Samuel Gompers
Encyclopedia
Samuel Gompers was an English
-born American
cigar maker who became a labor union
leader and a key figure in American labor history
. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor
(AFL), and served as that organization's president from 1886 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924. He promoted harmony among the different craft unions that comprised the AFL, trying to minimize jurisdictional battles. He promoted "thorough" organization and collective bargaining to secure shorter hours and higher wages, the first essential steps, he believed, to emancipating labor. He also encouraged the AFL to take political action to "elect their friends" and "defeat their enemies." During World War I
, Gompers and the AFL openly supported the war effort, attempting to avoid strikes and boost morale while raising wage rates and expanding membership.
, into a Jewish family which originally hailed from Amsterdam
. When he was six, Samuel was sent to the Jewish Free School where he received a basic education. His elementary school career was brief, however, as a mere three months after his 10th birthday, Gompers was removed from school and sent to work as an apprentice cigarmaker to help earn money for his impoverished family.
Gompers was able to continue his studies in night school, however, during which time he learned Hebrew and studied the Talmud
, a process which he long later recalled was akin to studying law. While familiar with the ancient Hebrew language, Gompers did not speak and held a lifelong disdain for Yiddish.
Lower East Side
in New York City. Gompers' father was engaged in the manufacture of cigars at home, assisted for the first year and half by Samuel. In his free time, the young teenager formed a debate club with his friends, an activity which provided practical experience in public speaking and parliamentary procedure. The club drew Gompers into contact with other upwardly mobile young men of the city, including a young Irish-American named Peter J. McGuire
who would later play a large role in the AFL.
In 1864, at the age of 14, Gompers joined and became involved in the activities of Cigarmakers' Local Union No. 15
, the English-speaking union of cigar makers in New York City. Gompers later recounted his days as a cigar maker at the bench in detail, emphasizing the place of craftsmanship in the production process:
The day after his 17th birthday, he married his co-worker, 16-year-old Sophia Julian. They had a series of children in rapid succession, with six surviving infancy.
In 1873, Gompers moved to the cigarmaker David Hirsch & Company, a "high-class shop where only the most skilled workmen were employed." Gompers later called this change of employers "one of the most important changes in my life", for at Hirsch's – a union shop operated by an émigré German socialist
– Gompers came into contact with an array of German-speaking cigarmakers — "men of keener mentality and wider thought than any I had met before," he recalled. Gompers learned German and absorbed many of the ideas of his shopmates, developing a particular admiration for the ideas of the former secretary of the International Workingmen's Association
, Karl Laurrell. Laurrell took Gompers under his wing, challenging his more simplistic ideas and urging Gompers to put his faith in the organized economic movement of trade unionism rather than the socialist political movement.
Gompers later recalled:
Gompers complained that the socialist movement had been captured by Lassallean
advocates of "political party action" rather than the "militant economic program of Marx." He warned delegates to the 1900 annual convention that when men became enthusiastic about socialism, "they usually lost interest in their union."
As was the case with other unions of the day, the Cigarmaker's Union nearly collapsed in the financial crisis
of 1877, in which unemployment skyrocketed and ready availability of desperate workers willing to labor for subsistence wages put pressure upon the gains in wages and shortening of hours achieved in union shops. 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.
Gompers 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."
He was elected second vice-president of the Cigarmakers' International Union in 1886, and first vice-president in 1896. Despite the commitment of time and energy entailed by his place as head of the American Federation of Labor
, Gompers remained first vice-president of the Cigarmakers until his death in December 1924.
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 AF of L coalition gradually gained strength, undermining the position 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..
's plan to annex the Philippines. Mandel (1963) argues that his anti-imperialism, was based on opportunistic fears of threats to labor's status from low paid offshore workers, and as founded on a sense of racial superiority to the peoples of the Philippines.
By the 1890s Gompers was planning an international federation of labor, starting with the expansion of AFL affiliates in Canada, especially Ontario. He helped the Canadian Trades and Labour Congress
with money and organizers, and by 1902 the AFL came to dominate the Canadian union movement.
