The Case of the ILGWU

In the summer of 1900 the newly formed International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union could call its own a treasury of $30 and a few desks in the office of the Cloakmakers’ Union. This modest enterprise was called into being at the behest of the New York Cloakmakers, who were spurred by necessity to appeal for a union of all crafts; the garment industry had become, by 1900, one of the largest in the country. As unions went, it was a time of great need and little choice. The old Knights of Labor were dead and took with them, it seemed, the problem of dual unionism. By 1900 the garment industry had absorbed great numbers of women and girls—a population in which organized labor had hitherto shown slight interest—all of whom, clearly, needed to be organized.

The collapse of the Knights and the commitment of workers to the AFL signaled the end of the quixotic dream of a union of a single, undifferentiated army of labor which would array against its adversaries ...