The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 7, 1933, Page 8

Page Ei D AILY WORK RK . NEW Yo Coal and steel workers are in the front line of workers’ struggles. Toilers everywhere! Protest to | Roosevelt and Pinchot against the murderous attacks. Show your solidarity-Send aid to the strikers. FIRST ORGANIZED ATTEMPT AGAINST — ERS’ STRIKE MEETS WITH FAILURE ATRT Way In Ord By anized attempt a The first or; been ust mination cessfully f the mi ion of the miners to fear of t Lewis mac first was a close} last nigh the offic Mii Workers make this known and indicating a fear that knowledge of their plans might en- able ‘outside agitators’ to concen- trate their tr naking forces at the points named.” This week the ke officially took as a whole with the group the basic fea with the ter of the has definitels struggle for fight for it Numerous skillful and well planned Maneuvers were made to fool the Miners and drive m back to work All the new rried head Jines = like th Roosevelt, Settles Coal Strike,” 00 Miner for Work Tom ‘tnion C Sign Agreement for 70,000 Mini aT Leading Coal Operators Sign Union Agreement,” “Frick Giv in to the Miners Dem * ete, he news- Papers publish owing the . Frick miner h the news that Frick has ned the coal code. Innumerable editorials were by the leading capitalist papers urg- ing the miners to go back to work. The capitalist papers did everything| they possibly could in an effort to create confusion in the ranks of the +. Miners. The result of this phase of the campaign was that the miners @re taking away the papers from the Newsboys and burning them on the picket lines “Endangering N.R.A.” President Roosevelt sent a telegram _ to the miners indicating that their Strike is endangering the entire N ) R. A. and that they should return = work. Governor Pinchot sent a ye similar telegram. General Johnson » @ave the miners his interpretation Of what the code means to the captive mines, stating that this means actual »Yecognition of the union and that there is no need of continuing the __ strike. * John L. Lewis sent a telegram to every local union instructing the miners to go back to work. The dis- trict officials sent official letters with @ seal on, ordering the miners back to work. Philip Murray, vice-pres- ident of the U. M. W. A,, told the Miners on Oct. 2: “Today you are fighting coal companies. But tonight, ff you remain on strike, you will be fighting the Government of the United States. Today you are con- ducting a st tonight you will be sonducting a rebellion.” The organizers of the U. M. W. A are holding secret meetings with mall groups of their followers in eee to Gain Victory the Lewis Machine xterminated from Union Ranks . BORICH the state and federal governments, the ‘wis inachine to break the strike of 100,000 Penn- d the workers back to a of Not since the at Steel Strike of 1919, of which William Foster was the foremost leader, has the of the most | American working class seen such a bitter struggle 30,000 face of | to live, op! county | spiration to the ity of the men in the pits producing the coal to feed the blazing furnaces tended by the men who produce itized uck drive the the steel so vital can industrial lif rt of 1,000 Thugs Who Attacked Steel Pickets of workers challenging the steel barons for the right | Outstanding in recent labor history—and an in- workers everywhere—is the solidar. t@ maintain the arteries of Ameri- e. { and decisively defeated by the miners, as strong and effective as it was last week with ners to fight to a victor The strength | as locals preparing them to fight} ‘or the return to work. | whistles on the tipples are g for work every morning and evening. Ni for work have been posted at every mine. The coal have threatend to dismiss | k all those that will fail to| for work on Oct. 2. But all of this has failed to shake} the determination of the miners to} continue the strike. Every local union | went on record to remain on strike. Huge meetings at Centerville, Sea-|work for the company. right, Mather and Pricedale voted | unanimously to continue the strike to victory. Conferences of the local} officials also voted to continue the| strike and to picket every mine at-| tempting to operate or not. At least| 5 cent of the miners are con- strike duty. The fighting spirit of the miners is on the in- crea: The possibility of winning the became even greater with 000 miners coming out on strike in hern West the spreadir The miners won “the first round” forces