Dark West Virginia
COLEMAN, McALSTER
Dark West Virginia Coal Barons Freedom and S |educe Worked t. Serfdom By McALISTER COLEMAN INDUSTRIAL relations in the State of West Virginia In the upring of 1925 present ag almost...
...A Graveyard of Ship* Certain other ahipa have also lain in Lake Union for years...
...or move...
...With every card in their hands spokeimen for the operators have time and again made incredible mlsplays antagonizing whole sections of the community, sections which they have every right to believe were sympsthetic to their cause...
...Voelker mads a good ran and went on the ballot, but waa crowded ont of flrat place by leaa than 200 votes by bia leading opponent, Pearson...
...No I Coolidge Is a joket He haa about aa much to do with it aa tha fly on the rim of tha cart-wheel han to do with the apeed of the cart...
...Theirs has been a campaign purely of de fensei They have gone back to tbe voters and asked to be reelected purely on their record of performance in office...
...Elwell received a large vote in the reactionary wards and waa placed on the ballot as the opponent of I .each in the final election...
...It ia becoming apparent that the Farmer-Labor movement will have to be socialized, if it is to be of any value to the workers and If It is to endure...
...Under the law these, engineers must be citizens, serve an apprenticeship of five years, and muat pass an eaxmlnation to operate these plants which are a aource of danger to life and property in the immediate neighborhood...
...Dunleavy Success A Bitter Pill With tha exception of Richard Dunleavy and A. E. Voelkar the Soclaliat and Labor Aldermen cam* ont of the primary fight aa high, men...
...Fruit* of Capitalism And why Is there no prospect of profit at thia time...
...Th« «e and other former So* i i a 11 sis threw their full energies into the campsign to el*ct Lesrh ami defest the Socialist and Labor Aldermen...
...At street meetings and hsll meetings when the Socialist Party was in its full bloom of power here there were literal outpourings of the people...
...Everything that money and political influence and houie-to-houee work could do was done...
...Two years ago, just prior to the election, ho affected a friendly attitude toward the Labor group, the Labor move* ment and public ownership, only te completely reverse this attitude after he was safely reelected Mayor* Majority In Council , Is Now Endangered Without a Socialist or Labor candidate for Mayor in the field in the final election, with only an opportunity to choose, if at all, between two reactionary candidates, the Socialist and Labor forces face a tremendous handicap In the election June 8. This situation prevents any definite line-up under a single standard-bearer and deprives the Socialist and Labor forces of the enthusiasm, unity and clearness of purpose *o essential to victory...
...The organization drives conducted in three «ections of the State by the United Mine Workers jf America are being fiercely dp-posed by the operators who wre tfinf every illegal and entTa-legal means at hand to drive the union forever out of the State and make West Virginia IB impregnable stronghold for the open shop...
...It is enough, if composed of proper varieties, to keep the breath of life in every one of Seattle's 350,000 inhabitants for 674 days, or almost two years...
...It gave way to the oncoming Farmer-Labor party...
...If West Virginia can be made to feel that she is being held up to the scorn and contempt of more civilized sections of the United States because of her lawlessness In time of stress we will have made an Important contribution not only to the cause of Unionism but to the cause of civil liberties end industrial democracy everywhere...
...Even if economic pressures drives these workers back to labor in the mines under the cruelties of nonunion conditions the lessons they an learning now will not shortly be forgotten...
...As the result of all this, Leach received a heavy vote In the Labor wards and was nominated by a large vote...
...The industrial autocrats of that State have little of the sagacity and foresight of their brethren of the North...
...The other workers in the plants, including the pullers and storage men, have organised as the Ice Plant Workers' Union, and applied for a charter in the A. F. of L. They are on strike for an eight-hour day and $6.00 a day...
...Ai one of the largest operators In the State said to me: "All we want is to be left alone, tht anion has no business with us, •artsy...
...If the Farmer-Labor movement falls to respond to this educational process we will have to have the So* delist Party back as of old in Minnesota...
