ABSTRACT
The 1925 convention of the American Federation of Labor, held a full year after the Robert La Follette experiment, and the first convention for forty-five years that was not presided over by Samuel Gompers, brought out a thorough discussion and review of the nonpartisan political policy. The American labor movement has been built from the beginning on a non-party foundation. The constitution of the American Federation of Labor declares that "party politics, whether they be Democratic, Republican, Socialistic, Populistic, Prohibition, or any other, shall have no place in the functions of the American Federation of Labor". Repeatedly the Federation has explained that it is "partisan to men and to measures", partisan to candidates of parties, to principles and to planks of party platforms, but that it is "not partisan to parties". The Illinois Federation, however, is now in the forefront in the successful application of the national Federation's non-partisan policies.
