176

John L. Lewis.

File of correspondence between the United Mine Workers president and a local leader.

Various places, 1942-1959
59 items (13 Letters Signed from Lewis to Joseph Kostecka, 1942-1955; 3 mimeograph circular letters Signed by Lewis; 23 circular letters with Lewis's typed or facsimile signature, 1942-1959; 12 retained carbons of letters from Kostecka to Lewis; 7 letters between Kostecka and other union leaders, 1949-1956; and one pamphlet by Lewis); minimal to minor wear.

  • Notes: John Llewellyn Lewis (1880-1969) was the longtime leader of the United Mine Workers of America, and one of the most prominent union leaders in American history. 

    This correspondence was with Joseph Kostecka (1897-1965), head of the UMWA local in Powhatan Point, Ohio, a coal-mining town just across the river from West Virginia. He was born in Bohemia (later Czechoslovakia) and emigrated to the United States as a boy. 

    The first of Lewis's letters designates Kostecka as an official salaried union representative, 28 August 1942. During this period, Lewis was in the process of moving the union from the radical Congress of Industrial Organizations to the more conservative American Federation of Labor. On 16 May 1944, Lewis thanks Kostecka for sharing a circular "which has to do with the illegal meeting called by certain of our members in District #12." On 10 March 1950, Lewis agrees that "It is indeed gratifying to know that we have such a fine contract, and that the best interests of our Union and its membership are preserved in every way for the future." 

    Some of the unsigned Lewis circular letters are also interesting, including discussions of wartime measures in 1942; the AFL affiliation vote in 1944; a confidential message on contract negotiations from 1949 which reminds officers that "each of you knows from bitter experience that you have to fight to retain that which you already possess"; a defiant 1950 open letter to President Truman; and his emotional farewell message to the union on 15 December 1959. 

    Kostecka's letters to Lewis are also interesting. On 26 June 1944, he reports to Lewis on a newly opened non-union mine: "I know this man, he was a member of our Union for many years. He got injured in the mine and our union got him his compensation (he is somewhat off mentley). He and two of his sons and son in law started a track mine, and they won't sign a contract with us. There is only 5 working in this mine, that is 4 of the family and one other man with them." 

    Also included is an illustrated pamphlet with Lewis's 21 June 1957 testimony to a United States Senate committee, titled "Voluntary Associations--The Bulwark of American Liberty." 
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