davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-24
Thoughts of the British, Miners Strike

them to "blind Sampson" who were
pulling down the structure of British
civilization. All thruout the long
tense struggle, all the demands of the
miners for aid were refused by the
the general council. and efforts to
establish an embargo on scab coal
coming in from the outside and to es-
tablish levy among the British trade
unionists on behalf of the miners
were contemporary refused by the
bureaucracy of the various unions.
And so in spite of their solidarity
with the miners the rest of the Brit
ish working class was forced to stand
idly by and see the miners finally
starved into submission. Such treach-
cry of so-called leaders of the work
ing class has been unequalled in the
history of the labor movement
A ND what did the Amsterdam Inter-
national and its affiliated body,
the Miners International, do to help
the British strike? Not only was help
refused, and no attempt made to stop
the flow of coal into Great Britain,
but the officials of the Miners Inter-
national were bitterly hostile to the
British strikers and endeavored in ev-
ary possible way to hamper them.
The browning infamy OF the Miners
International was little resolution
passed at the beginning of Septem-
Der when 1t seemed that the miners
struggle was over, and the miners
beaten. A resolution was passed stat.
ing that should the British mine
strike still be in force by September
30, the Miners International would
iall a general coal strike Of all coal
miners in Europe. This was a gesture
adopted TO save the face of the Off
iials of the Miners International who
we're firmly convinced that the British
miners would be beaten ere Septem-
Der 80 came.
pUT September 30 passed and the
~ miners were still on strike, and
when the reformist leaders of the
Miners International were called up.
on to put into effect their resolution,
they refused to do so, passing the
buck along to the respective sections
Of the international.
When the leaders OF the German
coal miners were asked to call a
strike in support of the British min.
ers or at least to prevent scab coal
from reaching Britain the reply was
That II the Belgium and French I'm.
ions would refrain from shipping scab
coal they would also do so. but not
otherwise" The leadersfof the Bel
gian French and Polish miners sec.
lions replied in similar vein. all OF
hem actually refusing to in any way
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-24
BY ERNEST ETTLINeER.


THE British Mine Strike is ended
i and the men forced by privation
and suffering have gone back to work
on the terms of the mine owners. The
memory of this struggle, however, Will
long remain, and the heroic resist
ance of the miners in the face of I'M
equalled treachery on the part of the
trade union bureaucracy is one Of
the brightest chapters in the history
of the worldwide labor movement.
Such resistance, altho it ended in de-
feat, augers i'll for the future of Brit
ish capitalism and when that deter
mination to resist spreads among the
rest of the British working class, the
death-knell of British capitalism will
have sounded.
HOW is it, that in spite of the ter
IL rifle losses inflicted on the Brit
ish capitalist class, losses which can
only partially be made up, and which
have further accentusted the decline
OF British capitalism, the British CAPT
talist class has solidly rallied behind
The mine owners and have backed up
their program to the hilt? The rea-
son is to be found in the fact that
the struggle between the miners and
mine owners is far more than strug-
gle, and as such 1t was essential that
the British capitalist class show a
united front to the workers in this
struggle. To the British capitalist
class, the miners are regarded as the
shock troops of the British working
class Defeat them. and the defeat
of the British working class is assured,
and the program OF foisting upon the
workers the losses OF British capital
ism is made easy. SO reasoned the
British capitalist class, and this ex-
plains their willingness TO sustain
such terrific economic losses as in
creased taxation, adverse balance OF
trade. and a further weakening OF
the whole structure of British CAPT
talism.
In this struggle the government has
opnely revealed It's function, that of
the executive committee OF the CAPT
talist class. seeking by all possible
means to execute the program of Brit
ish capitalism and defeat the advanc-
ed section of the working class.
THE miners strike was political
L struggle and the tragedy OF It was,
that the masses OF workers outside
the ranks OF the miners. paralyzed by
the traitorous conduct OF their lead
ers were unable TO act In accord with
this and forced to stand idly by
while the miners were beaten by mass
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-24

