Crafting and solidifying a single bureaucracy over the largest, most combative union in the country was a bloody business. The murder of leading union radicals Alex Campbell and Pete Reilly in 1928 by local forces of the John L. Lewis U.M.W.A. machine helped to push many militants out of the U.M.W.A. and look to new, democratic unions in the late 1920s. Bill Dunne reports.

‘Murder of Two Miners Symbol of Fight for Militant Union’ by William F. Dunne from The Daily Worker. Vol. 5 No. 51. March 1, 1928.

PITTSTON, Pa. Feb. 29. Little Alex Campbell, brave and honest, and young Pete Reilly, militant, smiling and determined fighter against corruption in the United Mine Workers, died at their posts, killed in the most cruel and cowardly manner by machine gun and shotgun fire. Their bodies were riddled without them having a fighting chance for their lives.

Cappelini’s “Peace.”

Alex Campbell, who told me in his own house just a week ago that he thought “Cappelini wanted to make peace,” but who was not swerved from the fight against coal operator and contractor control of the anthracite unions by the murder of Thomas Lillis and the shooting of Samuel Greco, two of his associates, was sent to his death by hired assassins whose bloody trail leads straight to the office of the Pennsylvania Coal Company and that of President Rinaldo Cappelini of District 1–the chief of the forces in the anthracite fields of President John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers.

Campbell knew that his life was in danger but I think that even with his long experience in the struggle for honest unionism he did not appreciate fully the complete ruthlessness of the reactionary forces against which he was leading the rank and file miners in Pittston.

A Strange Meeting.

It is strange how things happen sometimes. A week ago, after dark, a miner drove me up the narrow and rutted street where Campbell lived. “You’re lucky they haven’t imported Chicago methods here yet,” I said to the driver.” “A machine gun would make it very nasty here.” The driver stepped on the gas a little and said: “Thank God, they don’t go in for machine guns here.”

Six days later Campbell and Reilly were cut to pieces by machine gun fire within 100 yards of Campbell’s home.

Campbell opened the door for us and his greeting was: “There are not five men in Pittston who would dare come to this house tonight.” We talked of the killings, of the defense of Bonita, of the fight for cleaning the union and as I looked at the slight figure of Alex Campbell, his body deadly tired and worn but his eyes shooting sparks that belied the slow drawl of his voice, I had the feeling that I was gazing at a man already dead.

Campbell spoke of the friendly attitude of the Pittston authorities. It seems that he believed they were actually trying to protect him. He had helped to elect the mayor–a republican.

The police were trying to find the murderers of Lillis and the gunmen who shot Grecio, Campbell said. “We must force the Pennsylvania colliery to start work,” he went on. “They are trying to starve us out,” he said, “and now we need money to defend Bonita and must get our men to work.”

Marked for Death.

He was marked for slaughter as he sat there in the dimly lighted room with three of his fellow-unionists–an old man and two young miners. They had to elect a president to take Bonita’s place, they said. They talked about the difficulty of getting a candidate and the risks he would run. All agreed that Bonita’s successor would be inviting death. “Well, if we can’t get anyone else I’ll take the job,” said the youngest miner. They all agreed to this.

The little gathering broke up. I shook hands with Campbell and wished him luck. We drove down the street and the young miner who had nominated himself for sudden death rode a little way with us. “Is anybody staying with Campbell tonight?” I asked him. “No,” he said, “they won’t bother him.”

A week later the same street echoed with the rattle of machine guns and the roar of shotguns. Alex Campbell and Pete Reilly died.

Chicago methods, if not Chicago gunmen, had come to Pittston.

The Line of Struggle.

In European countries only civil war which shakes the foundations of capitalist government produces such open slaughter. In the United States the mere struggle against corruption in a union brings forth these ruthless assassinations of workers.

It is not civil war in the anthracite. It is murder calmly planned and coldly executed–and paid for from the war chests of the coal operators, condoned by their creatures holding official positions in the United Mine Workers.

Alex Campbell and Pete Reilly laid down their lives for honest and militant unionism. The full implications of the fight they were waging were not understood by them. Neither did they estimate correctly the murderous reactionary character of the forces whose grip on the union they were breaking. But they fought as best they could, they died on the front of the class struggle.

