The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-04-28
BY P. FRANKEELn.

More than LOO rank and file dele
gates met in conference in Pittsburgh
April / to devise ways and means of
saving their union. After one year
of militant struggle against all of
the forces of the coal operators and
the state; against the imported scabs
and thugs; against the coal and iron
police and state constabulary; and
against the treachery of their own Of
ficials, 1,1G0 coal miners from Penn
sylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Kansas, and
other states, from the anthracite and
bituminous coal fields, organized and
unorganized, Negroes and whites,
young miners, wives of miners and
children of strikers met in the great
est conference of its kind and display
ed a fighting spirit that breathed de-
termination to win the strike in spite
of all obstacles and difficulties.
Rank and File Confident:
This conference was one of real
vitality No sign or word of defeat
was evident or heard. The great
Save-the-Un Conference helped to
consolidate all the forces of the rank
and file and to inspire the miners in
the necessary confidence in their own
ability to lead the union to victory.
Every coal miner who was present
at the conference knew what he was
there for. He knew and understood
the grave crisis which his organization
is faced with. The speeches of the
delegates following the reports of
Brophy and Toohey were sufficient
evidence. Miner after miner from all
parts of the country pointed out the
disastrous results of the Lewis policy
in their respective districts. The dra-
matte and fiery speech of Voyzey, the
rank and file miner who ran against
Lewis in 1924, will never be forgot
ten by anyone who was there.
Negro Miner Speaks.
The speech of the Negro delegate
from Clinton, Ind, made and left a
deep impression. Old timers who
were driven out of the union because
of opposition to the Lewis or the
Harrington machine like Parry of
Illinois and Myerscough of the an
thracite, gave color and prestige to
the conference. Papcun, who spoke
on the role of the youth, was we'll re-
ceived and roundly applauded. The
coal miners came there for purpose;
not merely to make and hear
speeches; but to work out plans for
taking over the machinery of the
union: This was accomplished at the
conference.
The miners strike has now entered
a new phase. The rank and file of
the union are no longer blinded by the
misleadership of the Lewis machine
The vast majority of coal miners are
fighting consciously against the poll
cies of Lewis, against the division of
the union into separate sections-bi-
luminous and anthracite. The miners
want national agreement, and will
proceed to call national strike in
order to get it. The miners will not
tolerate the playing of white worker
against black, discrimination against
the youth, and all other forms of di-
viding the workers and pitting them
against each other.
Against Lewis Rule.
The fight is now an open one
against the forces of the operators
and against the Lewis rule in the
union. The miners are grim1y deter
mined to win. If the response of the
strike call in the unorganized fields
is Indicative of anything at all, it is
that the coal strike is now taking on
national proportions, that the unor-
gained miners are ready and willing
to respond to the call of the Save-the-
Union Committee, and that the fight
of the miners is of the greatest sig
nlflcance to every worker in the U. S.
and It's success or failure will for
many years influence the develop-
ment of the entire labor movement.
Young Miners Take Leadership.
What role did the young coal min
ers play at this historic conference?
In the first place there were from ~