennsylvania, With Practically Every Mine Shut; Miners March on Steel Mills | By F. BORICH break the strike and deliver the nec- The starvation coal code of the/| essary goods the operators are chang- | NRA, the anti-strike agreement | me their attitude towards the agree- |Lewis & Co. and the whole “New|ment and resorting to other means Deal” of President Roosevelt, met |in an attempt to break the strike. 'with a tremendous resistance of the | At the beginning it was only the miners, |H. ©. Friek Coal Co., subsidiary of | They refuse to accept those provi-|the U. S. Steel, that openly refused sions of the code directed against|to sign the agreement. In the last their interests, namely: eight-hour few days, after Fagan and others ‘day, starvation wage scale, open shop | failed to drive the miners back to provisions, arbitration, etc. They re- work, the coal subsidiaries of the \fuse to accept these same things em-!J. & L. Midland Steel, Pittsburgh | bodied in the agreement, particularly Steel, Bethlehem Steel, National Steel, jthe clearly formulated anti-strike | Wheeling Steel, Inland Steel. Repub- |Clauses, individual agreements, etc. lic Steel, Crucible Steel, Youngstown | They are striking against these Sheet & Tube, U.S. Aluminum, West |anti-labor provisions and spreading | Penn Power, Duquesne Light and a | the strike with tremendous rapidity. | dozen others—all having mines in Close to 100,000 are on strike al- | Pennsylvania —announced that they iready in Pennsylvania alone, with|have no intentions of signing the ning shows that the average! | wages of the 500,000 Soviet miners| | practically every mine in the state closed down. There is a possibility j that the strike will be spread into Ohio and West Virginia before these lines reach the readers. At the same Utah, New Mexico, Iowa, Arkansas, ete,, with the miners in Colorado and other fields preparing to strike. But even, this is not all. The miners are planning, and in |fact have already begun, to organize |mass marches on the steel mills con- | trolled by the same trusts which con- trol the mines. The present miners’ movement has the earmarks of one |of the most gigantic movements in the history of the American labor movement. More than 14,000 steel | workers in Greensburg, Pa., and Weir- |ton, W. Va., directly connected with mining, and in fact controlled by the same corporations, are on strike. The U.M.W.A. officialdom, with | whom the operators signed an agree- | ment as a measure to prevent strikes, and through whom the operators ex- pected to control the miners, finds it- self absolutely helpless, isolated and more discredited than ever before. | This in spite of tremendous propa- time tens of thousands are striking in | agreement. P. T, Fagan, in a public statement, openly admitted that he visited all of these corporations and that all of them refuse to sign the | agreement. | Next week will be a decisive week in the strike. The open shop oper- ators are holding meetings and mak- ing plans to reopen the mines. The |code goes into effect Monday. The U.M.W.A. agreement with the small, independent operators also goes into effect. According to the Pittsburgh Press of Sept. 26: “Philip Murray, in- ternational vice-president; John O'Leary, of the international board; Patrick Fagan, district No. 5 pres dent, and other district chiefs, are concentrating on getting miners back by Monday.” The capitalist press is making frantic appeals to the miners to return to work. Pinchot’s state police are stationed in every town. The government mediators ‘are swarming over the striking area. All the forces of the employers are get- ting ready to try to drive the miners back to work and to break their strike. . The rank and file of the entire strik- ing area are calling a delegate co! ganda of the capitalist press, politi-' ference in Uniontown for Saturday, cians and other instruments of the Sept. 30, to discuss the future course employers and the government. Even | of the strike. It is true, in this rank- if they succeed in some of the mines and-file movement many fakers could \in tricking the miners to return to/be found, against whom the miners | work, this is being met and smashed | must develop a merciless fight, but by mass picketing. These officials,/the movement basically is a rank- who as late as last June appeared in and-file movement. The left wing | the eyes of the miners as real organ-|forces are being rapidly organized |{zers, now appear in the role of open and are coming forward with a clear- strikebreakers. [eut policy that will be presented to |. The coal operators, who expected the Uniontown conference. Locals al- |to drive the miners back to work by ready are adopting resolutions indi- signing the code and the agreement cating the line to be followed in the |with Lewis through their association, | future. The National Miners’ Union, preserved a loophole for themselves