Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) devoted his life to improving the
conditions of American workers through better wages, shorter
workdays, and safer workplaces, achieved through common effort,
democratic organization, and practical action. His objective was
betterment, or, as he often said, "more." His moral vision was
grounded in a commitment to social justice and a passion for
service. A cigar maker by trade, he became the American Federation
of Labor's first president in 1886 and, except for one year,
remained its president until his death, guiding it through
prosperity and recession, war and peacetime. By the time Gompers
died, the AFL was a major force on the national scene and had
claimed over four million members. Gompers was a tireless writer
and impassioned speaker, and he left behind an immense archive of
articles and editorials, addresses and testimony before a variety
of audiences, and extensive correspondence with allies and
adversaries alike. His correspondents included trade unionists and
political leaders, reformers and radicals, captains of industry
defending their positions, and workers asking for help or advice.
The twelve volumes of The Samuel Gompers Papers, edited by Stuart
B. Kaufman, Peter J. Albert, and Grace Palladino, for the first
time make Gompers' wide-ranging and complex documentary legacy
accessible to scholars, students, historians, and serious readers
in the labor movement and among the public at large. This
invaluable comprehensive index provides a key to the Gompers
volumes. It not only allows quick reference to individual documents
but permits scholars to see at a glance the contours and emphases
in subject matter and locate the substantive annotations of key
individuals and unions, strikes and lockouts, conferences and
meetings, and legislation and key concepts in the history of the
Gompers era.
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