Samuel Gompers

(1850-1924) London, England

Samuel Gompers emigrated in 1863 to New York, where he followed his father's trade of cigar making and became a naturalized citizen in 1872. As a labour leader, Gompers gained a worldwide reputation for conservatism. In a period when the U.S. was bitterly hostile to labour organizations, he evolved the principles of "voluntarism," which stressed that unions should exert coercion by economic actions, i.e., strikes and boycotts.

Kent Law Resource search:
http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/gompers.htm

University of Maryland Department of History
http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Colleges/ARHU/Depts/History/Gompers/web1.html

Spartacus Educational biography:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAgompers.htm

Public Broadcasting Service:
http://www.pbs.org/joehill/faces/gompers.html

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web09/segment7_p.html

Personal webpage:
http://www.hostultra.com/~Exidor/USS_Samuel_Gompers/Gompers_Samuel/Samuel_Gompers.htm

Back to Biographies