actor which slowed the development of the labor movement was the shift of workers from agriculture to industry. Between 1860 and 1920, the proportion of the labor force engaged in agriculture dropped from 60 percent to 30 percent.
The law also worked against the development of the labor movement. In the early 1800s, joint action on the part of organized workers was considered to constitute a criminal conspiracy. American workers, however, were burdened with exceptionally long hours and low pay, and in spite of laws to the contrary, in the mid 1860s, some so called reform unions were formed. These unions, however, were not particularly successful.
In 1869, an organization known as the Knights of Labor was formed. By the mid 1880s, this organization had approximately 700,000 members. The union's principal goals were (a) an eight hour day, (b) equal pay for women, (c) abolition of child labor, and (d) the arbitration of labor disputes. The Knights of Labor also were strong supporters of the labor solidarity concept. The organization's top leadership was not strong; however, and many of its sub organizations often acted on their own. Thus, when in May 1886 the Knights of Labor called a general strike to support demands for an eight hour day, violence erupted, and some strikers and police were killed in Chicago. Some union members were tried and executed as a result of the Chicago incident, public sentiment was strong against the union, and the Knights of Labor organization was blamed for the trouble. By 1890, the organization had all but died.
In 1886, however, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) had been founded by Samuel Gompers. Gompers provided the strong leadership at the top, which was required by the labor movement. Thus, by the mid 1890s, AFL membership had increased to 1.7 million, and to four million by 1920. The AFL was a federation of unions representing workers in a variety of fields. Its objectives w...