The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-07-25

81 all do dIt dGbdCk dBdlIlSL miners. III means
only more misery and exploitation for the min
ers the driving Of hundreds of thousands of
miners out of the coal industry The decisive
coal companies are subsidiaries of the great rail-
road Steel auto. public utilities, etc corpora
tons; they are reaping hundreds of millions In
profits yearly out Of the toll and misery of the
miners and other workers The operators can
and must be made to pay the demands of the
miners.
The miners reliance must be their unbreak-
able solidarity in struggle. The way to develop
and lead such solidarity and struggles has been
shown by the National Miners Union which is
leading the strike Of the miners in Western
Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. We can
and must compel the operators to grant the
immediate demands of the miners. Our answer
to the bosses plea of the crisis in the coal in
dustry is the organization of the struggle of
the miners, together with all workers towards
the breaking of the rule Of the capitalist class,
the confiscation of the coal mines, and all fac
tories, the abolition Of exploitation, which can
only be achieved through the establishment Of
the rule of the workers, along the path of the
workers in the Soviet Union.
The Miners Demands
Against the starvation program Of capitalist
justification and naturalization this conference
calls upon the miners to fight for the following
general demands, and in addition we urge the
workers to formulate and fight for local pro-
grams of demands:
General increase I'm wages
Unemployment insurance, paid for by the gov
eminent and bosses, and immediate relief for
all unemployed miners.
The six-hour day without reduction In pay.
Establishment of check weighman and union
conditions.
Recognition of mine committees elected by
all the workers
Abolition of company towns, company stores
evictions and payment in scrip.
Protection of the health and safety of the
workers.
Abolition Of the speed-up.
Abolition Of the check-off.
The right to organize, strike and picket and
abolition Of the injunction.
Equal rights for all Negro miners including
wages, assignment Of work, etc.
No discrimination against persecution Of
foreign born workers.
Equal pay for young workers and special pro-
lection.
Unconditional release OF all workers arrested
in connection with strike and union activities.
Withdrawal of armed forces from the striking
areas.
A national collective agreement for the whole
coal industry.
The Need for Unity
To fight successfully for these demands, unity
of the rank and file is the supreme necessity
The present scattered fights throughout the in
dustry must be connected up into broad ma
tional movement of struggle. Unity must come
from below, from the working miners 1t must
be based upon common program of demands,
mi nd ctrIppla. IT, must he directed
against the Lewis and Howats, as well as the
coal operators 1t must include anthracite and
bituminous miners, metal miners, Negroes and
white, American and foreign-born, youths and
adults men and women.
Especially does this conference emphasize the
basic need for unity between the employed and
unemployed workers. They must fight shoulder
to shoulder for their joint demands. We must
defeat the plan of the operators, Lewis and
Hoover to starve several hundred thousand work.
ers out of the coal industry.
The struggle of the miners must be linked
up with that of the whole working class. The
miners must join forces especially with the steel
workers and railroad workers. We must support
the struggle Of the miners in England, Germany,
France, etc.
THE UNITED FRONT.
To achieve unity among the miners this con-
ference proposes broad united front OF all coal
miners willing to fight for the foregoing program
of demands. For this purpose Miners Unity
Committee of Action shall be set up nationally
with branches in the various districts sub-dis-
tricts and localities These committees shall be
composed of Affiliations of locals OF the National
Miners Union, Of sympathizing U. M. w. A. To-
Gals and mnorities, of locals and minority groups
of the West Virginia Mine Workers Union, OF
Unemployed Councils, of unorganized workers