Communism in the Coalfields
Alleged Diversion of American Dollars
Mr. Joseph Jones, general secretary of the Yorkshire Miners' Association and a member of the National Executive, speaking at Thurcroft in October, 1926, declared that the Communists had helped to postpone the probability of a settlement of the coal dispute. "I will confine my energies when the dispute is over," he said, " to clearing the coalfields of Communism. I will root it out as a surgeon would root out a cancer."
The Communists, said Mr. Jones, had also prejudiced the possibility of financial help from America. Hundreds of thousands of dollars had been collected by those whom they styled comrades, yet only 100 dollars had been received at the headquarters of the Miners' Federation. He had complained of this, and the only defence ever set up by the Communists was that the money had been used for the relief of distress by their own agents. But this meant that money had been paid to known Communist Propagandists instead of reaching the homes of distressed miners for whom it was intended.
Mr. Jones was one of the men's leaders who visited America to appeal for financial assistance.