The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-02
HACKERS OF
LASH SUFFER
BIG DEFEAT
Negro Delegates on Floor in
Flight Against Reaction
By JOHN FITZGERALD
tstaR Correspondent Of The Daily wOrksr)

TOMLlNSON HALL, IN
DIANAPOLIS, Ind, Feb. L.
With a laundering chorus of
Ayes the convention voted its
condemnation of the Ku Klux
Khan as an enemy of organ
lied labor and voted down the
proposal of the President John
L. Lewis machine to permit
members of the United Mine
Workers to belong to the
hooded order, whose purpose
is the subsection of the foreign
born and the fogging of radi-
cal workingmen.
The fight on the Khan was
led ny the progressives, as they
have led every other forward
looking measure since the conven-
ton doors swung open. And the
Aght for the Klan was led by Van
II, Bittner, Lewis right hand man,
whom he used in the breaking Of
the miners union in Kansas, Alberta,
and in Nova Scotia, and in the dis
ruption Of the strike in the coke
regions.
Bittner presented the report of
the resolutions committee which rec
commended that the convention cam
eel the clause in the constitution
forbidding members of the United
Mine Workers from belonging to the
\ X. X. X. His speech was calculated
to placate the enemies of this anti
foreigner organization and at the
same time to reverse the anti-Klan
policy Of the union.
COIored Delegates Defend Race.
Several colored delegates took the
floor in fiery opposition to the night
riding enemies of their race who are
denying all rights to human beings
with black skins, wherever they have
the power.
There were encouraging shouts
from the delegation. The United
Mine Workers has led the American
labor movement in the program of
equality TO all workers in the mines,
regardless Of the color of their skins
and the heroism of black men in the
West Virginia marches were fresh
in the minds Of many in Tomlinson
Hall.
J Hessler Speaks in Vain.
VI A voice for the Khan tried in
vain to turn the tide against the
brotherhood Of the lash. The voice
was from John Hessler, one of the
lieutenants in the Lewis army.
His speech had all the earmarks
of Klansman's, tho he would not
affirm or deny the suspicion as to
his own membership in the terror
society. But a skeptical murmur
arose when he tried to tell the con-
vention that several thousand men,
bers in his district were Klansmen.
Hessler was a member of the reso-
lutions committee that sought to
save the Khan. But his speech was
in vain.
The sentiments Of the convention
were expressed when John Hind
marsh of Illinois rose and shouted:
Denounced as Strike Breakers.
inc htau 10 obflhcDTedhlnB IN
stitution!"
when the Ku Klux Khan wants
TO take of its mask and work in
the open, then il will be time TO
change our constitution and let the
miners JOHN" declared John Bates,
| of Williamson, Pa, leading the anti
Khan forces.
/ Hearty cheers greeted every de-
nunciation Of the Koo Koos and
cries Of protest or ominous silence
was the delegates answer to every
attempt Of Van II. Bittner and John
Hessler to legitimatize the hated
: order. The United Mine Workers of
America is vigorously OH record
against the Ku Klux Khan, in spite
Of the Lewis machine.
The resolutions committee Is the
creature Of the administration. The
resolutions II brings are those the
administration wants. And the Sc.
lection Of Van II. Bittner to present
1 the resolution shows how John L.
CONTINUED on page 81