Gompers, like most labor leaders of his era, opposed unrestricted immigration from Europe because it lowered wages, and opposed all immigration from Asia because it lowered wages and represented (to him) an alien culture that could not be easily assimilated. He and the AF of L strongly supported the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that banned the immigration of Chinese. The AF of L 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. At least one study concludes that the link between the AF of L and the Democratic Party
rested in large part on immigration issues, as the owners of large corporations wanted more immigration and thus supported the Republican party
. Other scholars have seriously questioned this conclusion, arguing it oversimplifies the politics and unity of labor leaders and the major parties. As one reviewer argued in the Journal of American History
, major Republican leaders such as President William McKinley
and Senator
Mark Hanna
made pro-labor statements, many unions supported their own independent labor parties, and unity within the AF of L was never as extensive as claimed.
During World War I Gompers was a strong supporter of the war effort. He was appointed by President Wilson
to the Council of National Defense, where he chaired the Labor Advisory Board. He attended the Paris Peace Conference
in 1919 as an official advisor on labor issues.
Samuel Gompers began his labor career familiar with, and sympathetic to the precepts of socialism, but gradually adopted a more conservative approach to labor relations. Labor Historian Melvyn Dubofsky has written, "By 1896 Gompers and the AFL were moving to make their peace with Capitalism and the American system. Although the AFL had once preached the inevitability of class conflict and the need to abolish 'wage slavery', it slowly and almost imperceptibly began to proclaim the virtues of class harmony and the possibilities of a more benevolent Capitalism."
Gompers' philosophy of labor unions centered on economic ends for workers, such as higher wages, shorter hours, and safe working conditions 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's trade union philosophy and his devotion to collective bargaining with business proved to be too conservative for more radical leaders such as Ed Boyce
, president of the Western Federation of Miners
(WFM), and later, WFM secretary-treasurer Bill Haywood
. In 1905, Haywood and the WFM helped to establish the Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW, whose members were known as Wobblies), with the goal of organizing the entire working class. The IWW's long-term goal was to supplant capitalism with a workers' commonwealth. Nonetheless, when government abuses against the leaders of the WFM seemed too egregious, Gompers relented and offered assistance.
During the following decade, Gompers and his unions vigorously fought the Wobblies, and later cooperated with widespread government arrests of union leaders for the IWW's militant opposition to the First World War
. The IWW was practically defunct by 1920. He likewise fought the socialists, who believed workers and unions could never co-exist with business interests and wanted to use the labor unions to advance their more radical political causes, typified by the presidential campaigns of Eugene V. Debs
. By 1920 Gompers had largely marginalized their role to a few unions, notably coal miners and the needle trades.
sent him to the hospital, sidelining him from work for six weeks. No sooner had he recovered from the flu than he was stricken by a case of bronchitis
that laid him low again. By June 1924 Gompers, who suffered from diabetes, could no longer walk without assistance and he was hospitalized again, this time suffering from congestive heart failure and uremia
.
He collapsed in Mexico City on Saturday, December 6, 1924 while attending a meeting of the Pan-American Federation of Labor
. It was recognized that his condition was critical and that he might not survive for long. Gompers expressed the desire to die on American soil, and he was placed aboard a special train and sped toward the border. Samuel Gompers was buried at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
in Sleepy Hollow, New York
. Gompers is buried only a few yards away from industrialist Andrew Carnegie
, another important figure of industry in the Gilded Age
.
Samuel Gompers inspired later generations of labor leaders, such as George Meany
, who paid tribute to Samuel Gompers as a European immigrant who pioneered a distinctly American brand of unionism.
His belief led to the development of procedures for collective bargaining
and contracts between labor and management which are still in use today. In practice, AF of L unions were important in industrial cities, where they formed a central labor office to coordinate the actions of different AF of L unions. Issues of wages and hours were the usual causes of strikes, but many strikes were assertions of jurisdiction, so that the plumbers, for example, used strikes to ensure that all major construction projects in the city used union plumbers. In this goal they were ideally supported by all the other construction unions in the AF of L fold.
Gompers is the subject of statuary in several major American cities. A bronze monument honoring Gompers by the sculptor Robert Aitken
resides in Gompers Square on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C.
. 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. Samuel Gompers also had a U.S. Navy support ship
and a class of U.S. Navy destroyer tenders
named for him.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cigar maker who became a labor union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
leader and a key figure in American labor history
Labor history of the United States
The labor history of the United States describes the history of organized labor, as well as the more general history of working people, in the United States. Pressures dictating the nature and power of organized labor have included the evolution and power of the corporation, efforts by employers...
. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
(AFL), and served as that organization's president from 1886 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924. He promoted harmony among the different craft unions that comprised the AFL, trying to minimize jurisdictional battles. He promoted "thorough" organization and collective bargaining to secure shorter hours and higher wages, the first essential steps, he believed, to emancipating labor. He also encouraged the AFL to take political action to "elect their friends" and "defeat their enemies." During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Gompers and the AFL openly supported the war effort, attempting to avoid strikes and boost morale while raising wage rates and expanding membership.
Early life
Samuel Gompers was born on January 27, 1850 in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, into a Jewish family which originally hailed from Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. When he was six, Samuel was sent to the Jewish Free School where he received a basic education. His elementary school career was brief, however, as a mere three months after his 10th birthday, Gompers was removed from school and sent to work as an apprentice cigarmaker to help earn money for his impoverished family.
Gompers was able to continue his studies in night school, however, during which time he learned Hebrew and studied the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, a process which he long later recalled was akin to studying law. While familiar with the ancient Hebrew language, Gompers did not speak and held a lifelong disdain for Yiddish.
Young worker at the bench
Owing to dire financial straits, the Gompers family emigrated to the United States in 1863, settling on Manhattan'sManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
in New York City. Gompers' father was engaged in the manufacture of cigars at home, assisted for the first year and half by Samuel. In his free time, the young teenager formed a debate club with his friends, an activity which provided practical experience in public speaking and parliamentary procedure. The club drew Gompers into contact with other upwardly mobile young men of the city, including a young Irish-American named Peter J. McGuire
Peter J. McGuire
Peter J. McGuire was an American labor leader of the nineteenth century, the founder of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and one of the leading figures in the first three decades of the American Federation of Labor...
who would later play a large role in the AFL.
In 1864, at the age of 14, Gompers joined and became involved in the activities of Cigarmakers' Local Union No. 15
Cigar Makers' International Union
The Journeymen Cigar Makers' International Union of America was a labor union established in 1864 that represented workers in the cigar industry...
, the English-speaking union of cigar makers in New York City. Gompers later recounted his days as a cigar maker at the bench in detail, emphasizing the place of craftsmanship in the production process:
"Any kind of an old loft served as a cigar shop. If there were enough windows, we had sufficient light for our work; if not, it was apparently no concern of the management.... Cigar shops were always dusty from the tobacco stems and powdered leaves. Benches and work tables were not designed to enable the workmen to adjust bodies and arms comfortably to work surface. Each workman supplied his own cutting board of lignum vitae and knife blade.
"The tobacco leaf was prepared by strippers who drew the leaves from the heavy stem and put them into pads of about fifty. The leaves had to be handled carefully to prevent tearing. The craftsmanship of the cigarmaker was shown in his ability to utilize wrappers to the best advantage to shave off the unusable to a hairbreadth, to roll so as to cover holes in the leaf and to use both hands so as to make a perfectly shaped and rolled product. These things a good cigarmaker learned to do more or less mechanically, which left us free to think, talk, listen, or sing. I loved the freedom of that work, for I had earned the mind-freedom that accompanied skill as a craftsman. I was eager to learn from discussion and reading or to pour out my feelings in song."
The day after his 17th birthday, he married his co-worker, 16-year-old Sophia Julian. They had a series of children in rapid succession, with six surviving infancy.
In 1873, Gompers moved to the cigarmaker David Hirsch & Company, a "high-class shop where only the most skilled workmen were employed." Gompers later called this change of employers "one of the most important changes in my life", for at Hirsch's – a union shop operated by an émigré German socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
– Gompers came into contact with an array of German-speaking cigarmakers — "men of keener mentality and wider thought than any I had met before," he recalled. Gompers learned German and absorbed many of the ideas of his shopmates, developing a particular admiration for the ideas of the former secretary of the International Workingmen's Association
International Workingmen's Association
The International Workingmen's Association , sometimes called the First International, was an international organization which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist political groups and trade union organizations that were based on the working class...
