Samuel Gompers (January 27, 1850^[1] - December 13, 1924) was an American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and held the position as president of the organization for all but one year from 1886 until he died in 1924. He sought to promote harmony among the different craft unions that comprised the AFL, and opposed the imposition of industrial unionism unless unions like the United Mine Workers and the Brewery Workers, for example, chose that form of organization for themselves. Focused on higher wages and collective bargaining, he favored trade unionism over socialism. After 1907, he encouraged the AFL to take political action to "elect their friends" and "defeat their enemies." When it appeared that the US was going to enter the First World War, he and the AFL offered support at a time when Eugene V. Debs and other leftists were against the war.

Early life

Gompers was born on January 27, 1850 in London, England into a Jewish family which had recently arrived from the Netherlands. He left school at age 10 to become an apprentice, first as a shoemaker and then as cigar maker. The family immigrated to the United States in 1863, settling on Manhattan's Lower East Side in New York City. He married Sophia Julian in 1866 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1872. Gompers attended a free Jewish school in London, but received no more than an elementary school education.^[1] He attended night school to further his education.

He joined Local 15 of the Cigarmakers' International Union in 1864, and was elected president of Local 144 in 1875. He was elected second vice-president of the international union in 1886, and first vice-president in 1896. He served in this capacity until his death. In 1877, the union nearly collapsed. Gompers and his friend Adolph Strasser used Local 144 as a base to rebuild the Cigarmakers' Union, introducing a high dues structure and implementing programs to pay out-of-work benefits, sick benefits, and death benefits for union members in good standing. He told the workers they needed to organize because wage reductions were almost a daily occurrence. The capitalists were only interested in profits, "and the time has come when we must assert our rights as workingmen. Every one present has the sad experience, that we are powerless in an isolated condition, while the capitalists are united; therefore it is the duty of every Cigar Maker to join the organization. . . . One of the main objects of the organization," he concluded, "is the elevation of the lowest paid worker to the standard of the highest, and in time we may secure for every person in the trade an existence worthy of human beings."^[2]

His philosophy of labor unions centered on economic ends for workers, such as higher wages, benefits, and job security so that they could enjoy an "American" standard of living -- a decent home, decent food and clothing, and money enough to educate their children. He thought economic organization was the most direct way to achieve these improvements, but he did encourage union members to participate in politics and to vote with their economic interests in mind.

Gompers did not view unions as simply the labor component of a business; he saw them more as a engine for worker education and self-help -- he believed that union members would learn to think and act for themselves through the process of organizing and collective bargaining.

Leading the AFL

Gompers helped found the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in 1881 as a coalition of like-minded unions. In 1886 it was reorganized into the American Federation of Labor, with Gompers as its president. He would remain president of the organization until his death (with the exception of one year, 1895).

Under Gompers's tutelage, the AFL coalition gradually gained strength, undermining that previously held by the Knights of Labor, which as a result had almost vanished by 1900. He was nearly jailed in 1911 for publishing with John Mitchell a boycott list, but the Supreme Court overturned the sentence in Gompers v. Buck's Stove and Range Co..

Gompers's trade union philosophy and his devotion to collective bargaining proved to be too conservative for more radical leaders who established the Industrial Workers of the World organization in 1905 with the goal of organizing unskilled new immigrant workers.^[3]

Gompers, like most labor leaders, opposed unrestricted immigration from Europe because it lowered wages, and opposed any immigration at all from Asia because he believed such workers could not be acculturated to the western world. The AFL was instrumental in passing immigration restriction laws from the 1890s to the 1920s, such as the 1921 Emergency Quota Act and the Immigration Act of 1924, and seeing that they were strictly enforced. The link between the AFL and the Democratic Party rested in large part on immigration issues; the owners of large corporations wanted more immigration and thus supported the Republican party.^[4]

Political involvement

During the First World War, Gompers was a strong supporter of the war effort. He was appointed by President Wilson to the powerful Council of National Defense, where he chaired the Labor Advisory Board. He was an attendee at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 as a labor advisor.

Death

The grave of Samuel Gompers

Samuel Gompers was buried at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in North Tarrytown, New York.

