one year later. The assembly was said to represent 25,000 working people. Five unions in New York City were reported to contain a membership of at least 1,000 persons each. These unions were: Typographical Union, No. 6, 2,300 members; Longshoremen's Society, No. 2, 2,300 members; Bricklayers' Union, No. 2, 1,600 members; Cigar Makers' Union, No. 90, 1,250 members; United Cabinet Makers' Union (German), 1,000 members.[1] In the year 1867, thirty thousand was "not an extravagant estimate of the actual strength of the labor organizations in New York" City. Brooklyn, Jersey City, Newark and the Westchester towns were estimated to contain 20,000 additional union men.[2] At the annual meeting of the Bricklayers' International Union in 1867, it was reported that the national body contained 24 unions in good working order. One year previous, the number was only ten.
As has been indicated, with the return of the soldiers looking for employment, the rising tide of immigration, the greater use of labor saving devices, and the growing strength of corporate organizations, the need of greater solidarity and unanimity of action among the working people was felt sufficiently to enable a national federation to be formed and continued for a few years. Like the pioneer national federation of trade unions organized in the thirties, the National Labor Union was merely an advisory body; it never attained much strength or prestige. William H. Sylvis, one of America's ablest labor leaders, was an important factor in initiating and building up this organization. Mr. Sylvis was elected president of the National Labor Union in 1868.
From its inception political activity seems to have been an important part of the work of the National Labor Union. In fact the chief aim and purpose of the organization was political rather than purely industrial. The first congress, held in 1866 at Baltimore, recommended that steps be taken to form a national labor party "which shall be put in operation as soon as possible."[3] Again, in 1867, it was resolved that the time had arrived when "the industrial classes should cut themselves aloof from party ties and predilections and organize themselves into a National Labor Party." In the first congress much stress was laid upon the necessity of organizing trade unions; but, in 1868, a resolution was adopted stating that "the very existence of the National Labor Union depends upon the immediate organization of an independent labor party."[4] The greenback issue and the opposition to national banks first received official recognition in 1867. Doubtless those two issues were raised at that time because of the depression which
- ↑ Proceedings of the 5th Annual Session (1869).
- ↑ New York Tribune, April 30, 1867; also in "The Labor Question," a collection of articles published in 1867.
- ↑ "Documentary History of American Industrial Society," Vol. 9: 137.
- ↑ Ibid., p 204.
