The Governor's Cossacks
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Thugs, thieves, and murders in the guise of Coal and Iron Police--appointed by Pennsylvania's Governor--hold the bituminous fields around Pittsburgh in a siege of terror. The story picks up where "Miner Injustice" ends, in 1928 as the strike winds down. John L. Lewis abandons the mine families, and relief in the form of food and clothing is too little, too late, and sporadic at best. The United Mine Workers struggles to hold onto its power, but it is loosing the battle. The union leaders betray their own, just as the coal operators betray them. Albert, the idealistic pugilist, from "Miner Injustice" continues his fight to prod the union to help the miners, first from his sick bed and later from the field. The flu that helped kill Albert's brother has taken its toll on him. His heart is bad and he is told to take things easy for a year or he could die. Instead he gets ever deeper involved in the union struggle via red fronted relief agencies and the "Save the Union" campaign. This involvement could cost him the woman he loves, his family, and his new best friend, a reporter for the Negro newspaper who also interns with the American Civil Liberties Union. It could even get him killed.
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