National Miners Union

NATIONAL MINERS UNION. Founded in Pittsburgh in September 1928, the National Miners Union, or NMU (1928–1933), was an outgrowth of a new direction in trade unionism charted by the Communist Party. In this so-called Third Period, the Party called for the establishment of revolutionary unions that would challenge existing unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. The NMU’s first president was John Watt of Illinois, but the real power was wielded by the union’s secretary, a Party functionary, and by Party officials in New York. The NMU’s program included the following: resistance to wage cuts; a six-hour day; unemployment relief and insurance; use of checkweighmen; rejection of the dues checkoff; abolition of company stores, company towns, and payment in scrip; organization of blacks; industrial unionism; formation of a labor party; and complete emancipation from capitalism.

In its brief existence the NMU waged several strikes, the most notable being in Illinois in 1929, in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio in 1931, and in eastern Kentucky in 1931–1932. None of these strikes succeeded. The failures owed in part to the sometimes violent opposition of mine owners and government officials, in part to the presence of rival unions such as the United Mine Workers, but also to the limitations of the NMU itself. Strikes were called without adequate preparation. Financial reserves were insufficient to sustain prolonged holdouts. There were too few organizers in the field, especially ones who had a solid base in the communities being organized. While enrolling several thousand miners during the height of strike waves, the NMU proved unable to retain their allegiance. Individual members demonstrated great courage in the face of constant repression, thereby calling attention to the brutality of coal operators and their allies. But such favorable publicity as they received could not offset the forces arrayed against them and their own inherent weaknesses. By 1933 Party leaders had decided to end the effort at dual unionism and return to the goal of unifying all miners in one large organization.

Draper, Theodore. “The Communists and the Miners, 1928–33.” Dissent 19 (spring 1972).

Hevener, John W. Which Side Are You On? The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931–1939. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978.

Howard, Walter T. “The National Miners Union: Communists and Miners in the Pennsylvania Anthracite, 1928-1931,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. Vol. 125, No. 1/2 (Jan. - Apr., 2001), pp. 91-124.

Wickersham, Edward D. “Opposition to the International Officers of the United Mine Workers of America, 1919–1933.” Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1951.