314:. The tangled dispute over whether Barnes did or did not repay led to charges of dishonesty being preferred against Barnes before the Socialist Party, which were dismissed as "frivolous" by the governing National Executive Committee. Morgan and Jones persisted, however, and a special investigating committee was established to hear the charges. In February 1911 the committee affirmed that "the charge was indeed a most frivolous one, whose action could have no other motive except a desire to embarrass, harass, and annoy the National Secretary."
29:
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In August 1886, Morgan and others from the
Chicago labor movement called a conference of area labor activists with a view to establishing a new electoral organization. About 250 delegates attended the conference, which elected Morgan to an executive committee of 21 members. This committee was charged
194:
Some 560 delegates, dominated by members of the
Knights of Labor organization, attended the United Labor Party nominating convention in September. The meeting was not harmonious and following a spate of factional shenanigans a group of 26 conservative trade unionists were excluded from the gathering
214:
A similar nominating convention was held by the United Labor Party in
February 1887, attended by more than 600 delegates. Morgan was once again the power behind the throne as head of the platform convention and chief among the movers and shakers of the organization, prompting the
206:
Although not himself a candidate, Morgan played a key role behind the scenes of the United Labor Party, chairing the important committee on platform and resolutions at the nominating convention, and helping to shape the final program of the organization.
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As a boy Tommy Morgan attended a so-called "pauper's school" until the age of 9, at which time left school to take a job. Morgan worked as a nail maker, a printer, an iron molder, and a machinist, among other jobs, never managing to escape from poverty.
210:
The fledgling United Labor Party was surprisingly successful in the
November 1886 elections, garnering about 25,000 out of 92,000 votes cast and electing 7 of its members to the Illinois Legislative Assembly and one other to the Illinois State Senate.
321:"a publication largely for the dissemination of malice, slander, falsification, and misinformation." The committee sought to turn the results of its inquiry over to Morgan's party branch for possible disciplinary action.
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187:. Never an adherent of anarchist methods himself, the task fell upon Morgan and a handful of his co-thinkers to reestablish the Chicago socialist organization in the aftermath of the Haymarket Affair.
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In 1877 Morgan was instrumental in launching the
Chicago Council of Trades and Labor Unions, a citywide union federation. In this capacity as a union official, Morgan guided a special committee of the
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265:, the trade union arm of the Socialist Labor Party, in 1896. He came to develop philosophical differences with SLP leaders over trade union policy, however, so he exited to join the
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103:
Morgan married the former
Elizabeth Chambers in January 1868. The next year the pair decided to depart for a new life in the United States, settling in Chicago, Illinois.
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of the so-called "Old
Parties" when the Democrats withdrew their candidate to support the Republican nominee "to save city government from capture by the 'Reds.'"
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hit Morgan hard, resulting in 15 months of unemployment. This systemic economic failure made a particular impact upon Morgan, causing him to turn to the ideas of
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in 1909. He also attended three of the party's conventions as an elected delegate: the
Chicago conventions of 1904, 1908, and the so-called "Congress" of 1910.
153:
around various
Chicago factories in 1879 and helped to draft city ordinances based on the English factory laws of the day. In that same year Morgan joined the
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with calling another convention in
September to nominate a citywide slate of candidates for the fall elections under the banner of the United Labor Party.
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which elected 7 of its members to the Illinois State Assembly and another to the Illinois State Senate in the election of 1886. He was married to
687:
Robert N. Stow, "Conflict in the American Socialist Movement, 1897-1901: A Letter from Thomas J. Morgan to Henry Demarest Lloyd, July 18, 1901,"
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684:
Ralph W. Scharnau, "Thomas J. Morgan and the Chicago Socialist Movement, 1876-1901." PhD dissertation. Northern Illinois University, 1969.
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on October 27, 1847. He was one of nine children born to Thomas John and Hannah Simcox Morgan. Thomas Senior, a former member of the
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In 1893, while still occupied with union affairs, Morgan left work on the railroad to study law, ultimately graduating from
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Morgan ultimately left the Council of Trades and Labor Unions in 1884 to help form a more radical organization called the
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379:
Ralph Sharnau, "Thomas J. Morgan (October 27, 1847-December 10, 1912): Socialist Trade Unionist," in Eric Arnesen,
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political activist. Morgan is best remembered as one of the pioneer English-speaking Socialists in the city of
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to opine that "Tommy Morgan...bossed the convention from first to last." The party's candidate for
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613:"Report of the Investigating Committee — Sub-Committee of the National Committee: Feb. 28, 1911,"
63:. Morgan was also one of the founders and leading figures of the United Labor Party, an Illinois
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Morgan was a frequent candidate of the SPA, running for Chicago City Attorney in 1903, for
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451:"Thomas John Morgan," in Stuart R. Kaufman, Peter J. Albert, and Grace Palladino (eds.),
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Morgan turned to journalism in 1909, editing and publishing a Socialist newspaper called
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See Scharnau, "Thomas J. Morgan and the United Labor Party of Chicago," pg. 42, fn. 5.
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127:
453:
The Samuel Gompers Papers: Volume 4, A National Labor Movement Takes Shape, 1895-98.
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Morgan made two runs for Chicago alderman, standing for election in 1879 and 1881.
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to collect a 5-year old $ 250 debt from the Socialist Party's National Secretary,
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Early American Marxism website, www.marxisthistory.org/ Retrieved Sept. 27, 2011.
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Early American Marxism website, www.marxisthistory.org/ Retrieved Sept. 27, 2011.
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Early American Marxism website, www.marxisthistory.org/ Retrieved Sept. 27, 2011.
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281:(SPA). Morgan was a delegate to the founding convention of that organization in
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Gerald Friedberg, "Sources for the Sturdy of Socialism in America, 1901-1919,"
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Encyclopedia of United States Labor and Working-Class History: Volume 2, G-N.