of the government, the coal operators and the Lewis machine But this significant victory of the s did not eliminate the great by these same On the cor 'y, the new at- 1 be much sharper. The Pitts- , indicating this, says in e of Oct. 4: “United Mine chiefs faced the final test leadership today as they to send Western Pennsyl- 75,000 striking miners back their jobs.” “Statements of the state and federal governments also indicate the fiercest attack against the strike The new attack can be met and defeated successfully if the miners | will disregard the orders of the gov- | ernment and the Lewis machine and | maintain their ranks solid and ac- | tive. One of the conditions for the | winning of the strike is the immediate | ousting of the entire Lewis machine jfrom the ranks of the miners. De- cision has already been made to call a special convention and elect new | officers. This must be done as soon | as possible as one of the chief guar- antees to win the strike. 80 P.C. in North Alaska Unemployed By a Mine Worker Correspondent, | JUNEAU, Alaska,—From Ketchikan to Nome, in every city, every village | here in the North you can find at | least 80 per cent of the workers out of work. For example, Interior Alas- ka, Fairbanks, Anchorage, Seward, Nome, Kooscokwinn district, all the mining tdwns in the Far North have no work this summer, because all industry is shut down, They haveno water. All the people in the Far North are starving. It is worse here in the coast cities with their special fishing industry. Fish buyers do not pay anything to the fishermen, and fishermen do not go fishing for nothing. More than 80 ver cent of the canneries are not working. Also no construction work has start- jed in any place in Alaska. Only Roosevelt's Starvation Plan | has ;Teached to Alaska. Recruiting for | the forestry camps for $1 a day has started. Living in Alaska averages $2.50 per day. How can we expect to live up here for $1, if we need an eir ght nia’s to jthe men and posted notices that} | reat battle against the united } Fagan Supported Only by Henchmen No One Enters Mine} By @ Worker Correspondent | COVERDALE, Pa—P. T. Fagan, | self-appointed district president of | the UMWA made another attempt to drive us miners back to wo: but failed again. Last week the Pittsburgh Ter-.| minal Goal Company paid off all \ every one who does not report for | work Monday, Oct. 2, will be con- sidered discharged and Will have to japply for a job if he desires to| This not- ice Was posted after a few of the Fagan gang made-an attempt to work last week and are now taking care of bruises. Since no one reported for work | |October 2, the company made it | known that 150 miners, including the local president, have no more | |Jobs with the company. This made | |the strike much stronger as we be- | |came determined that no one will | Jenter the mine until all of us go| \* |to work. | After this scheme failed to ma-| | terialize, Fagan came in personally | jand held a secret meeting with his | | henchmen. At this meeting it was jdecided to call the local meeting, | |to make real mobilization for it | jand to demand a vote to discon- |tinue the strike. At the same time | |the company announced that no one | |will be fired but that every one jean hold his job if the men return | |back to work. | The meeting was held and after | a long and bitter fight the vote was taken. Only three of the Fagan | henchmen dared to vote to go back | jto work while the rest of the min- | Jers voted to continue the strike FORK RIDGE MINERS CHEATED By a Mine Worker Correspondent. FORK RIDGE, Tenn.—Ed Mayse, a coal company tool and bank boss in 1929, got the Mingo mines in such a bad condition that they were forced to shut down. The racket that Mayse used was the yardage. When he measured the yardage it would be $20 or $25, and when it got to the office it would be $4 or $5, and the workers could not get anymore, and the same applied to the whole mine. When the mines closed down they beat the workers out of most of their | Pay that they had slaved for. These | mines had been closed down one week when this boss tool, Ed Mayse, claimed that he had the mines under con- tract and would sure pay off as soon as he could see a few cars of coal. So the men worked for this tool six weeks or two months, and then he shut down and beat the workers out of all that he owed, FORCED TO WORK SUNDAYS By a Mine Worker Correspondent EVERETTSVILLE, W. Va.