Uriah Smith Stephens

Uriah Smith Stephens (August 3, 1821 – February 13, 1882) was an American labor leader. He was most notable for his leadership of nine Philadelphia garment workers in founding the Knights of Labor in 1869, a successful early American labor union.

Born in New Jersey, and initially educated for the ministry, Stephens was apprenticed as a tailor when he was a teenager so that he could help support his family. He settled in Philadelphia, where he continued to work at his trade. After extensive travel throughout the western United States, Mexico, and Europe in the late 1840s and early 1850s, he returned to Philadelphia, where he worked as a tailor and became active in fraternal organizations and the labor movement. After an initial effort, the Garment Cutters' Union, failed to take root, in 1869 Stephens founded the Knights of Labor. He originally conceived of the organization as a fraternal one that included secret rituals and focused on individual personal and professional development. As the organization expanded, debates over the need for secrecy and rituals eventually ended when Stephens resigned, and the organization voted to eliminate these requirements, which enabled it to then begin recruiting as members workers and tradesmen who were Catholic.

Stephens remained active in the labor movement after leaving the Knights of Labor, and died in Philadelphia in 1882. The Knights of Labor continued to expand until backlash against unions following the Haymarket affair and the Panic of 1893 caused workers to depart the K of L, and its membership declined until the organization became defunct in 1949. Stephens' primary legacy was as the founder and organizer of one of the first successful nationwide labor unions.

Early life

Stephens was born in Cape May, New Jersey on August 3, 1821.Template:Sfn His parents were devout Baptists, and Stephens was educated for the ministry in the hopes that he would become a member of the clergy.Template:Sfn The Stephens family sustained financial reverses during the Panic of 1837;Template:Sfn Stephens then ended his formal education with the intent of learning a trade.Template:Sfn He was trained as a tailor, and worked to help support his family.Template:Sfn

Start of career

In 1846, Stephens moved to Philadelphia, where he continued to work as a tailor.Template:Sfn From 1853 to 1858, he traveled to California, Mexico, Central America, and several European countries.Template:Sfn He returned to Philadelphia, and became active in several reform movements, including the abolition of slavery and utopian socialism.Template:Sfn

Throughout his life, Stephens read widely on a variety of topics, including finance and economics.Template:Sfn He taught himself several foreign languages including French, German, and Spanish, and practiced them to improve his proficiency, which enabled him to read works by European authors.Template:Sfn Stephens also joined several fraternal organizations, including the Masons, Knights of Pythias, and Independent Order of Odd Fellows.Template:Sfn He later drew on the symbols and rituals of these organizations when forming the Knights of Labor.Template:Sfn

Labor activist

Garment Workers' Union

In 1862, Stephens helped to organize the Garment Cutters' Union; this organization existed for seven years, but did not have success at obtaining improved pay, benefits and working conditions.Template:Sfn As a result, the members voted to disband.Template:Sfn

Knights of Labor

After the demise of the Garment Cutters' Union, a few former members met with Stephens at his home on November 25, 1869.Template:Sfn During this gathering, Stephens revealed plans for a new organization, the "Noble and Holy Order of Knights of Labor."Template:Sfn As he conceived it, Stephens intended for the Knights of Labor to be a "brotherhood of toil" open to every laborer, mechanic, and artisan who desired professional improvement, regardless of country, creed, or color.Template:Sfn At its founding, the K of L was open to all working people, and charged no dues.Template:Sfn

The Knights of Labor was intended as a voluntary association of producers, who would work cooperatively and fraternally, as opposed to the self-centered materialism of the Gilded Age.Template:Sfn In Stephens’ vision, the K of L included elements of a fraternal organization or secular church, including rituals and secrecy.Template:Sfn Secrecy was initially regarded as essential, given the number of incidents of violence against workers, including coal worker strikes in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.Template:Sfn

At the new order’s second meeting on December 28, 1869, the group adopted Stephens' ritual work, Adelphon Kruptos (Secret Brotherhood).Template:Sfn In it, Stephens expressed his conviction that the "Everlasting Truth sealed by the Grand Architect of the Universe" is that "everything of value, or merit, is the result of creative Industry."Template:Sfn Rituals included lectures on the nobility of labor and the evils of wage slavery, monopoly, and over-accumulation of wealth.Template:Sfn Stephens created an equilateral triangle within a circle as the new order’s emblem, embellishing it with symbolism from the various lodges to which he belonged.Template:Sfn

The Knights of Labor elected Stephens as the first local Master Workman, the first District Master Workman, and the first Grand Master Workman, the highest position in the organization.Template:Sfn By 1879, there were 23 district assemblies and 1,300 local assemblies.Template:Sfn As the Knights of Labor grew into the most powerful labor organization of its day, Stephens increasingly found himself in disagreement with the rank and file members.Template:Sfn The organization's secrecy and rituals became a source of controversy, and many more aggressive members took exception to Stephens’ opposition to strikes and other job actions in favor of promoting the personal and professional development and growth of the organization's members.Template:Sfn

In 1878, Stephens ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives as the candidate of the Greenback–Labor;Template:Sfn he had earlier been the catalyst for adding "Labor" to the Greenback Party's name in an attempt to broaden the party's appeal.Template:Sfn

Resignation

Stephens resigned in 1879 over disagreement with a proposed K of L policy shift when the organization's General Assembly voted to make its name public, omit scriptural quotations from the ritual, and edit the initiation ceremonies, all of which were designed to attract new members by making the Knights of Labor less offensive to the Catholic Church.Template:Sfn The debate over ending secrecy continued until January 1, 1882, when the Knights of Labor became a public organization.Template:Sfn After his resignation, Stephens was replaced by Terence V. Powderly.Template:Sfn

Under Powderly's leadership, the Knights of Labor continued to grow; it had almost 700,000 members by 1886, making it the first successful nationwide labor union.Template:Sfn The organization also moved further from Stephens' initial vision, including support for the Chinese Exclusion Act. The aftermath of the Haymarket affair and the Panic of 1893 caused workers to start leaving the Knights of Labor,Template:Sfn and its membership dwindled until its last local affiliate dropped the name in 1949.Template:Sfn

Death and burial

Stephens died in Philadelphia on February 13, 1882.Template:Sfn He was buried at Mount Peace Cemetery in Philadelphia.Template:Sfn

At the time of his death, Stephens was still active in the labor movement, but estranged from the Knights of Labor.Template:Sfn He was still revered by many members, and as a result, in 1886 the K of L General Assembly voted to grant $10,000 to provide a home for Stevens' widow and children.Template:Sfn

Family

In 1846, Stephens married Mary Ann Jackson in Philadelphia.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn They were the parents of four children -- Mary E., George W., Ellie, and Carrie P.Template:Sfn

Legacy

Stephens' unmarked grave features prominently in the 2007 film Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind, a narration-less documentary in which filmmaker John Gianvito silently displays grave sites and historical locations of American freethinkers and leaders of American Radical political movements.Template:Sfn

Sources

Books

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Magazines

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Internet

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Newspapers

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