Which early labor organization was open to both skilled and unskilled workers and pushed for broad social reforms?

• A. AFL
• B. Knights of Labor
• C. IWW
• D. War Industries Board

Answer: (B)

The important idea here is inclusivity across different kinds of workers and a broad agenda of social change. The Knights of Labor promoted a vision of unity among both skilled and unskilled workers, and they pushed for reforms that affected all workers, not just wage disputes or specific trades. Their platform included programs like an eight-hour workday, the abolition of child labor, equal pay for women, and cooperative ownership, aiming to improve society as a whole for the working class. This inclusive approach set them apart from later craft unions that limited membership to skilled workers or from government boards that weren’t labor organizations. The other options either focused more narrowly on skilled workers (AFL), pursued more radical, later-era organizing (IWW), or were a government agency rather than a union (War Industries Board).