starvation and other coercive mea-
sures. ~
The strike was rich in a number
of lessons for the working class move
ment not only in England but else
where First and foremost was the
complete unmasking of the reform
lists, their role as agents of the CAPT
talist class was clearly shown. From
the beginning of the general strike
called to assist the miners, right up to
the end Of the struggle, the leaders
of the British trade union movement,
the members of the general council,
showed their hatred of the miners and
their solidarity with the program of
British capitalism. Let us enumerate
a few of their betrayals to refresh the
memory of those workers who easily
forget the events of yesterday.
THE calling off of the general strike.
4 when the solidarity of the British
workers in support of the miners
threatened to develop into political
struggle for power between the capt.
talist class and the working class was
the first act of treachery. The strike
was called Off without consultation
with the miners and the miners left
to shift for themselves, the reform
lists believing that the struggle would
quickly end once the general strike
was called off. Their hatred knew no
limits when the rank and file OF the
miners continued the strike after
heir betrayal by the general council
A LTHO a pact was concluded be
1 tween the miners executive and
the Trade Union Council pledging the
support of the British labor move
ment TO the strike, this pact merely
served to tie the hands of the miners
while the leaders OF the British labor
movement continued their intrigue
against the coal miners. In the heat
Of the battle, came Bromleys publ.
cation OF the T. u. Councils report on
the strike, condemning the miners for
not surrenderlng and going back to
work. This immensely strengthened
the hands OF the coal operators and
was actually responsible for the re.
turn TO work Of thousands of miners
who would otherwise have remained
out on strike.
T,HEN came the Bournemouth con-
l. gress when the official trade union
machine was able to spike all effoc-
tive aid to the miners in spite Of the
genuine rank and file sympathy among
the workers. Bournrmouth was fol.
lowed by Margate which again refus.
ed aid TO the miners and where the
chairman of the Lasor Party, Robert
Williams, insulted the struggle OF the
miners for a living wage by likening
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-24
The Task of the "Saue the Union" Bloc

Returns anthracite District s. Pennsylvania
and District - Illinois, published THE DAILY WORKER within
The days. Enthusiastically that the Save the Union"
ticket headed Brophy defeated John l. Lewis these
decisive sections of the
In have secured
the Brophy ticket beat the machine and three
teIlers Brophy
has polled majority of votes.
it apparent Lewis machine has the
slightest intention complying with the constitutional provisions
which mandatory all local unions with the
abuaed lists by local Failure do this in
the last election prma c evidence of the defeat of the Lewis
machine
In carrying the cap
at press the United Nine Workers Journal and the official trade
union press intensive campaign substantiate the claims of
victory.
Ellis searles editor of the United Nine Workers Journal says
in the issue of December 10 which went before the election
While the election hare get been
raised and counted confidence in the provbiaI loyalty Of
membership principles deep that
result, ohen announced oH pooe be such crushing
feat for these nte1op that nothing 0H be heard from
them.
L. Lewis getting up Springfield
he reelected
publicity machinery American Federation of
Labor claiming reelection the Lewis machine
the detailed results the election possession of the
machine it preparing for the convention January %
Reports District Virginia received from miners
approached by agents machine effect
group $50 delegates is be the convention from that dis
alone ato including members exoneated from paying Dues
financed by the Lewis machine
methods ocialdom that has epudated
by the rank and file.
likewise prepare the
yention struggle membership
large of the
conspiracy against the membership
"organize the unOrganized
fields" practical program the struggle which will take
place beginning with the expiration the Jacksonville agreement
spring
The mines working better than for months The
British huge world shortage
this the storing coal with which supply the
if a strike takes place
The membership the T. NJ W. of A. informed of the
of the Lewis slogan of prosperity and employment The
the Union bloc has the task of modelling the for
fight whose decisive will
clearly the end Of the approaches
basic the struggle the membership should
be
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-24

take any steps to aid the British strik-
ers. Another achievement" of the
Miners International was to, refuse
to admit the Russian coal miners to
the International in spite of the ire
mendous aid given by the Russian
miners to the British strikers.
A MOTHER factor which seriously
weakened the. miners In their
struggle was the vacillations and com
promising tactics of their own execu-
tive. The first mistake was the pact
entered into between the miners ex-
ecutive and the Trade Union Council
whereby the miners agreed to the call
ing off of the Trade Union Executive
meeting scheduled to take place June
rs where the council would have been
forced to give detailed report and
explain its conduct in the calling off
Of the general strike. This was
GROWING blunder, for an elementary
understanding would have pointed out
the simple fact that the men who
called off the general strike would not
aid the miners to continue the strug-
gle and that the only way in which
the miners could get real aid from the
British labor movement would be by
exposing these leaders to the rank
and file and thus eliminating them
and securing change of working
class leadership.
THIS was fatal mistake and con-
1 tributed heavily to the defeat of
the strikers, Then there was the re-
fusal to call out the safety men, the
accepting of the Bishops proposal for
arbitration which was voted down by
the rank and Ale. The more the lead
ers of the miners indicated their will
ingness to compromise, the more Sc
we're became the terms of the govern
ment to settle the strike. What the
leaders OF the miners should have
done was to prosecute the strike with
all possible yigor and appeal to the
rank and file of the other unions for
aid over the heads OF their respective
leaders. Had that policy been follow
ed instead OF a yacillating attitude.
Willingness to compromise, first on
wages, then on hours and finally even
on national agreement, the resist
ance of the miners would have been
tremendously strengthened and their
struggle would have ended in vic.
tory.
Every tendency TO compromise only
hardened the determination OF the
capitalist class to put thru their pro-
gram of smashing the Miners Fedora.
ton and thus pave the way for de-
feat OF the entire working class move.
ment
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-24
Class Peace and Class Struggle in Great Britain