, Karl Laurrell. Laurrell took Gompers under his wing, challenging his more simplistic ideas and urging Gompers to put his faith in the organized economic movement of trade unionism rather than the socialist political movement.
Gompers later recalled:
"I remember asking Laurrell whether in his opinion I ought to keep in touch with the Socialist movement. He replied, 'Go to their meetings by all means, listen to what they have to say and understand them, but do not join the Party.' I never did, though it was my habit to attend their Saturday evening meetings. There were often good speakers present and the discussions were stimulating. * * *
"Time and again, under the lure of new ideas, I went to Laurrell with glowing enthusiasm. Laurrel would gently say, 'Study your union card, Sam, and if the idea doesn't square with that, it ain't true.' My trade union card came to be my standard in all new problems."
Gompers complained that the socialist movement had been captured by Lassallean
Ferdinand Lassalle
Ferdinand Lassalle was a German-Jewish jurist and socialist political activist.-Early life:Ferdinand Lassalle was born on 11 April 1825 in Breslau , Silesia to a prosperous Jewish family descending from Upper Silesian Loslau...
advocates of "political party action" rather than the "militant economic program of Marx." He warned delegates to the 1900 annual convention that when men became enthusiastic about socialism, "they usually lost interest in their union."
Cigarmakers' International Union career
Gompers was elected president of Cigarmakers' International Union Local 144 in 1875.As was the case with other unions of the day, the Cigarmaker's Union nearly collapsed in the financial crisis
Financial crisis
The term financial crisis is applied broadly to a variety of situations in which some financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these...
of 1877, in which unemployment skyrocketed and ready availability of desperate workers willing to labor for subsistence wages put pressure upon the gains in wages and shortening of hours achieved in union shops. 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.
Gompers 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."
He was elected second vice-president of the Cigarmakers' International Union in 1886, and first vice-president in 1896. Despite the commitment of time and energy entailed by his place as head of the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
, Gompers remained first vice-president of the Cigarmakers until his death in December 1924.
Leading the AFL
Gompers helped found the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor UnionsFederation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions
The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada was a federation of labor unions created on November 15, 1881, in Pittsburgh...
in 1881 as a coalition of like-minded unions. In 1886 it was reorganized into the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
, 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 AF of L coalition gradually gained strength, undermining the position previously held by the Knights of Labor
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terence Powderly...
, which as a result had almost vanished by 1900. He was nearly jailed in 1911 for publishing with John Mitchell
John Mitchell (United Mine Workers)
John Mitchell was a United States labor leader and president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1898 to 1908....
a boycott list, but the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
overturned the sentence in Gompers v. Buck's Stove and Range Co..
Immigration and foreign affairs
Gompers, who had ties with the Cuban cigar workers in the U.S.. called for American intervention in Cuba; he supported the resulting war with Spain in 1898. After the war, however, he joined the Anti-Imperialist League to oppose President William McKinleyWilliam McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
's plan to annex the Philippines. Mandel (1963) argues that his anti-imperialism, was based on opportunistic fears of threats to labor's status from low paid offshore workers, and as founded on a sense of racial superiority to the peoples of the Philippines.
By the 1890s Gompers was planning an international federation of labor, starting with the expansion of AFL affiliates in Canada, especially Ontario. He helped the Canadian Trades and Labour Congress
Trades and Labour Congress of Canada
The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1883 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor...
with money and organizers, and by 1902 the AFL came to dominate the Canadian union movement.
Gompers, like most labor leaders of his era, opposed unrestricted immigration from Europe because it lowered wages, and opposed all immigration from Asia because it lowered wages and represented (to him) an alien culture that could not be easily assimilated. He and the AF of L strongly supported the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that banned the immigration of Chinese. The AF of L was instrumental in passing immigration restriction laws from the 1890s to the 1920s, such as the 1921 Emergency Quota Act
Emergency Quota Act
The Emergency Quota Act, also known as the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1921, the Per Centum Law, and the Johnson Quota Act restricted immigration into the United States...
and the Immigration Act of 1924
Immigration Act of 1924
The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, and Asian Exclusion Act , was a United States federal law that limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already...
