The KKK and the KOL: "Masonic" Brotherhoods Which Suppressed Reforms

After the civil war at least two secret societies spun off from the Freemasons, the Klu Klux Klan and the Knight of Labor. While Freemasonry tended to attract members of the economic elites, especially merchants, retailers and investors, the KKK and the KOL membership encompassed elements of the working class. Both the KKK and the KOL offer insights into the intentional and, perhaps, unintentional suppression of reforms by "Masonic" brotherhoods. The Klu Klux Klan, was an overtly suppressive organization which fought to deny civil rights and return the recently emancipated African-American slaves to a condition of servitude. The KKK's Masonic parentage is documented in the book, "Christianity and American Freemasonry"(Our Sunday Visitor:1987), by William J Whalen: A former Confederate general and Freemason, Nathan Bedford Forrest, founded the Ku Klux Klan and served as its first Imperial Wizard. Albert Pike held the office of Chief Justice of the Ku Klux Klan while he was simultaneously Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction. Pike's racism was well known. He expressed his concept of Masonic brotherhood succinctly: "I took my obligation to White men, not to Negroes. When I have to accept Negroes as brothers or leave Masonry, I shall leave it." Some believe Pike concocted the ritual for the original KKK (pg. 17-18). The KKK's history of violence and political manipulation need not be recounted here. It is useful to remember that the KKK's racist appeals divided working people to the detriment of all. Racial divisions were leveraged to prevent unity amongst working people and derail collective bargaining efforts, which would result in real economic gains. It is interesting to note that the KKK's targets also included union and political organizers, who tried to bring people together. On December 28, 1869 Freemason Uriah Stephens, along with eight others, created another secret fraternal order, The Knights of Labor. The Knights of Labor borrowed much from the Freemasons including a stated aversion to politics and a strong focus on secrecy and rituals. In his Doctor of Philosophy dissertation, "Beyond the Veil: The Culture of the Knights of Labor"(UMass:1990) Robert Weir notes "the rituals were a peculiar mix of the Pythians, Odd Fellows, the speculative Freemasons, with latter being the major inspiration.(pg. 8)" Mr. Weir later goes on to say, The Knights fraternal symbolism integrated the sentiments, activities, and interests of its members and provided them with common patterns of behavior. By eliciting behavioral, spiritual, and psychological responses, Knights related to one another in the same organic manner in which the symbols themselves were linked. Symbolism is usually dense in fraternal orders. By layering of symbol upon symbol, a psychic universe is created in which all parts relate to and define the whole.....Few fraternal orders created transcendental mental landscapes as well as the masons. This is precisely why the KOL drew so heavily upon Masonic ritual when articulating its own.(pg. 18)

Translating Freemasonic rituals into practical policies of significance to their membership often eluded the KOL, Mr. Weir explains, At times, the Knights seemed confused, and it is easy to find surface contradictions. The Order was officially against political involvement, yet its first Master Workman quit to run for Congress and was succeeded by the sitting mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania, who sought other political appointments after he left office, but chided local assemblies that threw themselves vigorously into local and national politics. Similarly, though the Knights' central office denounced socialists and anarchists, the Order spawned them; Victor Drury, Joseph Buchanan, Daniel DeLeon, and two of the Haymarket martyrs sharpened their radical teeth in KOL locals. The KOL denounced strikes, but grew when they were won; it called for an end to the wage system, but accepted employers into its ranks. Likewise, men like Secretary-Treasurer John Hayes bitterly denounced capitalism even while misappropriating funds for ventures he hoped would make him and the Order rich. Socially, the KOL's record is equally mixed. The Order was steadfastly pro-temperance, yet some its strongest assemblies were composed of brewers; lawyers were banned from the Order, but appeared as heroes in KOL fiction; equal rights for women were supported rhetorically, but many leaders and members upheld Victorian ideals. Worst of all for an organization ostensibly based on the ideal of Christian brotherhood, it was marked by intense internal bickering of the most petty variety that transcended ideological considerations. Powderly denounced Joseph R. Buchanan as an anarchist in 1888, but apologized four years later when he needed allies to fight Hayes. The fact that Buchanan was an anarchist was secondary to Powderly's quest to maintain personal power.(pg. xviii-xix) KOL "confusion" also extended to the KOL leadership's official opposition to the May 1, 1886 agitation for the eight-hour day. Much of this is difficult to understand until one recognizes some, perhaps many, within the KOL's leadership were Freemasons, friends of the economic elites. At best, these relationships would serve to cloud the leadership's commitment to their working class constituency. At worst, it could be argued these relationship were the foundation of an organization which never sought to offer its working class membership anything more than a "psychic universe", divorced from the realities of the workplace. Much of the KOL's rapid growth to become a significant labor organization occurred in spite of its leadership. In explaining the subsequent collapse of the KOL, Philip Foner (1955) notes, the working people had become tired of paying dues to an organization which did nothing to help them in their struggles against the employers and which maligned and expelled all who championed the cause of struggle. Those who were not driven out dropped out of an organization which had given such promise, but whose destinies were controlled by men who had no interest in and no plans for realizing that promise. Freemasonry and its "psychic universe" is still with us today with millions of members. While it is impossible to tell how much influence secret societies like Freemasonry might have in today's civil rights and labor movements, history does suggest working people must be alert and eliminate civil rights and union leadership who promise much and deliver little.

Foner, Philip S. "History of the Labor Movement in the United States, Volume II" New York:International Publishers, 1955. Weir, Robert E. "Beyond the Veil: The culture of the Knights of Labor" University of Massachusetts:1990. Whalen, Wlliam J. "Christianity and American Freemasonry" Huntington, IN:Our Sunday Visitor:1987.