The Similarities And Differences Between The Knights Of Labor And The AFL

During Americas Gilded Age there were many different types of issues society had to work through. There were conflicts of many different shapes and sizes; including everything legal, political, social and anything that exists between these broad topics. On controversial topic that encompasses all of these subjects and echoes through out the whole were labor unions. How scandalous was in for the labor force of America to believe that they had the right to ask for a stake in the American dream? The immigrants starting there unions were seen as, “‘ great sticklers for high wages, small production and strikes”. The National Labor Union and the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor feed the laboring class the ideas about how they could improve there

The Knights of Labor was the first major American labor union created around 1871. It was configured by all productive laborers from the factories to fields, whose leader was Terence V. Powderly.

The Knight of Labor came into existence around the 1880s and consisted of numerous local assemblies. Membership was opened to any and everyone, including employers, African Americans and women. To achieve efficiency, its goal was to replace capitalism by offering the employees, also known as producers, the opportunity to control and own businesses. The system was known as producer cooperative. Producer cooperative incorporates capital and workers to work as one and cut down on conflict, which made for a harmonious environment. The benefits of bringing these two forces together, saw workers gaining a sense of autonomy and fulfilled their psychological and physical needs and serving God. The primary goal of the Knights of Labor was in achieving the moral worth opposed to the material wealth of a person, which was a form of uplifting unionism. They believed that by working long hours, while earning small pay, went against their idea of what God had intended for man. However, to achieve member voice, the goal was for members to secure producer cooperation through individual

Between two wars The Civil War and World War I was called the Glided Age. The Gilded Age grew a accelerated industrialization of factory based steel mills, also a country based on railroad for transporation,blooming cities and in science. The Gilded Age also grew in social chage and economic growth, creating new opportunites for entrpreners. The effects of the industrialization on American 's were work labor which lead to the orgin of The Kinghts of Labor. In addition with such the rising of industrial the citites grew which lead to immigiration and also the creation of the hull house.

Before the structured labor society that we live in today, America was a very different working world; one plagued with injustice and grievances from workers across the job sectors. Two organizations, the Knights of Labor and later the American Federation of Labor acted as activists for reform and demanded better standards for working, living, and life for workers. Their strategies and success in achieving their goals were as different as the organizations themselves.

A key aspect of this nation’s history lies in the ever-shifting relationship between its government and its common man, most specifically its labor workers. This relationship plays a crucial role in the understanding of the changes that took place in America between 1890 and 1945. The changing relationship between government and labor workers in the United States between 1890 and 1945 demonstrates a period of unrest and a transitional period in which the focus shifted towards the working class as a result of the greed and corruption of 19th century business elite

In a time after the civil war, America improved their financing by switching to the gold standard, improved communication by boosting the telegraph, improved transportation by building railroads, and improved wealth by giving contracts for clothes to multiple companies. The economy was also improving massively also due to natural resources, demography, and law. Railroads allowed people as well as supplies to be transported quicker, safer, and cheaper. Companies bought each other out and formed monopolies which made the price go up and the owners very wealthy. Aside from all of these positives, there are also various problems that took place during the Gilded Age (1865-1900). Problems like how industrial workers and farmers responded to

Unions have been around for a long time. The first union was established in 1866 in the U.S. with the foundation of the National Labor Union or the NLU. The National Labor Union was created to persuade Congress to change laws. The NLU was against holding strikes and instead relied on political action to reach its goals. The NLU, made up of farmers, workers, and reformers, excluding African Americans and women, firstly wanted Congress to limit the work days to just eight hours, and it was able to make this change, but after this none of its other suggestions made it through. Eventually, the NLU was dissolved in 1873, but with its existence, it boosted public awareness to make changes for labor laws.

The organized labor of 1875-1900 was unsuccessful in proving the position of workers because of the future strikes, and the intrinsical feeling of preponderation of employers over employees and the lack of regime support. In 1877, railroad work across the country took part in a cyclopean strike that resulted in mass violence and very few reforms. An editorial, from the Incipient York Time verbalized: "the strike is ostensibly hopeless, and must be regarded as nothing more than a rash and splenetic demonstration of resentment by men too incognizant or too temerarious to understand their own interest" (Document B).

The work of Samuel Gompers acted as a catalyst to the dawning of the Progressive Era. Gompers’ revolutionary union work advocated for social justice and regulation within factories. HIs work with expanding the rights of workers through factory regulation and organized unions was continued even after his death by the organization her started in 1886. The American Federation of Labor outlasted even the Knights of Labor, and today is still a well respected organization. The American Federation of Labor grew from 50,000 members in 1886, to nearly 3 million members in 1924. This significant growth shows that Gompers not only established a system that helped workers, but also a system that worked. What made the American Federation of labor different

The opening phrase on ‘Labor’ in history.com reads like this : “The labor movement in the United States grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers. For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to workers who were injured or retired.”

In a time when industrialization was booming, immigrants were racing towards the “American Dream”, and cities were growing towards the sky, the United States was thriving. As a country, the United States went from rural, to mostly urban, which made America “the world’s largest industrial power” as stated by John Green. Since the U.S. had become mostly urban, this left the very few rural workers (farmers), and even some of the industrial workers unhappy. This period of industrialization is called the Gilded Age than spans from 1865 to 1900.The farmers and industrial workers responded to the Gilded Age in significantly negative ways including unions against their authority, strikes and political

The time period from when the Second Industrial Revolution was beginning, up until President McKinley’s assassination in 1901, is known as the Gilded Age. After the Civil War, many people headed out West to pursue agriculture, and many immigrants moved to urban areas to acquire jobs in industrial factories. It is in this context that farmers and industrial workers had to respond to industrialization. Two significant ways farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age, were creating the Populist Party and the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

It is a difficult task to challenge the social and economic policies of a country, especially one as patriotic as the United States during the post wartime Red scare era of the 1920 's. labor unions could account for this as they saw their membership fall from a high of 5 million in the 1920s to a mere 3.6 million by 1923(Rosenzweig 353). A combination of Supreme court decisions, Employer pressures and in many cases a lack of a strong leadership seen in previous individuals like Samuel Gompers contributed to this.Yet this trend surprisingly didn’t remain consistent as the great depression emerged around the 1930s.In fact they tripled there membership during the 1930s(Rosenzweig 429).They opened up, recruiting millions of women in their causes

7. The Knights of Labor was the most significant and the largest American labor organizations the largest of the 1880s. The Knights promoted the social and cultural uplift of the middle class working man, demanded the eight-hour day rejected Socialism and radicalism, and promoted ethic of