, and seeing that they were strictly enforced. At least one study concludes that the link between the AF of L and the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
rested in large part on immigration issues, as the owners of large corporations wanted more immigration and thus supported the Republican party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. Other scholars have seriously questioned this conclusion, arguing it oversimplifies the politics and unity of labor leaders and the major parties. As one reviewer argued in the Journal of American History
Journal of American History
The Journal of American History is the official academic journal of the Organization of American Historians. It covers the field of American history and was established in 1914 as the Mississippi Valley Historical Review, the official journal of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association...
, major Republican leaders such as President William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
and Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Mark Hanna
Mark Hanna
Marcus Alonzo "Mark" Hanna was a United States Senator from Ohio and the friend and political manager of President William McKinley...
made pro-labor statements, many unions supported their own independent labor parties, and unity within the AF of L was never as extensive as claimed.
During World War I Gompers was a strong supporter of the war effort. He was appointed by President Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
to the Council of National Defense, where he chaired the Labor Advisory Board. He attended the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
in 1919 as an official advisor on labor issues.
Philosophy
During a severe period of national economic recession in the early 1890s, labor unrest was at its height. A volatile situation in Chicago in August of 1893 caused the city’s then mayor, Carter Henry Harrison to warn that the preponderance of the unemployed would lead to riots that would “shake the country” unless Congress interceded. In late August of 1893, Gompers addressed twenty-five thousand unemployed workers who had massed on the shore of Lake Michigan. As reported in the Chicago Tribune on August 31st, Gompers inveighed against the controllers of capital and the titans of industry and finance. “Why should the wealth of the country be stored in banks and elevators while the idle workman wanders homeless about the streets and the idle loafers who hoard the gold only to spend it on riotous living are rolling about in fine carriages from which they look out on peaceful meetings and call them riots?”Samuel Gompers began his labor career familiar with, and sympathetic to the precepts of socialism, but gradually adopted a more conservative approach to labor relations. Labor Historian Melvyn Dubofsky has written, "By 1896 Gompers and the AFL were moving to make their peace with Capitalism and the American system. Although the AFL had once preached the inevitability of class conflict and the need to abolish 'wage slavery', it slowly and almost imperceptibly began to proclaim the virtues of class harmony and the possibilities of a more benevolent Capitalism."
Gompers' philosophy of labor unions centered on economic ends for workers, such as higher wages, shorter hours, and safe working conditions 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's trade union philosophy and his devotion to collective bargaining with business proved to be too conservative for more radical leaders such as Ed Boyce
Ed Boyce
Ed Boyce was president of the Western Federation of Miners, a radical American labor organizer, socialist and hard rock mine owner.-Early life:...
, president of the Western Federation of Miners
Western Federation of Miners
The Western Federation of Miners was a radical labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into sharp conflicts – and often pitched battles...
(WFM), and later, WFM secretary-treasurer Bill Haywood
Bill Haywood
William Dudley Haywood , better known as "Big Bill" Haywood, was a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World , and a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America...
. In 1905, Haywood and the WFM helped to establish the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(IWW, whose members were known as Wobblies), with the goal of organizing the entire working class. The IWW's long-term goal was to supplant capitalism with a workers' commonwealth. Nonetheless, when government abuses against the leaders of the WFM seemed too egregious, Gompers relented and offered assistance.
During the following decade, Gompers and his unions vigorously fought the Wobblies, and later cooperated with widespread government arrests of union leaders for the IWW's militant opposition to the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The IWW was practically defunct by 1920. He likewise fought the socialists, who believed workers and unions could never co-exist with business interests and wanted to use the labor unions to advance their more radical political causes, typified by the presidential campaigns of Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
. By 1920 Gompers had largely marginalized their role to a few unions, notably coal miners and the needle trades.
Death and legacy
Gompers' health went into serious decline in starting in February 1923, when a serious bout of influenzaInfluenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
sent him to the hospital, sidelining him from work for six weeks. No sooner had he recovered from the flu than he was stricken by a case of bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
that laid him low again. By June 1924 Gompers, who suffered from diabetes, could no longer walk without assistance and he was hospitalized again, this time suffering from congestive heart failure and uremia
Uremia
Uremia or uraemia is a term used to loosely describe the illness accompanying kidney failure , in particular the nitrogenous waste products associated with the failure of this organ....
.
