The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-08-23
OPERATORS, UNIV
CHIEFS PLOTTING
ANTHRACITE CUT
Must Build Rank and
File Committees to
Strike Against 1t 1
BY BEN GERJOY

SCRANTON, Pa, Aug. 22.-The
newspapers announce that the coal
operators of the Anthracite in three
districts Of the UM.W.A. and the
union officials will hold conference
in September, with the view of
establishing 20 per cent wage-cut
from the present wage scale" This
wage-cut comes on the top Of nuner-
Gus cuts which are taking place daily
throughout the field, in various
forms, in individual colleries. The
present agreement with the U.M.W.A.
expires only in 1886. The announce
ment therefore means that the
agreement will be done away with.
Officials Agree to Cut.
The U.MW.A. officialdonl-LeWiS.
Boylan, Brennan and so on--have all
ready agreed to the cut. That this is
so is proven by the behavior of the
district machines in regard to tbs
individual Wage-cuts which are TAX
ing place. In every case the local
unions decide to resist. This hap
pened in Shemokan, of District 9;
in Swoyersville and Eynon, of Dis
trict /, and so on. But the district
machine, instead of encouraging this
resistance, directly sabotages it. To
give one outstanding example: The
miners Of the Eynon local decided to
strike against wage-cut. Over 1000
mass picketed and shut down the COL
liery. Deputies and state troopers at
tackled the picket line; three strikers
were shot; the pickets defended
themselves with stones and bats. But
while the Eynon miners were bitterly
fighting the cut, the Boylan machine
of District l announced that the
charter of the Eynon local would be
lifted. John Boylan is president Of
District l.
At least nineteen locals had their
charters lifted recently, and provi-
sional officers appointed. Numerous
militants have been either suspended
or expelled from the union. We thus
see that while the operators are cut
ting wages, the UM.W.A. district and
national officialdom are giving them
a hand by terrorizing the members
and suppresSing every militant voice.
There can be no doubt that the Of
ficialdom had something to do with
the announcement of the 20 per cent
cut, and that they will do everything
in their power to prevent the rank
and file from resisting it.
Cappeloinis and Maloneys
The overwhelming majority of the
miners hate the leadership in control
of the district. In order to prevent
honest militants from organizing this
sentiment against the machine, the
officials will often put forward one
of their own men to lead a fake OPP
position movement.
The Anthracite is rich with expert
ences of so-called progressive"
movements against Lewis, beginning
with Cappeloini, who started as a
progressive" and ended as a staunch
supporter of Lewis, down the line Of
Boylan, Brennan, McGrery, and fin
ishing up with Maloney.
All these leaders we're either direct
Lewis men, or else, like Maloney,
they sought their own advancement.
Maloney knew well enough that the
equalization of work" demand was
a wrong demand to organize a strike
on. Instead of directing the atten-
ton of the unemployed to demand
relief from the government and the
coal operators, he organized strike
of the unemployed to demand relief
from the part-time employed and
the few full-time employed. The
Lewis Boylan machine did not much
mind the Maloney movement, as they
knew well enough that a movement
to organize on such false issues could
easily be smashed. At this moment
Mr.. Cappeloini is again coming for
ward in a sham fight against the
machine. II is only to instead the
miners from real fight against the
coming 20 per cent cut.
Organize Rank and File Committees.
In the coming September Confer
ence the U.M.W.A. officials will IN
doubleday put up fake resistance to
the cut. This they must do in order
to fool the miners and keep them
under their control. At the end, as
they did in Illinois, they will accept
SAiC IuIs ilC ANNOUNCED hdEC-CuO
can be stopped, providing the miners
themselves take the following steps;
l. Elect a broad rank and file
committee in each local union.
Wherever the machine succeeds in
blocking the election of such co q
mittee. then a rank and file oppo-
sition should be organized. The pur-
pose of these committees is to keep
every miner in line for fight against
the cut, and back the fight of the
for their demands.
g. The local unions should pass
resolutions instructing the district
and national officials not to agree
to any cut; insist that the present
agreement be lived up to, and insist
that the September Conference with
the operators be public and that the
local unions have rank and file rep
Only in this way will the coal OPP
orators, ard their agents, the U. M.
w. A. off.cialdom, be defeated in
heir attempts to reduce the stand
ards of the Anthracite miners to