...The opposition eomea ont of the primary contest disappointed bnt as determined as ever to destroy the Socialist and Labor majority and restore the city to tha hands of the spooial interests...
...And this condition can be changed only when the workers of the world organize as s class and take possession of the machinery of production and produce for themselves instead of for sn owning class...
...They have not even attacked the opposition...
...It la believed that It Will do its heaviest work In the First, Ninth and Eleventh Wards to achieve this end...
...Opportunities for Men There is a remarkable opportunity here for men of courage and intelligence both inside and outside the organized Labor movement to bring West Virginia within the fold of civilization...
...According to the modification of the injunction writ stipulated by the attorneys on both sides and agreed upon by the Court, the American Union will be permitted to keep two pickets around the shop and the pickets will be allowed to give out circulars to the employes now working in the struck shop The news of the resumption of the strike haa brought great moral relief and enthusiasm to...
...Harry Lund also ran...
...The forty-seven hulls have, of courae, been there for many years— placed there, as some suppose, aa a sort of monument or memorial of Seattle's > ctivity it the war against the terrible Hun...
...They have been tamed and confused for several years by cautloue speakers and cautious speeches...
...enough to build homes for 45,000 persons...
...It Is visibly reviving in Minnesota aa an educational movement...
...One of thee* candidates ia the present Mayer of the city, Leach, and the other la dwell, a former reactionary member of the Legislature and a staunch Citizens' Alliance man...
...The working class has been educated to be the paid slaves of the cunning and dishonest—J...
...We have no agreement 'ith the union and by trying to "taniie our men the union is vio-*ting the law at every turn...
...but tha groat majority have been out of commiesion a much shorter time...
...and the Willlamsburgh Ice Co...
...The spirit, of the strikers is St a hlgt point snd sll they ask ia that the public give them its moral aup-port by buying ice from union con-earns...
...Instead, they Induced an alleged Progressive to enter the race...
...These drives should be encouraged by every friend of organized Labor...
...and, as I hinted before, those who do own ships and machines and raw materials "can see no profit in their active employment at thia time...
...I can conceive of no greater degradation than the position of a human being ss a personal servant of another human being, no matter how much tha wages...
...The strike against Sigman ft Cohen Shoe Company which started laat November 16, and was practically suspended three months afterward by an injunction writ against The American Shoe Workers' Un-icn, haa now been resumed at full speed aa a result of a modification to the injunction writ agreed upon by ths Supreme Court Judge Mr...
...Richard Dunleavy of tha First Ward, 0. T. Llndateo ef the Third, John Peter-aotrof ,*h» Sixth sod George Guide* •f tha/ Tenth, the''othe* four, are all representatives of organized Labor and membera of tha Farmer-Labor party...
...Ita failure to eliminate any of the Labor Aldermen in tha prim* ary election constitute* tha ft (a* round, in tha meat Important election In the history of this eity and seta the stage for the final and mors important round on June 8. ¦ -Of the aeven Soclaliat and Labor Aldermen that ran far reelection, three are members of the .Socialist Party—A...
...This candidate, Harry Lund, has been for years a Democratic Federal office holder...
...In this he was actively assisted by Louis Hani.Ml, his former chief of . police and hi* present lieutenant, and their red baiting organ, "Minnesota...
...Fsber...
...Above all other thing* it has don* OB* thing that deserves te go oa record and whicn ha* n*ver been don* before in Minneapolis ' —this majority group of Socialists and Trade Unionist* has constituted an opposition tp th* apaclal interest, that th* latter Could not influence, or.rrid...
...A. Wayland...
...All over tha civilised world, wherever suitable anchorage ia to bo found, it is the same to a greater or s lesa degree...
...The aldermanie fight Is vastly complicated by a very peculiar mayoralty situation...
...the lake haa been a sort of graveyard for surplus shipping aince the opening of the canal made it accessible from salt water...
...The so-!*•" armed marches in Logan, now J* years old, are still used as ¦gf...
