Samuel Gompers: Founder of American Labor
Samuel Gompers (27 January 1850 – 11 December 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker and labor union leader. He founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as its president from 1886 to 1894, and from 1895 until his death in 1924.
Early Life and Education
Gompers was born Samuel Gumpertz on January 27, 1850, in Spitalfields, a working-class area in the East End of London, into a Jewish family originally from Amsterdam. His father, Solomon Gumpertz, was a cigar maker, and his mother was Sarah Root. At age six, he attended the Jewish Free School for a basic education, but left after only three months past his tenth birthday to work as an apprentice cigar maker and contribute to his impoverished family’s income. He continued his studies in night school, learning Hebrew and studying the Talmud, which he later compared to studying law.
Career and Achievements
In 1863, facing financial hardship, the Gompers family immigrated to the United States and settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Samuel worked alongside his father manufacturing cigars at home for the first year and a half. He formed a debate club with friends in his spare time, gaining experience in public speaking and parliamentary procedure. At age 14 in 1864, he joined Cigar Makers Local Union No. 15, the English-speaking union of cigar makers in New York City.
In 1873, Gompers moved to David Hirsch & Company, a high-class cigar shop employing only the most skilled workers. This change proved transformative. At Hirsch’s, a union shop operated by a German socialist émigré, Gompers encountered German-speaking cigar makers of considerable intellectual depth. He learned German and absorbed their ideas, developing particular admiration for Karl Laurrell, former secretary of the International Workingmen’s Association. Laurrell mentored Gompers, directing him toward trade unionism and organized economic action rather than socialist political movements. This influence shaped Gompers’s lifelong approach to labor organizing.
Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor and led it through two periods as president: 1886 to 1894 and 1895 until his death in 1924. He promoted harmony among the different craft unions comprising the AFL, working to minimize jurisdictional disputes. His strategy centered on thorough organization and collective bargaining to secure shorter working hours and higher wages, which he viewed as essential first steps toward labor emancipation.
Notable Events and Milestones
The day after his seventeenth birthday, Gompers married Sophia Julian, a sixteen-year-old co-worker. They had many children, though only six survived infancy. Throughout his career, Gompers opposed AFL member unions engaging in political action to elect favored candidates or defeat opponents. In electoral politics, he mostly supported Democrats and occasionally local Republicans. He led opposition to immigration from China. During World War I, Gompers and the AFL energetically supported the war effort, working to prevent strikes, boost morale, raise wage rates, and expand membership. He strongly opposed antiwar labor groups, particularly the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
Additional Resources
Gompers’s life and work remain central to understanding American labor history. Readers seeking more detailed information about his role in founding and leading the AFL, his philosophy of trade unionism, and his influence on labor relations can consult Wikipedia and other biographical archives dedicated to labor history and early twentieth-century American social movements.
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