A Brief History of the American Labor Movement 1869-1936

The modern American labor movement can be said to start in 1869 with the founding of the

Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor. This was an unfortunate time to be starting a

movement for economic solidarity. The ´Long Depression,µ a global financial p anic, reached the

United States in the Panic o f 1873. The KoL, however, were much different from the already

existing craft and trade unions. Their membership was no t limited like, for example, the Sons o f

Vulcan, who only organized the iron puddlers at steel mills and iron works. Anyone who was a

´producerµ was allowed to join t he Knights; a producer is better defined as not a ´parasite,µ i.e. not

a banker, lawyer, gambler, or saloon keeper.

With this novel structure, the KoL was able to survive and grow throughout the 1870·s.In

1878, they adopted a constitution that would be laudable even by today·s standards. Article XIII

even called for the KoL to, ´secure for both sexes equal pay for equal workµ (an idea which did not

receive statutory protection in the United States until the E qual Pay Act of 1963). By 1886, the KoL

had over 700,000 members in 1,500 local assemblies. Only seventy co unties in the United States

were without a KoL lodge. Despite th is unparalleled success, however, the KoL was st ill looked

upon with suspicion by many Americans who failed to make a distinction b etween the KoL and

other radical, proletarian movements like communists, syndicalists, socialists, and anarchists.

Yet the Knights of Labor were not the only group organizing workers. The Federation of

Organized Trades and Labor Unions was a small umbrella organization which initiated one of the

seminal conflicts of the labo r movement. FOTLU leadership called for a massive general strike for

an eight hour day on M ay 1, 1886. The head of the KoL, Terrence Powderly, suggested that Knights

stay home and write letters to their representatives. The rank and file, however, were not in the

mood for such a cerebral exercise and st ruck in solidarity with FOTLU. In Chicago, the KoL