Terence V. Powderly

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American labor leader Terence Vincent Powderly (1849-1924) presided over the Knights of Labor during the union's remarkable growth and rapid decline in the 1880s.

Terence V. Powderly was born in Carbondale, Pa., on Jan. 22, 1849. His parents were Irish immigrants. At 13 he began work in a railroad yard. At 17 he apprenticed himself to a machinist and began to practice the trade in 1869 in the shops of the Delaware and Western Railroad in Scranton, Pa. Interested in labor unionism, he joined the International Union of Machinists and Blacksmiths in 1871 and, in 1874, was an organizer for the Industrial Brotherhood. That year he was initiated into the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, a small secret society centered on Philadelphia. Powderly organized the Knights' local assembly in Scranton and was elected its master workman in 1876; he was also an officer in district assembly no. 5.

In 1878, at the age of 29, Powderly was elected mayor of Scranton on the Greenback-Labor ticket. He was reelected three times. Meanwhile, in 1879, he was elected the Knights' grand master workman (general master workman after 1883). His accession marked a significant departure in Knights' policy. His predecessor, a Baptist, had been indifferent to the Catholic Church's opposition to the Knights. Powderly, although a Mason, was also a Roman Catholic and realized that the American Catholic hierarchy must be placated if the Knights were to flourish among Catholic workers. He persuaded the union to abandon its secrecy and to remove scriptural references from its ritual.

Powderly disapproved of strikes, considering them too costly for the small benefits gained. He was a humanitarian visionary, interested in the long-term goals of abolishing the wage system and instituting a cooperative society rather than in short-term gains. With his approval, various local assemblies of the Knights set up 135 producers' and consumers' cooperatives, including a coal mine.

However, as head of the union (1879-1893), Powderly had to devote much time to settling strikes the various locals became involved in. "Just think of it!" he wrote, "Opposing strikes and always striking … battling with my pen in the leading journals and magazines of the day for the great things we are educating the people on and fighting with might and main for the little things."

The Knights were involved in a series of dramatically successful strikes during the early 1880s. The most notable involved a strike against the railroads of financier Jay Gould. Such victories resulted in an incredible growth: in mid-1885 there were about 100, 000 Knights in 1, 610 local assemblies; a year later membership stood at 700, 000 in almost 6, 000 locals. Powderly was uncomfortable with such rapid growth, and his lack of enthusiasm in another strike against Gould (1886) contributed to the Knights' defeat and, ultimately, their decline. By 1893, when Powderly was ousted from his position, there were only 75,000 dues-paying members.

Part of Powderly's weakness as the union's leader was his interest in other than union affairs. During his first 6 years as grand master workman, he was also mayor of Scranton. He studied law, served as a county health officer, partly owned and managed a grocery store, served as vice president of the Irish Land League, tried to become the first U.S. commissioner of labor in 1884, took great interest in political campaigns, and was an active prohibitionist. Frequently complaining about the Knights' demand upon his time, he resigned once and threatened to resign several times.

In addition, Powderly was temperamentally unsuited to the industrial turmoil of the 1880s. Disliking strikes and other conflicts, he constantly looked forward to an age of cooperation. Nor did he look the part of a labor organizer. Slender, even frail, he wore delicate spectacles and a magnificent drooping mustache and dressed impeccably. His manners were formal, even haughty. He was considered something of a snob. Ultimately these qualities neutralized his competence as an organizer and administrator, his considerable abilities as a speaker and correspondent, and his tact and diplomacy.

After retiring from leadership of the Knights, Powderly practiced law and was named commissioner general of immigration (1897). He became chief of the Division of Information in the Immigration Bureau in 1907. He died on Jan. 24, 1924.

Further Reading

The basic sources for studying Powderly are his autobiographical Thirty Years of Labor, 1849-1924 (1889; rev. ed. 1890) and The Path I Trod: The Autobiography of Terence V. Powderly (1940). The most comprehensive discussion of Powderly is in Norman J. Ware, The Labor Movement in the United States, 1860-1895 (1929). Information on Powderly can be found in any standard labor history of the period; the best is probably Foster Rhea Dulles, Labor in America (1949; 3d ed. 1966).

Additional Sources

Falzone, Vincent J., Terence V. Powderly, middle class reformer, Washington: University Press of America, 1978.

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Terence V. Powderly
Terence V. Powderly
Born	January 22, 1849(1849-01-22) Carbondale Pennsylvania
Died	June 24, 1924 (aged 75)
Occupation	Leader of the Knights of Labor from 1879–1893

Terence Vincent Powderly (January 22, 1849 – June 24, 1924^[1]) was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, the son of Irish immigrants. He was a well-known national figure as leader of the Knights of Labor from 1879 until 1893.

Contents 1 Life 2 Further reading 3 References 4 External links

Life

Powderly is most remembered for leading the Knights of Labor ("KoL"), a labor union whose goal was to organize all workers, skilled and unskilled, into one big union united for workers' rights and economic and social reform. He joined the Knights in 1876, became Secretary of a District Assembly in 1877 and was elected Grand Master Workman in 1879, at the time the Knights had around 10,000 members. He served as Grand Master Workman until 1893.

