Dreaming of what might be : the Knights of Labor in Ontario, 1880-1900

As Canada's most industrialised province, Ontario served as the regional centre of the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, an organisation which embodied a late nineteenth-century working-class vision of an alternative to the developing industrial-capitalist society. The Order opposed the exploitation of labor, and cultivated working-class unity by providing an institutional and cultural rallying point for North American workers. By 1886 thousands of industrial workers had enrolled within the ranks of Ontario's local and district assemblies. This book examines the rise and fall of the Order, providing case studies of its experience in Toronto and Hamilton and chronicling its impact across the province. Frontmatter List of tables, figures, and maps (page x) Preface (page xiii) Abbreviations (page xv) Introduction (page 1) Historiography (page 4) Reinterpretation (page 16) Part I. Overview 1. The working class and industrial capitalist development in Ontario to 1890 (page 27) 2. "Warp, woof, and web": The structure of the Knights of Labor in Ontario (page 57) Part II. The local setting 3. Toronto and the organization of all workers (page 95) 4. Hamilton and the Home Club (page 135) Part III. The wider experience: Taking the bad with the good 5. "Unscrupulous Rascals and the most infamous damn liars and tricksters at Large": The underside of the Knights of Labor (page 173) 6. The Order in politics: The challenge of 1883- 1887 (page 204) 7. "Politicians in the Order": The conflicts of decline, 1887-1894 (page 248) 8. "Spread the light!": Forging a culture (page 277) 9. The people's strike: Class conflict and the Knights of Labor (page 330) Part IV. Conclusion 10. Accomplishment and failure (page 379) Appendix. Preamble and declaration of principles of the Knights of Labor (page 399) Notes (page 401) Selected bibliography (page 465) Index (page 475) In the conclusion to his analysis of capitalist development in Russia, V. I. Lenin succinctly pointed to the twofold historic role of capital: first, to increase the productive forces of social labor; and second, to stimulate the socialization of that labor. Gregory S. Kealey, Bryan D. Palmer. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 465-474.