Samuel Gompers as a Leader of Labor

Topic Overview

Samuel Gompers’ leadership of the AFL covered wide ranging topics and events. The following three readings examine his involvement in: 1) Latin America, 2) organizing baseball teams and 3) World War I.  Students are only required to read one of the articles.

Assignment

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Discussion Question (Sample)
After you have read the background material about Samuel Gompers and one of the articles that highlights an aspect of his leadership of the American Federation of Labor, comment and give some examples of the way he headed the organization.

Answer by a Recent Student to this Discussion Question

Samuel Gompers was definitely a man of vision.  We learned that although he had an early attraction to radical ideas, he soon realized that we must turn our attention from broad social goals, to economic reform.  This shift in the principles that guided his foresight for what and how the union would act in the labor movement was met with a great deal of controversy by other activists.  Collective bargaining with employers and working on legislative issues directly affecting jobs was a direction many weren't willing to take in regards to the movement. 

I saw Gompers as not willing to butt his head against the wall and continue to be "crushed by the employers and by the government", as a fellow student stated in his posting.  “The courage to change is often met with opposition.”  I found the last statement by Gompers in "The Great Debate:  Gompers Versus Hillquit, really summed up his philosophy and reasoning when in response to the Socialist, Hillquit’s "badgering", he replied, "In other words we go further than you, You have an end; we have not!"

The readings that referenced his personal encounters and the work he did that was many times never brought out into the light show the human and dedicated side of the man, however the stories also showed the powerful boundaries he kept in his passion and commitment to his position as a leader.