The International Workers Order (IWO) was an
insurance
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...
,
mutual benefit and
fraternal organization
A fraternity (; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in the Western conce ...
founded in 1930 and disbanded in 1954 as the result of legal action undertaken by the state of New York in 1951 on the grounds that the organization was too closely linked to the
Communist Party. At its height in the years immediately following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the IWO reached nearly 200,000 members and provided low-cost
health
Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...
and
life insurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract
A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typical ...
,
medical
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
and
dental clinics, and supported foreign-language
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
s,
cultural
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
and
education
Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...
al activities. The organization also operated a summer camp and cemeteries for its members.
Organizational history
Factional war in the ''Arbeter Ring'' (1920s)
The International Workers Order began as the byproduct of a split of The Workmen's Circle (''Der Arbeter Ring'', now called
The Workers Circle), a
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish mutual benefit society of
social democratic
Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
coloration. Principal functions of the Workmen's Circle included the provision of
unemployment insurance
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...
,
medical insurance
Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among m ...
, and
life insurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract
A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typical ...
for its members, as well as providing a setting for the discussion of social problems at its meetings. During the factionally charged political climate of the
American Left
The American Left refers to the groups or ideas on the left of the political spectrum in the United States. It is occasionally used as a shorthand for groups aligned with the Democratic Party. At other times, it refers to groups that have soug ...
in the 1920s, a parallel Communist fraternal benefit society emerged—the IWO.
[Tim Davenport]
"International Workers Order (1922 - 1946): Organizational History,"
Early American Marxism website, Corvallis, OR.
The origins of the split that established the IWO date back to 1922. In February of that year, a nominating conference of the ''Arbeter Ring'' was held, at which a new Executive Committee was to be nominated. Nearly 200 delegates attended this conference, which was dominated by adherents of the
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...
(SPA), who prevented adherents of the
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
movement from gaining a single seat on the Credentials Committee. A spontaneous walkout of Left Wing delegates resulted.
In May 1922 the Workmen's Circle held its 22nd Convention at
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. This gathering was attended by 26 Left Wing delegates out of a total of 138. These two fractions battled over two resolutions of the Executive Committee: one against Soviet Russia for its judicial action against the
Socialist Revolutionaries and other political opponents of the regime, and a second directed against the Workers Party of America and its Yiddish language organ, the ''
Morgen Freiheit'' (Morning Freedom). While the SPA-influenced delegates held the day, a "Protest Convention" quickly organized in response to the resolutions of the 22nd Convention. This was held on June 2, 1922, and attended by 338 delegates, representing 235 branches of the organization from 23 states.
The National Executive Committee of the Workmen's Circle struck back, dissolving the Left Wing-dominated
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
District Committee and removing several Left Wingers from positions of authority in the organization. The Left Wing found itself in a majority position in
Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
,
Missouri
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
,
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, and
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, inspiring the National Executive Committee to dissolve the five state organizations, as well as various Left Wing branches. Despite the rough treatment, the Left Wing resisted splitting the organization, instead opting to continue its fight within the Workman's Circle organization itself. This tactic was followed through 1925.
The 1925 Convention of the Arbeter Ring was particularly bitter. Nearly 1,000 delegates were in attendance, of whom approximated one-fourth supported a program of the Left Wing calling for the Workmen's Circle to become an actively political organization. The Left Wing fought relentlessly to win the right to read a 10-minute statement to the convention, declaring that "to our shame, the Workmen's Circle, our Order, lately has become and out-and-out toll and weapon in the hands of the reactionary element in the Jewish working class movement." A two-day "National Protest Conference" was held in response to the Socialist-dominated convention, which was attended by the representatives of 191 branches. The conference organized itself into a "Left Wing Alliance" and declared that it would fight "against the terror of the Right Wing machine" and "for the non-party
.e. non-Socialist Partycharacter of the Workmen's Circle." Aid to the children's school movement, a pet project of the Left, was pledged.
