The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-04-24
The anthracite
Strikes
BY TOM MYERSCOUGH.


CCARCELY half of the Anthracite miners are
at work. Thousands of them are locked out
while many thousands more are striking against
the attempts of the operators to impose new
wage cutting conditions upon them. North East
ern Pennsylvania presents IsaSB anew as place
where fierce class battles will be fought.
Heroic struggles resulted in the establish
ment of the union in this region, and who hasn't
heard of the Latmer and many other viciously
fought battles in which valient miners gave
their lives for the right of their fellow workers
to organize. And in spite of the efforts of the
fake leaders and fake progressves to prevent
it, more struggles, will soon be fought. When
newspaper headlines read-11, 900 Miners Strike
at Standardization Miners Fight Wage Cut
$4,000 Glen Alden Miners Strike, etc.-they do
not tell half of the story. The whole region is
seething with dissatisfied miners who are bent
on raising that kind of hell that demands notice
and satisfactory remedial action.
Shaving under the worst agreement ever written
for them and which they properly describe as the
"Slave Agreement" the hard coal miners are
now able to see who their worst enemies are.
Not that they have developed new liking for
IDe greedy operators, IIldC Ufley are disposed
to be any more fond of the operators best Stock
in-trade" John L. Lewis and John Boylan, but
they have learned that the reason for the re-
peated defeats they suffer at the hands of these
already known enemies, lies in the unlimited
faith they have placed in fake progressives
Lesson of Glen Alden
The best lesson they ever received in this
in no ctr no
Glen Alden Coal Company In this strike when
victory would have been easy, they found the
new Messahs of "Progressivism," Maloney, Davis
and Tomicheck spouting radical speeches only
to treat them later to one of the worst sell-ouee
in the history of the Anthracite. But it re-
manned for the National Miners Union to expose
this fact to them. This was done when the
misleaders' leadership" was not yet evident to
the miners. To the leaders of the NMU who
were present the empty efforts to repeat radical
phrases made by Maloney. Davis and Tomichek
were so evident that Immediately they exposed
them as covered agents of Lewis and the OPP
orators and told the miners to beware of
coming betrayal And, although not willing to
accept active NMU leadership at the time the
miners nevertheless began to strengthen their
chances of ultimate victory by agreeing to our
intensified demand that the strike be spread
Dy mass plcKetng. Iney dld not, however, heed
our advice and take the leadership of the strike
out of the takers hands and place it in the
safe keeping of broad rank ant file committee
so the results were disastrous.
Reaching the stage when total bankruptcy
had set it, Maloney, Davis and Tomichek de-
cided to unload the strike on the shoulders of
District President Boylan but without success
and then with frantic gesture made an attempt
to have Lewis intercede But John L. not only
refused to help them out of their difficulty,
he wired them vicious insult and ordered their
immediate return to work
Lewis then arrived in the Anthracite sum-
moned the 'progressives to meeting with
himself, Baylan and the operators and now the
Glen Alden men are back at work under worse
conditions than those prevailing before the strike.
Election Struggle
But the spirit Of rebellion is still there and
the miners are girding themselves for more
battles Now it is within the UMWA itself.
Elections are coming and an attempt will be
made to clean house from top to bottom and
vice versa. New and better elements are be-
ing found and trained for leadership The
National Miners Union is on the job and will
be found leading the Anthracite miners in a
series Of rcvolts that will spell "Finis' for Lewis
before he docs in the Anthracite the kind Of
job he did i'll the bitllminous region for the
operators. * s..si7