The National Labor Union (organized in 1866) crumbled after only six years after it could not stop companies from cutting wages during the economic hard times of the 1870s. The National Labor Union included skilled workers, unskilled workers, and farmers, but excluded the Chinese and refused to work with the Colored National Labor union or to include black members. The size of a labor party is indicative of how powerful it is going to be - by restricting membership, the National Labor Union had 600,000 members - a small fraction of the work force in America (and not a threat to corporations). The Knights of Labor evolved shortly after the dissolution of the National Labor Union and this union had moderate success under the leadership of Terence V. Powderly, but gradually fell apart in 1886. After involvement in the Haymarket Square rebellion, the union (open to all members of the working class) became associated with anarchism. The Knights of Labor was further weakened by the formation of the American Federation of Labor (comprised only of skilled workers) because the skilled workers in the Knights of Labor flocked to the American Federation of Labor, leaving the Knights of Labor shriveled in numbers and therefore powerless. The American Federation of Labor, like the National Labor Union, was too exclusive to be effective, as it only represented 3% of working people in 1900. The fact that there were so many labor organizations with so many different goals and approaches diminished all chances of significant accomplishment. As shown by document F, one unified goal of all labor groups the labor movement would be more powerful.
Federal intervention (both legally and militarily) in private business contributed to the failure of labor unions. As depicted by Robert Koehler in "the strike", labor protests had become commonplace and were loosing their effectiveness; Document B also shows how strikes have lost their effect, and are almost childish lashings out of laborers who cannot take the suffering associated with American life.