The soil in which the mass movement of the coal miners for honest and effective unionism is growing has been remoistened lavishly with the blood of murdered militants. No more was needed and the life stream of Campbell and Reilly will rise in a crimson tide which will drown their murderers.

Responsibility Feared.

For the first time in the history of the United Mine Workers in the anthracite it will be impossible for the reactionary leadership of the union to escape the responsibility for its murderous acts. Living, Campbell had the loyal support of dozens of militant miners. Murdered, with the responsibility of the Lewis-Cappelini coal company machine clear to every coal digger, Campbell’s death becomes a mighty weapon in the hands of union miners whose wrath has been slow to gather but who now know that Campbell was killed because he symbolized for the traitorous leader- ship and their masters, the coal barons, the upsurge of the membership against the corruption in which the official leaders wallow.

Militant Miners Organize.

Under the leadership of the Save the Union Committee and its correct program the anthracite miners are organizing to avenge Alex Campbell, Pete Reilly, Thomas Lillis, Samuel Grecio. The miners here are organizing to free Bonita, Mendola and Moleski and administer a crushing blow to fascist reaction.

The miners are organizing to avenge their murdered brothers by driving from the union the officials whose hands are stained with the blood of murdered miners.

The workers who died for militant unionism in the anthracite will be avenged by the defeat of reaction and the building of a union free from capitalist control.

The struggle in the anthracite is part of the struggle throughout the United Mine Workers and the coal mining industry. It is the biggest fight in the United States today and the Save the Union Committee faces the combined might of the Lewis machine, the coal barons and their government.

It is a struggle to build a union that will be an unbeatable weapon of the 800,000 miners of this continent.

In the structure of such a union the bodies of Alex Campbell, Pete Reilly and Thomas Lillis are keystones. Their blood cements the battlements which will resist the attacks of our class enemies. Their very names are battle-cries.

Their memories already are gravened deep in the hearts of thousands.

The manner of their deaths will be recalled to steel the struggle against their murderers.

Working-class Justice.

The Lewis-Cappelini machine will be brought before the workers’ tribunal and working class justice meted out. The coal barons and their agents in the United Mine Workers will be faced by 300,000 prosecutors. The challenge Alex Campbell made to coal barons, contractors and their union agents will be taken up by a militant army of his fellow-workers.

The cowardly volleys which took the lives of Campbell and Reilly did not kill the movement they symbolized. They laid down their lives for their class and their class will carry on the fight. They were honest union men but they did not see very far beyond the union itself. The manner and the cause of their death itself raises the whole struggle to a higher level.

This is the meaning of the mass anger aroused in the anthracite by the brutal murder of Alex Campbell and Peter Reilly, two brave and honest rank and file leaders.

‘Save-The-Union Urges Decisive Action’ from The Daily Worker. Vol. 5 No. 51. March 1, 1928.

Must Defend Framed-Up Coal Diggers

(Special to The Daily Worker.) WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Feb. 29. The Tri-District Save-the-Union Committee of the United Mine Workers, over the signatures of Stanley Dziengelewsky, chairman and George Papcun, secretary, in a statement issued to the press, characterized the murder of Alex Campbell and Peter Riley as the brutal act of the agents of the operators and contractors in the union supported by the Lewis-Cappelini machine.

Prepare for Struggle.

The statement calls for the organization of rank and file committees throughout the anthracite field to “smash the murder machine” and to build a powerful defense organization to free Sam Bonita, Steve Mendola and Adam Moleski, who, the Save-the- Union Committee charges, are being framed up and railroaded to the electric chair because Bonita shot Frank Agati, known as one of the chief gun- men in the Cappelini machine, in self defense.

Accuse Authorities.

The Save-the-Union Committee charges that the murder of Camp- bell and Riley in broad daylight on one of the principal streets of Pitts- ton by machine gun and shotgun fire, leads to the conclusion that the authorities must have had knowledge of the murder conspiracy, which has taken the three leaders of the opposition to coal company and contractor control of the union, put another in the hospital at the point of death and is trying to send three more rank and file miners to their deaths.

Organize Mass Meetings.

