Part 191

"The second great attempt [the first having been 'the International'] to organize labor on a broad basis—as broad as society itself, in which all trades should be recognized—was the Noble Order of Knights of Labor of America. This organization was born on Thanksgiving Day, 1869, in the city of Philadelphia, and was the result of the efforts of Uriah S. Stephens, as the leader, and six associates, all garment-cutters. For several years previous to this date, the garment-cutters of Philadelphia had been organized as a trades-union, but had failed to maintain a satisfactory rate of wages in their trade. A feeling of dissatisfaction prevailed, which resulted, in the fall of 1869, in a vote to disband the union. Stephens, foreseeing this result, had quietly prepared the outlines of a plan for an organization embracing 'all branches of honorable toil,' and based upon education, which, through co-operation and an intelligent use of the ballot, should gradually abolish the present wages system. Stephens himself was a man of great force of character, a skilled mechanic, with the love of books which enabled him to pursue his studies during his apprenticeship, and feeling withal a strong affection for secret organizations, having been for many years connected with the Masonic order. … He believed it was necessary to bring all wage-workers together in one organization, where measures affecting the interests of all could be intelligently discussed and acted upon; and this he held could not be done in a trades-union. At the last session of the Garment-cutters' Union, and after the motion to disband had prevailed, Stephens invited the few members present to meet him, in order to discuss his new plan of organization. … Stephens then laid before his guests his plan of an organization, which he designated 'The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor.' It was a new departure in labor organization. The founder described what he considered a tendency toward large combinations of capital, and argued that the trades-union form of organization was like a bundle of sticks when unbound,—weak and powerless to resist combination. … Stephens' great controlling ideas may be formulated as follows: first that surplus labor always keeps wages down; and, second, that nothing can remedy this evil but a purely and deeply secret organization, based upon a plan that shall teach, or rather inculcate, organization, and at the same time educate its membership to one set of ideas ultimately subversive of the present wages system. … At a subsequent meeting, held December 28, 1869, upon the report of a Committee on Ritual, involving obligations and oaths, Mr. Stephens and his six associates subscribed their names to the obligations; and, when the ritual was adopted, Mr. James L. Wright moved that the new Order be named the 'Knights of Labor.' … The members were sworn to the strictest secrecy. The name even of the Order was not to be divulged. … The rules of government. … excluded physicians from the Order, because professional confidence might force the societies' secrets into unfriendly ears. The rule prohibiting the admission of physicians, however, was repealed at Detroit in 1881. Politicians were to be excluded, because the founders of the Order considered that their moral character was on too low a plane for the sacred work of the new Order; and, besides, it was considered that professional politicians would not keep the secrets of the Order, if such secrets could be used for their own advantage. Men engaged in political work are not now excluded for that cause alone. Lawyers were to be excluded, and still are, because the founders considered that the logical, if not the practical, career of the lawyer is to get money by his aptitudes and cunning, which, if used to the advantage of one, must be at the expense of another. … Rum-sellers were and are excluded, because the trade is not only useless, by being non-productive of articles of use, but results in great suffering and immorality. … The founders also considered that those who sell or otherwise handle liquors should be excluded, because such persons would be a defilement to the Order. In consequence of the close secrecy thrown around the new organization, it did not grow rapidly. Stephens, impressed with the Masonic ritual and that of the Odd Fellows, was unwilling to allow any change. … So the society struggled on, admitting now and then a member, its affairs running smoothly, as a whole, but the name of the