Matthew Woll was an American trade union activist. He was president of the International Photo-Engravers Union of North America from 1906 till 1929. Besides, from 1919 to 1955, he was a member of the Executive Council, namely vice president, of the American Federation of Labor, and, from 1955 to 1956, held the same post at the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Background
Matthew Woll was born on January 25, 1880, in Luxembourg. He was a son of Michael Woll and Janette (Schwartz) Woll. Matthew's father owned and operated an iron foundry until 1891, when he moved his family to Chicago, where they settled on the predominantly Irish South Side.
Education
During his early years in Chicago, Woll attended Chicago public schools until the age of fifteen, when he was apprenticed to a photoengraver. At the age of twenty-one, he began studying Law at night at Chicago-Kent College of Law (then part of Lake Forest University), graduating in 1904.
In 1904, Woll was admitted to the bar. However, he never practiced law. While he was a law student, he became involved in the affairs of the Chicago local of the International Photo-Engravers Union of North America. In 1906, while attending his first convention, Matthew was elected general president of the union. Although the president of a small union, Woll became one of the most important labor leaders in American history.
During World War I, Matthew served on the War Labor Board. In his later years, he became closely associated with Samuel Gompers, whose ideas he generally shared. Many considered him Gompers' heir apparent, but following Gompers' death in 1924, the two largest American Federation of Labor (AFL) affiliates elected William Green as his successor. If this was a blow, Woll never showed it, nor did he slacken his activity and interest in the American Federation of Labor. He was elected eighth vice-president of that body in 1919, thereby becoming a member of the Executive Council. He was also vice-president of the Union Label Trades Department and chairman of the American Federation of Labor Standing Committee on Education and Social Security during his tenure at the American Federation of Labor.
As for his position as general president of the International Photo-Engravers Union, he continued to hold it until 1929, when he was made first vice-president of the union. For a time, he also edited "American Photo-Engraver", the official publication of his union, and he was the author of "Labor, Industry and Government" (1935), and, with William English Walling, authored "Our Next Step - a National Economic Policy" (1934).
From 1925 to his death in 1956, Matthew was associated with the Union Labor Life Insurance Company. He was president of the organization from 1925 to 1955, and then, from 1955 until his death, acted as its general executive chairman.
Also, it was in the mid-1920's, that Woll became acting president of the National Civic Federation. Woll pushed the federation to collaborate with a broad array of anti-communist organizations. He was forced to step down as acting president after coming under attack by John L. Lewis at the 1935 AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) convention.
It's important to note, that from the beginning of his career, Woll showed a strong interest in foreign affairs. He was a fraternal delegate to the British Trade Union Congress in 1915 and in 1916, and he was one of three delegates, who defended the League of Nations against a slashing attack by Andrew Furuseth, the leader of the sailors, at the American Federation of Labor convention in 1919. At the same convention, he also took the floor to reply to charges, that the revolutionary Mexican government was persecuting the Catholic church.
In 1927, Woll was appointed by the American Federation of Labor president Green to a committee, formed to investigate the strike in the ladies' garment industry, called by the Communist-controlled Joint Board. He was also appointed by the American Federation of Labor to look into the Communist takeover of the Furriers Union. Woll served on the committee, appointed in 1937, to work out a peace agreement with the Committee for Industrial Organization and on the War Labor Board in World War II. A tentative agreement was rejected by John L. Lewis. The agreement did not differ essentially from the one, negotiated in 1955, which ended the division in the labor movement.
When the American Federation of Labor affiliated with the International Federation of Trade Unions in 1937, Woll was sent as a delegate. He was also a delegate to the Oslo conference of the International Labor Organization in 1938. Four years earlier, he was on the committee to carry out a boycott of German goods, as a protest of the persecution of democrats, trade unionists and Jews.
In 1943, Woll was appointed chairman of the newly created Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs of the American Federation of Labor. In 1944, he became president of the Free Trade Union Committee, organized by the federation, for the promotion of "free and democratic trade unions" throughout the world. Later, the International Federation of Trade Unions was disbanded, and the World Federation of Trade Unions was organized in its place. Although the trade union centers of democratic countries were represented, except for the American Federation of Labor, the Communists controlled the administrative apparatus and were working feverishly to win over the labor movements of the occupied European countries. Working closely with Jay Lovestone, the secretary of the Free Trade Union Committee, and its European representative, Irving Brown, Woll hoped to counter the Communist thrust and, at the same time, to assist in the revival of free trade unionism in Europe. He helped bring about the withdrawal of the democratic trade union centers from the World Federation and the eventual formation of the International Confederation of Trade Unions.
At the close of World War II, Woll worked to provide aid to German and Austrian union leaders. He also fought for the return of the property, confiscated from the Weimar Republic unions to those, emerging during the occupation. He called for a revision of the policy of dismantling German industry for reparations payments to the Soviet Union, and argued, that the retention of industry would enable Germany to meet its reparations obligations. Besides, Woll also defended co-determination for German industry as long as it was the desire of the German workers and argued for offering full partnership in the community of nations to a democratic Germany. Woll's contributions were recognized by Germany, when he was awarded with the Order of Merit by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1953.
It's worth noting, that, in 1955, Woll was appointed vice-president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, the same year, when the two organizations were merged.
Woll, like many other labor leaders, was strongly biased against the Communist Party. He opposed dictatorship and denial of human rights. He believed socialism wasn't a proper means of solving the problems in the United States, although he defended the right of European workers to follow that path.
Woll was concerned about the split of the postwar European labor movement on denominational lines and on a visit to the Vatican appealed to Pope Pius XII to issue a suggestion against the Catholic labor organizations.
Woll also attacked the occupation authorities in Austria for their attitude to the civilian employees and the protests brought a change in policy. He opposed the appointment of former Nazis to high posts in industry, attacked French colonial policy in Tunisia, supported the Atlantic Pact and pleaded with Secretary of State Dean Acheson to maintain a token force in Korea. The last suggestion was rejected by the State Department, which was confident, that the agreement with North Korea would be observed.
It's also worth noting, that Woll also supported the emerging Japanese trade union movement.
Connections
In 1899, Woll married Irene C. (Kerwin) Woll. They had two sons. Irene died in 1945 and Matthew later married Celenor Dugas, an artist.