Today in Labor History December 9, 1869: The Knights of Labor was founded in Philadelphia as a secret society open to all members of the working class. They specifically barred bankers, land speculators, lawyers, liquor dealers and gamblers from membership in their union. The Knights were one of the most important labor organizations of the late 1800s, reaching a membership of 700,000 by 1886. One of their first early successes was their strike against J. Gould’s Wabash Railroad. In addition to walking off the job, they occupied company buildings and sabotaged the tracks and equipment. While other unions were fighting for a 10-hour work day, the Knights were demanding an 8-hour day, as well as an end to child and convict labor. They were also one of the earliest labor organizations to accept blacks and women, and one of the first organized by industry, rather than craft. 50 African American sugarcane workers, organized by the Knights, were murdered by white scabs in the 1887 Thibodaux massacre. Their motto was “An Injury to One is the Concern of All.” Yet they also supported the Chinese Exclusion Act and participated in anti-Chinese riots, including one in Tacoma, Washington (1885) in which they expelled all the Chinese from town (at the time, 10% of the city’s population), as well as the Rock Springs massacre, in Wyoming (1885), which killed scores of Chinese. Support for the Knights quickly waned following the repression in the wake of the Haymarket Affair.
The KOL attracted and spawned many radicals, including Daniel DeLeon. He went on to cofound the IWW and the Socialist Labor Party. Two of the Haymarket martyrs were also KOL members. The KOL also denounced strikes. However, like its more radical cousin, the IWW, it called for the abolition of the wage system. And like the IWW, fought to organize all workers into one big union, including women and immigrants. In 1890, they merged with another union to form the United Mine Workers.
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