Featured Image Above: The Samuel Gompers Memorial. From 1886 until the 1980s, most American unions promoted American values, and rejected all forms of socialism, including communism. They followed the model set by Sam Gompers and the AFL in 1886. They rejected the socialism of the British Labor Party, and the other socialist and communist labor unions of Europe. (The words “socialist” and “communist” were interchangeable until 1919. Until then, Communist leader Vladimir Lenin was part of the “RSDLP” or “Russian Socialist Democratic Labor Party”. Lenin did not call himself and his party “communists” until 1919 when he fought with the English Labour Party for leadership of the worldwide socialist movement).
America was created in 1776 on these “self-evident” truths of our Declaration of Independence. Each of us is created equal and endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights-including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights, governments are instituted exercising their just powers with the consent of the governed. To Americans, promoting “the general welfare” meant creating a government that gave each individual freedom to make the most important decisions in his or her own life, and to have opportunities to succeed.
Communists and socialists rejected this. To them, society was made up of groups, not individuals. To them, people who owned businesses, farms, and real estate were a privileged class, who they called the “bourgeoisie”.
Everyone else was part of an oppressed class called the “proletarians”. (Today, leftists often call them “working families”). These were people who were employed by others and who rented their homes.
Communists and socialists wanted all labor unions to hold political power and run most businesses and the government instead of the “bourgeoisie”. Some union leaders tried to do this by forming socialist, communist or labor parties and winning elections. Others tried to do this through violence, riots and armed revolutions.
In 1886, the same year that Sam Gompers organized the AFL, communists and socialist unions provoked deadly riots and killed police in Chicago. Communists and socialists around the world later created the May First holiday to show support for those riots and to celebrate their labor union movement. American labor unions rejected that holiday and celebrated Labor Day instead with a long three day summer weekend in September.
Above Image: In 1886, Samuel Gompers organized the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in America. The AFL wanted private companies to succeed, and for workers in those companies to share in that success. On May 1 of that year, Communists turned peaceful demonstrations by union members into violent riots and attacks on the police at Haymarket Square in Chicago. Since then, Communist and socialist labor unions around the world have made May 1 their holiday to celebrate their achievements. Until recently labor unions in America rejected that May 1 holiday, and instead celebrate their achievements on Labor Day, the Monday after the first Sunday in September.
1. American labor unions did not want the government and politicians to run the companies they worked for. They wanted to work for successful, privately owned businesses. American union leaders knew that their members workers earned more, worked less, were safer and enjoyed better benefits and working conditions when they worked for successful companies that took care of their customers and earned profits. They also knew that Americans enjoyed and wide choice of high quality, affordable products when they were produced by private companies in a free market.
2. Until the 1960’s, American Labor Unions did NOT represent teachers or other government employees. Unions that represent government employees are different from unions that represent employees of private companies. Unions of government employees can demand and get whatever hikes in pay and benefits they want because the government can always raise taxes to pay for them. Private companies go out of business if their unions demand and get too much because private companies either have to raise prices or lose money. Most unions for companies that do construction work are very much like unions for government employees. That is because most big construction companies get most of their income from government contracts.
3. For years, America had the richest and most comfortable middle class in the world. American workers produced more, worked fewer hours, and had better pay, pensions, health care and working conditions than any other workers in the world. However, unions had nothing to do with this. All this came about during the 1920’s when unions were very weak and conservative Republicans ran the country. These Republicans did several things to create America’s unique middle class. First, they put new strict limits on immigration. Only 100,000 immigrants were allowed into America every year. At the same time, they cut taxes and regulations and paid down the federal debt from World War One. This created a shortage of labor that increased wages. This forced businesses to invent and invest in new machined and production system to make expensive workers profitable. This is what made Americans the most productive and best paid people in the world. All that changed when America dramatically increased legal immigration in 1965, and greatly increased both legal and illegal immigration since the 1980s. That caused widespread declines of real wages and the destruction of much of America’s middle class. Since 1995, most American labor unions have supported massive legal and illegal immigration, even though this hurts their members.
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