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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://archive.org/details/foundersorderofkOOfoun 
 
[No. 2.] 
 
 poundeps’ Opdet< 
 
 OF THE 
 
 / 
 
 I^nights of liabot*. 
 
 It bekng a basic principle of our Order that labor is a blessing necessary to 
 the physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual unfoldment of the human race ; 
 that all wealth which forms the substratum on which alone this unfoldment 
 can be built and perpetuated is the product of said labor, and, as a consequence 
 of right and necessity, not only belongs to labor, but must be so placed as to 
 answer the purpose for which it is produced, therefore it becomes necessary to 
 so organize the world’s industries, productive and distributive, as to place this 
 wealth in the possession of the producers thereof, the accomplishment of which 
 necessitates a return to first principles, among which are: The recognition of 
 economic science in both production and distribution, the utilization of labor, 
 the elimination of all surplus middle men and institutions with a view to pro- 
 ducing the greatest possible amount of wealth at the least cost in the shortest 
 time to the end that the object of labor as abowe set forth may be accomplished. 
 
 To bring this about we earnestly call on labor everywhere to organize under 
 the banner of the 
 
 Founders’ Order of the Knights of Labor, 
 
 in which is found the broadest and best plan for uniting labor in such shape as 
 to make the above programme universally practicable ever yet formulated 
 upon the earth. In proof of which we hereby set forth : 
 
 That the foundation of the Order is based upon a recognition of the rights 
 of mankind. It is fundamentally democratic. Every aristocratic feature in 
 other orders has been left out. Industry, Intelligence, Independence and 
 Integrity are its corner-stones, recognized as the true titles for position and 
 advancement. It is organized on the principle of local self-government, in 
 strict accord with the representative principle set forth in the American Eevo- 
 lution, viz.: “ That the representative should act as the people he represents 
 would act if they were present in his place.”^ 
 
 
9 
 
 Jt '-ecognizes the right and necessity of each trade or calling being organized 
 by itself for the exclusive management of all business which belongs to thaf 
 trade or calling, the autonomy of each being fully secured. It is only whei 
 united interests call for united action that this principle is departed from, and 
 then only on the voluntary basis with the full consent after due time and 
 deliberation of the parties to the union, thus securing all the powers and 
 liberties that local, district, national or international bodies of workers may 
 recjuire. 
 
 Further: The founders see that to secure the above objects the principle of 
 the union of the world’s workers must be extended to the controlling and dis- 
 tributing of the labor product, and that this involves the co operation, on a 
 well-defined scientific, yet simple, basis, of all trades in regulating industry, 
 independent of any management of exclusive trade affairs. On this line only 
 can labor secure its fruits. 
 
 The Founders’ Order of the Knights of Labor is the only labor organization 
 which supplies the industrial machinery or union of labor by means of wliich 
 this can be accomplished, either locally, nationally or internationally. 
 
 Political economy points to the regulation of distributive industry as the 
 first problem to be solved. It is the taking, by the present system, of labor 
 fruit out of the possession of labor, and laying tribute upon it that is the cause 
 of poverty. What is called overproduction — the stoppage of industry. The 
 army of idlers is the effect ; the remedy is the exchanging of labor product 
 for labor product on the part of organized labor on the co-operative basis. In 
 working out this remedy for poverty we should have less opposition and more 
 support as an organization from those whose capital is now employed in pro- 
 ductive industry, and war, as it now exists between capitalists, employers and 
 laborers, would soon be a thing of the past. 
 
 Under the shield of this Order, holding these principles inviolable and these 
 obj ects in view, all good men and women can work in harmony for the general 
 good to the extinction of poverty and the unfoldment of all that is highest 
 and best in the human race. 
 
 But while setting forth this view of the labor question, satisfied of its cor- 
 rectness as a theory, and ready to loyally unite with all men in putting it into 
 practice, we, as workers, are driven by stern realities to first look at things as 
 they are, as we find, to our great cost, that industry, as now carried on, is based 
 upon antagonism and fraud; that hunlan rights are utterly disregarded by the 
 capitalistic classes and their supporters; that hrute force is their law and the 
 starvation of laborers their favorite weapon. The freebooters and the pirates 
 have left tffeir old methods of plunder so full of danger and hardship, and 
 have entered with all their old spirit with full force and legal sanction into 
 our industries, and in the spirit of greediness intensified by their native cruelty 
 are raising barriers between mankind, destroying the sentiment of brotherhood 
 which should exist in a republic, and putting in its place the spirit of a fierce, 
 heartless aristocracy of wealth, the most deadly to republican life. 
 
