Knights of Labor
Its frail organizational structure could not cope as charges of failure, violence, and calumnies of the association with the Haymarket Square riot battered it.
While their national headquarters closed in 1917, remnants of the Knights of Labor continued in existence until 1949, when the group's last 50-member local dropped its affiliation.
In 1869, Uriah Smith Stephens, James L. Wright, and a small group of Philadelphia tailors founded a secret organization known as the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor.
The Knights of Labor barred five groups from membership: bankers, land speculators, lawyers, liquor dealers and gamblers.
As one of the largest labor organization in nineteenth century, Knights wanted to classify the workers as it was a time where large scale factories and industries were rapidly growing.
The Knights of Labor brought together workers of different religions, races, and genders and helped them all create a bond and unify all for the exact cause.
[6] The new leader, 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 strike included stopping track, yard, engine maintenance, the control or sabotage of equipment, and the occupation of shops and roundhouses.
[7] Gould met with Powderly and agreed to call off his campaign against the Knights of Labor, which had caused the turmoil originally.
In 1883, Powderly officially recommended George's book and announced his support of "single tax" on land values.
[10] The Knights of Labor helped to bring together many different types of people from all different walks of life; for example Catholic and Protestant Irish-born workers.
Bankers, doctors, lawyers, stockholders, and liquor manufacturers were excluded because they were considered unproductive members of society.
When the Knights in Wyoming refused to work more hours in 1885, the railroad hired Chinese workers as strikebreakers and to stir up racial animosity.
The result was the Rock Springs massacre, that killed scores of Chinese workers, and drove the rest out of Wyoming.
[13] About 50 African-American sugar-cane laborers organized by the Knights went on strike and were murdered by strikebreakers in the 1887 Thibodaux massacre in Louisiana.
The Knights of Labor's fall is believed to have been due to their lack of adaptability and beliefs in old-style industrial capitalism.
It has been believed that the fall of the Knights of Labor was due to their lack of adaptability and beliefs in the old-style industrial capitalism.
The Knights frequently included music in their regular meetings, and encouraged local members to write and perform their work.
Songwriter and labor singer Bucky Halker includes the Talmadge version, entitled "Our Battle Song," on his CD Don't Want Your Millions (Revolting Records 2000).
Even though the Acts were useful to pass the laws they wanted, they weren't satisfied so they attacked Chinese workers and burned down their places.
[21] The Knights of Labor consistently made efforts towards many problems in the workforce but often left out any advances that would benefit the Chinese communities.
In 1880, San Francisco Knights wrote, "They bear the semblance of men, but live like beasts...who eat rice and the offal of the slaughter house."
Through Eight Hour rallies and legislative lobbying, labor leaders came into direct conflict with employers, who neither accepted unions nor believed that governments should intervene on workers' behalf.
Demands for the eight-hour workday were at the heart of a strike against one of Chicago's most powerful employers, the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which refused to bargain with the union.
Which prompted responses from a bigger working class, which included anarchists Albert Parsons, Michael Schwab, August Spies, Adolph Fischer, and labor organizer Oscar Neebe.
