The daily worker., 1927-04-12

lea, once q united fighting powerful
organization which bettered the con-
ditions Of the mine workers by hard
and long struggles, is now being
systematically disintegrated.
A few years after j. l.. Lewis be-
came international President the first
great blow in dividing the anthracite
from the soft coal union was struck
in the 1922 strike settlement.
Split In Two.
For the anthracite an eleven month
and for the soft coal fields two year
agreement was made, dividing one
union into two, when it came to
strikes each part had to go out alone.
A few days before the last anthra-
cite strike came to an official END,
that is, before the ratification con
vention in Scranton, Feb. l6, 1896,
the president of one of the largest
coal companies presented bouquet
of flowers to j. l.. Lewis and called
him the greatest labor leader in the
world and a second Lincoln.
The rank and file does not yet
know sufficiently the "true greatness
of their leader" 1t will be a Her
culean task to make the rank and.
file acquainted with the aecomplish-
ments of J. l.. Lewiston the opera
tors. The 1919 strike came TO an end
because of government Intervention,
Lewis told the miners 1--WE cannot
fight our government"
President Harding's republican adj
ministration wall Streets political
power) intervened to help the oper-
ators break the miners union. Lewis
himself being republican and the
operators a part of Wall Street, they
had easy sailing.
Lewis did not tell the miners and
labor in general that the operators
made use Of the government to drive
the first wedge into the miners union
for further destructive work. He
therefore is guilty in helping to deal
the first and most destructive blow
to the United Mine Workers Of Amer
lea and he is guilty in letting oppor-
tunities pass without trying to unite
the unions.
Three Weeks Vacation.
( AS we go on we win see a syste-
matte effort on the part of Lewis and
the coal operators to destroy the
fighting ability of the United Mine
/ Workers of America.
Eleven months after the 1922 strike,
in 1923 the anthracite agreement
came to an end and a three weeks
suspension, vacation, as the miners
called it, took place.
The miners called it vacation be-
cause after you have worked eleven
months in the pits shoveling from
twenty to thirty tons Of coal a day,
suspension of three weeks dura-
tion is welcome.
The first chance was missed in
1928 after the great 1922 strike for
a short agreement running out stimuli
taneously with the soft coal agree
ment and no effort was made to re-
unite the anthracite with the soft
coal miners.
Another opportunity was passed by
when in 1924 the soft coal agreement
came to an end. At this time again
an agreement could have been made
to expire with the anthracite agree
ment made for two years in Octo-
ber, 1923. Instead the famous jack
sonville, three year agreement was
made, apd when in 1926 the anthra-
cite workers went on strike for five
and half months, they were fight
ing alone while their brothers in the
soft coal fields produced coal for the
operators with which the anthracite
miners were beaten into the present
five year agreement plus an arbitra-
tion clause.
Bad Leadership.
The anthracite mine workers attri-
buted their ten per cent increase in
| ura0ac II, 1909 fo tho iaodo,cbip If