INSERT FOR PAMPHLET
The Threat to the Labor Movement
The Conspiracy Against Trade Unionism
The Drive on Militant Trade Unionism in the U. M. W.. of A.
THE thirtieth convention of the United Mine Workers of America afforded a world of proof of the correctness of the statements made elsewhere in this pamphlet relative to the drive against the trade unions as weapons of the working class.
In session from January 25 to February 2, the officialdom of the U. M. W. A. at this convention carried thru their program of eliminating all constitutional and official sanction for a policy of struggle.
The methods by which this onslaught on the interests of the rank and file and the integrity of the union was made were of themselves a convincing testimonial to the deapth to which the officialdom has sunk—first because of its role as the agency of the bosses within the union and secondly because of the frenzied fear of a rank and file revolt.
The Character of the Convention.
THE convention was packed with fake delegations of which delegation from District 31, West Virginia, was a good example—166 delegates representing an actual membership of 337. The delegations from District 17 of the same state, from Kentucky, Tennessee and portions of West Virginia, together with delegations from "blue-sky" local unions (locals dead or moribund) paid for out of the international treasury and representing nothing except the "payroll" elements, gave the Lewis machine its organizational base for putting over its program. Probably 40 per cent of the convention was of this character.
In addition to this, there was the atmosphere of intimidation furnished by the army of machine henchmen appointed by President Lewis as "sergeants-at-arms."
These machine supporters had advertised the kind of instructions they had received by beating up Powers Hapgood, one of the leaders of the "Save the Union" progressive bloc, the day before the convention. During the convention they surrounded all known leaders of the opposition and did not hesitate to use force to prevent them getting the floor. Left wing leaders were slugged on the convention floor.
A "red baiting" campaign was staged every time the Lewis machine wished put over some particularly brazen betrayal of the principles of trade union democracy, betrayal of the interests of the rank and file or increase its already autocratic power. It sought at all times to prevent a discussion of the merits of either its proposals or of proposals contrary to its reactionary program coming from local unions.
It even eliminated from the proceedings en1tirely all of the numerous resolutions demanding the reinstatement of Alex Howat—expelled by Lewis without charges while he was in jail for fighting the Kansas Industrial Court anti-strike law.
The Purpose of the Offensive.
THE constitution committee appointed by President Lewis went thru the constitution from cover to cover and recommended the elimination of every word, clause and sentence which testified to the militancy and class loyalty of the organization.
The object of the machine was to tear out of the pages of the constitution the tradition of struggle which the United Mine Workers have upheld since they first began the battle to rescue the coal miners of this continent from industrial serfdom.
The principal evidence of the utter reaction of the Lewis machine and of the strenuous efforts made by it to throttle all rank and file expression and force adoption of its "efficiency unionism" program, are contained in the following acts:
What the Lewis Machine Did.
1. The replacement of the clause in the preamble to the constitution which stated that the workers were entitled to "the fun social value of their product" by the Civic Federation phrase "equitable fruits of their labor."
The preamble is now thoroly respectable.
2. The forcing of an amendment giving officialdom full power to levy and collect assessments of any amount and for any period of time without a referendum vote or any other form of sanction from the membership.
3. The "Americanization" of the United Mine Workers in the best American Legion style by inserting in the constitution a provision prohibiting members who are not American citizens from running for or holding office.
Other unions have put such a provision in their constitution but in the United Mine Workers, where the majority of the membership is foreign-born, this represents the limit of reaction.
It means that there has been set up in this union a little group of members enjoying superprivileges, an official caste which, by accident of birth or fortune, is vested with, the conduct of the union and the sole right to deal with the employers, frame all policies, etc.
The bulk of the membership is left only with the right to pay dues and, if not disfranchised by another provision which will be mentioned later, to vote for the official caste.
4. The insertion of an amendment to the constitution which prohibits, under pain of expulsion, any expression of the rank and file or of minority groups, such as criticism of officials and policies.
Ostensibly this section is directed at the Communists but lit is so worded as to enable the officialdom to outlaw all opposition.
5. The repudiation of the endorsement of a labor party made by former conventions and the substitution of the endorsement of the official American Federation of Labor policy of support of candidates of the capitalist parties.
