The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-08-27
The Heroic Struggle Of
the Illinois Miners

tory of the militant struggles of the workers of this country
True to their revolutionary traditions, they are carrying on
bitter stubborn fight to their living stand
ards Betrayed again and again by the national and local
officials of the United Mine Workers of America among
them Lewis Walker Howatt and Edmundson, and faced by
the present open treachery of LewsWaker and Co. IN
adopting wage cutting agreement against the will of the
membership the Illinois miners today in tens of thous
ands fighting against wage slash of practically twenty per
cent They are carrying on this fight in the face of the most
brutal terror of the local and state governments which has
already resulted in the woundng of than 100 miners
through gun fire at the hands of the deputized thugs
More and more miners entering into the struggle
New fighting being created The strike spreads
Unemployed and employed miners Negro and white, are
fighting side by side against this vicious attack on their
living standards
The strike of the illinois miners is part of the growing
resistance of the masses the starvation program of the
master 1t is outstanding struggle in the mining
industry and is part the whole struggles that have
taken place and are developing this branch of American
capitalism The miners have occupied the very forefront of
the militant struggles of the in the recent period At
this very moment the miners of Indiana carrying on
fight similar that of the Illinois miners. The coal diggers
Of East Ohio who betrayed by the UMWA officials
are continuing the fight against lockout in number of
mines under leadership of the rank and file committees
and the revolutionary National Miners Union Numerous
small strikes led by the militant union taking place in
The buminous fields of Pennsylvania storm is brewing
in the anthracite The anthracite miners preparing to
rsstthe proposed twenty-five per cent cut which the
leaders of the U.MW.A are willing to negotiate
The oppressive actions of the government the treachery
of the of L. leaders, the of demagogy side by side
with terror the weapons which the coal barons
poyg order to break the resistance of these In
this situation the Musee leaders of the F of L. and their
capoowers the Trotskyite particularly pernicious
enemies of the fighting miners who in the guise of friends
and supporters of the miners struggle carrying through
in
fight At this moment they aiming to divert the struggle
against the wage cut into fight for democracy at the hands
Of the recaonary Lewis and the socialist Walker They
doing this by claiming that the main stress in the present
fight not the development of struggle to defeat the
wage but the necessity for elections in the union.
The confronted with the establishment of their
independent leadership capable of winning the battle
against the wage cut They must GUST the Lewises and
Walkers this cannot be separated from the present
fight against the coal baron The way that the miners must
take to rid themselves of the Lese and Walkers by set
ting up rank and file committees every ine the estab
shmen of central strike committee of elected representa-
tives from the drawing inhe widest of
under this militant rank and file leadership. This will
able the miners only defeat their treacherous work
the strike but enables them to throw these reactionare out
of the The Muetes and Trotskyists however wish
turn the miners away from this struggle against the
coal barons and in this the causeof Lewis and
Walker.
Rank and file committees already springing up and
have gained considerable authority among the miners But
order to make the front of struggle the widest possible it
necessary
demands for immediate relief to the unemployed part
time miners Without exposing the Mustete and the Trot
se elements will be impossible to develop the broadest
fight against the wage cut.
The fight of these miners is not limited to Illinois They
deserve the support of the broadet sections the American
workers The question of support to the miners the protest
against the terror the organization of relief and manifesto
ton of support in other must be taken up by the
working class and particularly by the revolutionary section
The National Miners Union which led the big battles of
and
the struggles of the miners in the recent period must
support in action the demands of the Illinois miners and
demonstrate in practice the difference between the u M
W. A. and the National Miners Union. 1t must be in the
forefront the organization of relief and solidarity actions
with the Illinois fields. It must stimulate its membership
everywhere to develop the broadcast united front in all oc
ates support of the Illinois strike and attempt to unity
the developing struggles in the coal fields
The Communist Party fully supports this fight of the
Illinois miners outstanding struggle of the workers at
the present time It calls upon the membership and upon
all sympathetic workers to do evyhng possible to speed the
victories of the Illinois miners
of role of