Perhaps I should have made the point explicit. Tom alluded to Gomper's oft
cited speech in which he describes labor's aspirations as wanting "more."
Rarely do those who use the reference actually provide the entire quote from
which "more" is taken. I tried to dig it up, but could not. The quote I
found came pretty close, however. The fact that I posted a paragraph from
Gompers should not lead you to presume, if you have, that I therefore
embrace a) the content of the quote, b) the record of the AFL, c) business
unionism, or d) Gomper's philosophical views or record as the "father of
business unionism" (just who was its mother?). I am delighted, however,
that you were able to devine the gender/race implications of this paragraph
without any elucidation on my part or even my failure to put "wisdom" in
quotation marks so that everyone would know that I really did not hold it up
as real wisdom (which I don't seek from Gompers but do look for in the
erudite contributions of the sage contributors to PEN-L).
In solidarity,
Michael
At 01:14 PM 12/2/97 +0000, john gulick wrote:
>At 08:11 PM 12/1/97 -0800, Michael Eisenscher wrote:
>
>>I spent part of the day looking for the entirety of that quote from Gompers,
>>but did not find it. I'm sure someone out there has it at hand. But I did
>>find the following Gompersian wisdom:
>
>>"The aim of our unions is to improve the standard of life; to foster
>>education, and instill character, manhood (sic), and an independent spirit
>>among our people; to bring about a recognition of the interdependence of man
>>(sic) upon his fellow man. We aim to establish a normal workday, to take
>>the children from the factory and workshop; to give them the opportunity of
>>the home, the school and the playground. In a word, our unions strive to
>>lighten toil, educate the workers, make their homes more cheerful and in
>>every way contribute the earnest effort to make their life better worth
>>living." (Presidential Report to the 28th Annual AFL Convention, 1908)
>
>Did you mean Gompersian "wisdom" or Gompersian wisdom ? The whole sordid
>history of AFL racial exclusivism aside (and the fact that Gompers can
>safely be considered the father of business unionism), I don't find much
>in the above quotation taken on its own terms too compelling. The main
>theme appears to collective defense of the white male family wage so that
>the white working class man can be king of his castle.
>
>In solidarity,
>
>John Gulick
>Ph. D. Candidate
>Sociology Graduate Program
>University of California-Santa Cruz
>(415) 643-8568
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
