Lesson 8. Samuel Gompers. America's First Great Labor Leader.

(1850-1924)

Today's labor union movement is built upon the foundation laidby a poor English immigrant by the name of Samuel Gompers. 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 excerpts from current news­papers, magazines, books and poetry. In this way Gomper and his fellow cigar makers received the education denied them when they left school to earn a living.

Finding himself in sympathy with the goals of the Cigar Makers' Union, he became active in its affairs. By the 1880's, he was regarded as 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 reorganizing along the lines followed by the Cigar Makers. With his fame spreading, Gompers was encouraged to take the lead in organizing 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 some­thing over 4 million.

The AFL's growth in those years was due in large measure to the reforms introduced by Samuel Gompers. Prior to the 1880's labor unions had often 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 his leadership, 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, as was so often the case in other parts of the world, the AFL was more likely to support candidates of either major party friendly to their cause and oppose those whom they regarded as hostile.

Exercises

1. Questions for Understanding:

1. When did Samuel Gompers arrive in America?

2. Where did he take a job? What did he do there?

3. Why was he regarded as one of the working leaders?

4. What did his efforts lead to?

5. What was adopted under his leadership?

6. What does a policy of business unionism mean?

2. Match each item in Column A with its definition in Column B:

	Column A		Column B
	excerpt		power of leading
	to deny		to enter into association
	sympathy		to put forward as a contrast
	to regard		increase
	growth		the state of being a member of a society
	membership		passage from a book
	fame		feeling pity and tenderness
	leadership		being known
	to oppose		to say that something is not true
	to affiliate		to consider

III. Complete the phrases with prepositions (where it is necessary) and say in what situations they are used in the text. Use them in sentences of your own.

1. to be built…

2. to arrive…America

3. …the age…13

4. to find oneself…sympathy…the goals

5. to take part…organizing

6. …1886…his death…1924

7. …membership grew…138.000…something over 4 million.

8. to be due…

9. to compete…

10. to change the free enterprise system…some form of socialism

11. …his leadership

12. instead…

IV. Give Russian equivalents for the following words or word combinations from the text:

1. could neither read nor write

2. to earn a living

3. to be regarded as the leader

4. fame

5. craft unions

6. membership

7. to compete with the Democrats

8. political unionism

9. leadership

10. to support candidates.

V. Discuss the following:

Samuel Gompers is America’s First Labor Leader.

VI. Complete the table. Work out your point of view on Gomper’s reforms.

Appraisal Ideas and Beliefs	Still Relevant	Needs Modification	Should Be Rejected
1.See the model on p. 2….

Give your reasons.