ness to the truth of their statement
that the general strike was an indus
trial. and not political struggle,
the leaders of the British labor move
ment allowed the government to raise
all the political Issues and then called
off the general strike and deserted the
miners.
THIS desertion policy was carried
l. out up to the day the miners went
back to work-starved and ragged.
Not only did the official leadership re-
fuse to put an embargo on foreign
scab coal. but 1t sabotaged the raising
Of strike relief,
To this day the official leadership
maintains. that the general strike was
not Of a political character. But
now that an attack is to be made
upon the trade unions by Legislative
methods, its official organ announces
that the unions face political strug
gle.
Surely the attack on the labor move
ment Of last spring was just as deadly
in its purpose as that for which the
government prepares now.
OPEAKING of the campaign of the
~ Federation of British Industries.
the Daily Herald says:
They have declared that wages
must come down in order that i'm
dustry may adjust to the new post
war conditions" Their campaign
has resulted in a definite lowering
of the standards Of hundreds of
thousands of men and women; it
has been so successful that the pur-
chasing power of the people has
been criminally reduced; it has
gone on simultaneously with the
continuance Of the unemployed army
at we'll over million. And yet they
are not content.
A LII of the above is true, but was
"A it not just as true last May, when
the whole organized section of the
British working class was in revolt
against slave conditions and against
the government which fought for the
capitalists and against the workers?
When the labor movement was on
the march, ready for the struggle in
which it was certain of victory, barring
treason within it's own ranks, why
did the leadership that now formally
recognizes the political character of
the conflict constantly din into the
ears of the masses that their fight was
a purely, industrial struggle?
Last May was the time to make the
statements that are being made now
before the miners had been starved
and beaten.
DUT even today, if the working class
II gets ready to take the struggle
out of parliament it will find these
same leaders in opposition and making
the same excuses, proposing the same
utilities by which they covered up
their treason last spring.
Right now such right wing spokes-
men as Philip Snowden and Fsank
Hodges are advising the workers to
adopt policy of industrial peace"
the same slogan under the Federation
Of British Industries and the govern
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-24
BY WILLIAM F. DUNE.

T IGHT is thrown on the conditions
IL in which the British coal miners
were left by the desertion Of the
Trades Union Congress leaders by an
item appearing in the London Daily
Herald for Dec. 6:
Hundreds Of miners from Ryhope
and Silksworth, large colIiery viii
lagos near Sunderland, who went on
trek to find work in the South York
shire coal fields last week, have had
syretched experience.
Many spent the night in disused
coke ovens, sheds and even in the
open air under hedges. They had
spent their all on charabanc (motor
busses) fare of 10 shilIings, and the
charabanc proprietors had to bring
them back free.
Now comes the significant part OF
the item:
Meanwhile the local terms offered
at Ryhope Colliery have been ac-
cepted during the weekend, and the
pit will re-start today.
WITH such misery prevailing among
w the miners as the above item
pictures, the coal owners are in a
position to dictate terms.
What these terms mean can be
sathered from another item in the
same issue of the Daily Herald, from
which we quote above:
Never had proposals so exacting,
so unjust, and so inhuman been Of
fered to any body of workers, said
Mr.. w. p. Richardson, treasurer of
the Miners Federation and general
secretary Of the Durham Miners
Association, in a speech at Ryhope,
on the settlement terms. the
owners demands as to times OF
starting and ceasing work were so
unreasonable as to make it impos-
sibIe for the men to have any social
life at all. In some places they were
making it that the men did not fin
ish shift until p. m. or 7:30 p. m.
NETHILE the miners are being driven
w back to the pits under conditions
described succinctly above, the British
capitalist class and it's government
are moving against the rest of the
labor movement all along the line.
The Daily Herald for Dec. 4 says
editorially:
Another of the tory governments
attacks on the workers appears to be
ready for launching. The cabinet
committee, which has been consider
ing measures to cripple the power of
the trades unions, has completed its
work.
The time has come for the whole
trade union and labor movement to
tell the government definitely and
Enthusiastically that this policy must
be changed. Labor's energies
have been directed to meeting at
tacks on the Industrial field, inI-
tiated by the employers and 70
Inented by the government. And
our opponents have imagined that
the Industrial struggles of the past
year have placed the workers in
such a position that reaction may
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-24

