The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-11-05
By IRVING KEITH, Philadelphia District

strengthen the League in those centers
where we already had some organization. 1t
also started us on the road towards building
the League in those important strategic CEN
tiers where we had no organization. Thus, one
of the chief tasks given the Philadelphia dis
trict of the League was the building of an
organization in the Anthracite.
The central task set for us in the Anthracite
was the successful carrying through of min
ing youth conference. This conference, of
course, was not to be an end in itself but was
to be a means of establishing the League as
factor in the daily life and struggles of the
young miners; to build the revolutionary min
ers union through the recruiting of young
miners, building youth sections, etc. To carry
through such program it was necessary to
have a clearly defined policy on the building
of the union, at least some basic organization
of the union and an understanding of the con-
ditions of the young miners. Based on these
it was necessary to have planned program
of activity to reach the young mine workers
Youth in Anthracite
The young workers constitute about rs per
cent of the total number of mine workers. AL
most all of these are employed either as labor
ers in the mines or on the breakers. The
wages of these young laborers and the adult
laborers in the mines are about the same, aver
aging from $3.50 to $3.50 per day. The young
mine workers are forced to belong to the
United Mine Workers and are compelled, by the
recently introduced check-off, to pay dues.
However, they have neither voice nor vote, nor
may they hold office in the local unions until
they are 81 years of age The new agreement,
signed between the anthracite operators and
the UNIV, which went into effect on Sep
TENDER LIST, leaves the way open for an increase
of the speed-up and an extensive introduction
of machinery. With this we can expect an
increase in unemployment, on the one hand,
and an increase in the percentage of young
miners.
Besides the mining industry the Anthracite
has large and important textile industry. In
the silk mills from rs to S5 per cent of the
workers young. The conditions of these
young workers are now miserable and with
a constant increase in the speed of production,
and wage cuts taking place daily, are getting
worse. For the League these textile mills must
become an important point for concentrated
activity. One of our biggest mistakes hereto
fore was the failure to even pay the slightest
attention to these mills, or create in even one
mill base for the National Textile Workers
Union and the League
General Policies and Work.
The Party, League and union in Philadelphia
have been drifting along without clear policy
on how to proceed in order to win over the
mass of the mine workers from the UNIV.
Where the UNIV. has as its organizational
base the mine local we were trying to organize
general city locals. There was no plan of
work, thus concentration on any particular
mines, or for that matter, on anye particular
CITY, No consistent day to day activity was
carried on to build the union, Party or League.
Each comrade working in his own field,
trying to build an organization overnight in the
whole length and breadth of the Anthracite
At the time of the Pittsburgh convention of
the miners union the comrades were talking
of sending 20 delegates, without having even
one functioning mine group. The Party, about
year ago. spoke of a general strike in the
Anthracite on September LIST. In the PhiladeI-
phia district borough of the League We spoke
of it as late as July. On September 1st we
were even too weak to have one Unemployment
Demonstration in the entire Anthracite. There
were no mine committees, no organization.
This was a result of the lack of policy chaotic
work, no consistency and no concentration.
Reaction on Youth Work
The failure of the League to this date to
hold mining youth conference and to es-
tablish itself very firmly in the Anthracite, is
very closely connected with this general situa-
that the sole blame for this does not and can
not rest on the Party. We failed, in the first
place, to pay sufficient attention to the con-
sistent following up of the old connections and
the few new ones established. We failed to
consolidate these connections into organization.
New methods of work remained phrase on
paper, or were deeply concealed in our minds.
Faced with situation where, because of the
sharpness of the terror it was impossible for
us to sell or distribute literature at the mines
we were unable to formulate methods which
would enable US to reach the young miners.
We were faced with tremendous difficulties; no
means of issuing eaflet as we have no
Monograph machine; often not even fare to
go out to the mines or small mining towns;
and we could not overcome these difficulties
quickly enough. Today, however, though still
faced, to great extent, with these difficulties,
and many other obstacles, we begin to see
way, through the carrying on of consistent
work. to build an organization and overcome
the greatest of these difficulties.
The fact that there was no organizational
base for the union, no program which would
lead to the formation of this base, and no
perspective, made it impossible to speak seri-
ously of carrying through mining youth con-
ference. Especially is this so in view of the
situation in the industry. There is no con-
centration of young workers in any particular
mine, as we find in other industries For ex-
ample, if we speak of 35 per cent young work
ers in the metal industry we know that these
are concentrated in certain youth factories