Despite its political aspirations, the CPLA remained focused on the labor movement in 1931 and worked hand in glove with Alexander Howat in support of a dissident Reorganized United Mine Workers Union. When Illinois officials of that union decided to return to the old organization, headed by John L. Lewis, the CPLA intensified its effort to assist Howat and his associates with the organization of its own convention in St. Louis, which began on April 15, 1931. That effort did not succeed in building a lasting "rank and file union," however.