organization never divulged. … In January, 1878, when the whole machinery of the organization was perfected so far as bodies were concerned, there had been no general declaration of principles. The Order had been intensely secret, as much as the society of the Masons or of the Odd Fellows. The name of the Order began to be whispered about; but beyond the name and most exaggerated accounts of the membership, nothing was known of the Knights of Labor. The membership must have been small,—indeed, not counting far into the thousands. In fact, it did not reach fifty thousand until five years later. … About this time [1878] the strict secrecy in the workings of the Order, and the fact that the obligations were oaths taken on the Bible, brought on a conflict with the Catholic Church, and during the years 1877-78 many Local and several District Assemblies lapsed. … Measures were adopted whereby a satisfactory conciliation was brought about, on the general ground that the labor movement could consistently take no interest in the advocacy of any kind of religion, nor assume any position for or against creeds. {2953} The prejudices against the Knights of Labor on account of Catholic opposition then naturally, but gradually, disappeared; and the Order took on new strength, until there were in 1879 twenty-three District Assemblies and about thirteen hundred Local Assemblies in the United States. … The third annual session of the General Assembly was held at Chicago, in September, 1879, when the federal body busied itself with general legislation, and was called upon to consider the resignation of Mr. Stephens as Master Workman. This resignation, urgently pressed by Mr. Stephens, was accepted; and Hon. Terrence V. Powderly was elected Grand Master Workman in his place. … The membership was stated to be five thousand in good standing. … The next annual meeting of the General Assembly (the fourth) took place at Pittsburg, in September, 1880, and consisted of forty delegates. At this session, strikes were denounced as injurious, and as not worthy of support except in extreme cases. … The fifth session was held in September, 1881, at Detroit. This session had to deal with one of the most important actions in the history of the Order. The General Assembly then declared that on and after January 1, 1882, the name and objects of the Order should be made public. It also declared that women should be admitted upon an equal footing with men. … A benefit insurance law was also passed, and an entire change of the ritual was advised. … The sixth annual assembly was held in New York in September, 1882, the chief business consisting in the discussion, and finally in the adoption, of a revised constitution and ritual. At this Assembly, what is known as the 'strike' element—that is, the supporters and believers in strikes—was in the majority, and laws and regulations for supporting strikes were adopted; and the co-operation of members was suppressed by a change of the co-operative law of the Order. … The seventh annual session of the General Assembly was held at Cincinnati in September, 1883, and consisted of one hundred and ten representative delegates. … This large representation was owing to the rapid growth of the Order since the name and objects had been made public. … The membership of the Order was reported to this Assembly to be, in round numbers, fifty-two thousand. In September, 1884, the eighth annual Assembly convened at Philadelphia. Strikes and boycotts were denounced. … The ninth General Assembly convened at Hamilton, Ontario, in October, 1885, and adopted legislation looking to the prevention of strikes and boycotts. The session lasted eight days, the membership being reported at one hundred and eleven thousand. … The tenth annual session of the General Assembly was held at Richmond, Virginia, in October, 1886. … Mr. Powderly, in his testimony before the Strike Investigating Committee of Congress, April 21, 1886, made the following statement as to membership: 'Our present membership does not exceed 500,000, although we have been credited with 5,000,000.' This statement indicates a growth of nearly 400,000 in one year. The growth was so rapid that the Executive Board of the Order felt constrained to call a halt in the initiation of new members. To-day (December 10, 1886), while the membership has fallen off in some localities, from various causes, in the whole country it has increased, and is, according to the best inside estimates, not much less than one million."