...The three drives of the United nine workers are taking place in the face of almost overwhelming odds of a depressed market, a hostile public opinion, and the most for-midsble array of private armies that I have ever seen gathered on an industrial field...
...al background for this picture % industrial struggle, corporate 1 hwleisness and autocracy run ram-Hat, one must take into consider-the peculiar characteristics m the great bulk of population 1 the State...
...Every two y«ar» half of these member*' terma expire and successors are elected for four yean...
...The Farmer-Labor party has not been able to maintain the large organization of the voters, the morale, the enthusiasm, the constituent strength and vitality that the Socialist Party formerly had In Minneapolis...
...ePjWrfy encouraging thing about k-jT^on ia that the ministers SM J!!*n, either mininfoTmed ,or *a?*?.et*ly in the dtrfc-as'to fc^jj^t'on, and that when It ia ttaiTr.tn ,h,"m fro'" ths union's S"7T™ "°mc of them express a willingness to at least listen to the other side...
...When this pressure is lifted a bit and there is again a market for coal I think these workers may be depended upon to form the nucleus for a strong unit of organized Labor...
...For two year* It be* prevented these interact* from making a single now encroachment upon th* city, upon the Minneapolis public and upon Laker le ' •o far as th* city Government ess-ployed Labor and determined its conditioa...
...With such s line-up and through Socialist Initiative this Labor group has been able to set up and maintain a very commendable discipline and unity...
...The union organizers,are not only jgeing injunction proceedings, the 0t* of mine guards, deputy sheriffs sod the State police, but they are sjtj> tiKhting to preserve a high asge, scale in the face of almost un-sreceaeiited depression in the coal leftist ry Over-production of coal ¦ an effective means for breaking Aw ranks of unionism In West Virginia, ss are the tear bombs, machine guns, barbed wire and searchlights nf the operators...
...This progressive control of tha Council, the flrat in tha history of Minneapolis, haa arouaad tha op-poaition to its utmost effort to reduce the Labor majority to a minority...
...Still another is a Socialist in everything except actual membership in the Socialist Party...
...Of the twenty six membera of the Council, fourteen Socialist and Labor membera wart elected in 1028 to twelve reaction-¦riaa...
...or open-shop sermons and SR mine explosion in the State •wtantly laid at the union's door...
...The Minneapolis City Council hsi twenty-six member...
...E. Voelker of she Ninth Ward...
...And in every one of those ports there exists, or the people are capable of quickly producing, articles of value sufficient to load those ships and send them out to be exchanged for the things they so sorely need...
...Dunleavy was pitted against one of tha oldaat and ehrewdeat politicians in Minneapolis, former Alderman Ryan...
...They have not raised in their campaign the question of public ownership and other of the deeper questions of power and control by the masses...
...At present It seems to be the consensus of opinion in West Virginia that what her people do la ef no concern to the rest of us and that there Is a Chinese Wall around the State...
...Shoe Workers Win a Victory^ Engineers Standing Firm Thirty-five ice plants in Brooklyn, including the Rubel Brothera Ice & Coal Co., Putnam Ice ft Cosl Co., Knickerbocker Ice ft Coal Co...
...Former Socialist ward locals of hundreds of members sre now represented by Farmer-Labor ward locals with only scores of members...
...With a press domi-y*i by the operators, the middle MP in West Virginia have for M| been impregnated with a J^Paganda of hatred for unionism, •"the churches, the public schools, ^platforms, the business and organizations of the State, ""¦unionism is preaclicd with an •JWasiveness and fervor...
...It is a lot of food and a lot of lumber, but it is not more than enough to make one normal load for the armada of deep water, seagoing ships that now rot in Lake Union—ships that rot there because those who own them can aee no profit in their active employment at thla time...
...Under the law of tooth and fang that now prevails from the Pau-baslle country in the North to the Isatwha valley in the South, civil Haafttas fade away...
...In the meantime the Socialist Party is here to do this educational work...
