Dictionary.net

an order founded in Philadelphia in 1869 by Uriah S. Stevens and formally organized in 1871 for the protection of working people and the development of educated labor. It was secret until the name was made public in 1881. By that time nearly all trades were represented. It is governed by a national executive board and local assemblies which have power to order " strikes " and " boycotts." The membership is over 500,000. The chief strike so ordered was that on the Missouri Pacific system in 1886. It failed.