Labor History in North Carolina, 1880-1901

From North Carolina: a guide to the Old North State, a Federal Writers’ Project book, which is online at http://books.google.com/books?id=dQDwh9Ep6jAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

In the early days there was a social basis for paternalism. Most of the textile mills, for instance, were locally owned and operated, and workers were recruited from the surrounding countryside. The relationship between owner and worker was a personal one. The isolated position of many of the mills necessitated the construction of houses by the company, and thus the company-owned mill village developed. The mill owner “looked after” his workers. The worker had to adjust himself to a new environment and to a new discipline. Paternalism, moreover, was rooted in the semifeudal agriculture that encircled the new industry.

Labor Organization. The first organized labor movement to reach industrial workers of the State was that of the Knights of Labor in the 1880s. Before this time there had been local unions of skilled mechanics, but the Knights of Labor influenced the factory workers at the very beginning of industrial development in the State.

The first assembly (the unit of organization) of the Knights of Labor in North Carolina was organized in Raleigh on June 18, 1884. A surprisingly large number of assemblies were formed in a very short time; in 1888, 64 such bodies in the State voted in a referendum held by a national organization. The assemblies were of the “mixed” variety, that is, they included workers from various occupations. A few short-lived labor papers appeared in the State. Nationally, the organization reached its greatest strength in 1886, and thereafter declined rapidly. The peak in the South came a year or so later, but the decline was equally precipitous. Although few tangible benefits were won by the organization in North Carolina, many new problems were discussed, and the idea of labor solidarity was given some semblance of reality.

Between 1898 and 1901, organization under the leadership of the American Federation of Labor proceeded on a considerable scale. Rising prices lent impetus to the movement. By 1901 there were at least 16 locals in the State. A number of small strikes and lockouts resulted by the real test of strength came in Alamance County in the fall of 1900, when the workers in 17 or 18 small mills walked out. The strike lasted more than a month, and its defeat broke the back of the union movement among the textile operatives.