Compare and contrast the goals, means, leadership, and accomplishments of the late nineteenth-century national labor organizations: National Labor Union, Knights of Labor, and American Federation of Labor.
What will be an ideal response?
ANSWER
The NLU’s goal was social reform achieved by replacing industrial capitalism with producer cooperatives. The NLU failed under its visionary leadership. The Knights of Labor wanted social reform and worker solidarity and hoped cooperatives and arbitration would end industrial capitalism. Terence Powderly eschewed strikes, but was a poor organizer. The AFL pursued better wages, hours, and working conditions. It narrowed its membership to crafts and used strikes. Samuel Gompers was an organizational genius.
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