The Labor Union

The Labor Union

LABOR UNION, LAUNCHED IN 1866, AND THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR, WHICH REACHED ITS ZENITH IN THE MID-1880S. ON THEIR FACE, THESE REFORM MOVEMENTS MIGHT HAVE SEEMED AT ODDS WITH TRADE UNIONISM, AIMING AS THEY DID AT THE COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH RATHER THAN A HIGHER WAGE, APPEALING BROADLY TO ALL "PRODUCERS" RATHER THAN STRICTLY TO WAGEWORKERS, AND ESCHEWING THE TRADE UNION RELIANCE ON THE STRIKE AND BOYCOTT. BUT CONTEMPORARIES SAW NO CONTRADICTION: TRADE UNIONISM TENDED TO THE WORKERS'' IMMEDIATE NEEDS, LABOR REFORM TO THEIR HIGHER HOPES. THE TWO WERE HELD TO BE STRANDS OF A SINGLE MOVEMENT, ROOTED IN A COMMON WORKING-CLASS CONSTITUENCY AND TO SOME DEGREE SHARING A COMMON

LEADERSHIP. BUT EQUALLY IMPORTANT, THEY WERE STRANDS THAT HAD TO BE KEPT OPERATIONALLY SEPARATE AND FUNCTIONALLY DISTINCT.

DURING THE 1880S, THAT DIVISION FATALLY ERODED. DESPITE ITS LABOR REFORM RHETORIC, THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR ATTRACTED LARGE NUMBERS OF WORKERS HOPING TO IMPROVE THEIR IMMEDIATE CONDITIONS. AS THE KNIGHTS CARRIED ON STRIKES AND ORGANIZED ALONG INDUSTRIAL LINES, THE THREATENED NATIONAL TRADE UNIONS DEMANDED THAT THE GROUP CONFINE ITSELF TO ITS PROFESSED LABOR REFORM PURPOSES; WHEN IT REFUSED, THEY JOINED IN DECEMBER 1886 TO FORM THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR AFL. THE NEW FEDERATION MARKED A BREAK WITH THE PAST, FOR IT DENIED TO LABOR REFORM ANY FURTHER ROLE IN THE STRUGGLES OF AMERICAN WORKERS. IN PART, THE ASSERTION OF TRADE UNION SUPREMACY STEMMED FROM AN

UNDENIABLE REALITY. AS INDUSTRIALISM MATURED, LABOR REFORM LOST ITS MEANING - HENCE THE CONFUSION AND ULTIMATE FAILURE OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR. MARXISM TAUGHT SAMUEL GOMPERS AND HIS FELLOW SOCIALISTS THAT TRADE UNIONISM WAS THE INDISPENSABLE INSTRUMENT FOR PREPARING THE WOR...

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...TEAD PLANT IN 1892, CARNEGIE HAD NOT FORGOTTEN HIS HERITAGE OF CONCERN FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE. IN HIS 1889 ARTICLE "WEALTH," HE GLORIED IN THE CHEAP STEEL HIS LEADERSHIP HAD GIVEN THE AMERICAN CONSUMER BUT ALSO PROCLAIMED THE MORAL DUTY OF ALL POSSESSORS OF GREAT WEALTH

TO PLOW BACK THEIR MONEY INTO PHILANTHROPY WITH THE SAME JUDGMENT, ZEAL, AND LEADERSHIP THEY HAD DEVOTED TO GETTING RICH. AND HE LIVED UP TO THAT PRECEPT, PAYING FOR THOUSANDS OF LIBRARY BUILDINGS, SETTING UP TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS, ENDOWING UNIVERSITIES, BUILDING CARNEGIE HALL IN NEW YORK AND THE PEACE PALACE AT THE HAGUE, AND MUCH MORE. HE ONCE WROTE THAT THE MAN WHO DIES RICH DIES DISGRACED. HE HAD SOME SINS TO ANSWER FOR, AND IT TOOK HIM A WHILE, BUT IN 1919 AT EIGHTY-THREE ANDREW CARNEGIE DIED IN A STATE OF GRACE BY HIS OWN AGNOSTIC DEFINITION.

Bibliography:

Labor and Law 1914