He collapsed in Mexico City on Saturday, December 6, 1924 while attending a meeting of the Pan-American Federation of Labor
Pan-American Federation of Labor
Pan-American Federation of Labor was an international trade union organization, promoted by the American Federation of Labor. The organization was founded at a conference in Laredo, Texas, USA in December 1918. At the conference, 72 delegates took part, 46 from USA, 21 from Mexico and five from...
. It was recognized that his condition was critical and that he might not survive for long. Gompers expressed the desire to die on American soil, and he was placed aboard a special train and sped toward the border. Samuel Gompers was buried at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York is the resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent Old Dutch Burying Ground. Incorporated in 1849 as Tarrytown Cemetery, it posthumously honored Irving's...
in Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line.Originally...
. Gompers is buried only a few yards away from industrialist Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
, another important figure of industry in the Gilded Age
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
.
Samuel Gompers inspired later generations of labor leaders, such as George Meany
George Meany
William George Meany led labor union federations in the United States. As an officer of the American Federation of Labor, he represented the AFL on the National War Labor Board during World War II....
, who paid tribute to Samuel Gompers as a European immigrant who pioneered a distinctly American brand of unionism.
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
and contracts between labor and management which are still in use today. In practice, AF of L unions were important in industrial cities, where they formed a central labor office to coordinate the actions of different AF of L unions. Issues of wages and hours were the usual causes of strikes, but many strikes were assertions of jurisdiction, so that the plumbers, for example, used strikes to ensure that all major construction projects in the city used union plumbers. In this goal they were ideally supported by all the other construction unions in the AF of L fold.
Gompers is the subject of statuary in several major American cities. A bronze monument honoring Gompers by the sculptor Robert Aitken
Robert Ingersoll Aitken
Robert Ingersoll Aitken was an American sculptor.Born in San Francisco, California, Aitken studied there at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art with Douglas Tilden. From 1901 until 1904 he was an instructor at the Institute. In 1904 he moved to Paris where he continued his studies...
resides in Gompers Square on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. On September 3, 2007, a life-size statue of Gompers was unveiled at Gompers Park which is on the northwest side of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. 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. Samuel Gompers also had a U.S. Navy support ship
USS Samuel Gompers (AD-37)
USS Samuel Gompers was a destroyer tender, the first of her class, and designed to be a floating repair shop for ships of the U.S. Navy either in port or at sea...
and a class of U.S. Navy destroyer tenders
Samuel Gompers class destroyer tender
Samuel Gompers-class destroyer tender was a class of ships that served the United States Navy from 1967 to 1996....
named for him.
Quotes
- [I]t was difficult to organize certain Black workers because, being only half a century removed from slavery, they did not have the same conception of their rights and duties as did the white workers and were unprepared for fully exercising and enjoying the possibilities existing in trade unionism.
- So long as we have held fast to voluntary principles and have been actuated and inspired by the spirit of service, we have sustained our forward progress, and we have made our labor movement something to be respected and accorded a place in the councils of the Republic. Where we have blundered into trying to force a policy or decision, even though wise and right, we have impeded if not interrupted the realization of our own aims.
- No lasting gain has ever come from compulsion. If we seek to force, we but tear apart that which united, is invincible. There is no way whereby our labor movement may be assured sustained progress in determining its policies and its plans other than sincere democratic deliberation until a unanimous decision is reached. This may seem a cumbrous, slow method to the impatient, but the impatient are more concerned for immediate triumph than for the education of constructive development.
- The worst crime against working people is a company which fails to operate at a profit.
- What does labor want? We want more school houses and less jails. More books and less guns. More learning and less vice. More leisure and less greed. More justice and less revenge. We want more ... opportunities to cultivate our better natures.
- 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.
- 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.
- In many instances the conduct of colored workmen, and those who have spoken for them, has not been in asking or demanding that equal rights be accorded to them as to white workmen, but somehow conveying the idea that they are to be petted and coddled and given special consideration and special privilege. Of course that can't be done.
[The labor movement is] a movement of the working people, for the working people, by the working people, governed by ourselves, with its policies determined by ourselves...
- The trade union movement represents the organized economic power of the workers. Through the development, the organization and the exercise of this economic power the workers themselves establish higher standards of living and work. Although this economic power from the superficial standpoint appears indirect, it is in reality the most potent and the most direct social insurance the workers can establish.
