History

--Roots of 
the ILA

--The Dawn 
of Unionism

--First 
Longshoremen's
Union

--ILA
Beginnings

--Early Threats
To Unionism

--Realism 
and Caution

--The Haymarket
Riot

--Creation of
the ILA

--Affiliation with
AFL-CIO

--Fighting
Communism
and racism

--ILA arrives in
New York

--ILA absorbs
LUPA

--Gangland
Myths

--Wagner Act

--Pacific Coast
Split

--ILA Accused
of Gangsterism

--Teddy Gleason
Fights to Save
the ILA

Teddy Gleason

--Elected President
of the ILA

--ILA in the
Present

KNIGHTS OF LABOR

In 1869, Uriah Stephens and five other members of the Philadelphia Garment Cutters' Association founded the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor. In its beginning, the union practiced rituals and ceremonies common to mystical cults and fraternal orders of the time. As the association increased in size, its increasingly mainstream membership rejected the more ritualistic elements of the organization, and eventually adopted a more business-like structure. The organization was officially reorganized in 1886, and was renamed the Knights of Labor.

In 1886 some of the groups members were involved in a strikers' riot in Haymarket Square, Chicago. The violent nature of this riot severely tarnished the organization's reputation for peaceful and practical protest.  This, combined with competition from other unions, notably the American Federation of Labor, sent the organization into permanent decline.

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