—At the Everettsville mines one miner de- scribed conditions as follows: “I have a time slip here for my time now for not cleaning up my place. I went in before the main trip run and it gets into my section at 6 am. “T was already in, and had my coal shot down, track laid up, and my place timbered up to the face of my Place and never got my first until 11:30, and at 2:15 I got another one, and I waited until 16 minutes till 7, and didn’t get any more, and I got my diver pail and started out. I was more than half-way out when the Section boss come in and saw me, and asked me where in the hell I was going. SATUR. A. F. oi L. Sell-Out in Logan; W. Virginia (By a Mine Worker Correspondent) LOGAN, W, Va.—I was waiting to see what the. A. F. of L. leaders will do for the miners here in Logan County, W.Va. And just. as I ex- pected that they would seji-us out, they did sell_us out. They signed the contract..with the companies without asking.the miners anything. For diggers, 33-cents a ton. You know what kind of a ton, about 4,000 Ibs., what they. calla company ton, and for daymen. from $2.60 to $4.20 a day. But the miners are not satisfied with it, so they came out on strike erday. \“It Looks Good If We All Stick Together,” Says Correspondent By a Mine Worker Correspondent STUDA, Pa—We had a few mines working up till Monday, Sept. 25, so about several thousand miners from all over ‘the country came over and picketed the mines. They ‘didn’t have any leader on either side, but believe me, they sure stayéd out and are still out, and it looks good if they only stay together. The miners in other parts of the country had good rank and file lead- ers, but the Avella miners had no one to lead them, only Lewis men. Beating Strikers s 'GHLIGHTS of the past week's the joining, with the miners, of steel strikers in Ambridge, Pa.; Weirton, W. Va., and Steubenville, Ohio, struggle include more than 5,000 of labor (Lewis, McGrady, et al), the miners stand firm in their determination to stay out until they The strike goes on despite the heavy toll taken by the gun thugs of the steel corporations. achieve full victory. ‘Three are The welded ranks of mine and steel workers serve dead and scores have been wounded by guns and clubs. ‘The miners are stone deaf to President Roosevelt's The as an inspiration and impetus to struggle for the ene tire working class! Sak ‘Battle Front at the Spang-' halfont Mill command that they return to.work without union rece ognition. Remembering the promises made last month by Roosevelt’s emissaries, parading as representatives Roosevelt’s Wife Supplies Miners With Empty Jars: Was‘GreatlyImpressed’ After Seeing Jobless | in W. Virginia MORGANTOWN, W. Va.—Not | long ago “the first lady,” Mrs. Roosevelt visited the mining towns of West Virginia. She became “greatly impressed” by the star- vation conditions of the miners. So “the first lady” decided to contri- bute her share to relieve the suf- ferings of the miners Who were working for two years under Bitt- ner’s agreement for 22 cents a ton. As a “personal gift” the first lady sent a car load of empty jars to| the West Virginia miners to pre- serve “the vegetables from their gardens.” r Our gardens have been exhausted long time ago. There is nothing in them now. We have nothing to preserve. And we can not eat the empty jars. Large numbers of miners feel indignant and insulted by this shameful “personal gift of the first lady.” What we need here in West Vir- ginia is not the empty jars, altho they come from the first lady. We | need decent living wages for the employed. and unemployment insur- ance for the unemployed. If the first lady was so impressed by our conditions why wouldn’t she recom- mend to her husband, Mr. Roose- velt to have the U. S. Congress enact an Unemployment Insurance Law? . Why wouldn’t she ask her husband to give the veteran their allowances? a “Personal gifts’ from the first lady will not improve our condi- tions, especially not the empty jars. What will improve our conditions is an organized fight for higher wages, shorter working day, ade- quate relief and unemployment insurance. Library Families in Ambridge, Pa, “Just Had Vacation”, Writes Soviet Miner “My Children Are | Healthy,” Says Worker’s Wife Who Lived in W. Pennsylvania WILDWOOD, Pa.