| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 104.4

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 104.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Julie Greene. Pure and Simple Politics: The American Federation of Labor and Political Activism, 1881–1917. New York: Cambridge Univeristy Press. 1998. Pp. xi, 293. $47.95.

Not long ago, it was popular to equate the early American Federation of Labor (AFL) with "pure and simple unionism," which scorned politics and government in favor of economic action. The problem with this association (which became an excuse for textbook authors to write off the labor movement as a force in American political life) was that it was often misleading. Studies of Progressive-era reforms have documented the role of unions and organized workers in crafting labor laws and other legislative measures. In fact, most of these efforts would not have succeeded without union support; union opposition almost always spelled defeat. Earlier historians, it seems, had taken the anti-government pronouncements of AFL president Samuel Gompers as policy, forgetting that the AFL was a federation of autonomous organizations and that it embraced an extraordinary spectrum of individuals, including many who did not share Gompers's views. In recent years, it has become apparent that even Gompers's pronouncements are not a reliable guide to his behavior. Like most people, he changed his mind and became at times a devoted advocate of political action, including partisan alliances. Melvyn Dubofsky sketched the big picture in The State and Labor in Modern America (1994). Julie Greene focuses on Gompers and his immediate circle during the years when they became enthusiastic Democrats. . . .

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