Quotes

Among the things we advocate is that women should have equal suffrage with men. . . . We not only work for equality of suffrage, but work to fight and obtain equal wages for her. (Samuel Gompers Papers, Vol 3:Rocky Mountain News, Feb. 28, 1891)

There are about 8,000,000 negroes in the United States, and, my friends, I not only have not the power to put the negro out of the labor movement, but I would not, even if I did have the power. . . . Why should I do such a thing? . . . . I would have nothing to gain, but the movement would have much to lose. Under our policies and principles we seek to build up the labor movement, instead of injuring it, and we want all the negroes we can possibly get who will join hands with organized labor. (Samuel Gompers Papers, Vol 8: St. Louis Globe Democrat, Nov. 18, 1910)

And what have our unions done? What do they aim to do? To improve the standard of life, to uproot ignorance and foster education, to instill character, manhood and independent spirit among our people; to bring about a recognition of the interdependence of man upon his fellow man. We aim to establish a normal work-day, to take the children from the factory and workshop and give them the opportunity of the school and the play-ground. In a word, our unions strive to lighten toil, educate their members, make their homes more cheerful, and in every way contribute an earnest effort toward making life the better worth living. (McClure's Magazine, Feb. 1912)

• Colored workmen have not been asking that equal rights be accorded to them as to white workmen, but [they] somehow convey the idea that they are to be petted or coddled and given special consideration and special privilege. Of course that can't be done.

Quoted in The Wall Street Journal, September 3, 2007. ^[7]

• Our movement is of the working people, for the working people, by the working people.
• The trade union movement represents the organized economic power of the workers... It is in reality the most potent and the most direct social insurance the workers can establish.

Dedications

Samuel Gompers Memorial near 11th and Massachusetts Avenue, NW in Washington, D.C.

A bronze monument honoring Gompers by the sculptor Robert Aitken resides in Gompers Square on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C., ironically located across from the headquarters of the libertarian Cato Institute.

In San Antonio, Texas, a statue (controversial for its design) was dedicated in Gompers' honor near the riverwalk and convention center.

On September 3, 2007 a life-size statue of Gompers was unveiled at Gompers Park which is on the northwest side of Chicago. Gompers Park was named after the labor leader in 1929. This is the first statue of a labor leader in Chicago. Local unions throughout Chicago donated their time and money to build the monument.^[8]

Schools on the far southside of Chicago, Illinois; The Bronx, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; in San Diego, California; and Watts, Los Angeles, California, are named for Gompers, as is an apartment complex of the New York City Housing Authority.

