The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-09-16

AlOVcrualcJ penn.
'Sdear comrade do you still re-
member johngavrO from vaIar
only got three weeks for it and
this Is the eighth week that i'm
out at kloverdale and i'm writing
i greet you comrade and all the
communists.
johngavro
member Of the communist party
q
WHY, Of course I remember John
" Gavro from Volar.
A summer storm greeted me when
stepped off the train about noon,
at the Valar station. I was told
that the section had informed the
miners committee that they were
sending someone out here today,
but there was no one waiting for
me at the station. I thought that
it might be because of the storm.
Hardly waiting for the sun to come
out, I started for the camp. Leav-
ing the shopping district, I passed
over a little bridge into the camp
of the miners.
In times of strike, It is not adj
visable to inquire regarding the
whereabouts of the miners, because
1T is likely that one may bump into
spy, and then the company's
gangsters will know that one is in
town before it is desirable. If the
worst happens one will Immediately
find oneself either in Jail or in
the hospital. So, on the alert, but
not looking too much to the right
or left, went through the town.
MEET JOHN GAvRO
Suddenly Hungarian words struck
my ear. Ten or a dozen Hungarian
miners, sitting on chairs and bench
es on the stoop in front of a store
were talking. A young giant, well
over six feet, with mustache and
clean-Shaven cheeks-as 1 later
found out, this was John Gavro-
was just explaining how, in his
sailor days, a machinist was shot
down by the officers because he
stood up for a Negro stoker.
"Well," I thought, Judging by
this, I'm on the right track" I
went over to them and told them
where I was heading.
The district had sent me out be-
cause for the last three days, since
the arrest of the strike leaders,
there had been no news of the
miners.
One by one, they shook my hand
warmly. I grabbed John Gavro's
big palm with both my hands. I
sat down to talk with them for
while, and then we quickly sep
arated to call the miners together
on the empty lot behind the relief
kitchen, for a meeting. They ar
ranged among themselves where
each one was to go, and they part
ed. Only Gavro stayed with me
and the storekeeper.
mo PLACE TO GO" EgF
IT have no place to go now, and
can't call anybody because I'm
living in the company district
among the strike breakers, mostly
Poles and Negroes. They just pick
ed them up and brought them here
from the Chicago garbage heaps.
They all look it. There isn't a
single miner among them.
my landlord is a company man,
but his wife is Hungarian"
He said this hesitatingly, and
when he mentioned the woman, he
turned his eyes away like school,
boy.
The storekeeper winked at me and
I understood. In spite of the fact
that John Gayro was on strike, his
landlady did not kick him out of
the company's house, because
Because, you know, she is Hun
garian, and I'm Hungarian too"
John tried to explain, but the store
keeper laughed, at which Gavro
said:
wen, what OF 1t! I'm not home
all day, and I don't eat a single
bite over there even though the
woman offers it to me! And 1
don't even see the strike breakers.
1 go home in the evening and
leave at dawn. Where else could
I sleep? I haven't money even for
cigarettes. In the morning there's
the black coffee with a little piece
of bread from the relief kitchen.
If there's some kind of slop for
supper, we are lucky, but most of
the time, there isn't even that"