Storm The Fort

On Storm The Fort, we'll dive into the history of the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, the first national labor organization to organize all workers regardless of class, race, or gender, to learn what made them special and what we can learn from them today.First episode arriving on April 10, 2025

After its founding in 1869, the Knights of Labor remains a relatively secretive and covert operation in its early years. All around it, the country is transformed by a major depression, third-party political action, and new forms of labor organizing that will lead to a newly powerful and coherent organization.

The most violent strike in US labor history brings in new members and new leadership, forcing the Knights of Labor to become a truly national organization. Taking on the mantle of Grand Master Workman, machinist Terence Powderly begins to move the Knights away from secrecy.

The Knights’ move away from secrecy brings in more members from different backgrounds, but also more division and challenges as trade unionists and radicals make their voices heard. Organizers spread across the country and begin to put together what will become the largest labor movement in American history to that point, and launch the order's first national strike.

After a series of bruising defeats, many Knights begin to look at different options for how to bring about the cooperative commonwealth. As the national organization begins to rebuild, a renegade group of railroad workers in the west draw the Knights into conflict with one of the most hated robber barons of the era.

In the wake of the greatest victory that American organized labor had ever seen, the Knights of Labor become the fastest growing labor organization in history. In this growth they see more diversity, more opportunity, and more division than they have had to deal with before, and begin to position themselves for an even greater showdown with the capitalist class.

After becoming the largest labor organization in American history, the Knights of Labor find themselves drawn into a series of titanic conflicts with some of the most powerful men and organizations of the Gilded Age. This is the first of three episodes dedicated to the great upheaval of 1886.

With the failure of the largest strikes of the Great Upheaval, the Knights continue to grow but find themselves facing a series of internal divisions and external attacks that require them to revisit old tactics and develop new ones.