—Mrs, Elizabeth Vekich, Americen born wife of Joe Vekich, who 4s' well known among the miners: ip -the Coverdale, Wild- wood and other sections, wrote a letter to her friends on conditions of the miners.in the Soviet Union. She writes: ‘ “Dear Anriat~ “Received your letter and package. We are all--well and happy. I am continually gaining weight. My chil- dren are very healthy. Helen is sing- ing over the ‘radio and is taking part in other schov] entertainments. Fliz- abeth is doing the same, George got very good marks; in school. He got three books for premiums and jump- average of $2.50 to live? —Longview, (Signature authorized) “We are forced to work on Sun- days or we don’t have any jobs,” ed two grades im the last year. “Living conditigns here are getting better every day. The miners got a raise in wages again. They are al~ ways fixing the miner's homes ant making things better without inter- Tuption. “Joe wants to know how are all of his friends in Coverdale and Wild- wood. He just came from vacation where he spent one month. Every miner who works 11 months gets one month vacation with full pay. Some of those receiving vacations go to the local rest homes while others go to Crimea. You should see the treatment they get in these rest homes, The best things possible are given to the miners while on Are Denied Relief Aid Jobless Instead of Gun _Thugs (By a Worker Correspondent) LIBRARY, Pa—Many of the strik- ers families here in Library receive no relief from the Allegheny County Welfare. The usual excuse is that the County has no money. But the County has plenty of money to spénd on the gun thugs to break. the strike of the miners and the steel workers. I went to every picket line we organized in Clairton in order to strike the steel mills of the U. 8S. Steel Corporation. And what did I see there? I saw hundreds of county deputies, special deputies, detectives, etc. on foot, mounted on horses, riding in auto- mobiles and motorcycles. The newspapers stated that over 200 county deputies are always on duty in Clairton alone. Just figure out the wages for the 200 gun thugs on the basis of 8 hour shifts, patrol- ing the streets 24 hours a day. They receive as high as $100 a week for their strikebreaking activity. All this is paid by the county to protect the U. S. Steel corporation. We, the striking miners and steel workers should see and raise this thing and demand that the money spent on the yellow dogs should be given to us for relief so that we can continue our strike. We should also remember this in the coming elec- tions and see that the present County Commissioners and the County Sher- iff, who have appropriated this money and deputized these gun thugs do not go back to their offices after the elections. There will be Communist vacation — and everything free of charge, ~—Joseph and Elizabeth Vekich.” candidates to fill these positions and we should vote for them as our rep- COAL DIGGERS SPURN THE ORDER TO RESUME WORK | Solidarity of Unemployed Has Added Strength and Vitality to Struggle By A. W. WALLY The officials of district No. 3 of the United Mine Workers of America in Westmoreland County ordered the miners to go back to work, some with the recognition of the union, but in most cases without recognition. b the miners are not accepting these orders and will not accept them so easil: | / Local unions of Hutchison, Yukon, UMW Heads, Aided by 8. P., Tools of’ Mellon Machine By a Worker Correspondent NEW KENSINGTON, Pa.—Mellon’s aluminum plant employs something like 4,000 workers here. The officials of this plant are the political bosses of the town, around whom the bur- gess and the council dance attend- ance. Minor officials and employees such as superintendents, bosses and foremen are placed in every depart- ment of the city. The director of Personnel and head of the employment department at the Mellon plant is chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. Thompson, the most hated slave driver in the plant, is councilman. Mr. Burns, the present burgess, who, by all indications will become first mayor, is part of Mellon’s ma- chine. On Labor Day, Hossan, chair~ man of the Trades Council and for< mer U.M.W.A, organizer, marshalled all labor in the A. F. of L. behind Burns, who led the parade to the glory of Nira and the Blue Buzzard. “Role of S. P. ‘We asked the Socialist Party for a united front in the Scottsboro cam~ paign, May Day and Anti-War Day, but they always referred to the Na- tional Office and would not partici- pate, even in a fight for unemploy- ment insurance. But right after Nira became an established lady, the S. P. leaders formed a united front with Hossan and helped him to herd the workers into the A. F. of L, On Labor Day the