KNIGHTS VERSUS THE TRADE UNIONISTS: THE CASE OF THE WASHINGTON, D.C. CARPENTERS, 1881-1896.

The article focuses on the battle between the trade unions and the Knights of Labor during 1881-1896 with the emphasis on carpenters. The fifteen years of strife in the Washington labor movement arose not over the broader concepts of wage and hour goals versus cooperativism, but over the more immediate problem of a dues hike. Personal antagonisms between the local rank and file, as well as hatred toward the BCJA Secretary, accentuated the problem. The experiences of the Washington carpenters offers an insight into the workings of the Knights-trade union conflict on one local level. Washington carpenters split in 1886 over an internal Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (BCJA) dispute concerning the scale of the benefit system. Yet, whether Washington carpenters chose to stay in the BCJA or to join the Knights, they remained trade unionists devoted to trade union goals and tactics. Personal antagonisms arising out of the split made later cooperation difficult. Although on the national level, the BCJA was one of the most successful of the AFL unions, the Washington split prohibited the Brotherhood from controlling the carpentry trade in the nation's capital for over a decade.