The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-03-09
BY TOM JOHNSON


WE have learned something OF the valus of
W SeR-criticism in our Party. Our Plenums
are repete with it. This is good, but it is not
enough. There still seems to exist the fallacious
idea that the only correct and proper placs for
sef-criticiSm is at Plenums of the Central Com
mittee. There the air is filled with self-crticism
of our mistakes in this or that action and we
go forth with our sins abSolved-au too fire.
quently to make the same mistakes again.
II 1sef-criticiSm is to be the sharp-edged
weapon In the Bolshevization Of our Party that
it can and must be- 1t must not be allowed to
grow. rusty in the attic until the next Plenum
rolls around. Mistakes and weaknesses must be
expressed AND CORRECTION the course Of the
struggle as they are made. This article is an
attempt to deal with our strategy and tactics in
the Kentucky strike from this standpoint.
The Earlier Situation.
What was the situation in Kentucky before
the strike? A spontaneous mass movement
against wage-cuts had developed in the spring
of 1881. The unorganized miners of Harlan
County. called on the United Mine Workers OF
America to organize and lead their struggle. The
UM,W.A. stepped in and found itself up against
a difficult job in its tWofold task of breaking
the strike and at the same time retaining the
strikers within its organization.
The operators uneaShed one Of the worst cam
paigns Of mass terror in the history of American
labor struggles against the strikers The
U. M W. A. retreated fast and in the early sum-
mer deserted the field altogether, leaving some
30-odd strikers facing murder charges, some
5000 blacklisted and the strike movement tenn
porarily smothered and crushed by the COM
blnstion OF terror and the strike breaking tao
tics of the U.M.W.A. leadership.
Then the Kentucky coal fields began to feel
the repercuSsions of the Penn-Ohio-W. Va
strike. A National Miners Union organizer was
sent into the Kentucky fields. The response of
the miners to the program of the National
Miners Union was instantaneous and enthusiastic
Blacklisted and working miners signed up by
the hundreds, locals sprung up everywhere and
Is delegates were sent to the July 18th Strike
Conference in Pittsburgh. The will to fight
was there All that was needed was leadership
and preparation for the coming struggle.
Preparation for the Strike Vital
Proper preparation for the coming strike was
vital The miners of Kentucky have little ira
dition Of organization and that little a tradi-
ton of United Mine Workers of America meth
DDS and tactics.
The left wing of the American labor move
ment had never gained foothold in these hills
the Communist Party was unknown and the
Communist program undreanled Of Genera
tons Of isolation has made the miners highly
individualistic with highly developed racial and
social prejudices. Further, we we're up against
an efficiently organized and most ruthless ter
ror which made organizatonal preparations for
the strike Of paramount Importance.
Our Party correctly estimated the Kentucky
strike as of first class Importance. We saw in
the development of this mass action an oppor-
tunity TO open up the South for our movement
N tnc nd
which had smothered our Party in the South.
We saw an opportunity TO raise in the course
of a mass struggle fundamental issues such as
the Communist position Oh the Negro question,
etc, and to sweep fresh thousands of native
American, Negro and white into our ranks on
the crest OF this gathering wave of struggle.
What did we do to make this perspective
reality? We sent in one organizer from the
National Miners Union late in June still later
another comrade was sent One organizer came
in from the LID and when the Straight Creek
strike broke, relief organizer was sent ill., but
during most Of the summer and fall when prep
arations we're being made for strike which we
expected would involve some 10000 workers, only
two organizers were in the field-ono from the
National Miners Union and one from the In
ternational Labor Defense Three weeks before
the strike actually started VIC sent in ono of our
more experienced comrades to- complete prep
arations, These wcrc tho forces which prepared
the Kentucky strike.
The inevitable result was poorly prcpare
strike, a strike apparatus which functoncA
hatingy and without assurance little undss-
standing Oh tho part oil ths strikers and loo~a