Powderly's Scranton home is now a National Historic Landmark.

Powderly served 3 two-year terms as mayor of Scranton representing the Greenback-Labor Party beginning in 1878. ^[2]

The Knights also helped to organize unions for women and African American workers. By 1886, estimates for "KoL" membership range from 700,000 to 1 million members, including 10,000 women and 50,000 African Americans.

Powderly, along with many other white American labor leaders at the time, opposed the immigration of Chinese workers to the United States. He argued that immigrants took jobs away from native-born Americans and drove down wages, and even urged West Coast branches of the Knights of Labor to campaign for the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Powderly worked with the noted American bishop, James Gibbons, to persuade the pope to remove sanctions against Roman Catholics who joined unions. This was accomplished by doing away with the membership rituals influenced by freemasonry and removing the words "The Holy and Noble Order of" from the name of the Knights of Labor in 1882.

The Greenback ideology of producerism influenced Powderly more strongly than socialism, and since producerism regarded most employers as "producers", Powderly disliked strikes. In certain cases, the Knights organizes strikes against local firms where the employer might be admitted as a member. The strikes would cause internal fights between the laborers and the employers, resulting in a more purely-working class organization. Despite his personal ambivalence about labor action, Powderly's skillful organizing and the success of the Great Southwestern Strike of 1885 against Jay Gould's railroad more than compensated for the internal tension. The Knights of Labor grew so rapidly that at one point the organization called a moratorium on the issuance of charters.

The union was recognized as the first successful national labor union in the United States. During the next decade or so, the Knights of Labor achieved their greatest influence and greatest numerical significance. Powderly attempted to focus the union on cooperative endeavors. Eventually, the demands placed on the union by its members for immediate improvements, and the pressures of hostile business and government institutions, forced the Knights to function like a traditional labor union. However, the Knights of Labor were too disorganized to deal with the centralized industries that they were striking against. After the Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago on May 4, 1886, Powderly refused to support anarchist Knights accused of inciting a bombing (see The McNamara Brothers). Membership dropped off sharply because of the Knights' alleged and unproven association with the Haymarket bombing (some referred to them as the "Dynamite Knights of Labor") and rampant factionalism divided the union.

Many KoL members joined the newly formed American Federation of Labor (AFL) which promoted craft unionism over the one all-inclusive union concept. Powderly was defeated for re-election as Master Workman in 1893, but the decline of the Knights continued. Marxist socialists led by Daniel DeLeon formally split from the Knights in 1895, forming the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance. Some remnants joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1905, but isolated local assemblies continued to exist for decades. Powderly wrote a history of the Knights, but did not participate in any of these formations after his defeat.

He also tried his hand at practicing law, opening his own successful law practice in 1894. He was appointed U.S. Commissioner General of Immigration from 1897 to 1902, and the Chief Information Officer for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration from 1907 to 1921.

Powderly, a resident of the Petworth neighborhood in Washington, D.C., in the last years of his life, died on June 24, 1924. He is buried at nearby Rock Creek Cemetery. His autobiography, The Path I Trod, was published posthumously. Hi there how are you? I am well and you?

He was inducted into the U.S. Department of Labor Hall of Fame in January 2000.

Further reading

• Powderly,, Terence V. (August 1882). "The Organization of Labor". The North American Review (University of Northern Iowa) 135 (309): 118–127. http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=AQ7578-0135-10. 
• Powderly,, Terence V. (April 1885). "The Army of the Discontented". The North American Review (University of Northern Iowa) 140 (341): 369–378. http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABQ7578-0140-39. 
• Powderly,, Terence V. (August 1888). "A Menacing Irruption". The North American Review (University of Northern Iowa) 147 (381): 369–378. http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABQ7578-0147-26. 
• Powderly,, Terence V. (April 1890). "The Plea for Eight Hours". The North American Review (University of Northern Iowa) 150 (401): 464–470. http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABQ7578-0150-46. 
• Powderly,, Terence V. (December 1891). "The Workingman and Free Silver". The North American Review (University of Northern Iowa) 153 (421): 728–737. http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABQ7578-0153-76. 
• Powderly, Terence Vincent (1889). Thirty Years of Labor. 1859-1889. Excelsior publishing house. pp. 693. http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC01107187&id=W9cJAAAAIAAJ&dq=Terence+Vincent+Powderly. 
• Powderly, Terence Vincent; Edmund Janes James (1891). The Labor Movement: The Problem of To-day. The M. W. Hazen Company. pp. 628. http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN07035699&id=m9AWHub7enwC&dq=Terence+Vincent+Powderly. 

References

1. ^ Terence Vincent Powderly and Ellis Island: Biography
2. ^ http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/laborhall/1999_powderly.htm

External links

• "Terence Vincent Powderly Photographic Prints Collection" (HTML). The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives. http://www.aladin.wrlc.org/gsdl/collect/powderly/powderly.shtml. Retrieved 2006-10-08. 

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