_Carroll D. Wright, Historical Sketch of the Knights of Labor (Quarterly Journal of Economics, January, 1887)._

"At the annual convention of the Knights of Labor, held at Philadelphia, November 14-28 [1893], Grand Master Workman Powderly, for fifteen years the head of the order, was succeeded by J. R. Sovereign, of Iowa. The new leader's first address to the organization, issued December 7, contained in addition to the usual denunciation of capitalists, a strong demand for the free coinage of silver and an expansion of the currency."

_Political Science Quarterly, June, 1894; Record of Political Events._

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1872-1886. The International in America.

By the order of the congress of the International held at the Hague in 1872, the General Council of the Association was transferred to New York. "Modern socialism had then undoubtedly begun to exist in America. The first proclamation of the council from their new headquarters was an appeal to workingmen 'to emancipate labor and eradicate all international and national strife.' … The 'Exceptional Law' passed against socialists by the German Parliament in 1878 drove many socialists from Germany to this country, and these have strengthened the cause of American socialism through membership in trades-unions and in the Socialistic Labor Party. There have been several changes among the socialists in party organization and name since 1873, and national conventions or congresses have met from time to time. … The name Socialistic Labor Party was adopted in 1877 at the Newark Convention. In 1883 the split between the moderates and extremists had become definite, and the latter held their congress in Pittsburg, and the former in Baltimore. … The terrible affair of May 4, 1886, when the Chicago Internationalists endeavored to resist the police by the use of dynamite, terminated all possibility of joint action—even if there could previously have been any remote hope of it; for that was denounced as criminal folly by the Socialistic Labor Party. … The Internationalists, at their congress in Pittsburg, adopted unanimously a manifesto or declaration of motives and principles, often called the Pittsburg Proclamation, in which they describe their ultimate goal in these words:—'What we would achieve is, therefore, plainly and simply,—First, Destruction of the existing class rule, by all means, i. e., by energetic, relentless, revolutionary, and international action. Second, Establishment of a free society based upon co-operative organization of production. Third, Free exchange of equivalent products by and between the productive organizations without commerce and profit-mongery. Fourth, Organization of education on a secular, scientific and equal basis for both sexes. Fifth, Equal rights for all without distinction to sex or race. Sixth, Regulation of all public affairs by free contracts between the autonomous (independent} communes and associations, resting on a federalistic basis.'"

_R. T. Ely, The Labor Movement in America, chapters 8-9._

{2954}

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1875-1893. Socialist parties in Germany. Their increasing strength.

Before 1875, there existed in Germany two powerful Socialist associations. The first was called the 'General Association of German Working Men' (der allgemeine deutsche Arbeiterverein). Founded by Lassalle in 1863, it afterwards had for president the deputy Schweizer, and then the deputy Hasenclever. Its principal centre of activity was North Germany. The second was the 'Social-democratic Working Men's Party' (die Social·democratische Arbeiterpartei), led by two well-known deputies of the Reichstag, Herr Bebel and Herr Liebknecht. Its adherents were chiefly in Saxony and Southern Germany. The first took into account the ties of nationality, and claimed the intervention of the State in order to bring about a gradual transformation of society; the second, on the contrary, expected the triumph of its cause only from a revolutionary movement. These two associations existed for a long time in open hostility towards each other; less, however, from the difference of the aims they had in view than in consequence of personal rivalry. Nevertheless, in May, 1875, at the Congress of Gotha, they amalgamated under the title of the 'Socialist Working Men's Party of Germany' (Socialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands). The deputy Hasenclever was nominated president; but the union did not last long, or was never complete, for as early as the month of August following a separate meeting of the 'General Association of German Working Men' was held at Hamburg. … The German Socialist party does not confine itself to stating general principles. Now that it has gained foothold on political soil, and sends representatives to Parliament, it endeavours to make known the means by which it hopes to realize the reforms it has in view. This is what it claims:—'The German Socialist party demands, in order to pave the way for the solution of the social question, the creation of socialistic productive associations aided by the State, under the democratic control of the working people. These productive associations for manufacture and agriculture should be created on a sufficiently large scale to enable the socialistic organization of labour to arise out of them. As basis of the State, it demands direct and universal suffrage for all citizens of twenty years of age, in all elections both of State and Commune; direct legislation, by the people, including the decision of peace or war; general liability to bear arms and a militia composed of civilians instead of a standing army; the abolition of all laws restricting the right of association, the right of assembly, the free expression of opinion, free thought, and free inquiry; gratuitous justice administered by the people; compulsory education, the same for all and given by the State; and a declaration that religion is an object of private concern.'"

