Samuel Gompers: “What Does Labor Want?”
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A legend of ancient Rome relates that while the capitol was building, there came one day to the tyrannical king Tarquin the Proud, a poor old woman, carrying nine books of prophecies of the Sibyl, which she offered to sell for three hundred pieces of gold. The king laughingly bade her go away, which she did; but after burning three of the books, she returned and asked the same price for the remaining six. Again treated with scorn, she retired, burnt three more of the volumes, and then came back demanding the same sum for the three which were left. Astonished at this conduct, the king consulted his wise men, who answered him that in those nine books, six of which had been lost, were contained the fate of the city and the Roman people.
Contents
- The U.S. Labor Movement: Historical Overview
- Worker Testimony: Commonwealth v. Pullis
- Frances Wright: “The People at War”
- Commonwealth v. Hunt
- W. Chase: “Causes of Failure”
- “A Week in the Mill”
- Oath of the Knights of Labor
- Terence Powderly: “The Plea for Eight Hours”
- Samuel Gompers: “What Does Labor Want?”
- Eugene V. Debs: “Industrial Peace”
- Mother Jones: Speech to the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)
- The U.S. Oil Industry: Historical Overview
- William “Big Bill” Haywood: Speech to the Founding Convention of the Industrial Workers of the World
- Clara Lemlich: Speech Instigating the Uprising of the 20,000
- Mother Jones: Speech to Striking Coal Miners
- Pearl Jolly: Testimony about the Ludlow Massacre
- Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: “Sabotage: The Conscious Withdrawal of Worker Efficiency”
- National Labor Relations Act
- John L. Lewis, “Labor and the Nation”
- Walter Reuther: National Hour Radio Address on Inflation
- Taft-Hartley Act
- Landrum-Griffin Act
- John F. Kennedy: Executive Order 10988: Employee-Management Cooperation in the Federal Service
- George Meany: Congressional Testimony in Favor of Civil Rights Bill
- Ronald Reagan: “Remarks on the Air Traffic Controllers Strike”
- Economic Policy Institute: “NAFTA at Seven”
- Richard Trumka: Speech at the Democratic National Convention
- Starbucks Workers United: “Our Fight”
- Amazon Labor Union: “Our Core Principles”