Notes

References

• Berstein, Irving. The Lean Years: A History of the American Worker, 1920-1933. Paperback ed. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1972. (Originally published 1960.) ISBN 0395136571
• Buhle, Paul. Taking Care of Business: Samuel Gompers, George Meany, Lane Kirkland, and the Tragedy of American Labor. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1999. ISBN 1583670041
• Currarino, Rosanne. "The Politics of 'More': The Labor Question and the Idea of Economic Liberty in Industrial America." Journal of American History. 93:1 (June 2003).
• "End Comes On Home Soil." Associated Press. December 14, 1924.
• Fink, Gary M., ed. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, 1984. ISBN 0313228655
• Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 1: From Colonial Times to the Founding of the American Federation of Labor. New York: International Publishers, 1947. Cloth ISBN 0-7178-0089-X; Paperback ISBN 0-7178-0376-7
• Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 2: From the Founding of the American Federation of Labor to the Emergence of American Imperialism. New York: International Publishers, 1955. Cloth ISBN 0-7178-0092-X; Paperback ISBN 0-7178-0388-0
• Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 3: The Policies and Practices of the American Federation of Labor, 1900-1909. New York: International Publishers, 1964. Cloth ISBN 0-7178-0093-8; Paperback ISBN 0-7178-0389-9
• Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 4: Industrial Workers of the World. New York: International Publishers, 1965. Cloth ISBN 0-7178-0094-6; Paperback ISBN 0-7178-0396-1
• Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 5: The AFL in the Progressive Era, 1910-1915. New York: International Publishers, 1980. Cloth ISBN 0-7178-0570-0; Paperback ISBN 0-7178-0562-X
• Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 6: On the Eve of America's Entrance into World War I, 1915-1916. New York: International Publishers, 1982. Cloth ISBN 0-7178-0602-2; Paperback ISBN 0-7178-0595-6
• Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 7: Labor and World War I, 1914-1918. New York: International Publishers, 1987. Cloth ISBN 0-7178-0638-3; Paperback ISBN 0-7178-0627-8
• Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 8: Postwar Struggles, 1918-1920. New York: International Publishers, 1988. Cloth ISBN 0-7178-0653-7; Paperback ISBN 0-7178-0652-9
• Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 9: The T.U.E.L. to the End of the Gompers Era. New York: International Publishers, 1991. Cloth ISBN 0-7178-0673-1; Paperback ISBN 0-7178-0674-X
• Gompers, Samuel. Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 1: The Early Years of the American Federation of Labor, 1887-90. Stuart Bruce Kaufman, Grace Palladino, Dorothee Schneider, and Peter J. Albert, eds. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1987. ISBN 0252013506
• Gompers, Samuel. Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 2: Unrest and Depression, 1891-94. Stuart Bruce Kaufman and Peter J. Albert, eds. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1989. ISBN 0252015460
• Gompers, Samuel. Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 3: The Making of a Union Leader, 1850-86. Stuart Bruce Kaufman, ed. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1991. ISBN 0252011376
• Gompers, Samuel. Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 4: A National Labor Movement Takes Shape, 1895-98. Stuart Bruce Kaufman, Grace Palladino and Peter J. Albert, eds. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1992. ISBN 0252017684
• Gompers, Samuel. Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 5: An Expanding Movement at the Turn of the Century, 1898-1902. Stuart Bruce Kaufman, Grace Palladino and Peter J. Albert, eds. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1996. ISBN 0252020081
• Gompers, Samuel. Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 6: The American Federation of Labor and the Rise of Progressivism, 1902-6. Stuart B. Kaufman, Grace Palladino and Peter J. Albert, eds. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1995. ISBN 025202303X
• Gompers, Samuel. Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 7: The American Federation of Labor Under Siege, 1906-09. Stuart B. Kaufman, Grace Palladino, Peter J. Albert, eds. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1998. ISBN 0252023803
• Gompers, Samuel. Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 8: Progress and Reaction in the Age of Reform, 1909-13. Peter J. Albert and Grace Palladino, eds. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2000. ISBN 0252025644
• Gompers, Samuel. The Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 9: The American Federation of Labor at the Height of Progressivism, 1913-17. Peter J. Albert and Grace Palladino, eds. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2003. ISBN 0252027558
• Gompers, Samuel. The Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 10: World War I, 1917-18. Grace Palladino, Peter J. Albert and Mary Jeske, eds. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2007. ISBN 0252030419
• Gompers, Samuel. Seventy Years of Life and Labor. Abridged ed. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1984. (Originally published in 1925.) ISBN 0875461123
• Greene, Julie. Pure and Simple Politics: The American Federation of Labor and Political Activism, 1881-1917. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0521433983
• Livesay, Harold C. Samuel Gompers and Organized Labor in America. Boston: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc., 1987. ISBN 0316528730
• Mandel, Bernard. Samuel Gompers: A Biography. New York: Penguin Group, 1963. ISBN 0873380843
• Mink, Gwendolyn. Old Labor and New Immigrants in American Political Development: Union, Party, and State, 1875-1920. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1986. ISBN 0801418631
• Montgomery, David. The Fall of the House of Labor: The Workplace, the State, and American Labor Activism, 1865-1925. New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1987. ISBN 0521225795
• "Samuel Gompers Statue Unveiled." Press release. Office of Ald. Margaret Laurino, City of Chicago. September 3, 2007. Accessed September 9, 2007.
• Taft, Philip. The A.F. of L. in the Time of Gompers. Hardback reprint. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1957. ISBN 0374977348

External links

• Index to the Samuel Gompers Papers. George Meany Memorial Archives, National Labor College, Silver Spring, Md.
• Library of Congress, American Memory Project audio recording of his 1918 speech "Labor's Service to Freedom"

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