<P> Powderly and the Organization tried to avoid divisive political issues, but in the early 1880s, many Knights had become followers of Henry George's radical ideology known now as georgism . In 1883, Powderly officially recommended George's book and announced his support of "single tax" on land values . During the New York mayoral election of 1886, Powderly was able to successfully push the organization towards the favor of Henry George . </P> <P> The Knights of Labor was an organization that helped to join together many different types of people from all different walks of life; for example Catholic and Protestant Irish - born workers . The KOL was appealing to them because they worked very closely with the Irish Land League . The Knights of Labor had a mixed history of inclusiveness and exclusiveness, accepting women and blacks (after 1878) and their employers as members, and advocating the admission of blacks into local assemblies, but tolerating the segregation of assemblies in the South . Bankers, doctors, lawyers, stockholders, and liquor manufacturers were excluded because they were considered unproductive members of society . Asians were also excluded, and in November 1885, a branch of the Knights in Tacoma, Washington worked to expel the city's Chinese, who amounted to nearly a tenth of the overall city population at the time . The Union Pacific Railroad came into conflict with the Knights . When the Knights in Wyoming refused to work more hours in 1885, the railroad hired Chinese workers . The result was the Rock Springs massacre, that killed scores of Chinese, and drove all the rest out of Wyoming . About 50 African - American sugar - cane laborers organized by the Knights went on strike and were murdered by strikebreaking thugs in the 1887 Thibodaux massacre in Louisiana . The Knights strongly supported the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Contract Labor Law of 1885, as did many other labor groups . But they were not against immigration, the Knights of Labor wanted more regulations, not restrictions . </P> <P> The Knights of Labor attracted many Catholics, who were a large part of the membership, perhaps a majority . Powderly was also a Catholic . However, the Knights's use of secrecy, similar to the Masons, during its early years concerned many bishops of the church . The Knights used secrecy and deception to help prevent employers from firing members . After the Archbishop of Quebec condemned the Knights in 1884, twelve American archbishops voted 10 to 2 against doing likewise in the United States . Furthermore, Cardinals James Gibbons and John Ireland defended the Knights . Gibbons went to the Vatican to talk to the hierarchy . In 1886, right after the peak of the Knights of Labor, they started to lose more members to the American Federation of Labor . It has been believed that the fall of the Knights of Labor was due to their lack of adaptability and beliefs in the old - style industrial capitalism . </P> <P> Though often overlooked, the Knights of Labor contributed to the tradition of labor protest songs in America . The Knights frequently included music in their regular meetings, and encouraged local members to write and perform their work . In Chicago, James and Emily Talmadge, printers and supporters of the Knights of Labor, published the songbook "Labor Songs Dedicated to the Knights of Labor" (1885). The song "Hold the Fort" (also "Storm the Fort"), a Knights of Labor pro-labor revision of the hymn by the same name, became the most popular labor song prior to Ralph Chaplin's IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) anthem "Solidarity Forever". Pete Seeger often performed this song and it appears on a number of his recordings . Songwriter and labor singer Bucky Halker includes the Talmadge version, entitled "Labor's Battle Song," on his CD Don't Want Your Millions (Revolting Records 2000). Halker also draws heavily on the Knights songs and poems in his book on labor song and poetry, For Democracy, Workers and God: Labor Song - Poems and Labor Protest, 1865 - 1895 (University of Illinois Press, 1991). </P>

What incident lead to the downfall of the knights of labor