Works
- Seventy Years of Life and Labor: An Autobiography. In 2 volumes. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1925.
- Samuel Gompers Papers. Stuart Bruce Kaufman, Peter J. Albert, and Grace Palladino (eds.) In 12 volumes. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989-2010.
Other books and pamphlets
- Address of Samuel Gompers, Before the Arbitration Conference, Held at Chicago, Ill. Dec. 17, 1900, Under the Auspices of the National Civic Federation. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1901.
- Meat vs. Rice: American Manhood against Asiatic Coolieism: Who Shall Survive? Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1902.
- Organized Labor: Its Struggles, Its Enemies and Fool Friends. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, n.d. [1904].
- Essence of Labor's Contention on the Injunction Abuse. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1908.
- Speech Delivered October 13, 1908, at Dayton, Ohio. Denver : Carson-Harper, n.d. [1908].
- Justice Wright's Denial of Free Speech and Free Press. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1909.
- Labor in Europe and America: Personal Observations from an American Viewpoint of Life and Conditions of Working Men in Great Britain, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, ... [etc.]. New York: Harper Brothers, 1910.
- The McNamara Case; Also, an Appeal for Funds to Secure a Fair and Impartial Trial. n.c. [Washington, DC]: McNamara Ways and Means Committee, n.d. [1911].
- Investigation of Taylor System of Shop Management: Hearings before... Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1911.
- The American Labor Movement: Its Makeup, Achievements and Aspirations. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, n.d. [1914].
- The Attitude of the American Federation of Labor toward Industrial Education. New York: C.S. Nathan, n.d. [1914].
- The Essence of the Clayton Law. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, n.d. [1914].
- The Double Edge of Labor's Sword: Discussion and Testimony on socialism and Trade-Unionism before the Commission on Industrial Relations. With Morris HillquitMorris HillquitMorris Hillquit was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side during the early 20th century.-Early years:...
and Max S. HayesMax S. HayesMaximillian Sebastian "Max" Hayes was a newspaper editor, trade union activist, and socialist politician. He is best remembered as the long-time editor of the Cleveland Citizen and as the Vice Presidential candidate of the Farmer-Labor Party ticket in 1920.-Early years:Max Hayes was born in...
. Chicago: Socialist Party National Office, 1914. - Labor and Antitrust Legislation: The Facts, Theory and Argument: A Brief and Appeal. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1914.
- The Workers and the Eight-Hour Workday; And, the Shorter Workday: Its Philosophy. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, n.d. [1915].
- Preparedness for National Defense: An Address Delivered before the 16th Annual Meeting of the National Civic Federation on January 18, 1916, at Washington... Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1916.
- America's Fight for the Preservation of Democracy: An Address Delivered by Samuel Gompers at Minneapolis, Minn.: And The Declaration of Principles. n.c. [Washington, DC]: American Alliance for Labor and Democracy, 1917.
- Address by Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor: Under the Auspices of the National Security League at Chicago, September 14, 1917. New York: National Security League, 1917.
- Should a Political Labor Party be Formed? An address by Samuel Gompers ... to a labor conference held at New York city, December 9, 1918. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1918.
- Labour and the War: Speeches Delivered in the Canadian House of Commons, April 26, 1918 and Before the Canadian Club, Ottawa, April 27, 1918. Ottawa: [government publication], 1918.
- American Labor and the War. New York: G.H. Doran, 1919.
- Labor and the Common Welfare. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1919.
- Labor and the Employer. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1920.
- Collective Bargaining: Labor's Proposal to Insure Greater Industrial Peace: With Questions and Answers Explaining the Principle. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1920.
- Debate between Samuel Gompers and Henry J. Allen at Carnegie Hall, New York, May 28, 1920. With Harry Justin Allen. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1920.
- [Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, The Eight-Hour Workday: Its Inauguration, Enforcement, and Influences.] Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, n.d. [1920].
- Labor's Protest against a Rampant Tragedy. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1920.
- Samuel Gompers on the Kansas Court of Industrial Relations Law: "Laws to make strikes unlawful will not prevent them." Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1920.
- Letters to a Bishop: Correspondence between Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, and Bishop William A. Quayle, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1920.
