Samuel Gompers and the Formation of the American Federation of Labor 1881-1924

1. Samuel Gompers and the Formation of the American Federation of Labor 1881-1924

2. Samuel Gompers • Born England 1850 • 1863 to NYC • 1864 Cigarmakers Local • 15; 1875 Local 144 • Federation of Organized • Trades and Labor • Unions 1881 • American Federation of • Labor 1886 George Meany Memorial Archives, Gompers, Box 2, Folder 8, negative #91

3. Cigar “Reader” • Photo of Cigar • “Reader” In Tampa, • Florida, 1924 • Gompers’ smaller • factory but similar • learning situation • Wide-ranging • literature: • newspapers, novels, • economic pamphlets LABOR’S Heritage,

4. Gompers had little formal schooling but had an education at cigar workbench • Gompers had wide reading in economics, literature, history, and political science • Gompers stressed craft autonomy & voluntarism • Gompers was wary of government programs fearing that what was given could be later taken away • Gompers supported Allied War effort in World War I and worked closely with President Woodrow Wilson • Gompers a delegate to Paris Peace Conference Gompers, Box 2 folder 2, neg. # 1673

5. Representatives of the Pan-American Federation of Labor, the Mexican Federation of Labor, and the AFL El Paso, Texas, October 1924 • Gompers died December 3, 1924 only weeks after this photo • Santiago Iglesias (front row far right) • was long-time AFL organizer and key labor figure in Puerto Rico Gompers Collection, Box 2, Folder 14, Neg. # N1866