The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-10-26
Miners TO Vote
COMMUNIST, SAY
DIST. 5 LEADERS
Learned by Striking
That Bosses Rule
BY THOMAS MYERSCOUGH,
Secretary, District 5, National Min
ers Union.


Eighteen months of strike, accom-
panied by the bitterest kind OF per-
secution, has been sufficient to
arouse the indignant feelings Of
thousands of miners in the United
States, and these feelings will be
registered on Tuesday, Nov. s.
Men who have termed themselves
as independents politically are
going to the polls that day to VOTE
COMMUNIST, not because they are
Communists or even know that they
are potentially so, but for the reason
that they are tired of following the
time-worn policy Of the A. F. of L.
Old Veteran Speaks Up.
This departure from the Gompers'
idea of Support your friends and
defeat your enemies" was expressed
quite forcefully by an old veteran
of the mines during confab in one
Of the mining camps recently. The
men were gathered at one of the
usual "hangouts" and the coming
election was being discussed.
One man declared himself in IA
vor of that "Son of the PEEPUL
Tammany AL" but he seemed to be
alone; another said that Norman
Thomas had been a preacher end
was now the standard-bearer of the
socialist party and he believed the
workers would get heavenly guild
ance" from him, but all were con-
WINGED that Hoover of the Teapot
Dome party could not pour any oil
on their troubled waters" and that
was that. Hear what the old vet
eran had to say:
"You folks can do as you damn
please, but I am voting for Foster
and that garment worker from New
York" l FASTENED to inform him
that the presidential candidate
for the Workers (Communist) Party
was Ben Gitlow,, but he followed
with: at don't matter what their
names are, because them guys has
program and a policy. have read
it and, believe me, it don't beat
around the bush. Them guys know
as we'll as we do what we have to
Put up with and we should have had
men like them long ago."
Hands Out Literature.
He then pulled cut of his pocket
enough Communist literature to last
the whole gang for some time, and
an apparent eagerness was display ed
by most of them to grab it up. The
old-timer went from one to the
other to show them tidbits of logic
contained in the different pamphlets
and leaflets they were reading.
Someone jokingly remarked that the
A. F. of L. would not consider the
Workers Party candidates as
friends" when they were endorsing
candidates, but to this the following
reply was made by our aged fighter;
"Well they tell you to support
your friends and defeat your enc
mics, so go ahead and do that thing,
but is Hoover your friend? is the
king Of the sewer grafters, Al Smith,
your friend? is the socialist party
what it used to be with its business
men membership that begs for con-
sideration from the bosses instead
of fighting them? Who are your
friends, then?
Who's Your Friend?
when you have read those
things, meaning the Communist lit
erature, you will be convinced that
the men who are running on that
party's ticket are the ones who are
your real friends. They are work
ers themselves and have the CUTS
TO tell the bosses where to get off
at, and why shouldn't we as work.
ers support them? They are our
real friends and that part of Com
pers' plan I agree with, but am
the one to decide who my friends
are and l don't care how much my
enemies or any of the labor skates
call me Red and 'Bolshevik.'
II am voting Communist because
am voting for the things I want
, and even though | may die before
/ get them | would rather vote for
what I want and never get it than
to vote for something | do not want
and which I now get every day
whether l vote for it or not"
Dad was getting in his ticks and
seemed to like it, but it must be said
here that his audience also liked it.
They have known Dad for years
end know that he has always been
aSgood honest fighter, and after this
long strike, during which all had
experienced the oppressive tactics of
capitalist police and courts, there
was no sane argument they could
advance had they desired to do so.
Miners Learn by Fighting.
The miners have hundreds of rea-
sons for feeling as they do, and for
those hundreds of reasons thousands
Of them will vote Communist. They
have seen their men murdered, shot
from ambush by the cowardly assas-
sins hired by the master class and
the labor takers, they have seen
their men sent to prison for defend
ing themselves against attacks,
while murderers of cur people are
set free.
Only recently. at Washington,
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