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 FEDERATIO
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Some common words found in the essay are:
STANDARD OIL, standard oil, LABOR REFORM, DEFINITION Bibliography, FELL DRASTICALLY, UNION MOVEMENT, trade union, labor reform, TRADE UNION, OIL INDUSTRY, UNPRECEDENTED GENEROSITY, trade unionism, DEFEATING STRIKES, WALL STREET, trade union movement, national unions, union movement, labor movement, morgan co, world war, knights labor, term robber barons, standard oil company, american federation labor, federation labor afl,
Approximate Word count = 3142
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
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