The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-03-20
DISTRICT ONE,
U. M. W., PUTS
UP REAL MINERS
Progressives Take Stand
Against Machine
BY r. BAKER.


around the kitchen stove of a miners
home discussing the coming election
in the Miners Union in District One
when Bernard zaleskas, the progress
sive candidate for president, came in
from his days work in the mines.
A tall, stalwart figure WHOM the 80
odd years of coal digging have failed
to bend, or mar, his face black from
CRIME and coaldust symbolized the
determination and the fighting spirit
that made possible the miners vic
tories in the past years.
He was introduced to the DAILY
WORKER correspondent as the real
representative of the rank and file
who was selected to head the progress
sive ticket against the corrupt Lewis
Cappellini machine, which has so Of
ten brazenly betrayed the miners in
the anthracite fields.
No oreenhorn In the Mines.
Zaleskas has been actively and
consciously participating in the class
struggle from the first day he swung
pick. He was among the pioneers
who organized the Miners Union rs
years ago, and pointed out to us the
woods where the first secret union
meetings were held.
Those we're the days when the min
ers had but one enemy to fight, the
mine owner. Many were his stories
Of the long, bitter strikes, lockouts,
blacklists and pitched battles that
finally established the United Mine
Workers as a force to be reckoned
with and respected.
The miners knew then and still
know how to fight a clean-cut open
fight against the operators. All the
forces of the mine owners including
the well known iron fist of this steel
trust state could not hold them down
in the battles to establish the union.
New and Fieroer Struggle.
And yet, today, after all these years
Of struggle, the union is the whip that
stands between the miners and the
operators, today Zaleskas with large
group of the rank and file must d.
vide their energies between fighting
the bosses and the corrupt oficialdom
Of the union that is betraying and sell.
ing all the hard won achievements OF
% year struggle.
Zaleskas and his supporters recog-
nize the tremendous significance OF
the movement they have initiated
and are calling on the rank and file
Of the union to join them in this fight
to make their organization a fighting
weapon that will yield results to the
miners.
For the first time they have intro
duced real issues in the district cleo
ton campaign. They are calling OF
the rank and file to Judge the candi
dates by, their program, and not by
the fine, ready-made election speeches
Programs, Not Persons, Must Rule.
1t was difficult to get much informa
ton from Zeleskas about himself. He
pointed out that this election cam
paign will not be fought on the vir
tues of the individual candidates, {
mistake the miners made in the pas
and are still paying for dearly, but OF
practical program that must solve
the many burning problems the min
ers are now facing in District One
as well as In the entire coal mininf
industry.
Zaleskas has been an active mem
Der of the Mine Workers Union from
its very inception, having held a mum
Der Of local Offices. and has partici
psted in all the strikes that tied VI
the anthracite industry during the
last rs years.
Besides being miner and a mill
tant union man, he is a student OF so
cial and economic problems, and pos
sesses knowledge that would sham,
many legislators and pillars" of so
ciety. 1t is a hopeful and significan
sign when the rank and file can pro
duce man from the pits who ha
both the courage TO oppose the uniol
4.