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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Episodes 11 and 12 are live, and our series is officially over! In these last episodes, we cover the fall of Powderly from the head of the Knights, and the final fall of the Order in the following years. Then we discuss what the legacy of the Knights of Labor means today.

11 - The Fall of the House of Powderly

Over a photograph of an old Powderly with a large white mustache sitting next to an old Mother Mary Jones on a park bench

12 - Labor Was Noble and Holy

Over an illustration of a group of six old white men gathered around a portrait of Uriah Stephens

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Episodes 9 and 10 are public! After an unprecedented year of conflict and growth, the Knights of Labor find themselves under attack from within the labor movement as well as employers and vigilantes. In response, they decide to do some purges.

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

The May Day strikes transformed working-class communities across the country in the image of the Knights of Labor. Hear more about the groundbreaking upheaval of 1886 in the latest episodes of Storm the Fort.

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Episodes 7 and 8 are public! We finally talk about the Great Upheaval of 1886: the massive Great Southwestern Strike and Eight Hour strikes that inspired the first May Day. This upheaval shocked the capitalist class and transformed working-class communities to their core.

7 - The Great Upheaval

Over a picture of a man yelling on a pedestal over a crowd as an explosion fills the background

8 - The Long Hot Summer

Over a painting of a large crowd of workers in an industrial scene confronting a man in a top hat

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

May Day is about freedom: the freedom to have a life beyond work and to control your own time when you are working. Hear the story of the first May Day in 1886, and its violent suppression, this Thursday with Episodes 7 and 8 of Storm the Fort!

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Episodes 5 and 6 are public! For the first time, the Knights begin to actually win major strikes, propelling them to become the largest labor organization in American history. With their new notoriety, the face new questions about their goals and who they truly represent.

5: War on the Western Rails

Over an illustration of men swarming around a locomotive engine and cheering

6: A Rather Unwieldy Body

Over a comic of Terence Powderly with outstretched arms, blocking a man labeled "Scab" on one side and a man labeled "Employer" on the other side

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Turns out robber barons haven't changed much in 150 years. Episodes 5 and 6 of Storm the Fort drop this Thursday, April 24th!

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

The Great Railroad Strike launched a new era of labor organizing in 1877. Four years into an economic depression, thousands of workers across the country spontaneously launched into a violent strike against most of the major railroads, resulting in dozens of deaths 🧵

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Episodes 3 and 4 are public! 1877 brings one of the deadliest strikes in American history, which drives the Knights of Labor to become more open, and more accepting of different types of workers. In the upsurge, a young machinist named Terence Powderly takes charge, transforming the order.

3: Labor's Independence Day

Over a picture of militiamen gunning down strikers on a city street

4: Workingmen's Democracy

Over a comic of a man climbing a pole with "Higher Wages" "Ham" and "Bread" at the top, as some one in the crowd below waves a "Knights of Labor" flag

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

A man with a big mustache and a big role to play in our story. Hear more about Terence Powderly in Episode 3, coming this Thursday, April 17th.

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

A spontaneous railroad strike has killed nearly 100 workers across the country! Do you: 1️⃣ Grow the Knights of Labor 2️⃣ Get into third-party politics 3️⃣ Restart the trade unions 4️⃣ All of the above and cause a split in your org Hear the answer this Thursday with episodes 3 and 4

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

The history of organized labor in America goes back to our first financial panics in the early 1800s, and that's where the story starts in Episode 1 🧵

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Karl Stomberg @karlstomberg.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Only took about 16 months, but Storm the Fort is now officially out. Two episodes a week for the next six weeks.

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Madinah Wilson-Anton @madinahfordelaware.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

I had the honor of co-hosting this limited series w/ @KFosterStomberg that chronicles the story of the Knights of Labor. Today the first 2️⃣ episodes are streaming wherever you get your podcasts 🎧 Like & subscribe & let us know what you think! 🙇🏽‍♀️

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Episodes 1 and 2 are public! From the battlefields of the Civil War to the workshops of Philadelphia to the coalfields of Clearfield County, these episodes go through the origins of the Knights of Labor as it is founded in 1869 as a secret society looking to transform the nation.

1: One Nation Under Capital

Over a comic from the 1860s showing people of every race gathered around a table labeled "Self Government" and "Universal Suffrage"

2: Behind Labor's Veil

Over an illustration of a bearded man rallying a group of miners against the backdrop of a rocky cliff face

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Does the current economic panic have you worried? Soothe your fears by listening to Episodes 1 and 2 of Storm the Fort this Thursday to hear how another economic panic led to the creation of our first national labor movement.

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

The full first episode is available now for patrons. Episodes 1 and 2 will be out for everyone next Thursday, April 10th! www.patreon.com/posts/episod...

patreon.com

Episode 1: One Nation Under Capital (Preview) | Storm The Fort

Get more from Storm The Fort on Patreon

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

On April 10th, discover the rise and fall of the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, America's first national labor organization. 12 episodes, two released every week, found wherever you get your podcasts. youtu.be/V0SJLw2q8-U

youtu.be

Storm the Fort Trailer

YouTube video by Storm The Fort

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

The beginning of the end for the Knights of Labor, also coinciding with the massive May Day strikes which they found themselves dragged into against their will.

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Erik Loomis @erikloomis.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

This Day in Labor History: March 6, 1886. The Great Southwest Strike began, marking the start of a year of worker revolt against the exploitation of Gilded Age capitalism. Over 200,000 railroad workers went on strike, but the failure to win helped usher in the decline of the Knights of Labor.

