The History of Economic Thought

Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) America's First Great Labor Leader

Today's labor union movement is built on the foundation laid by Samuel Gompers, a poor Jewish immigrant from England. Arriving in America in 1863 at the age of 13, Gompers took a job in a cigar factory. In those days in cigar factories, one worker could read aloud while others worked. They read newspapers, magazines, books, and poetry. In this way Gompers and his fellow cigar makers received the education denied them when they left school to earn a living.

Being sympathetic to the goals of the Cigar Makers' Union, Gompers became an active mem­ber. By the 1880s, he was one of its principal lead­ers. Gompers reorganized the union to make it one of the nation's most powerful labor organizations. Before long, other unions began organizing like the Cigar Makers' Union. With his fame spreading, Gompers was encouraged to organize a federation of all the nation's craft unions. His efforts to form a national federation led to the creation, in 1886, of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Except for one term, Gompers served as president of the AFL from 1886 until his death in 1924. During that time its membership grew from 138,000 to more than 4 million. The AFL's growth in those years was due mostly to Gomper's reforms. Before the 1880s, labor unions often had tried to achieve their ends through politi­cal action. They sponsored candidates for federal, state, and local offices. Some even tried to form a political party to compete with the Democrats and Republicans. Others attempted to change the free enterprise system into some form of socialism. Gompers thought this political unionism was a ter­rible mistake.

Under Gompers, the AFL adopted a policy of busi­ness unionism. That is, they concentrated on get­ting higher wages and better working conditions for their members. Instead of organizing its own political party, or affiliating with an existing one, the AFL was more likely to support candidates of either major party friendly to their cause and oppose those whom they regarded as hostile.

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 737