The International Labor Union was a trade union in the northeastern United States from 1878-1887. The ILU was founded by members of the

Workingmen's Party of the United States The Workingmen's Party of the United States (WPUS), established in 1876, was one of the first Marxist-influenced political parties in the United States. It is remembered as the forerunner of the Socialist Labor Party of America. History On Jul ...

who were upset with the parties turn toward political action after the Newark convention of December, 1877. Some members wanted to concentrate on the economic organization of the working class and split from the renamed Socialistic Labor Party to found the International Labor Union in 1878. Members of the provisional committee of the new organization included Ira Steward, George Gunton,

Albert Parsons Albert Richard Parsons (June 20, 1848 – November 11, 1887) was a pioneering American socialist and later Anarchism in the United States, anarchist newspaper editor, orator, and labor activist. As a teenager, he served in the military force of ...

, Friedrich Adolph Sorge, Otto Weydemeyer, J. P. McDonnell, George McNeill, Carl Speyer and George Schilling. It held its first congress in

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.industrial unionism Industrial unionism is a trade union organising method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in b ...

of McDonnell and Sorge. Both saw the wages system as a despotism. Immediate demands included reduction of hours, state and local labor bureaus, workplace inspection and prohibition of child labor. Reflecting the industrial unionist aspect of the organization were its goals to organized the unskilled and unorganized, to affiliate already existing unions with itself and to create a national, then international centralized union of all workers. In practice its organizing efforts were largely concentrated among textile workers in New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. It had 700 members in July 1878. After leading a textile strike in Paterson, and organizing efforts in Fall River, Massachusetts, membership had grown to a reported 8,000. By February 1880 the organization had rapidly shrunk to 1,400-1,500 in eight branches. By the next year, a single branch in

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; ) is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's popula ...

. The organization was dissolved when the leader of the Hoboken branch, Sorge, moved to Rochester, New York in 1887.John R. Commons et al. ''History of Labour in the United States: Nationalisation (1860-1877) Volume 2 of History of Labour in the United States'' p.306

References

Defunct trade unions in the United States Textile and clothing trade unions 1887 disestablishments National trade union centers of the United States Trade unions established in 1878 Trade unions disestablished in the 1880s {{trade-union-stub