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The Knights of Labor, also known as Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was one of the most important American labor organizations of the 19th century. Founded by nine Philadelphia tailors in 1869 and led by Uriah S. Stephens, its ideology may be described as producerist, demanding an end to child and convict labor, equal pay for women, a progressive income tax, and the cooperative employer-employee ownership of mines and factories. Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə Uriah Smith Stephens (1821 - February 13, 1882) was a US labor leader Producerism, sometimes referred to as "producer radicalism" refers to a syncretic ideology of populist Child labor is the employment of Children at regular and sustained labour Penal labour or penal servitude is a form of Unfree labour. The term may refer to two different notions labour as a form of punishment and labour as a form of occupation Equal pay for women is an issue involving pay Inequality between men and women A progressive tax is a Tax imposed so that the Tax rate increases as the amount subject to taxation increases A worker coperative is a Cooperative owned and democratically controlled by its employees [1]

Contents

Origins

The Knights of Labor had a reputation for being all-inclusive. Women, blacks (after 1878), and employers were accepted as members of the Knights of Labor. The Knights' leadership advocated the admission of blacks into local assemblies, but turned a blind eye to the segregation of assemblies in the South. Mary Harris Jones, known as Mother Jones, helped recruit thousands of women to the Knights of Labor. Mary Harris Jones ( May 1, 1830 or August 1, 1837 – November 30, 1930) better known as Mother Jones, born in Bankers, doctors, lawyers, gamblers, stockholders, and liquor manufacturers were excluded because they were considered unproductive members of society. Asians were also excluded, and, in November 1885, a branch of the Knights in Tacoma, Washington worked to expel the city's Chinese, which amounted to nearly a tenth of the overall city population at the time. The Knights strongly supported the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Contract Labor Law of 1885, as did many other labor groups. The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law passed on May 6 1882 following revisions made in 1880 to the Burlingame Treaty of 1868 An act passed in 1864 to encourage immigration Since 1869 industries of the United States had been advertising that there were great wages and jobs in America causing a great [2]

The Knights of Labor grew rapidly after the collapse of the National Labor Union in 1873, and especially after the replacement of Uriah Stephens with Terence V. Powderly. The National Labor Union ( NLU) was the first national labor federation in the United States. Terence Vincent Powderly ( January 22, 1849 &ndash June 24, 1924) was born in Carbondale Pennsylvania, the son of Irish As membership expanded, the Knights began to function more as a labor union, and less like a fraternal organization. Local assemblies began to emphasize not only cooperative enterprises, but to initiate strikes to win concessions from non-Knights employers. Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal by Employees to perform work. Powderly opposed strikes as a "relic of barbarism", but the size and the diversity of the Knights afforded local assemblies a great deal of autonomy.

The Knights found that secrecy interfered with the organization's public work and inhibited its response to critics. Carroll Wright, U. S. Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor, characterized the Knights of Labor as a "purely and deeply secret organization" that drew heavily on Freemasonry for its ideas and procedures. In 1881, the Order's General Assembly agreed to make its name and objects public and to abolish its initiating oaths. Most rituals associated with the order continued, and the Knights entered its period of greatest growth.

Though initially suspect of the strike as a method to advance their goals, the Knights aided various strikes and boycotts. Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal by Employees to perform work. A boycott is a form of Consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using buying or dealing with someone or some other organization as an expression of Arguably their greatest victory was in the Union Pacific Railroad strike in 1884. The Wabash Railroad strike in 1885 was also a significant success, as Powderly did not follow his usual practice and supported what became a crippling strike on Jay Gould's Wabash Line. Jason "Jay" Gould ( May 27, 1836 &ndash December 2, 1892) was an American Financier who became a leading American railroad Gould met with Powderly and agreed to call off his campaign against the Knights of Labor, which had caused the turmoil originally. These positive developments encouraged new membership, and by 1886, the Knights had over 700,000 members.

While the Knights were in no way involved, the Haymarket Riot nonetheless significantly tarnished their reputation.

The Order was brought to Australia around 1890. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Freedom Assembly, which operated in Sydney during the tumultuous period of 1891-93, had as members well known Australian labour movement people such as William Lane, Ernie Lane, WG Spence, Arthur Rae and George Black. Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 The Australian labour movement has its origins in the early 19th century and includes both Trade unions and political activity. William Lane ( 6 September 1861 – 26 August 1917) was a Journalist, pioneer of the Australian labour movement and A similar assembly operated in Melbourne. Ernie Lane was shot in her home and bled to death.

Decline

Membership declined with the problems of an autocratic structure, mismanagement, and unsuccessful strikes. Disputes between the skilled trade unionists (also known as craft unionists) and the industrial unionists weakened the organization. Craft unionism refers to organizing a union in a manner that seeks to unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of the particular Craft or trade that they work in Industrial unionism is a labor union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union—regardless of skill or trade—thus

There was widespread repression of labor unions in the late 1880s, such as the violence against strikers in the Haymarket Riot of 1886. The Knights were unsuccessful in the Missouri Pacific strike in 1886. The Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886 was a labor union strike against the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads involving more The Knights lost many craft unionists that year when the rival American Federation of Labor was founded. The American Federation of Labor (AFL was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States [3]

In 1890, it had fewer than 100,000 members. At the same time, the Knights received political support from the People's Party. The Populist Party (also known as the People's Party) was a relatively short-lived Political party in the United States in the late 18th century Terence Powderly was replaced as Grand Master Workman by James Sovereign in 1893. Two years later, members of the Socialist Labor Party left the Knights to found the Socialist Trade & Labor Alliance as a Marxist rival. Origins The party was founded in Newark New Jersey, in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party of America. The Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance - commonly abbreviated STLA or ST&LA - was a revolutionary socialist labor union in the United States Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Membership was reduced to 17,000. The majority of New York City's District Assembly 49 joined the Industrial Workers of the World at its 1905 foundation. The Industrial Workers of the World ( IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati Ohio, USA Although, by 1900, it was virtually nonexistent as a labor union, the Knights maintained a central office until 1917 and held conventions until 1932. At least a few local assemblies lasted until 1949. [4]

Leaders

See also

Further reading

Books

Articles

Contemporary accounts

by Knights

by others

References

  1. ^ http://www.2facts.com/WAE/temp/43068tempxkn044900a.asp?amhist=yes
  2. ^ (2002) The American Paegent. Houghton Mifflin Company.  
  3. ^ Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 2: From the Founding of the American Federation of Labor to the Emergence of American Imperialism, 1955, pp. 160-161.
  4. ^ Weir, Beyond Labor's Veil, p. 322.

External links

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