Samuel Gompers Quotes
Where we have blundered into trying to force a policy or decision, even though wise and right, we have impeded if not interrupted the realization of our own aims.
Samuel Gompers, 1850-1924, President, American Federation of Labor, AF of L Convention Proceedings, American Federation of Labor, 1924
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
While Ray was very sympathetic towards the strike, his father’s attitude was typical of that of business men across the nation. A picket line or demonstration was a “mob” and mobs should be broken up before they do physical damage to people or property. “Grape” and “canister” were types of ammunition for cannon that was used against personnel in war. One shell could kill 20-30 men in a crowd.
This is a fascinating historical quotation about labor disputes and strikes. The conservatives at the beginning of the 20th century were horrified at the idea of a strike of any kind. Their idea of a labor dispute with picketing would allow one or two protesters with signs stating their case to stand outside the factory. Or one person visiting a worker and suggesting that the worker not work during the strike. However, when the degree of passion was expressed by many people picketing they were opposed. At the time, the working class and the unions had no other resources other than the bodies of their workers. They could not advertise, publish newspapers, hire lobbyists to explain their point of view to Parliament. The conservatives then were then very undemocratic and believed that the monarchy with a responsible aristocracy of the upper class should run the nation for all. They WERE actually intimidated by a large number of people doing anything that was not endorsed by or approved by the ruling class. Women in large protest marches for the right to vote were intimidating also. The threat was, as they saw it, “Do as we demand or we will bring down the world as you know it.” In a sense that is what happened. There is no conservative in England who would today deny a union the right to picket with many people.
This statement from an avowed Marxist illustrates the complexity of the Cold War. Marxists and Communists like Pannekoek felt that there had to be a workers’ movement to overcome the capitalist interest in a nuclear arms race. However, they also believed that Russia had botched communism so badly that there could be no workers’ movement in the Soviet Union because of the repression. Only in America they believed could the impetus for disarmament come.
This was a great victory for the Victor Berger wing of the party. They purged the violence advocates and communists from the party. Despite this, a few right wingers call any socialist a communist and a revolutionary.
Roosevelt shocked the conservative members of his own party with this statement. Labor unions were not then an accepted concept in American society. Anti trust legislation and enforcement was in its infancy and companies in an industry commonly conspired as to price fixing, labor negotiations and market share allocations. TR had a scrupulous sense of fairness and equity.
Note the technique of labeling any attempt to obtain equal rights for Blacks communistic. The communists were exploiting the racism and hypocrisy of American race relations and supported most civil rights efforts. However Randolph and most other Black Civil Rights Leaders were not communists although some were.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
The Barbary Pirates had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom. American politicians were divided on whether to pay the ransom and an annual tribute or send a military force to try and extract the prisoners and bombard and “punish” the Barbary States for their piracy. While the Americans were debating the problem, Eaton thought that there was contempt for the weakness of America in much of North Africa and the Middle East, and the weakness caused more pirates to join and try and go after American vessels.
Samuel Gompers was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and served as the organization's president from 1886 to 1894, and from 1895 until his death in 1924. He promoted harmony among the different craft unions that comprised the AFL, trying to minimize jurisdictional battles. He promoted through organization and collective bargaining, to secure shorter hours and higher wages, the first essential steps, he believed, to emancipating labor. He also encouraged the AFL to take political action to "elect their friends" and "defeat their enemies". He mostly supported Democrats, but sometimes Republicans. He strongly opposed Socialists. During World War I, Gompers and the AFL openly supported the war effort, attempting to avert strikes and boost morale while raising wage rates and expanding membership.
