The party had a tense and complicated relationship with the American Federation of Labor (AFL). AFL leadership, headed by Samuel Gompers, was strongly opposed to the Socialist Party, but many rank and file unionists in the early party of the 20th century saw the Socialists as reliable political allies. Many moderate Socialists, such as Victor Berger and International Typographical Union President Max S. Hayes, urged close cooperation with the AFL and its member unions. Others in the Socialist Party dismissed the AFL and its craft unions as antiquated and irrelevant, instead favoring the much more radical IWW and the "syndicalist" path to socialism.