...To add to th* general contusion coneervattve Labor leaders, including many of th* present leaders in the central Labor body and R. D. Cramer, editor of the Labor Review, came out for Leach on th* ground that in many of hi* public acta he had stood for fair wages and conditions for organized Labor, Cramer was a near Communlat les* than a year ago...
...The organized Socialist movement practically disappeared from 1918 to 1920...
...That biggest aeoMlbatiae) ef ¦lea and dollars la tha history of naaleipal fights hare la b.int affected by the reactionary forces...
...Properly equipped, their value would not average below that of other ahipa of the aame aize...
...John Peterson and Theodora K. Jenaon received clear majorities over all their opponents combined...
...this time, when the need for food and houses is greater than ever before...
...One hundred and ten million, two hundred and fifty million feet of lumber sounds like a lot...
...and it is...
...Lewis Benet* of the Eleventh Ward and Theodore E. Jenson, President of the City Coon*' ell...
...This outcome is the direct result of tha peculiarly eonfuaed and unorganised political condition ef the working people of this city combined with the weakness of the Socialist Party here...
...Whatever the upshot of the June election, signs are not wanting that the people, are learning the truth about their present political disorganization and weakness...
...They have staunchly supported almost without exception the measure* and proposala of the Socialist membera of tha City Conn-ell...
...Engineers with as much skill in other industries receive anywhere from ten to twenty dollars a day...
...Drives for Organisation The union miner and his sympathizers, loosely grouped by the community under the names of "Anarchists, Socialists, Communists and outside agitators for civil liberties," stand for the gullible churchgoer as exemplars of all that is un-American, un-Chrlstian and unregenerate...
...We toy to give everybody a square deal, dont want any outside agi-h*M in this State...
...Another is a radl cal Socialist, but not a member of the party...
...J* ef "Respectables" * Important Barrier *h<yevcr the in ion has set TjMdquarters these places are Wm by the uncalled respectable JJ™"' and there is a spiritual as ¦J * *n economic barrier between ES?1 and the community in 2*''t is situated...
...The employers are attempting to reduce the legal requirementa for engineers' licenses' in order to get scabs...
...The Laker forces, on the other,, hand, are mobilising, their rs»J sources la speakers aad llaaratajra and voluntary worker* to asset...
...But the Sociedet aad Progressive Leber leaders did sot even com* out openly for Harry Lund...
...It hss had to adapt Itself to this condition the best it could...
...It has voted as a unit on all Important questions and its vote has been without exception on the side of the public where public rights were opposed by special interests snd on the aide of the workers and common people generally where their rights were opposed by special groups...
...SHIPS THAT DO NOT GO TO SEA Pacific Ports Scene of Depression and Idle Workers By MARAT TWO hundred and thirty-live million, two hundred thousand pounds of foodstuffs sounds like a lot...
...One of the hat* test fight, ia the history of the' city i* assured...
...Dark West Virginia Coal Barons Freedom and S |educe Worked t. Serfdom By McALISTER COLEMAN INDUSTRIAL relations in the State of West Virginia In the upring of 1925 present ag almost unbelievable, picture •f chaos and anarchy...
...Because we don't own the ships and we don't own the raw materials from which commodities are produced, and we don't own ths machinery with which commodities are produced, and ws wouldn't own the commodities If wa did, produce them...
...They seemed to think that their tacit support of bun would somehow become known to tbe mass of the Progressive voters and that he would without doubt be pieced on the ballot Thi* left the majority of voters in the midst of a very confused mayoralty situation...
...The two leading daily paper* have declared that there aaast ha a, cUae-up ef Socialists in the City Council, ease aad fee all tlaaa...
...and we install, and maintain with our lives if necessary, a system which makea ownerahlp cumulative to the point of monoply for a few and utterly impossible for all others...
...Added to this, Thomas Van Lear, former Socialist Mayor of Minneapolis, now a bitter anti-Socialist and a sworn enemy of the Socialist Aldermen, threw whatever influence he had to Leach and against the Socialist and Labor Aldermen...
