Craft: An American History

by Glenn Adamson

Yet she and her fellow labor activists did think seriously about questions of skill. And these were difficult questions. The Knights of Labor, the pioneering union that formed the context for Jones’s early activism, was the descendant of earlier fraternal organizations, as its medieval-sounding name suggests. Founded in 1869 as a secret brotherhood, it grew into a nationwide movement representing “producers” of all types, whose interests were juxtaposed to “non-producers” such as bankers and lawyers. It sought goals that would be beneficial to all its members, both skilled and unskilled: a legislated eight-hour workday, the end of child labor, and greater safety regulations. The Knights also pushed for equal pay between men and women, and they admitted African Americans into their ranks. This solidarity was not to last, however. The labor movement suffered a series of setbacks, including the dramatic events that occurred in Haymarket Square in Chicago on May 4, 1886. During a strike at the local McCormick Reaper plant, union protestors clashed with police, with loss of life on both sides. Public opinion turned against the bomb-throwing “anarchists” who were believed to be at fault, turning the tide in the war of words between management and unions.