Where did the American labor movement draw its inspiration?
Well, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) that Gompers becomes the leader of really actually patterns itself on the British Trade Union Congress, the TUC. The major goal of the AFL unions was to endure, to stay organized, which earlier trade unions in America had not been able to do. So, that means they have to have high enough dues so they can support a leadership. They have to have accident funds. They have to have strike funds. They have to have permanent officers who do not have to work at the trade, but are career officials of those unions. So, Gompers is always afraid that the trade unions will disappear, will be attacked by the bosses and will not be able to make it, because that had been the history of trade unions before in the United States. And so that was really the basis, I think, of everything else that he does in organizing the AFL. He wants to make sure that skilled workers are organized because those are the ones who have the most at stake in their jobs. In a sense,
