History of the United States II / Unit 3 USH2 0337 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
One Big Union or Craft Unions
The idea
The Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor are the two models the era produced, and they are often run together. The Knights sought one big union of all wage workers, skilled and unskilled, with broad goals including cooperatives and equal pay. The AFL joined autonomous craft unions of skilled workers and pursued what the Yawp calls pure and simple trade unionism: higher wages and shorter hours won through bargaining. The Knights grew fastest and fell hardest; the AFL grew slowly and lasted.
In practice
One organisation open to every worker in a factory, set beside another built mainly from the skilled carpenters and bricklayers of the building trades.
Where people slip
The confusion to avoid is treating them as one labour movement with two names. Ask whom each would admit and what each wanted. The answers explain why the AFL survived the backlash that destroyed the Knights, and why most workers still stayed outside any union.
Your place on the trail
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Unlocks
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