The American Labor Movement: The Formative Years ( )

Knights of Labor s Members: skilled & unskilled workers including African Americans & women, membership peaked at 730,000 in 1886 Goals: 8 hour work day, equal pay for equal work, and restrictions on child labor Wanted an alternative to industrial capitalism by creating a cooperative society (basically an early view of socialism) Leadership hesitant to strike because workers usually lost, but rank & file often acted anyway Membership fell off after leaders compromised too much Terrence Powderly (Former Mayor of Scranton, PA)

American Federation of Labor Samuel Gompers  1886 to present  Membership limited to white, male, skilled workers (1 million by 1901, 2.5 million by 1917)  Generally worked w/ craft unions (rather than w/ all workers at a single job site)  Pragmatic & opportunistic, pressed for concrete goals: higher wages, shorter hours, right to bargain collectively  Accepted industrial capitalism & wanted to work w/in the system

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)  Founded 1905 by workers dissatisfied w/ AFL policies  Founders included “Big Bill Haywood, Eugene V. Debs  Organizes all workers: skilled & unskilled, immigrant & native, male & female, black or white  Aggressive tactics… not afraid to defy injunctions, break unjust laws, sometimes resorted to violence & sabotage  Socialist rhetoric of class conflict “An injury to one is an injury to all.”

IWW Leaders “Mother” Mary Harris Jones “Big Bill” HaywoodElizabeth Gurly Flynn Eugene V. Debs