GOMPERS, SAMUEL (1850-1924, American labour leader, was born in London on Jan. 27, 1850. He emigrated to New York in 1863 and became a prominent member of the Cigar makers' International Union, which he represented at the con ventions of the American Federation of Labor, of which he be came president in 1882. He served intermittently in this capacity until 1894, when the opposition of the Socialists secured his de feat ; he was re-elected in the following year and thereafter was re-elected every year till his death. His power within the organ ization increased yearly and he was largely responsible not only for its victory over the Knights of Labor but also for the general adoption of the "craft" principle in U.S. trade unionism. In 1894 he became editor of the Federation's organ, The American Federationist, and in 1907 was sentenced to 12 months' imprison ment for contempt of court in disobeying an injunction prohibit ing The Federationist from blacklisting the Buck Stove and Range Co. of St. Louis, a sentence eventually set aside by the U.S. Supreme Court. Although in theory opposed to all war, after the outbreak of the World War he resisted any pacifist tendency in the trade unions. He was appointed a member of the advisory commission of the U.S. Council of National Defence in 1917. Gompers represented the American Federation of Labor at the Peace Conference in Paris 1918-19, and was appointed chairman of the Peace Conference Commission on Labour Legislation. He was also actively concerned in the organization of the Pan American Federation of Labor, and was largely responsible for the decision of the A.F. to hold aloof from the International Federation of Trade Unions, 1919. He consistently opposed socialistic movements among the unions, fought the I.W.W. and chartered craft unions (as opposed to industrial unions) wherever possible. He opposed compulsory arbitration in labour disputes. For many years he was the most prominent figure in U.S. labour and had a worldwide reputation as a conservative labour leader. This policy excited the bitterest opposition in certain circles, but it cannot be denied that he was the most powerful influence in American trade unionism. He died at San Antonio, Texas, on Dec. 13, 1924.
See J. R. Commons and others, History of Labour in the United States (1918) , and Samuel Gompers, Seventy Years of Life and Labour