in | through its forces who are taking an this agreement. The blank agree-| active part in the strike, and through ‘ment provides that each individual | the left wing movement, is present- operator must sign the agreement be-|ing to the conference a policy con- |fore it goes into effect. Seeing that tained in the leaflet which is being Lewis, Fagan, Feeney & Co. cannot | distributed in every mining town. Thanks God for Pinchot, and Helps Keep 25,000 from March By A. GETTO cause it would cause a riot and would On September 23 a great mass be against the policies of the United meeting of the miners took place on Mine Workers of America. Because of the West Virginia-Pennsylvania state | this the miners did not cross the line, line. The miners came in by the thou- | although there were only six state sands from the strike fields, in old! policemen and 25,000 miners ready to {worn-out automobiles, many without | march. license plates, while many walked. who worked 145 days at $4.00 and less. | | All came with the intention of cross- ing the state line to march on the | West Virginia mines, picket them, hold meetings calling for strike to stop this cheap coal from coming into the Pittsburgh District. While this was planned by the min- ers, the leaders of the strike move- ment, especially those in charge of ‘the meeting, promised the politicians that under no circumstances would they cross the state line. When cer- | tain locals started to cross the state line they were told not to do it be- Death by Hunger or Accident Faces Centralia Miners By a Worker Correspondent CENTRALIA, Pa—Centralia is a small town with a population of 2,400, This town has only one ¢ol- liery, employing some 600 miners, but it has been shut down for two years with little hope of ever re- opening. Many of the unemployed are anthracite miners who refuse to die of starvation and like their fellow-miners in Mahonoy City, Shenandoah and other anthracite mining towns, are engaged in the “bootlegging” of coal. , They go to the fields near the closed mines and pick coal and sell it to the hucksters who come in with their big trucks from Phila- delphia, Reading, Allentown and other places close to Philadelphia. In some of the places they strike coal on the surface but in the ma- jority of cases they have to do actual mining, to.dig 10, 15 and even 50 feet below the surface, using explosives to blow up coal and other mining operations. In the crude pits the miners meet with many fatal accidents because they cannot afford the timbering of the mines. Unemployed Councils of Mt. Car- mel and Shenandoah should send organizers to Centralia and put that little anthracite town “on the map.” Following this it was decided to call | the meeting to order, with one of the leaders, Ryan, making the following statement: “Thank God that we have such a friend of labor as Governor Pinchot,” stating further that, “Pin- chot is the miners’ friend, because he sends in the militia to protect the strikers” from the coal company deputies. But the facts and our past experi- ences with Pinchot prove otherwise. While we were out on strike in 1931 under the leadership of the National Miners Union, what did this friend of labor do then? Every one knows he sent in the state troopers to club the miners, Today one of the strike lead- ers sits in the Blawnox Workhouse on a framed-up charge. If you don’t know this write to Ed Sherwood, Box 5, Blawnox, Pa., and he will tell you why he is serving from three to six years in the workhouse. Not only this. Two of the men were murdered by the company police, but no one was sentenced, yet 30 miners were sent to the workhouse. Scores of others still remain cripples from bul- let wounds. Many more examples of the “lib- eralism” and police policy of Pinchot could be given. Pinchot proved him- self an N.R.A. strikebreaker in the July-August strike, The miners know that Pinchot pleaded with them to go back to work. But what did we get by going back to work? At the mass meeting Ryan also stated that he was ashamed that there were no official leaders of the U.M.W.A. at the meeting. Why should he be ashamed because they were not there? Have we not had enough of their sell-outs? Ryan further ex- cused his short stay at the meeting “hecal e had to leave for a secret meeting.” Secret meeting with whom? Why does any union leader need a secret meeting? We miners need more open meet- ings against the U.M.W.A, officials who are signing separate agreements with the so-called commercial mines, leaving the captive mines out. This was the intended policy of the Lewis sell-out in Washington before the N.RB.A. administration. We miners will never have a union unless we carry out what one of the rank and file miners from West Virginia stated at the great meeting that the leader- ship of the U.M.W.A. must be thrown out—LeWis, Fagan and their Lie] oot go if we want to have a on, ee eae nm i