Jack Battuello Memoir #1 - University of Illinois Springfield

Jack Battuello 6 5
absolutely right as events later proved because once or twice we
attempted, well, let me give you a specific instance. Jerry AlJard
was the editor of The Progressive Miner and Jerry Allard, ideologically
is a socialist, a radical compared to the Keps and the Percys who were
the officers of the Progressive Miner. And Jerry was writing dynamic
stuff in there. He wasn't calling them Mr. Mondell, he was calling
them thugs, gunmen and thugs. And he was hdicting the state for
its failure to exercise proper law and order so to speak. Ha was
calling a spade a spade. A conservative official began to say, "Now,
Jerry, tone this paper. Tone down your tyrannies. This is no way
to win the Illinois struggle." And we were saying, Jerry was saying
through us, "You can go to hell. This is the way it is, this is the
way it's going to be and this is what T'm going to keep saying."
They got rid of him, fired him.
Q. They did.
A. Oh, sure, fired him. He was the first one that paid the penalty.
Q. Al.lard was the editor.
A. Sure he was removed. Bombed out and we raised hell, of course,
we entered a local union, we threatened to stop thc payment of dues.
We would raise hell. Well, now the hell continued so next they
figured out a very elaborate scheme which is contained in this little
pamphlet, between the coal operators and the officials in the Progsessive
Miners to get the other radicals that were defending Jerry, that
were proposing drastic fundamental movements and tactics. That was
me and Dave Reed and Bill Capone and Mike Capone and John Fisher and
a lot of others. So they moved on us. And they got us. The same way.
So as I've said Sf we had to propose a rifle squadron at that period
the same thing would have happened that later happened with Jerry
and the other radicals when we kept insisting on proper tactics and
proper program and proper planning. Revolutionary to them, it was.
To them it was revolutionary but this is the only tactic that could
win in this thing. We proposed the next best thing which also was
the basis for our trial and expulsion: arganizati,onal unity, the
pamphS.et describes that in detail. It's documented with stare official
letters and so on and so forth. Let's work organizationally not
only will we eliminate harsh feeling and bitterness and blood thirstiness
that exist among our ranks, not only will it terminate this
senseless depredation and killing that's going on but it will safeguard
and improve the conditions that we have, what few we have left,
Ul.timately, logically this should 1-ead to organized unity. ~on't you see.
By the way, we couldn't talk to these people, we did and we held
meetings in ColLinsville, we held meetings, we met with the United
Mine Worker. We invited the official Lo go on, Here they were
shooting, they call it on-ship shooting. Here's two and three
hundred men in a mine and this is a condition that is unthinkable
Jack Battuello Memoir -- Archives, University of Illinois at Springfield