The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-04-12
By FRED VIGMAN


now the kentucky and Tennessee coal oper-
Ators are going about organizing the new
terror drive against the National Miners Union,
Workers international Relief and the Comnu-
mist Party IN Knoxville 20 try 10 crush the
directive and relief centre Of the present strike
struggle, fs revealed in the nth Of a series of
articles in the Knoxville Journal. The bosses
expect this TO be the cumulative blow against
the miners following the numerous killings
lddnappings and noggings and the arrest of
scores of miners and organizers on charges Of
criminal syndicalisrn.
Citizens of southeastern Kentucky, especially
in Bell and Harlan Counties, are boycottng
Knoxville and Knoxville merchants"
Whether operative or not this method Of
lining up The small business elements in Knox
vile in the coal operators terror drive is supple
mentary TO the campaign Of Indictment against
the miners and their organizations in the most
lurid style Of the capitalist press The Journal
goes into elaborate detail on the boycott scheme
Of the coal operators. The Knoxville News
Sentinel, q Scripps- Howard paper, is held to
have carried stories favorable" to the miners
and their organizers and as such "not giving the
operators side Of the story"
The journal then relates the supposedly idylic
cond itions chat prevailed in Kentucky before
CIl6 dQVGuG Oh CIlS COMMUNISTS ACCORDING TO
the Journal all was peaceful and quiet in the
hills Of Kentucky and the coal operators "were
going about their business as American citizens"
The growing hunger Of little children, the
spread OF filx-a starvation diseaSe-the lack Of
decent foodh clothing and shelter the prospect
Of actual physical determination that faced the
miners and their families all this does not fit
in the Journals picture Neither does this coal
operators rag state that wages were reduced to
those of 1896 and often below that, with un-
employment and part time work regular fea-
tlre OF the bosses program.
The journal continues:
"Then suddenly, year ago, a group Of for
eignerS swoOped down upon as and began
attacking our courts officers of the law
our churches, our homes, our government our
flag. They made the situation among the
miners as bad as they could"
Organizers of the National Miners Union, rep
resentatives Of the Workers International Relief,
organizers OF the Communist Party springing
from the ranks Of the miners themselves are
foreigners" 10 the native" coal barons. But
the thousands Of gun-thugs imported from the
underworld Of Chicago, Cleveland and southern
cities are citizens" Of the blue grass state. The
hunger and terror that the coal operators tried
to veil and hide as long as they could, was torn
aside by the workers OF the National Miners
Union, the Workers International Relief and
the Communist Party Thousands OF workers
throughout the country have been rallied TO the
support OF their beleaguered class brothers in the
Kentucky hills In support OF the miners struggle
for living wage and against the terror regime
Of the Morgan Rockefeller insult dominated coal
bosses
Boss Forces Organize
The concluding article of the series in the
Knoxville Journal again paints in lurid colors
the mythical general strike that is to break in
Knoxville in April
But, besides their general incitement, the coal
operators have taken organizational steps to
line UP their forces for the new terror drive
Fifty ministers got down TO the secular and
boss class business Of adding their voice and
organization 10 the vicious Indictment campaign,
by the adoption OF resolution calling for
renewal Of gun-thug terror. This occurred at the
last meeting Of the Knoxville Baptist Pastors
Conference. The ministers resolution follows
the same line as the coal operators attacks
against the miners and calls for new and more
stS4ngemS laws to crush the miners struggle
sWS respectfully petition cur city council, our
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