Lesson plan
Scranton Declaration
The Scranton Declaration, sometimes called the Autonomy Declaration, was passed in 1901 by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and made craft autonomy, or craft unionism, the cornerstone of the organization. Craft unionism meant that unions were formed on the basis of the trade practiced by a group of skilled workers, in contrast to industrial unionism. For example, in the printing trades, a printer had once been able to perform all the duties in the print shop, but with the development of machinery and printing techniques, different skills became necessary for each step of the printing process. These skills developed into separate trades, and the printing process involved "compositors, pressmen, feeders, stereotypers, bookbinders, electrotypers, and photoengravers." These various trades had all belonged to the Typographical Union, but between 1889 and 1903 all except for the compositors left to form their own craft unions. The AFL supported this process of separation by skill. In some cases, the AFL forced affiliates to merge. After a decade of jurisdictional warfare between the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBCJ) and the Amalgamated Wood-Workers International (AWWI), which did the same type of work, the UBCJ threatened to secede from the federation. The AFL revoked the charter of the weaker AWWI and forced them to join the Carpenters' union.…
Article summary
The Scranton Declaration, sometimes called the Autonomy Declaration, was passed in 1901 by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and made craft autonomy, or craft unionism, the cornerstone of the organization. Craft unionism meant that unions were formed on the basis of the trade practiced by a group of skilled workers, in contrast to industrial unionism. For example, in the printing trades, a printer had once been able to perform all the duties in the print shop, but with the development of machinery and printing techniques, different skills became necessary for each step of the printing process. These skills developed into separate trades, and the printing process involved "compositors, pressmen, feeders, stereotypers, bookbinders, electrotypers, and photoengravers." These various trades had all belonged to the Typographical Union, but between 1889 and 1903 all except for the compositors left to form their own craft unions. The AFL supported this process of separation by skill. In some cases, the AFL forced affiliates to merge. After a decade of jurisdictional warfare between the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBCJ) and the Amalgamated Wood-Workers International (AWWI), which did the same type of work, the UBCJ threatened to secede from the federation. The AFL revoked the charter of the weaker AWWI and forced them to join the Carpenters' union.…
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.