The purpose of what the Save-the- Union Committee’s statement characterizes as fascist terror is to exterminate all union men who fight the open corruption of union officialdom. The statement calls upon all miners to come to the series of mass meetings arranged by the committee and to organize to rescue the union from the agents of the coal operators and contractors.

The statement in full is as follows:

Honest Leaders Killed.

“The murder of Alex Campbell and Peter Riley, honest and militant leaders of the rank and file opposition to the Pennsylvania Coal Co., contractors, Cappelini machine, shows the utter ruthlessness of the reactionary forces whose grip on the Pennsylvania colliery local unions of the United Mine Workers was broken by rank and file miners led by Campbell, Riley, Lillis, Greco, Bonita and other courageous union men,” the statement of the Save-the-Union Committee of the tri-district, 33 West Union St., Wilkes-Barre, said.

Courage Respected.

“The brutal murder of Campbell and Riley in broad daylight by machine guns posted to cover a populous Pittston street is a great shock to the hundreds of miners who knew and respected their courage and ability.

Conspiracy Charged.

“No one now will deny that there exists a conspiracy to murder all leaders of the opposition to the contractor-Cappelini machine, to exterminate all miners who dare to challenge the bloody rule of the operators and contractors, supported by the Cappelini machine.

“The murder of Brothers Campbell and Riley is a challenge to every miner who is opposed to company and contractor control of the United Mine Workers.

“The murder of Campbell and Riley, following the murder of Thomas Lillis, the shooting of Samuel Greco and the attempt to frame-up Sam Bonita for defending himself from the attack of Cappelini’s chief gunman, are all part of the conspiracy to break down working conditions, cut wages and finally to smash our union.

“The murder of Alex Campbell, a miner of Scotch descent and Peter Riley, of Irish descent, destroys completely the false theory, spread deliberately by the agents of the murder machine, that the previous killings were merely the result of Italian feuds.

“The brutal murder of Campbell and Riley in broad daylight shows that the terrorist agents are striking straight and openly at the rank and file opposition to the coal company control of the United Mine Workers We must choose now and for all time between honest unionism and the bloody rule of the Lewis-Cappelini-Operator machine.

Aimed Against Defense.

“The coal companies, the contractors and their agents in our union are trying to make the defense of Sam Bonita impossible. The murder of Campbell and Riley was intended to terrorize the rank and file, to prevent the organization of a mass union defense movement to free Bonita and to make it easier to railroad him to his death.

“The agents of the coal companies are using both assassination and legal murder. Lillis, Campbell and Riley were murdered in the most cowardly manner, Greco, they almost succeeded in killing. Bonita, Mendola and Moleski they intend to railroad to the electric chair.

Organization Urged.

“The Save-the-Union Committee calls upon the members of the United Mine Workers of District 1 to organize and take the control of our union from the bloody hands of the opertors, contractors and their official agents.

“We call upon all miners in District 7 and 9 likewise to take control of their local unions and support the rank and file of District 1 and the program of the Save-the-Union Committee by all available means.

“The Save-the-Union Committee calls for the organization of powerful rank and file defense to free Bonita, Mendola and Moleski.

“Rescue the United Mine Workers from the murder machine of the operators, the contractors and their agents.

Meetings Are Called.

“Avenge Campbell, Riley, Lillis and Greco by defeating bloody reaction freeing Bonita and building the Uni ted Mine Workers into an unbeatable weapon of the 800,000 coal miners of North America.

“Come to the protest mass meetings in Luzerne, March 1st, at Italian Hall, 206 Oliver St.; Pittston, Sunday, March 4th, at 2 p.m.; Wilkes Barre, Monday, March 5th, 7 p.m. “Meetings are also being arranged in the following places: Old Forge, Jessup, Oliphant, Simpson, Carbondale. Dates and hours will be announced later.

“Smash the murder machine!

“Free Bonita, Mendola and Molesski!

“Save the union!

“Organize the fight!

“Support the program of the Save- the-Union Committee!

“Signed, S. Dziengelewsky, chairman; George Papcun, secretary; Tri-District Save-the-Union Committee.”

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n051-NY-mar-01-1928-DW-LOC.pdf