In the legal requirements of the American Federation of Labor, the late XIX - early XX century. Expressed fear and even hostility to state intervention in the relationship between unions and employers, as well as in the case within the trade union. Trade unions are intended to achieve the greatest success by participating in the collective bargaining process, and their demands are legal order of the Fair Labor Standards related mainly to those who have not been protected by a trade union, such as women, children and civil servants. Evasion of the AFL from the struggle for social legislation, as a conservative feature of her political activities, segregated from the Federation of American labor movement and in the 20s. Was one of the reasons for its crisis?
The influence of bourgeois ideology in capitalist activities of the American Federation of Labor was expressed also in the refusal of federal involvement in the creation of an independent working party or the support of the socialist, and later the Communist Party. Heated debate in the AFL between the Socialists, who tried to make the federation into a base for a mass workers' party, and supporters of S. Gomiersa ended in the mid 90s. XIX century victory for the supporters of S. Gomiersa. At the Congress of the Federation in 1895, it was stated «Party politics, whether Republican, Democratic, Socialist, Populist, or some other, should not have a place in the federation."