History

--Roots of 
the ILA

--The Dawn 
of Unionism

--First 
Longshoremen's
Union

--ILA
Beginnings

--Early Threats
To Unionism

--Realism 
and Caution

--The Haymarket
Riot

--Creation of
the ILA

--Affiliation with
AFL-CIO

--Fighting
Communism
and racism

--ILA arrives in
New York

--ILA absorbs
LUPA

--Gangland
Myths

--Wagner Act

--Pacific Coast
Split

--ILA Accused
of Gangsterism

--Teddy Gleason
Fights to Save
the ILA

Teddy Gleason

--Elected President
of the ILA

--ILA in the
Present

Realism and Caution

The Haymarket Riot

ILA's early success owes much to Dan Keefe's leadership style.  Keefe was a powerful leader who believed in almost absolute authority.  His decisions were informed by realism and caution, the absence of which had been the downfall of countless labor leaders before him.  Maude Russell, an historian of the ILA, characterized Keefe as being not heroic, but often proven right by history.  

Perhaps the clearest example of Keefe's cautious approach to thorny situations is his refusal to become involved in the Eight-Hour Day movement, which ended in the bloody Haymarket Riot of 1886.  The victorious industrialists crushed union after union in Chicago, but Keefe's longshoremen withstood their attacks and grew stronger.

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