Augustine McCraith (January 19, 1864 – March 26, 1909) was a Canadian labor unionist. Born on

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

, McCraith became a printer and moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He was an

individualist anarchist Individualist anarchism is the branch of anarchism that emphasizes the individual and their Will (philosophy), will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions and ideological systems."What do I mean by individualism? I mean ...

, who argued that unions should be politically non-partisan. He joined the

International Typographical Union The International Typographical Union (ITU) was a US trade union for the printing trade for newspapers and other media. It was founded on May 3, 1852, in the United States as the National Typographical Union, and changed its name to the Interna ...

's (ITU) Local 13, serving as president of the local from 1891, and then as its secretary from 1892 until 1895. In 1894, McCraith was a delegate to the ITU's national convention, where he proved popular, and was delegated to attend the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...

's (AFL) annual congress. There, he was an outspoken opponent of socialism, and won election as the federation's secretary, which entailed him moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. However, during the

1896 United States presidential election The 1896 United States presidential election was the 28th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1896. Former Governor William McKinley, the Republican candidate, defeated former Representative William Jennings Bryan, the ...

, he objected that

Samuel Gompers Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 13, 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's ...

, president of the AFL, had violated non-partisanship by supporting the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. The AFL's executive declared that it retained confidence in Gompers, and McCraith did not re-nominate himself when his term as secretary ended, in 1897. McCraith later became the publisher of the ''Bay Ridge Press'' newspaper. He died in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, in 1909.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCraith, August 1864 births 1909 deaths American Federation of Labor people Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian trade unionists Individualist anarchists People from Prince Edward Island