The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-04-16
BONITA DEFENSE
BRANDS VERDICT
CLASS JUSTICE
Will Fight to Free Three
Miners


ter denunciation of the verdict by
which Sam Bonita, young Pittston
mine leader, was sentenced to serve
from ten to twenty years in prison,
was made today by the Bonita Men
dola- Moleski Defense Committee with
headquarters at 513 Coal Exchange
Bldg in this city.
In long statement analyzing the
forces behind the verdict as result
of which one of the leading fighters
in the anthracite is to be placed be-
hind the bars, Stanley Dziengielewski,
secretary of the committee, exposed
the nature of the operator-controlled
justice and the treachery of the union
officials who more than any others
are responsible for the attempt to
railroad the militant union leader. The
statement follows:
"Sam Bonita has been sentenced to
serve from ten to twenty years in
prison. The verdict of manslaughter
against one of our leading fighters
whom the whole working class knows
the warning which we have issued
Sam Bonita is innocent-as every
enc knows.
"Yet the forces of boss-controlled
justice with the assistance of the
treacherous officials of the Lewis
Cappelini machine have succeeded in
bringing about q verdict of guilt.
'For the moment our enemies seem
to have triumphed. The object sought
by the coal operators, the officials of
the Lewis-Cappelini machine and their
ether indirect accomplices in the union
appears to have been attained. Nor
is this all.
''In the next few days, Adam Mo-
leski and Steve MENDOZA will be placed
on trial in an attempt to send them
to the same fate as has been ordained
for Bonita. This is the aim of our
enemies.
Bonita, Moleski and MENDOZA are
being prosecuted not merely because
they have led the fight in the anthra-
cite against the enslavihg individual
contract system; our fellow workers
are suffering not alone because they
have dared to challenge the corrupt
Lewis machine in the miners union.
"They are being tortured because
at the present moment they symbolic
the whole struggle Of the working
class. Already their cause must be
read with that of Sacco and Vanzetti,
with Mooney and Billings, with DOM
meek Ventaurato and the Ziegler min
ers, with the scores of other labor
martyrs who have fallen victims Of
the hatred of the ruling class and it's
agents.
Workers Must Act!
"The miners, the workers of the
country must rally to the support of
Bonita, Moleski, MENDOZA. There must
be no repetition in the case of Mo-
leski and MENDOZA Of the Bonita YER
dict Bonita must be saved from
prison. The cases of these workers
must be taken to that highest court
which alone will declare them limo.
cent, the supreme court of the work.
ing class.
Immediate mass protest and de-
monstration alone can save these in
nocent miners from the hatred and
vengeance of our enemies. Prompt
and en- rgetic support of the Bonita
Moleski MENDOZA Defense Committee
financially and morally is the prima
duty of the labor movement.
Bonita, Moleski and MENDOZA muse
be saved for the working class.
Labor unions, fraternal and SYM
pathetic organizations must at once
hold meetings, pass resolutions, send
contributions to the committee, 518
Coal Exchange Building, Wilkes
Barre.
Bonita, Moleski, MENDOZA shall be
frced!"
Glass Justice
The national office of the Interna-
tional Labor Defense through its
secretary James P. Cannon, yester-
day issued ringing denunciation of
the "class verdict" in the case of Sam
Bonita, Pittston miner, against whom
verdict of manslaughter has been
brought in at trial in Wilkes-Barre.
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