TN discussing various angles OF the
l. strike it is interesting to contrast
the aid given by the Russian workers
who contributed five million dollars
in support of the strike and who were
the financial backbone of it, and thu ,
aid given by the Amsterdam Inter
national and by the American Trade
Unions. The right wing leaders had
placed great hope on the aid to be
secured from the American unions.
But when all the smoke had vanished,
the great American contribution
amounted to only fifty thousand dol
lars, mere drop in the bucket. and
staggering blow to those who rested
their hopes on the American labor
movement. The difference between
the contribution of the Russian work
ers and the American workers is an
excellent comparison of the ratio OF
class consciousness existing in the
two countries.
WHAT effect did the strike have on
w the British labor movement?
The decline of British capitalism
has revolutionized the British labor
movement and the general strike and
the long drawn out miners struggle
had increased class consciousness
among the workers ten-fold. This has
expressed itself in a tremendous
surge of left wing sentiment among
the rank and file of the workers and
the very rapid growth both in mum.
bers and influence OF the Communist
Party of Great Britain which is In the
process OF becoming a real mass party
having its roots deep down in the
British labor movement.
A LII signs point to further decline
= OF British capitalism which means
an intensihcation OF the class strug-
gle. The one big lesson of the British
general strike apd the miners strus.
gle ID that If the working class is to
win in its struggle with capitalism, 81
must have leadership which will not
ialter at the critical moment and
which will be steeled by correct un-
derstanding of the struggle.
The old leadership at best was ira
ditionally incapable of conducting a
struggle of the whole OF the work
Ing class, It thot in terms of craft
and sectional struggles, not on the
basis OF a united working class
against the capitalist class Such
leadership as Is needed at the pres
ent time by the working class can
only be found in the British Commu.
mist Party which will become the real
leader Of the workers in the srest
struggles Of the future.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-24

ment is carrying on its campaign
against the labor movement.
THE SUNDAY WORKER the organ
of the National Minority Move
ment, speaks in a tone far different
from the whine of the Daily Herald
1t says in it's issue for November Is:
Steps must be taken Immediately
to prepare for the next Trade Union
Congress so that it will be capable
of selecting real leaders for the COM
ing struggles, and not strikebreak-
ing agents. The labor party
executive and the general council
are Boosting that TINA and again
they have opened the door for ne
gotiations. Their work con-
sisted, not in opening the doors OF
negotiations for the benefit Of the
miners, but in opening the pits and
colleries for the mine owners.
The fight for a new leadership in
the trade union movement must 90
hand in hand with fight against
those who are trying their utmost to
make the whole labor movement safe
for the dominant classes. W
MTE see from this that altho the
w struggle in Britain is much more
advanced than it is in the United
States, due to the rapid decay of CAPT
talism, that the necessity still re-
mains for ousting leadership that
sis trying to make the whole labor
movement safe for the dominant
classes" just as the American trade
union leadership is trying to do.
Glass peace versus class struggle
is still the big issue in the British
labor movement.
The Workers Weekly, organ Of the
British Communist Party, speaks still
more definitely about industrial
peace" 1t says:
They are not terms of peace, but
terms of slavery which degrade the
miners and menace the whole work
ing class. They shall not endure.
At the earliest moment the miners,
helped by the rest Of the working
class, must repudiate those
tCIHlSs
Organize to Repudiate the Slave
Peace.
THE British capitalist class can cry
industrial peace and at the same
time make war upon the workers, the
cowardly official labor leadership may
write fierce verbal denunciations Of
the attack ON the workers living
standards and their rights of orgarfil
cation, striking and assemblage, while
at the same time it plots against the
masses as it did in the general strike
and the miners strike, but there is a
new force rising in the British labor
movement which is teaching and or
ganizing, and in the next struggle will
rally the non-capitalist masses.
This force is that of the British
trade union movement, which, rapidly
firing of reformist deception and
learning fast the lessons of the pres
ent period, is crystallizing its strength
in the National Minority Movement
and following more and more the path
to working class power blazed by the
Communist Party
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-24

safely go on with its political at
tacks.
THE LONDON DAILY HERALD is
L the Official organ of the Trade
Union Congress leadership and the Ia
bored attempt made in the above state
ment to draw a distinction between
the struggle of the past months and
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-24

the struggle of the present and future
by labelling one Industrial and the
other political furnishes the full ex-
PLANTATION for the fact that British cap
italist government now is able to
threaten the life of the whole labor
movement.
With appeals to heaven to bear wit