The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-10-19
By JACK O'HARE.

CHICAGO, Oct 18.--After six
months of fighting and starvation
it is clear that the whole labor move
ment must unite to save the Miners
Union, to organize relief and defense.
The miners of Illinois, Indiana and
the southwest are returning into the
dark depths of the pits, while the
striking miners Of Pennsylvania and
Ohio are left in the fight to face
further starvation, evictions from
their homes and injunctions. There
has been some vague promise of re-
lief, but no money, no food, no cloth
ing has been sent by officialdom to
Pennsylvania and Ohio where the
miners are starving and freezing in
their tent colonies.
Secret Deal.
After six months of starving, over
fifty percent of the striking miners
are compelled to accept a temporary
six-month truce agreement signed on
October LIST, in secret session by the
coal operators and the Lewis machine;
an agreement which practically means
the signing away of the Jacksonville
agreement after the. six-month period
is over. For the first time in the
history of the Miners Union the rank
and file had no voice nor vote in
the making of the agreement. In
the past, no matter how reactiOnary
the officials of the Miners Union,
they at least referred the agreements
to the rank and file for referendum
vote.
Broken Front.
The temporary six-month truce
agreement has destroyed the united
front of the miners in this struggle
when John Lewis assented to the
signing of district agreements. The
district agreements have divided the
miners, and is destroying the power
of the miners union.
In the early days the miners strug-
| gled from agreements with individual
operators to sub-district agreements,
then as the miners became better
organized, they fought for district
| az cllAO Ililllly
years of struggle national agree
ment was won. All this was progress
in the right direction.
John Lewis retreat now from the
principle of national agreement is a
long step backward. The rank and
file of the miners union has been
continually struggling for national
agreement" to cover the coal in
dustry and their slogan has been can
/ injury to one, is an injury to ALL"
Yet in spite of the demand of the
miners the officials are continually
isolating and weakening the miners
union and playing into the hands of
the coal operators.
Miners Were Betrayed.
The miners waged an heroic fight
/ in this struggle and it is another
great chapter in the history of the
miners union. The reason that this
struggle is not a more glorious chap
ter is purely and simply the treach-
cry of the present miners officials.
These officials from the beginning of
! the strike showed tendency to sur
ecnder by refusing to launch mil
itant struggle against the coal oper-
ators, they sabotaged the extension
Of the fight to the unorganized fields
! and the anthracite fields as proposed
4 oy the Progressive Miners Committee,
they failed to set up national re-
lief committee or draw the whole
labor movement to the support Of the
strike, and now these officials have
accepted as part of the siX-months'
truce agreement that the wage
rate paid to the miners using loac-
ing machines or other machine =
vices shall be readjusted, which in
plain simple words means a reduction
in wages.
But worse yet, Lewis & Co., accept
the contentious of the coal operators
that the Jacksonville agreement can
not be retained permanently, but must
be revised.
That the treacherous six-month
truce agreement is a complete sell
out of the miners can be seen by
comparing the speech of President
Fishwick of the Illinois Miners to