knights labor american federation labor developed response — The labor movement Labor union Pullman Strike Labor Day Knight of Columbus

The knights of labor and the american federation of labor developed in response to the —

From Ohio History Central


Terence V. Powderly (1849-1924) led the Knights of Labor, a powerful advocate for the eight-hour day in the 1870s and early 1880s. Under Powderly's leadership, the union discouraged the use of strikes and advocated restructuring society along cooperative lines.

The Knights of Labor was a labor organization established in 1869. It served as an umbrella organization for other unions that joined it.

The Knights of Labor's founder was Uriah Stevens. At first, the Knights of Labor was a secret organization, but Terence Powderly ended the group's secrecy upon assuming control of the organization in 1879. Membership grew quickly, reaching approximately 700,000 members by 1886.

The Knights of Labor was a rather inclusive group. It sought to unite together all "producers." Producers included anyone that constructed a physical product in the course of their workday. The Knights of Labor welcomed factory workers and business owners into its ranks. The group rejected "nonproducers"—people who did not engage in physical labor, such as bankers, lawyers, and academics. The Knights of Labor sought to create a united front of producers versus the nonproducers. The organization even allowed women and African Americans to join its ranks. Together, the producers sought an eight-hour workday, an end to child labor, better wages, and improved working conditions in general. Under Powderly's leadership, the organization also sought to instill morality in its members, including providing support for the temperance movement.

The Knights of Labor sought to attain their goals primarily through boycotts and peaceful negotiations. Powderly generally opposed strikes, believing that they only led to bloodshed and increased tensions. Other Knights of Labor leaders preferred utilizing strikes. After the Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago, Illinois, in 1886, the Knights of Labor declined as an effective organization. Powderly resigned as the organization's head in 1893, unable to bring the organization's membership together on how best to fight for improved conditions.

Within Ohio, the Knights of Labor gained an impressive following. In 1880, the organization only had eight hundred members within the state. By 1887, seventeen thousand Ohio workers belonged to the group. Several successful strikes during the mid 1880s led to the Knights of Labor's growth. As the strikes proved successful, more workers flocked to the union movement. Interestingly, due to the Knights of Labor's opposition to strikes, the organization experienced declining membership by the late 1880s and the early 1890s. Many of the Knights of Labor's disgruntled members joined the American Federation of Labor, a new labor group organized in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886.

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Assorted References

  • major reference

    • In AFL–CIO

      …by the merger of the AFL (founded 1886), which originally organized workers in craft unions, and the CIO (founded 1935), which organized workers by industries.

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  • development of trade unions

    • In trade union: Legal precedents

      The founding of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) by several unions of skilled workers in 1886 marked the beginning of a continuous large-scale labour movement in the United States. Its member groups comprised national trade or craft unions that organized local unions and negotiated wages, hours, and working…

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    • In organized labour: Origins of craft unionism

      …December 1886 and formed the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The immediate aim was to drive the Knights from the industrial field, and, thanks largely to the Knights’ own confusion and to employers’ counterattacks, this was speedily accomplished. But more important in the long run was the permanent stamp that…

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  • Women’s Trade Union League

    • In Women’s Trade Union League

      …token financial support from the American Federation of Labor (AFL) or other major organized labour groups.

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contribution of

    • Gompers

      • In Samuel Gompers

        …and first president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

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    • Knights of Labor

      • In Knights of Labor

        …fostered the establishment of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in December 1886. The AFL focused on winning economic benefits for its members through collective bargaining. As a federation, it represented several national craft unions that each retained autonomous operations. The Knights, by contrast, represented both craft and unskilled workers…

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    • Lewis
      • In John L. Lewis

        …became an organizer for the American Federation of Labor (AFL), with which the miners’ union was affiliated. Lewis became a vice president of the UMWA in 1917, acting president in 1919, and president in 1920, by which time the UMWA had become the largest trade union in the United States.…

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    • Randolph

      • In A. Philip Randolph

        …half the affiliates of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) barred Blacks from membership, took his union into the AFL. Despite opposition, he built the first successful Black trade union; the brotherhood won its first major contract with the Pullman Company in 1937. The following year, Randolph removed his union…

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    • O’Sullivan
      • In Mary Kenney O’Sullivan

        …Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, appointed her the federation’s first woman general organizer. During the year she held the post, she organized garment workers in New York City and Troy, New York, and printers, binders, shoe workers, and carpet weavers in Massachusetts. She then returned to…

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    significance to

      • Canadian Labour Congress
        • In Canadian Labour Congress

          …unions, many affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

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      • Pittsburgh

        • In Pittsburgh: History

          …labour and management, and the American Federation of Labor was born there in 1881.

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      • United States

        • In United States: The Haymarket Riot

          …union movement passed to the American Federation of Labor (AFL). This was a loose federation of local and craft unions, organized first in 1881 and reorganized in 1886. For a few years there was some nominal cooperation between the Knights and the AFL, but the basic organization and philosophy of…

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      Why did the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor develop?

      The Knights of Labor was a union founded in 1869. The Knights pressed for the eight-hour work day for laborers, and embraced a vision of a society in which workers, not capitalists, would own the industries in which they labored. The Knights also sought to end child labor and convict labor.

      What was the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor?

      The AFL focused on winning economic benefits for its members through collective bargaining. As a federation, it represented several national craft unions that each retained autonomous operations. The Knights, by contrast, represented both craft and unskilled workers in a single national union.

      What was the main purpose of the American Federation of Labor?

      We help make safe, equitable workplaces and give working people a collective voice to address workplace injustices without the fear of retaliation. We fight for social and economic justice and strive to vanquish oppression in all its forms.

      How did employers respond to the American Federation of Labor?

      Despite the successful beginning of the AFL, labor organizers faced a number of difficulties. For the most part, employers had never fully accepted the legitimacy of unions, much less their right to strike or bargain collectively.

      zusammenhängende Posts

      How did the federal government respond to the labor disputes of the late nineteenth century?
      Why did the fortunes of the Knights of Labor rise in the late 1870s and decline in the 1890s?
      How were the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor similar at the beginning?
      Which was a major achievement of both the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor
      What were the major philosophical differences between the Knights of Labor the American Federation of Labor and the Industrial workers of the World?
      Which explains the growth of labor unions in the United States during the industrial revolution?

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