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

You can now check out the trailer for the podcast and follow the show! The first way is by subscribing to our RSS feed, which is currently on Acast but will be on other podcast apps as well shows.acast.com/making-the-a...

shows.acast.com

Storm The Fort

A History of the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

Episodes 1-4 are officially recorded 👀 Excited to start sharing with everyone in April!

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Excited to announce our co-hosts and our first piece of public audio as @karlstomberg.bsky.social swears @madinahfordelaware.bsky.social into the Knights of Labor. First episodes coming on April 10th.

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

It's official: the first draft for Storm the Fort is finished! We should be on track for an April 10th release: 12 one-hour episodes released twice a week. More information and previews coming soon.

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Looking ahead to the second Trump administration, it might be helpful to look back to the 1880s: an entrenched conservative federal government and Supreme Court, heavily concentrated capital, and a widespread racist and sexist backlash

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

The Knights of Labor was a large, decentralized, and complicated organization. But many of the core tensions and contradictions within the organization can broadly be described with three factions: reformers, radicals, and trade unionists.

A three-part venn diagram: a green one labeled Reformers, a blue one labeled Radicals, and a red one labeled Trade Unionists

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Employers hoping to abolish the NLRB should be careful what they wish for. The move would certainly hurt worker's rights, but it also has the risk of returning us to the status quo of the 1800s: constant low-grade class war with spontaneous and often violent worker organizing

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

155 years ago today, a group of around half a dozen garment cutters met at the home of Joseph S Kennedy. They took their organization which had only been an idea and some bylaws and gave it a name: the Knights of Labor, which would go on to become the most influential labor movement of the 1800s.

Founders of the Knights of Labor with their portrait taken in the 1880s

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

There's been lots of talk about immigrant contract labor this week, which has actually been a huge topic of discussion since at least the Civil War. It was a key issue of the Knights of Labor, leading to some of their more notorious and unsavory moments 🧵 (1/)

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

151 years ago on Christmas Day 1873, local lodges representing over a dozen different trades in Philadelphia met and formed District Assembly 1, the first of hundreds in the Knights of Labor. Merry Christmas to everyone seeking more justice and worker power this holiday season!

Uriah Stephens, founder of the Knights of Labor, wearing a Santa hat

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

A good summary of the state of mine workers before the Panic of 1873 disrupted the entire economy. Many of these same miners would engage in a bitter set of labor struggles later in the 1870s, and when their organizations were busted up, they became the first mass base of the Knights of Labor.

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

John... John... you know how the convention is. You're not going to be president anymore, John.

Illustration of former AFL President John McBride

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

You can always count on murder prosecutions against controversial working-class figures to have a dramatic entrance

On June 21, just six weeks after the bombing, the trial began, with scores of reporters in attendance. After the courtroom filled, the prisoners took their seats near the defense team. Black moved to quash the indictments and to hold separate trials for each defendant, but both motions were denied. Then, after the lunch recess, the proceedings resumed, and at about half past two that afternoon Albert Parsons calmly walked into the courtroom. Well dressed, his face tanned, his hair once again jet black, he made a dramatic entrance prepared to give a speech to the judge proclaiming his innocence and his willingness to face trial.

Albert Parsons, a handsome man with a large mustache and slick jet-black hair

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

There's always someone telling workers that they shouldn't be so upset about the state of the economy

The Nation, however, deplored the current wave of labor unrest and
pointed out that the declining prices had actually favored the workers and that the burden of losses due to the great deflation had fallen upon the corporations, "all without one cent of direct loss to the laborers themselves, and without any suspension of employment. They kept on at full work and fair wages for the 'black year' (I885). Doubtless in some quarters such a year would naturally be followed by efforts at retrenchment on the part of managers." This had not been, therefore, "a period of social distress, of which there is very little indeed, but . . . a period of mental craze," which was "the salient feature of the striking epidemic."

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Erik Loomis @erikloomis.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

This Day in Labor History: December 17, 1894. The American Federation of Labor annual convention begins in Denver. AFL founding leader Samuel Gompers lost his reelection bid to John McBride due to the rise of Populism in the labor movement. Let's talk what the AFL could have been!

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

There's lots of talk about some of the titans of labor history: Samuel Gompers, Eugene Debs, A Philip Randolph, Walter Reuther. But very few talk about Terence Powderly, the long-time head of the Knights of Labor and America's first famous labor leader. So let's talk about him 🧵

Terence Powderly, a man in his 30s balding with spectacles and a massive mustache

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

The Knights of Labor were the first national union that accepted members regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or skill level. There was only one catch: they weren't really technically a union. Let's talk about what the Knights of Labor actually were and their bizarrely complex structure 🧵

A poster showing a massive convention with a speaker podium at the front. On the sides are two side pictures showing white and black men interacting.

At the bottom reads "VIRGINIA — TENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR, HELD AT THE FIRST REGIMENT ARMORY, RICHMOND OCT 4TH-9TH. GENERAL MASTER WORKMAN ADDRESSING THE CONVENTION

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Storm The Fort @stormthefortpod.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

One of the key takeaways that will be explored in this podcast: you can never let your organization's agenda be set by inscrutable beefs happening in New York City

As J.R. Winders of the International Typographical Union noted at the founding of the American Federation of Labor in December 1886, "the difficulties between the unions and the Knights of Labor could have been satisfactorily settled if District Assembly 49, New York, and some of our own [trade unionist] radicals could have been thrown into the ocean."

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Karl Stomberg @karlstomberg.bsky.social · 09/11/2024

I'm finally finishing the most intense of my election and post-election work and wanted to semi-announce a project I've been working on for the last year or so: @stormthefortpod.bsky.social, a podcast series about the history of the Knights of Labor and what that means for today

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