American Labor Union
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When the Western Labor Union, a labor federation formed by the Western Federation of Miners, decided to overtly challenge the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1902, it changed its name to the American Labor Union (ALU). Three years later the ALU took part in the creation of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).[1]
When the AFL excluded unskilled workers, the ALU accused that federation of exercising policies that divided the working class. However, the ALU favored Asian Exclusion. (A Chinese exclusion act had been passed in 1882, and wasn't repealed until 1943.) In the Cripple Creek district of Colorado where the ALU had a significant presence, many non-white nationalities were excluded or discriminated against.[2] The Industrial Workers of the World, on the other hand, professed from its first conference in 1905 that there should be no discrimination against any worker.
The American Labor Union endorsed the Socialist Party in 1902, as did "all the major Colorado labor organizations."[3]
The American Labor Union produced a journal called the American Labor Union Journal,[4] and a newspaper called Voice of Labor, which was edited by the Reverend Fr. Thomas J. Hagerty.
[edit] References
- ^ All That Glitters: Class, Conflict, and Community in Cripple Creek, Elizabeth Jameson, 1998, pp. 77.
- ^ All That Glitters: Class, Conflict, and Community in Cripple Creek, Elizabeth Jameson, 1998, pp. 190.
- ^ All That Glitters: Class, Conflict, and Community in Cripple Creek, Elizabeth Jameson, 1998, pp. 178.
- ^ All That Glitters: Class, Conflict, and Community in Cripple Creek, Elizabeth Jameson, 1998, index.