Seth: And the concept of “free” (wage) labor was based on the unfree (unwaged) labor of enslaved Africans in America. Whiteness defined as the negation of blackness, dialectically speaking. Mat mentioned Gompers: Frank, Dana. 1999. Buy American: The Untold Story of Economic Nationalism 49: "Samuel Gompers of the cigarmakers union, who emerged in the 1880s as president of the new American Federation of Labor, liked protectionism, too. But he didn't think it went far enough. "If it performed what its advocates claim for it, the protection of labor, it is of the greatest importance and should be adopted," he argued in a report to his union on the founding convention of the Federation of Organization Trades and Labor Unions, the AFL's predecessor, in 1881. "But ... while the industries are protected by preventing the importation of foreign manufactured articles, it does not prevent the importation of the cheapest and most servile labor." Gompers equated foreign products with foreign workers, especially Asian ones, and wanted to keep out both. In his very next line he reported approvingly: "Resolutions were adopted declaring the presence of and competition of Chinese with free white labor as extremely dangerous and demanding the passage of laws entirely prohibiting their importation." Kaufman, Stuart B. ed. The Samuel Gompers Papers, Vol. I: The Making of a Union Leader, 1850-86 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986): pp. 241-2. Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901 _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
