The Daily Worker

MINERS FORCED BACK TO WORK BY UNITED FRONT OF BOSSES AND FAKERS BUT FIGHT IS NOT OVER

(Special to The Daily Worker)

ZEIGLER, Ill., August 26.—Recruited from the klan elements of Franklin and Williamson county, hundreds of men, many of them not having swung a pick for years, were found by the Bell and Zoller Mine Co. to enter the pit at their No. 1 mine in Zeigler.

Under these circumstances, the members of Local 992 who have kept the mine shut down for two weeks without an iota of outside support and bearing attacks not only from the ku klux klan and the operators but also from their own sub-district officials, were forced back to work.

This battle, which was recorded day by day in the DAILY WORKER, against the heaviest of odds—a united front of the operators and the sub-district officialdom, both encouraged by
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Miners Forced Back to Work

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Criminal charges against members of the klan elements-was bravely conducted by the fighting coal miners of Zeigler and their being forced back to work can in no way be considered a defeat for them.

They knew they would have to go back sooner or later. They knew they could not hold out against the overwhelming lineup against them. They did what they wanted to do. They kept the mine shut down long enuf to turn the eyes of the country on Zeigler; long enuf to draw the attention of unsuspecting miners elsewhere to the betrayal of the subdistrict officials-attention that otherwise would not have been won and that would again permit the sub-district machine to cover up another sample of a long record of treachery.

Defense Committees.

Already from all parts of the county are coming demands for the dropping of this persecution. The cry is being raised for a special sub-district convention. On this point the officials have not only Zeigler to fight-they will have to fight every honest rank and file worker in the sub-district.

Local 992 is going to elect another set of progressive local officials. Altho there was absolutely no justification for the sub-district officials to remove the ones they had and put in a slate of appointed klansmen, the men of 992 are going to put miners in office they can trust to wage the fight against Sub-district President Fox and Vice-President Cobb.

Active Men Fired.

The members of Local 992 were not fooled either when more than seventy-five of their active members were told they were not wanted as they were about to enter the pit. The reasons were various. "You called so and so a scab," or "You were on the picket line," etc. This was expected. Hadn't Frank Farrington, the district president, already announced that the "Red-necks" in Zeigler would find themselves out of a job?

This was all part of the double-edged attack being waged against them.

Defense committees have been set up in practically every local union in the county. One mass meeting of protest has been held and others will follow. A large defense fund will be raised to stop the dastardly frameup of union miners.

Fighting Tradition.

Zeigler is far from licked. The history and traditions of Zeigler are those of a battling working class community that knows no defeat. It is one of the oldest mines in southern Illinois. The shaft was sunk in 1905. The millionaire, Joe Leiter, who still owns it, set out to destroy the union. He barricaded and electric-wired the mine and set up batteries of cannon and searchlights. He brot in an army of gunmen to defend it. He sent for scabs.

The union miners fought Leiter and his gunmen. Two miners were assassinated. Their picket line was broken again and again. The battle raged for 18 months. But they stood firm. Leiter had to give in.

Since that time, 22 years ago, the miners of Zeigler have upheld the traditions of the battle against Joe Leiter. Now they have not only Leiter to fight but their own officials as well.

Fight Only Begun.

They won that battle of twenty years ago thru solidarity and unswerving devotion to unionism. They will win their present fight. But this time it will be a victory not for Zeigler alone. The struggle will not be completely won until the rank and file has rid itself of the damaging and treacherous misleadership of just such men as Fox and Cobb.

But the bureaucrats have taken on too big a job this time. They have sided with the operators time and again, they have stolen elections and gotten away with it. But this is the first time that the rank and file revolt against them has taken on such proportions. Zeigler has started the movement that will perform the necessary task of cleaning house in the United Mine Workers of America.