3 
 
 Industrial war is ever present on every hand, and in all the centres of u ade 
 our material welfare is the sport of vile gamblers. American laborers, while 
 contending with ignorant hords used by capitalists to degrade and enslave 
 them, have to struggle in secret and sink their independence to secure their 
 children’s bread. Capital, the product or creature, commands, while labor, its 
 producer or creator, has to beg for justice and be content with a denial of it. 
 
 S.uch being the case, the laborers are not only justified, but forced, in self- 
 defence, to meet these elements of war that confront them. So long as capi- 
 talists conspire and work for the destruction of democratic equality, laborers 
 must combine and work for its preservation. So long as capitalists resort to 
 the lock-out and black-list^ we must resort to the strike and the boycott. So long 
 as capitalists press down the standard of living, laborers must fight to keep it 
 up to a fair living basis. There rnust be a minimum wage below which no 
 man or woman will be called upon to work. An income for the laborer justi- 
 fied by our means of production, regulated by due economy in the management 
 of business, is the standard we must contend for. To procure the knowledge 
 necessary to arrange this standard is the work of the Statisticians of our Order, 
 and all attempts to reduce that standard to a level with labor of countries less 
 favored by nature and lacking our forces of production, must meet with the 
 determined, persistent opposition of united labor. Anything short of this is 
 inconsistent with true manhood. 
 
 The accomplishment of this involves measures of finance. Each Assembly 
 mast prepare itself to bear its share of the cost of the conflict. The disposi- 
 tion to depend upon others to furnish the needed support must give way to the 
 wiser, more manly, reliant determination to be self-sustaining. Each Assembly 
 should aim to raise a fund under its own control sufficient to support its own 
 members in case of strikes or lock-outs. The plan of engaging in a conflict 
 with capitalists with an empty treasury is the straight road to defeat, and is a 
 standing invitation to capitalists to bring on the conflict. While on the con- 
 trary, when employers know that laborers are well supplied with the sinews 
 of war they will look upon a lock-out as a thing of last resort. 
 
 Industrial establishments cannot remain idle, as a rule, many months without 
 sustaining ruinous losses, while the employees can experience great physical 
 and mental benefit from a period of vacation, providing they have living sup- 
 port. The power to win is in the hands of the laborers if they live up to the 
 motto : “ In peace prepare for war.” 
 
 There is another question of great importance that, in our judgment, deserves 
 serious consideration. It is vitally necessary that we utilize every means to 
 secure the full sympathy of labor by providing, as far as possible, for its every 
 interest and protection. It has been wisely said that man is governed by his 
 interests. Within the last fifty years vast associations in great variety have 
 been built up and sustained mainly by workingmen which look to relief in 
 sickness and the burial of the dead. Others, at an enormoia^xpense to labor, 
 are based on the principle of life insurance. So extensive are the institutions 
 
4 
 
 of this character that there can be no reasonable doubt as to the desire of the ' 
 masses to have these wants gratified. In our Order this can be done at less ' 
 expense and with better superintendence than elsewhere. In some of the most 
 successful and stable labor unions this principle has been worked out with grand 
 results. It has been found that when a member is entitled to pay when sick 
 or out of work, his family to benefits in case of death, and that he is not over- 
 looked and left to perish in old age, that he will be a better member of society 
 than when he has not these inducements to support his organization. 
 
 It is not our purpose to formulate any plan, but simply to call attention to 
 the question on the part of Assemblies, leaving each Assembly free to apply 
 the principle as they, in their judgment, may decide to be for their best 
 interests, in the hope that the time is not far distant when the laboring millions 
 will find the most perfect beneficial plan yet devised, giving greater benefits 
 with lighter burdens in full operation within the “ Founders* Order of the 
 Knights of Labor.**