The Samuel Gompers Papers: Progress and reaction in the age of reform, 1909-13

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University of Illinois Press, 1986 - 624 Seiten
With almost forty years' experience as a labor leader by 1909, Samuel Gompers had learned the value of practical achievements. Shorter hours, higher wages, safer and more sanitary workplaces, and a voice in establishing working conditions were the hallmarks of trade unionism in the Progressive Era, and these hard-won, incremental gains had significantly improved working-class lives. While these were not all he hoped to achieve, they represented, Gompers believed, essential victories in a bitter class struggle that was far from over.
This installment of the multivolume documentary history of the nation's
premier labor leader covers a period marked by industrial tragedies--such as the 1909 Cherry Hill mine disaster and the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire--and industrial violence, including the 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times building. These years were punctuated by hard-fought strikes and judicial proceedings directed against trade unionists, most notably the Danbury Hatters' and Buck's Stove cases and the prosecution of the McNamaras. For Gompers, these were demanding years that taxed his health and energy but ultimately strengthened his resolve as he became a crucial player in the AFL's efforts to establish collective bargaining as the basis of industrial democracy.

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Excerpts from Accounts of the 1909 Convention of the AFL
3
To Nicholas Murray Butler Dec 22 1909
23
A Circular Jan 1 1910
31
Peter Conlin to Frank Morrison Jan 31 1910
40
To John Stahl Feb 12 1910
46
From Calvin Shealy Feb 18 1910
54
An Address before the Chicago Federation of Labor Mar 6 1910 62
76
To Michael Conry Apr 14 1910
82
A News Account of an Address in Fresno California
261
To Joseph Skemp Oct 21 1911
278
From Marion Webster Nov 27 1911
298
From W D Mahon Dec 6 1911
304
W Post Dec 11 1911
315
To Seth Low Jan 19? 1912
321
44
323
To Abram Elkus Jan 31 1912
328

An Excerpt from an Article in the Washington Star
90
To the Executive Council of the AFL May 28 1910
100
To the Executive Council of the AFL July 25 1910
107
From John Golden Aug 6 1910
115
From James Wilson Sept 23 1910
121
31
126
To Samuel Levy Sept 27 1910
127
35
132
To Herman Gutstadt Oct 12 1910
133
From James Duncan Dec 7 1910
151
From John Tobin Dec 16 1910
157
From Booker T Washington Dec 30 1910
165
To John Lennon Feb 10 1911
171
To Frank Buchanan Feb 24 1911
183
To Elmer Greenawalt Mar 17 1911
190
39
191
From Frederic Gardner Mar 23 1911
201
To Frank Ryan Apr 23 1911
209
To the Executive Council of the AFL May 2 1911
213
40
217
To James Duncan May 23 1911
219
To Harry Eichelberger June 6 1911
228
Excerpts from the Minutes of a Meeting of the Executive
234
To James Duncan June 27 1911
240
To John Boehne July 8 1911
245
43
253
To Clarence Gaumer Aug 8 1911
254
To the Executive Council of the AFL Feb 15 1912
335
From Clarence Darrow February? 1912
346
To Harry Carlson Mar 1 1912
355
To William Chilton Mar 27 1912
361
To William Smith May 2 1912
369
To Maud Younger May 17 1912
382
A Circular c Aug 12 1912
389
To Elijah Caton Sept 18 1912
395
Sadie Julian Gompers to Sophia Julian Gompers Nov 25 1912
416
To Bert Myers Dec 3 1912
422
To Charles Nagel Dec 28 1912
429
To William Sulzer Jan 8 1913
438
To Jere Sullivan Jan 27 1913
448
Minutes of a Conference Held in New York City Feb 5 1913
455
To William Rubin Feb 17 1913
457
To the Executive Council of the AFL Mar 15 1913
469
Lewis to Frank Morrison Apr 21 1913
475
To Frank Morrison May 20 1913
494
Frank Morrison to James Duncan July 14 1913
500
46
504
From George Perkins July 30 1913
506
Frank Morrison to John Walker Aug 15 1913
512
GLOSSARY
521
INDEX
565
47
566
52
575
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Autoren-Profil (1986)

Samuel Gompers, January 26, 1850 - December 13, 1924 Samuel Gompers was born on january 26, 1924 in London, England. He was apprenticed to a shoemaker at the age of ten, but soon became a cigar maker when his family emigrated to New York in 1863. By 1885, Gompers was an expert cigar maker, and was hired by a large cigar shop. Gompers was highly respected by his fellow employees at the cigar shop, and they eventually elected him as President of the Cigar Makers Union Local 144. In 1881, Gompers was sent as a delegate to a conference of other unions. There the various unions created a confederation called the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Councils. Gompers became a sort of a leader for the Federation, but the union was weak and ineffective. The organization was reconstituted in 1886 as the American Federation of Labor with Gompers as the President. He held this position for 38 years, till the day he died. Four years after the reconstitution, the AFL represented 250,000 workers. In two more years, the number rose to over one million. At the conclusion of World War I, Gompers attended the Versailles Treaty negotiations, where he was instrumental in creating the International Labor Organization under the League of Nations. He supported trade unionism in Mexico and even attended the inauguration of Mexico's reform President Calles. He also attended the Congress of the Pan-American Federation of Labor. It was at this Congress where Gompers collapsed and was rushed to a San Antonio, Texas hospital where he died on December 13, 1924.

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