As the American labor movement searches for successful models at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it might consider turning back the clock to look at a Reformist organization that arose near the close of the nineteenth century. This is the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor, which grew to 700,000 members in 1886 before succumbing to assaults from employers and competition from the American Federation of Labor. It is generally believed that the failure of the Knights in the last century was caused by its being “contrary to the reality created by modern industrial forces” (Hoxie 1921: 93). If it is true that the Knights declined because they were unfit for the environment of old-style industrial capitalism, the demise of that system and the rise of postindustrial economies in the Western world may warrant a reconsideration of the Knights' ideas.