The organization of the STLA was very similar to that of the Knights of Labor. It differed from the American Labor Union and the IWW, which it would later become a part of, in that it was not structured industrially. It radically resented the established trade unions, like the American Federation of Labor; its Declaration of Principles asserted that "the methods and spirit of labor organization are absolutely impotent to resist the aggressions of organized capital".