S. P. leaders marched with inflated chests behind Burns and other tools of the Mellon machine, Lately we have, been active in plac- ing the Communist Party on the bal- lot; besides this, we are active among the unemployed and the miners, who are rebelling both against Nira and . Lewis. Next Monday our petition be filed and our party placed on the ballot. A committee is planning the dates and places for election ral- lies. We are making gains in the aluminum works. Read Literature; Take Advantage of Special Offer The Literature Department of the Pittsburgh District is making a spe- cial offer to popularize the fullow- ing pamphlets: What Is the New Deal? Your Dollar Under Roosevelt. War, What For? Who Fights for a Free Cuba? Germany Today. Every worker should read these pamphlets if he wishes to keep ‘posted on the outstanding problems facing the workers today, Write and order these pamphlets. Enclose ten cents in stamps, which will cover all costs. Also ask for our literature catalogue. —BOB SIVERT, Manager Literature Dept., 2203 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. MORE MINERS CORRESPONDENCE resentatives ON PAGE THREE Rilton, South Greensburg, Keystone an! others voted to strike until all the mines recognize the union. They also decided to picket any and all mines that may, under the*pressure, return. back to work, The miners still re- member the great betrayal of 1922 which was put over in a similar way. In many of the mines the strikers even stopped the maintenance men from going in, in order to strengthen the strike and force the recognition of the union. ‘The unemployed have become a definite and active part of the strike struggle giving the strike additional strength and vitality. There are quite a few local unions under tremendous pressure. These local fakers are ready at any time to carry out instructions of the t Officials, Seeing this the miners many locals are organizing them } , selves into rank and file groups wit.) the purpose of taking over the leader- ship of these local unions, These rank and file groups became strong in some of the locals and have put through many important decisions. As a result of the formation of the rank and file groups the Export, Yukon, Hutchison and many other locals decided not to pay dues to the takers. These groups from five mines met in Herminie, formulated a program of action, elected committees of ac« tion and went to do some active work in order to pass resolutions in the locals to Continue the strike and to jay the basis for a genuine rank and file movement in the locals and on a district scale, One of the’ chief points in the program of action is the struggle against the appointed Lewis. machine consisting of Hughs, McAnd- rews, Nelson°and Medwid. The rank and file: groups wilt also initiate struggle for relief both for the strikers and the unemployed. The miners of Westmoreland County are taking an active part in the steebstrike of» the Walworth Company in Greensburgh, by parti- cipating on the picket lines. A * oe Union Official-on $600 rar . wet to. Washington, While Miners Starve By a Mine Worker Correspondent CLINTON, Ind.—The miners here are upset by the stand the leaders of the U.M.W.A. took towards the Black. Betty Mine, This mine has been working non-union for quite some time. A series of meetings was held in sub-district 4 to act on the Black Betty Mine. A mass meeting called in Clinton. A committee of| was present at this meeting. This committee was sure a - picked committee, all J. L. Lewis sup= porters, who boosted him all summer, This committee is now boosting the district officials. Those officials are again seeking to betray the miners, The miners are getting wise to their old tricks. Joe Pogranni has been staying at one of the best hotels, receiving $10 a day and all expenses paid, doing nothing, while we are living on $12 a month. Joe Timkoour, district presi- dent, has failed to fulfill his promise to the miners. Before election he said no mine in district 11 shall work non-union. If necessary he would call a strike. Now a bitter fight has taken place between the district and the add ‘The miners went on strike while the! district president was in ‘Washing- ie on a trip that cost $600. Some of! the miners did not get anything but an empty pay envelope on pay day. The miners in district 11 know that the blue eagle is a blue buzzard and are scratching him out of their win- dow and are saying that the Com- munists, the so-called “reds,” are tight.