21:
This article is about the American labor leader. For the Welsh academic, see
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The investigating committee also weighed in on Morgan's newspaper, calling
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Sharnau, "Thomas J. Morgan and the United Labor Party of Chicago," pg. 54.
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Sharnau, "Thomas J. Morgan and the United Labor Party of Chicago," pg. 52.
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Sharnau, "Thomas J. Morgan and the United Labor Party of Chicago," pg. 48.
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Sharnau, "Thomas J. Morgan and the United Labor Party of Chicago," pg. 46.
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Sharnau, "Thomas J. Morgan and the United Labor Party of Chicago," pg. 43.
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Morgan's papers are held by the Illinois Historical Survey Library of
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593:"Delegates to the 1912 Convention of the Socialist Party of America,"
581:"Delegates to the 1908 Convention of the Socialist Party of America,"
569:"Delegates to the 1904 Convention of the Socialist Party of America,"
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is held in the Special Collections department of the library at the
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on December 10, 1912. He was 65 years old at the time of his death.
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in 1876 and continued membership in its successor organization, the
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in 1871, in which he served as the president of his local in 1874.
236:, when he was tapped by the SLP as its nominee for that position.
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419:
Second edition. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984; pp. 420-421.
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Thomas John Morgan, known to his friends as "Tommy", was born in
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John W. Hevener, "Thomas John Morgan," in Gary M. Fink (ed.),
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on the basis of their professed support for candidates of the
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Morgan was himself later to be a candidate for Chicago mayor
157:, a labor union making use of the structure and methods of a
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repair shops. In this occupational context Morgan joined the
115:. He remained for 20 years with this company, working in the
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Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1991; pp. 540-541.
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In 1910 Morgan was enlisted by veteran trade union activist
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in 1900. In the summer of 1901 that organization, headed by
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Socialist Labor Party of America politicians from Illinois
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in his effort to understand the crisis. Morgan joined the
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University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
473:"Thomas J. Morgan and the United Labor Party of Chicago,"
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International Machinists and Blacksmiths of North America
348:. Additional material, including 26 issues of Morgan's
277:, merged with a rival political group to establish the
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Thomas J. Morgan and the United Labor Party of Chicago
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Social Democratic Workingmen's Party of North America
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Socialist Party of America politicians from Illinois
239:The year 1891 also saw Morgan help to organize the
179:A large part of the Chicago organization turned to
59:and a frequent candidate for public office of the
689:Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society,
662:Who's Who and What's What in the Socialist Party.
476:Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society.
303:until shortly before time of his death in 1912.
292:Superior Court Judge in 1903 and 1907, and for
754:Social Democratic Party of America politicians
705:Guide to the Thomas J. Morgan Papers 1892-1939
47:(October 27, 1847 – December 10, 1912) was an
691:vol. 71, no. 2 (May 1978), pp. 133–142.
183:in subsequent years, culminating in the 1886
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779:Railway accident deaths in the United States
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676:"The Socialist Party a 'South Sea Bubble,'"
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417:Biographical Dictionary of American Labor.
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729:Activists from Birmingham, West Midlands
333:, Morgan was killed in a train wreck at
617:vol. 7, no. 6 (February 1911), pp. 2-3.
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383:New York: Routledge, 2007; pg. 923-925.
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241:International Association of Machinists
140:Workingmen's Party of the United States
111:In America Morgan went to work for the
658:, whole no. 350 (Nov. 2, 1907), pg. 3.
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142:, which had changed its name to the
257:Morgan was tapped as editor of the
681:vol. 10, no. 301 (April 27, 1910).
653:"Walter Thomas Mills: His Record,"
615:Socialist Party Official Bulletin,
267:Social Democratic Party of America
263:Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance
14:
528:"The Labor Knights' City Ticket"
144:Socialist Labor Party of America
51:-born American labor leader and
329:While headed for retirement in
536:. February 28, 1887. p. 4
478:vol. 66 (Spring 1973), pg. 42.
1:
16:American activist (1847–1912)
250:. He passed the exam of the
544:– via Newspapers.com.
225:was ultimately defeated by
169:Chicago Central Labor Union
146:before the decade was out.
128:economic depression of 1873
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769:American newspaper editors
308:"Mother" Mary Harris Jones
279:Socialist Party of America
151:Illinois State Legislature
61:Socialist Party of America
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113:Illinois Central Railroad
92:movement, was a maker of
69:Elizabeth Chambers Morgan
734:Politicians from Chicago
471:Ralph William Scharnau,
261:, official organ of the
32:Tommy Morgan (1847–1912)
664:Chicago: Morgan, 1911.
342:University of Illinois
33:
354:University of Chicago
283:Indianapolis, Indiana
31:
546:. Cited in Sharnau,
744:American socialists
248:Chicago Law College
86:Birmingham, England
259:Socialist Alliance
252:Illinois State Bar
34:
739:American Marxists
335:Williams, Arizona
185:Haymarket bombing
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764:American lawyers
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275:Victor L. Berger
227:political fusion
223:Mayor of Chicago
155:Knights of Labor
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23:T. J. Morgan
18:
774:1912 deaths
724:1847 births
294:U.S. Senate
290:Cook County
80:Early years
45:Morgan, Jr.
37:Thomas John
718:Categories
331:California
201:Democratic
197:Republican
550:, pg. 52.
360:Footnotes
254:in 1895.
203:Parties.
181:anarchism
132:socialism
75:Biography
53:socialist
693:In JSTOR
540:June 12,
90:Chartist
707:at the
234:in 1891
57:Chicago
49:English
346:Urbana
647:Works
94:nails
41:Tommy
542:2020
273:and
199:and
126:The
344:in
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25:.
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