The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-08-20
BY BILL GEBERT.

IN the coal field of Illinois there is new
wave OF struggle of the miners against muir
derous naturalization and unemployment. Re
cent strikes in Saline County, the present
strike of 1000 miners in Zegler, the strike in
Peabody Mine No. IS in West Frankfort, are
just the first indications of the growing re-
belon of the miners. The economic pressure
on the miners is so hard that they cannot
stand it any longer and they are simply forced
to fight back. Wage cuts in all forms, speed
up increasing from day to day and introduce
ton of new machinery, mean that every month
thousands of additional miners are forced out
of the mines. The mines are mo longer mines
but factories" Unemployment is severe
throughout the field and those who are work
ing do so only part time. Misery and starvation
is general throughout the field.
1t is no wonder that these conditions brought
about struggles in Saline County and in Frank
lin County and that there is a growing SYM
pathy for these strikes among the miners in
other mines. This growing readiness for strug-
gle is worrying the coal operators and their
fascist and social fascist agents very much.
Coal operators and city, county and state gov
eminent, courts, police and fascist gangsters
are all doing their bit to suppress the move
ment of the miners.
The raid on the office of the Illinois Section
of the National Miners Union (now the Mine,
Oil and Smelter Workers Industrial Union) in
West Frankfort smashing of the office and
the burning of all records of the union and
beating up and driving out of the county the
leaders of the miners and representatives of
the Trade Union Unity League some of
the methods used in the coal fields against
militant miners.
Dangerous Methods.
But we wan; to say that much more danger
Gus methods are pursued by the coal operators
to mislead the rebelous miners. Thanks to the
opportunstic mistakes of the former leader
ship of the N.M.U. Watts, Corbishly, Voyzey,
Alard) and their anarchstc methods in hand
ling the affairs of the union, the NMU. as
an organizationa force has been practically
eliminated. This situation is exploited by the
local takers of the Lewis and Fishwick ma
chimes starting so-called rank and file move
meut" (Which, by the way, has among its
leaders small coal operator, Sherman Steel
of Muscutah) Thsee misleaders call second
estate Rank and File Convention of the I'M.
wa" to be held in Bellville on August &c.
The clear social fascist line of the leadership
of this fake rank and file movement is very
clearly exposed in a letter of John Ward and
James injury of West frankfort.
To James j. Davis, Secretary of Labor:
referring 10 your invitation Whlch was
published in the press inviting the operators
and the miners of the bituminous coal field
to get together and try to form some plan
by which the confusion in the bituminous
coal fields would be eliminated
''The great trouble as we see it at present
is to find man who would have the con-
fidence of the rank and file of the bituminous
fields to represent them in conference such
you have in mind"
And Further On.
Further in the letter they state that the
U.M.W.A. is destroyed for all practical pur-
poses in the btuminous field" This more clear
ly than anything else shows that the miners
have no more faith in the fascist and social
fascist leadership of the U.M.W.A. and there
fore the leadership of the fake rank and file
movement try to say that they are the only
ones who can speak for the miners and so have
the privilege of selling the miners to any one
who will offer the best price