- The Union Shop and Its Antithesis. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1920.
- The Truth about Soviet Russia and Bolshevism. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, n.d. [1920].
- Out of Their Own Mouths: A Revelation and an Indictment of Sovietism. With William English WallingWilliam English WallingWilliam English Walling was an American labor reformer and socialist born in Louisville, Kentucky. He was the grandson of William Hayden English, the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1880, and was born into wealth. He was educated at the University of Chicago and at Harvard Law School...
. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1921. - The Fundamental Issues: Present Industrial Controversies an Expression of Vital Conflict between Industry and Finance. New York: New York Times, 1922.
- Correspondence between Mr. Newton D. Baker, President of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor. With Newton D. BakerNewton D. BakerNewton Diehl Baker, Jr. was an American politician who belonged to the Democratic Party. He served as the 37th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1912 to 1915 and as U.S. Secretary of War from 1916 to 1921.-Early years:...
. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, 1923. - Address of Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor: Before the Convention of the United Hatters of North America, New York City, April 16, 1923. Washington, DC: American Federation of Labor, n.d. [1923].
Articles
- "The Limitations of Conciliation and Arbitration," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 20 (July 1902), pp. 29–34. in JSTOR
- "Organized Labor's Attitude toward Child Labor," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 27 (March 1906), pp. 79–83. in JSTOR
- "Attitude of Labor towards Government Regulation of Industry," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 32 (July 1908), pp. 75–81. in JSTOR
- "Free Speech and the Injunction Order," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 36, no. 2 (September 1910), pp. 1–10. in JSTOR
- "European War Influences upon American Industry and Labor," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 61, (September 1915), pp. 4–10. in JSTOR
- "Labor Standards after the War," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 81 (January 1919), pp. 182–186. in JSTOR
- "The Development and Accessibility of Production Records Essential to Intelligent and Just Determination of Wage-Rates," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 100, (March 1922), pp. 54–55. in JSTOR
Further reading
- Babcock, Robert H., Gompers in Canada: A Study in American Continentalism before the First World War. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974.
- Bernstein, Irving, The Lean Years: A History of the American Worker, 1920-1933. 1960.
- Bernstein, Irving, "Samuel Gompers and Free Silver, 1896." Mississippi Valley Historical Review, vol, 29, no. 3 (December 1942).
- Buhle, Paul, Taking Care of Business: Samuel Gompers, George Meany, Lane Kirkland, and the Tragedy of American Labor. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1999.
- 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).
- Fink, Gary M., ed. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984.
- Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. In 10 volumes. New York: International Publishers, 1947-1991.
- Greene, Julie. Pure and Simple Politics: The American Federation of Labor and Political Activism, 1881-1917. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
- Grubbs, Jr. Frank L. The Struggle for Labor Loyalty: Gompers, the A. F. of L., and the Pacifists, 1917-1920. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1968.
- Livesay, Harold C. Samuel Gompers and Organized Labor in America. Boston: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc., 1987.
- Mandel, Bernard, Samuel Gompers: A Biography. New York: Penguin Group, 1963.
- Mandel, Bernard, "Gompers and Business Unionism, 1873-90." Business History Review. 28:3 (September 1954).
- Mandel, Bernard, "Samuel Gompers and the Negro Workers, 1886-1914." Journal of Negro History. vol. 40, no. 1 (January 1955).
- Mink, Gwendolyn, Old Labor and New Immigrants in American Political Development: Union, Party, and State, 1875-1920. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1986.
- 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.
- Reed, Louis, The Labor Philosophy of Samuel Gompers. Columbia University Press, 1930.
- Taft, Philip, The A.F. of L. in the Time of Gompers. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1957.
- Van Tine, Warren R., The Making of the Labor Bureaucrat: Union Leadership in the United States, 1870-1920. 1973.
- Whittaker, William George, "Samuel Gompers, Anti-Imperialist." Pacific Historical Review. vol. 38, no. 4 (November 1969).
External links
- The Samuel Gompers Papers Project website, University of Maryland, College Park. —Includes index to published volumes of Gompers' papers.
- Samuel Gompers, "Labor's Service to Freedom." 1918 audio recording, Library of Congress, American Memory Project.