The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-05
MARCH GIN THE ILLINOIS
COAL FIELDS
Preparing for May Day

them to demonstrate. The comrades felt that
our forces were too weak to fight back, and
decided not to hold a demonstration. Instead
an indoor meeting was held We have already
issued leaflet protesting against the preven-
ton of the demonstration by the police, and
calling upon the workers to demonstrate against
the wishes of the police, on April l. Only
handful of Party comrades turned up for the
demonstration on March 6 and very little mob
ilization was done because of the failure of
the WIR. to supply the victimized miners
with relief for a number of weeks.
In Benton, Franklin County (Which is the
key coal Co. of Illinois) although we concen-
trated a good deal of our forces, we failed to
have the demonstration. heavy downpour Of
rain before and after the hour of the demon
stration kept the miners from the surrounding
towns from coming in with the exception Of
about 25. This of course is no excuse for the
failure of the demonstration. Far from it.
Miners who are afraid of getting wet will not
be fearless to face a rain of steel and this
with the sharpening of all contradictions, par
ticularly pronounced in the coal fields, now be-
comes the order of the day around here.
In our Springfield demonstration we can reg
lister certain amount of success. Over 1000
workers massed before the State capitol and on
the streets, blockading traffic, etc. The State
capitol an armed camp. Twenty-Five ma
chine guns were perched on the State capitol.
Over 800 city and state police were present.
The militia was there. The Legislative Hall
across the street was lined with machine guns.
The state arsenal block away was filled with
militia ready to serve at a moments notice.
When the crowd gathered, Comrade Newhoff,
sent from the district, got on the capitol steps,
started to speak and was Immediately pushed
off. He got into the crowd, was lifted on the
shoulders of two comrades, and had hardly be-
gun to speak when he was dragged down and
arrested along with the two comrades who
were holding him up. No other comrades got
up to speak, and yet SO high the fighting
spirit of the miners and other workers that it
took the police and militia almost an hour to
break up the ranks of the workers.
1t is necessary to note a few shortcomings
in regard to our preparations. We did not
properly arrange to get cars to take the work
ers in from outlying towns to the central point
of the demonstrations. Except in Springfield,
little work was done to mobilize the miners in
their gathering places (the halls, cafes, pool
rooms, etc.. Although leaflets were distrib-
uted and posted on the main highways, this
was not sufficient. insufficient work was done
in and around the mines We should have
posted large placards on the highways, calling
the workers to demonstration. We also failed
to mark up the main roads and streets with
indelible chalk to call the masses to the DEM
onstration This would have been very effective.
We did not have sufficient number of local
leaflets. Our central committee leaflet was
for the most part too heavy and difficult for
the miners to grasp. Many comrades failed to
talk up the demonstration, and were afraid to
mention the name of the Party, legalism crop
ped out, etc. The failure of the Springfield
Comrades to work among the Negroes must be
noted as an impermssable act.
We were handicapped also by the lack of
forces in the field, as well as the lack of local
leadership. Despite all this the spirit of the
comrades is higher now than before the DEM
onstration. The fight against right wing ten
denotes, our mobilization of over 1000 in
Springfield, the great success of the Party
throughout the country, have all helped us to
set the Party to look forward to mass demon
strations in Southern Illinois on May l. under
the main slogan of work or Wages" and
Defend the Soviet Union.''