...If this group emerges victorious, such an outcome will result from the unusually good record it hss made In office in the service of the city, the public and the working masses...
...havs been tied up by s strike of the Steam and Operating Engineers' Union, Local 56, since May 15...
...The American Shoe Workers' Protective Union are jubilant over the victory they have scored against the firm that started the trouble by declaring a lockout and by inviting others to fill the places of the old employes...
...It is only because they are remnants of a former better condition and have made good records in office that they were eucceuful in the primary election-No Socialist-Labor Candidate for Mayor In the mayoralty contest the Socialists and their Labor allies did not put up a candidate of their own...
...Harold Houston, Counsil for th* United Mine Workers at Charles-tea, saya: "Publicity is the miners ady effective weapon in this situation," That the operators would data even that weapon from the ¦bars is shown by the fact that I Sal arrested principally because I tal an "outside, newspaperman ¦reading scandal about the fair SUM of West Virginia...
...Ia it because we, in our democratic wisdom, have decided to keep cool with Coolidge...
...I use them in my calculations because recent disclosures show that, instead of being the unscaworty mass of junk popular fiction proclaims them to be, they are in reality pretty good bottoms, the only valid objection to their use being that their holds are partitioned off into short spaces that make them difficult to load with lumber...
...The Minneapolis massee have slipped back somewhat from a former clearer wsy of thinking and seeing the lines of the class struggle...
...We, the workera in every land, the common people of every port, have in thia way cut ourselves off from property, have deprived ourselves of tha wherewithal to par-chase commodities or exchange commodities...
...Matteotti Memorial Meeting Vaclrca will be the principal speaker at a Socialist fnd Labor Memorial Meeting In honor of Giacomo Matteotti, the Italian Socialist Deputy who was murdered by a Fascist...
...Since laat November, when we all voted to keep cool with Coolidge, the number haa increased with breath-taking rapidity until now they are jammed together lika piga trying to keep warm...
...Under such conditions, the Socialist and Labor group planned a campaign in which they had in their minds a constituency of unorganized and confused voters largely submerged in middle class views snd interests...
...By defeating one Socialist or Labor candidate in the final flection it will ashisva this major purpose...
...Old residents at fas State will tell you in con fdjaea that never in its long dark history of industrial autocracy has tajr* been less regard for constitution...
...Our beautiful country ia marred and scarred and cluttered up with the machinery for producing commodities,, our beautiful lakes are robbed of their native charm and reduced to the status of cesspools by great numbers of ahipa capable of transporting commodities, and we suffer for the want of commodities because we insist on recognising aa just and right and "natural" the fiction that private property and the principle of private property ia and ahall remain sacred...
...the 200 strikers who have stuck together since the strike was declared and who are united and determined more than ever not to return to work under the Sigman ft Cohen employment until the firm recognizee the American Shoe Workera' Union...
...this onslaught...
...they are for the most part an ignorant, greedy lot who by their constant blunders play into the hands of their opponent...
...There Is nothing like that today...
...Nor la this groat eoUoctioa of Idle ahipping a phenomenon peculiar to Seattle...
...To make e breach in this wall ie a Job well worth Uckllrur...
...He hss witnessed all around him the rise of the Progressive movement of Minnesota to second place to the State, but be remained staunchly with the Ping cratic party...
...and it to...
...As a consequence the courts pronounce the most bloodcurdling sentences upon offenders against the moral code, personal rsthei than social ethics are everywhere held up as an example for youth, and Fundamentalist sermons bewailing the moral degeneracy of" these days fill the newspaper columns...
...We say that each one shall be free to do aa he wills with that which he owns...
...We can manage our own hniness...
...Arthur Giovanitti and Carlo Treses will also speak at this meeting on the first anniversary of Matteotti'a assassination, Wednesday, June 10, in the Debs' Auditorium of the RBfliftScbool, under the auspices of the Italian Socialist Branch, the Italian Chamber of Lahor and ita affiliated anion...
