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RE: JOHN L. LEVIS, ET AL INTERVIE.. “ITE This nan speaks English with considerable Piculty an a Limited expression. He can understand only plain and simple questions. He said he is villing to testify in court, Lut prefers not to. He claimed to have no criwinal record. "Springfield, Til. September 4, 1943 wale thc following voluntary statement to, : Lot * Whoo I :now*to be Special Azents of the Federal Bureau of nvestigatio.., of mr own free will, with no threats or promises made to me, pficld, Til,, and am working in “ and came to the United States in I was hatural at Scrinzficld, ll, fF joined a miné ‘union, some smali locai, in “ennsylvania, in Ine I joined the I.M.W. at Springfie’d, Ill. I joincd the Progressive Mine workers of America in 19 132; when the wajorit; of the men at Mine B where I was Working did. I didn't taxe any part in orgenizing the P.M.A. and went with the majority of the ::en. "T presently live a Mine B. I was borr & "From 1932 until 1937, there was no trouble between the P.M.A. and the mine management. The F.I.A. alvays treated me all right, anc T had no fault to find. The U.M.1. had always treated me all right, too. It made no difference to me one union or another. I don't remember anv P.M.A. meet— ing the nivht before the strike. To the best of my menory, I don't think anyone went into the mine on the day of the strike. I don t remember who it was that told me to stay cut of the mine that day. I heard that the strike was called because the Mine B manazement said they didn't want the F.MLA. in the mine, that they vanted the U.N. 7. I don't remember any more about it. I don't know if U.M.W. had any oryanizers or agitators in the mine before the strike or not. "T think I signed a paper for the P..M.A. shortly after the strike, which paper said that there wee more P.M,A. men that U.N, W. in the mine, that the P,t.a. didn't want to ficht, they just wanted to work. Some- time, I think it was that summer, before the mine cpened, tivo -1cn, whose nares I don't know, one an Italian and one a Lithuanian, came and asked me to join the U.M.v, I told them I wouldn't sign, and they left. They didn't threaten me, but told me that conditions would be better for me if I joined the U.MLW. , ~ 342 -