The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-02-18
.NMU BOARD CALL
CONVENTION OF
1000 F 0 R J U N {
Changes in Officers;
Strike This Fall

of only from the N.M.U. locals, but
also from Pit committees in the I'M
organized fields. Special efforts
will be made to mobilize strong
bloc from the unorganized fields and
from the South and Southwest.
ITO ensure its success the board
decided to postpone the convention
until early in June. The exact date
will be set at the next meeting of
the Resident Board. A series OF
important proposals of concrete
nature was also adopted by the
Board, including the establishment
of a Metal Mining Department,
which is to work out program,
select organizers and extend its
work in the field.
Toohey Ill, Granted Six Months
Leave.
The report of Secretary-Treasurer
Pat Toohey contained a request that
he be granted a six months leave
of absence because of general bad
health accumulated by strenuous &C.
tivity in the field during the recent
struggles led by the union. The
board unanimously granted Toohey's
request, and elected Chas. Guynn, at
present national organizer, to be act
ing secretary-treasurer, and Free
man Thompson, of Illinois, as acting
president, with Isiiah Hawkins as
full-time head of the Negro depart
ment of the N.M.U. At the same
time the board elected a bureau of
seven to take full charge of the work
of the union, to strengthen its lead
ership in the districts, and to pre-
pare for the coming convention.
This bureau is composed of Guynn,
Thompson, Kemenevich, Hawkins,
fash, Giambattista and Siders.
Guynm Long Active.
Guynn, who is n years old, has
been a coal miner for IA years. His
father, dad" Guynn, of Lansing,
Ohio, has dug coal for more than SO
years. Both were active in the
"Save-the- Union" movement in Ohio,
preceding the formation Of the
N.M.U. His mother took leading
part among the women during the
strike of 1927, and was among the 81
miners wives jailed in st. Glars
vile, O. Guynn has dene field work
for the N.M.U. in Illinois, Ohio, the
Anthracite, West Virginia and Penn
sylvania. He is at present free on
bond, following his conviction in
Ohio recently on the charge of crimi-
nal syndicalism. His case is being
appealed.
In accepting Toohey's request for
a leave Of absence, the board as
signed him the task of preparing a
number of pamphlets for the N. M.
U, dealing with the various prob
lens now facing the coal miners,
if his health permits. This material,
it was pointed out, is badly needed
to carry on effectively the agitation
al and organization work of the
union.
At the same time the board in
structed the Resident Bureau to pre-
pare at once a complete analysis of
the mining situation and a program
Of action.
Members Told of Decisions.
In "letter to the members of the
N.M.U.," giving the decisions of the
board, it is pointed out that the Ma
tional Miners Union is now con-
fronted with the greatest tasks in its
history. The '1etter," signed by
Freeman Thompson, acting presi-
dent, Chas. Guynn, acting secretary,
and the members of the Resident
Bureau, states:
"The speed-up and introduction
of machinery, producing permanent
mass unemployment in the industry,
the continual wage cuts, the increas-
ing brutal oppression by the govern
ment--city, county, state and ma
tional--the open unity of the Lewis
Fishwick machine, the coal opera
tors and the government against the
miners and their families; the Ho-
watts, Brophys, the Hapgoods,
former 'progressives' who now
strengthen the hands of the reac-
ton by fighting the N.M.U.-all
these developments show the rapid
sharpening of the struggle in the
coal fields and the mtal mining sec
tions, and are bringing ever larger
numbers into open struggle either
under the leadership Of our union or
in open opposition to the Lewis-Fish-
wick leadership of traitors"
Cites Illinois Struggle.
After pointing out that the coal
industry is in a crisis for which its
capitalist owners and their govern.
ment have no remedy except the
classic one Of attempting to place
the whole burden upon the workers
and their families, the letter" tells
Of the historic struggle in Illinois
where more than 10000 responded
to the strike call Of the National
Miners Union.
Citing especially this struggle the
board emphasized that the N.M.U.
accepts no compromise with the
United Mine Workers of America,
and fights relentlessly against that
outfit. The officialdom Of the U. NJ.