...There are at this time, in Lake Union, fifty-two steamships, forty-eight sailing ships, and forty-seven hulls of ships with a carrying capacity of 8oo tons of mixed freight, or 750,000 feet of lumber, each...
...All over the world there- are porta crammed with idle ahipping while tha inhabitants of those ports suffer through lack of the things those ahipa could bring in...
...I stress this matter because this State, living in another century from such States as Wisconsin, New York or Pennsylvania, for example, is filled to running over with ueligious organizations of all sorts and varieties and its citizenry prides itself on its highly religious character...
...Out of the fourteen members of the Socialist and Labor group of Aldermen, seven sre members of the Socialist Party...
...Why, then, don't we load those ships and start the exchange of commodities...
...The recent wholesale arrest of union miners in northern West Virginia was admittedly a stupendous mistake, immeasurably strengthening the union's cause...
...Mayor Leach haa been a bitter and ruthless opponent of the Labor Aldermen...
...Dunleavy waa picked as one of the easiest men to defeat in the' Socialist-Labor chain and the power of the opposition was largely concentrated to break the chain at this link It waa firmly believed by the opposition that Dunleavy would not got on the ballot...
...Why is it so...
...Rather than grant thaae men a living1 wage the corporations are ready to employ incompetent strikebreakers who would endanger the aafety of tha people in tha community...
...Need of Publicity For Oppressed Miners Mr...
...This union waa organized through the efforts of Alexander Marx, New York organizer of the A. F^ of L. ( >f The engineers are demanding an eight-hour day and a minimum acale of |9.00 a day...
...Ryan began more than six months ago to build a machine to defeat and eliminate Dunleavy...
...If the Socialist-Labor majority In the City Council is wiped out, it will probably be this ' situation mors than anything alia ¦ that will cause this...
...rights than is evidenced at th* present The formation of roAasjanizations as the Fair Name Sodejyand the American Consti-rattest Association, financed by ¦pennr wjr niWrufm or l.aDor re-Moni ia Watt Virginia out of tha Siwspapers, indicates, in my opinio*, a tacit recognition on the part ef the operators of the actual state If affairs and a very lively fear of tha effects of public opinion...
...Out of the primary election emerged two reactionary mayoralty candidates leading the field and going on the ballot to th* exeluaion of all others...
...Socialist-Labor Unity Minneapolis Socialists and Labor Face Vital Election By MURRAY E. KING ALL the Socialist and Labor candidates for Aldermen were successful in the Minna* apolis primary election last week and as a result their names will be placed on the ballot in the final municipal election here on June This insures a clear-out fight for control of the Minneapolis City Council between the Socialist and Labor group of Aldermen and their reactionary opponents...
...A surprise attack waa made by the opposition In tha Ninth Ward on Comrade Voelker who waa believed to be strong, as bia record as a legislator for the public good and for the working classes has been exceptionally good...
...It is enough to build 9,188 neat, four-room cottages...
...The Farmer-Labor party has not the philosophy, the literature , the historic background, the depth of appeal that Socialism ha...
...They are building up s fine morale among the rank and Ale of workers who for years past have been indifferent to the industrial conflict...
...last June...
...Organised Constituency Badly Lacking But this Labor group of municipal legislature has functioned apart from anything worthy of the nam* of an organized constituency...
...1 devoted some J? , investigation between the 3™**d churches and the union ¦1 »«nd that almost invariably ^"""¦ches have sided with the JJwors or else maintained an at-lltJ* comPlete indifference to ^"dustrial strife that rages I T™ of their spires...
...Most of the others are more or less aoeiallatically or progressively inclined...
...of th* Twelfth Ward...
...Hia success la one of the bitterest pills that tha reactionaries have had to swallow...
...They have not dsred to assume a too bold or aggressive or definite stand on any issue...
Vol. 2 • May 1925 • No. 22
