minewar.org documenting the 1930's Illinois Mine War
Mine War Site – Mine “B”
In the 1930’s, Mine “B” was owned by Carl Elshoff, and was organized by the Progressive Miners following their split from the UMWA. The Progressives later struck the mine after the UMWA attempted to assert control over the labor force. FBI records indicate that John L. Lewis provided funds to Elshoff to help him break the PMA strike.
Recommending the indictment of Lewis in a 1943 memo , Assistant U.S. Attorney General, Wendell Berge wrote, “Throughout the history of the trade union movement, agreements between a labor union and an employer to the detriment of a rival union, however bitter the enmity, have been despised and deemed treasonable and traitorous to the cause of labor.”
However, no federal indictments were ever issued against Lewis or District 12.