6. The adoption of a resolution on the recognition of the Soviet Union, repudiating favorable actions of previous conventions in language which makes it the most reactionary pronouncement on the subject yet made by a union convention in America.
5. The raising of salaries of leading officials from $7000 per year to $9000 in the case of the secretary and vice-president and from $8000 to $12,000 in the case of President Lewis.
Additional Evidence.
A NUMBER of other points are to be noted which show:
1. The determination of the Lewis machine to force the union to turn its back on its militant traditions and accept a policy of "efficiency unionism."
2. The connection between the drive against the trade unions as weapons of the workingclass in the labor movement as a whole and rampant reaction in the U. M. W. A.
These points are:
1. The whole tone of the speeches and documents of the official caste. As in the needle trades unions the Communists and the left wing were the target of all attacks. The machine never discussed any point of the left wing program on its merits. The capitalist press chronicled, and commented approvingly upon the assaults on the 1eft wing. The Indianapolis News said that the U. M. W. A. convention was a guarantee that the leaders of the American labor movement "were the most bitter foes of un-American principles."
2. President Green of the American Federation of Labor was brought to the conVention to aid the Lewis machine in its war on militant trade unionism. He devoted the greater part of his speech to denouncing the left wing in the needle trades and repeated all the slanders concerning the left wing leadership which the capitalist pres had given columns of space to in the weeks preceding the convention.
Green's speech proved conclusively the direct connection between the general offensive of the right wing and the struggle in the U. M. W. A.
3. Secretary-Treasurer Kennedy, a former socialist, took the lead in the convention offensive against the left wing.
4. The Lewis machine, in spite of the desperate condition in which the union is placed thru the failure of the leadership to organize the non-union fields, the increase of non-union coal production to between 62½ and 70 per cent of the entire output, the loss of membership (19,000 members were lost during the period of great employment which preceded the convention) and the expiration of the Jacksonville agreement on April 31, did not bring forward a single proposal for building the union.
Neither did it advance any program for the immediate struggle against the operators.
The Condition of the Union.
ACCORDING to the official figures contained in the report of the secretary-treasurer, the U. M. W. A. has decreased in strength from 400,000 in 1924 to 273,000 in 1927.
Thousands of former union miners have been driven out of the union fields and forced to scab for the first time in the history of the U. M. W. A/ since it established itself in the industry.
The coal operators are violating the working condition clauses of the agreement almost at will.
Company unionism is making strides in the anthracite districts.
In the face of these facts the Lewis machine makes war on the most loyal elements in the union and abrogates all existing provisions for rank and file democracy.
The program of the Lewis machine promises only further weakening of the union. Its failure to date is self-evident.
The Left Wing Program.
WHAT is it in the program of the left wing that the Lewis machine fears?
The "Save the Union" program consists of the following principal demands:
Organization of the unorganized fields—abolition of corruption in the union—honest elections—democracy in the union—no wage-cut—nationalization of the mines—a labor party—freedom of opinion in the union.
This is a program which, with a leadership responsible to the rank and file, will build the union into a powerful weapon of the coal miners.
But this program requires struggle to enforce. It means that the union rejects the worker-employer co-operation-efficiency union doctrines of labor officialdom.
It is this that President Lewis and his henchmen hate and fear.
THE left wing in the U. M. W. A., as in the needle trades and other unions, is fighting for trade unionism—not the trade unionism which is to be an adjunct of capitalist production but trade unionism as an instrument of the workingclass.
The U. M. W. A. officialdom is part, and a powerful part, of the united front of labor leaders, socialist party bureaucrats, bosses and the government which we have seen in action in other sections of the labor movement.
CORRECTIONS.
1. On Page 37 in Point 4, read "writing" instead of "uniting."
2. On Page 37 in Point 7, read "$3,000" instead of "$300."
3. On Page 37 in Point 8, read "trade unions" instead of "trade union."
4. On Page 40 in the fourth line of the second paragraph in the second column, read "developing" instead of "develop."
5. On Page 40 in the third paragraph, second column, there should be a comma after the word "workers" in the fourth line and after the words "their class" in the fifth line of same paragraph.