_E. de Laveleye, The Socialism of To-day, introduction and chapter 1._

"The social democratic party [in Germany] advanced in strength, as far as that is measured by votes, until 1878, when the decrease was only slight. Two attempts were made on the life of the Emperor William in that year, and the social democrats had to bear a good share of the blame. … In the Reichstag the celebrated socialistic law was passed, which gave government exceptional and despotic powers to proceed against social democracy. … Governmental persecution united the divided members and gave new energy to all. … They all became secret missionaries, distributing tracts and exhorting individually their fellow-laborers to join the struggle for the emancipation of labor. The German social democrats have held two congresses since the socialistic law, both, of course, on foreign soil, and both have indicated progress. The first was held at Wyden, Switzerland, August 20-23, 1880. This resulted in a complete triumph for the more moderate party. The two leading extremists, Hasselmann and Most, were both expelled from the party—the former by all save three votes, the latter by all save two. The next congress was held at Copenhagen, Denmark, from March 29 to April 2, 1883. It exhibited greater unanimity of sentiment and plan, and a more wide-spread interest in social democracy, than any previous congress."

_R. T. Ely, French and German Socialism, chapter 14._

At the general election, February, 1890, in Germany, the Social Democratic party "polled more votes than any other single party in the Empire, and returned to the Imperial Diet a body of representatives strong enough, by skilful alliances, to exercise an effective influence on the course of affairs. The advance of the party may be seen in the increase of the socialist vote at the successive elections since the creation of the Empire: In 1871 it was 101,927; 1874, 351,670; 1877, 493,447; 1878, 437,438; 1881, 311,961; 1884, 549,000; 1887, 774,128; 1890, 1,427,000.

The effect of the coercive laws of 1878, as shown by these figures, is very noteworthy. … The first effect … was, as was natural, to disorganize the socialist party for the time. Hundreds of its leaders were expelled from the country; hundreds were thrown into prison or placed under police restriction; its clubs and newspapers were suppressed; it was not allowed to hold meetings, to make speeches, or to circulate literature of any kind. In the course of the twelve years during which this exceptional legislation has subsisted, it was stated at the recent Socialist Congress at Halle [1890], that 155 socialist journals and 1,200 books or pamphlets had been prohibited; 900 members of the party had been banished without trial; 1,500 had been apprehended and 300 punished for contraventions of the Anti-Socialist Laws." But this "policy of repression has ended in tripling the strength of the party it was designed to crush, and placing it in possession of one-fifth of the whole voting power of the nation. It was high time, therefore, to abandon so ineffectual a policy, and the socialist coercive laws expired on the 30th September, 1890. … The strength of the party in Parliament has never corresponded with its strength at the polls. … In 1890, with an electoral vote which, under a system of proportional representation, would have secured for it 80 members, it has carried only 37."

_J. Rae, Contemporary Socialism, pages 33-34._

The Social Democrats "retained their position as the strongest party in the empire in the elections of 1893, casting nearly 1,800,000 votes, and electing 44 members of parliament. … Another indication of the growth of social democracy, is the fact that it has gained a foothold among the students of the universities."

_R. T. Ely, Socialism, page 59._

"The two principal leaders of the Social-Democratic party in Germany—in fact, the only members of the party to whom the term leader can properly be applied—are now Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel. Both men have lived eventful lives and have suffered often and severely for the sake of their cause. … Liebknecht has done a great deal to popularise the political and social theories of men like Marx and Lassalle. {2955} He is through and through a Communist and a Republican, and he is determined upon realising his ideals by hook or by crook. … He works for the subversion of the monarchical principle and for the establishment of a Free People's State. In this State all subjects will stand upon the same level: there will be no classes and no privileges. … Bebel once summarised his views in a sentence which, so far as he spoke for himself, is as true as it is short. 'We aim,' he said, 'in the domain of politics at Republicanism, in the domain of economics at Socialism, and in the domain of what is to-day called religion at Atheism.' Here we see Bebel as in a mirror. He is a Republican and a Socialist, and he is proud of it; he is without religion, and he is never tired of parading the fact, even having himself described in the Parliamentary Almanacs as 'religionslos.' Like his colleague Liebknecht he is a warm admirer of England."

_W. H. Dawson, German Socialism and Ferdinand Lassalle, chapter 15._

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1880. Mr. Henry George, and the proposed confiscation of rent. The Single-Tax movement.