The National Executive Committee of the Workmen's Circle responded to the organization of the Left Wing Alliance predictably, expelling 64 branches with a membership of close to 15,000. This put the Executive Committee of the Alliance in a precarious situation. Rather than risk "suicide" through a premature split, the Executive Committee instructed its branches to comply with various requests of the NEC to resign from the Alliance or be expelled. A split was thereby narrowly averted. The NEC adopted a lengthy process for reinstatement of expelled branches, drawing out the process over months and demoralizing the Left Wing.
As the Communist movement became more radical at the end of the 1920s, following the doctrine of the so-called
Third Period of new revolutionary upheaval, the bad marriage of Socialists and Communists in the Arbeter Ring crashed upon the rocks. The 1929 Convention attempted to eliminate the Left Wing from participation. The gathering was addressed by a guest speaker,
Victor Chernov, leader of the Russian
Socialist Revolutionary Party
The Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR; ,, ) was a major socialist political party in the late Russian Empire, during both phases of the Russian Revolution, and in early Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia. The party memb ...
(PSR), considered a notorious counterrevolutionary by the Communists of the day. In the supercharged environment, it was charged that a physical attack was made on the reporter of the Communist Party's Yiddish daily, the ''Freiheit.'' The convention renewed the two controversial Toronto resolutions of 1922 and formally approved the action of the NEC in suppressing the Left Wing movement in the Workmen's Circle.
A split was at hand. On October 11, 1929, a three-day "National Conference of Minority Groups of the Workmen's Circle" gathered in New York City, attended by 193 delegates, representing 108 branches and 23 minority factions of branches. These delegates unanimously decided to leave the Workmen's Circle and build a new explicitly working class order. A manifesto issued by the conference declared:
"The time has come when everyone who takes the interests of the workers seriously must shake off the dust of the Workmen's Circle. The Workmen's Circle, originally organized under the banner of the class struggle, writing into its program the abolition of the capitalist order...has been transformed in the past few years into an instrument of capitalist politics.
"There was not one single important occasion in the life of the Jewish workers in the last 7 or 8 years when the leadership of the Workmen's Circle did not line up with the enemies of the working class. The counterrevolutionary physiognomy of the Workmen's Circle is most clearly expressed in its attitude toward the Soviet Union, the only proletarian state in the world, the pride and crown of achievement of all class conscious workers throughout the entire world."
Establishment of the IWO
The first General Secretary of the IWO was Rubin Saltzman and the first President was
William Weiner, both "open and prominent" members of the Communist Party USA.
The IWO described itself in the following manner in its "Declaration of Principles":
The IWO provides sick, disability and death benefits. It organizes for its members medical aid and other forms of fraternal services. It pledges aid and comfort to its members in case of need. The ranks of the International Workers Order and its societies are open to all regardless of sex, nationality, race, color, creed or political affiliation.[ ]
Scholar Robert M. Zecker describes the IWO as a "mutual self-insurance society."
[ The IWO provided very low cost term life insurance, coverage which could be supplemented with additional protection against sickness. The Order did not employ sales representatives and paid no commissions on policies sold.][ For many, the IWO took over the social functions associated with the Communist Party's language federations, which had lessened in importance throughout the decade of the 1920s. Different national sections of the IWO published news in their own languages, organized singing societies, sports teams, marching bands, dance companies, and theater groups.][
The IWO grew rapidly, from a tiny organization of 3,000 to 5,000 members at the time of formation in 1930, the organization rocketed to a membership of 67,000 by 1935.][
By its third convention on May 6–11, 1935, Max Bedacht had become IWO general secretary.] By 1938 it had grown to over 141,000.[
While the IWO aggressively promoted the Communist Party's program and policies to its members, one scholarly observer has concluded: ] In reality, most members were attracted to the low cost and nondiscriminatory availability of insurance and the willingness to take on as insureds anyone who worked, even those who worked in dangerous or high risk employment, as well as the mutual aid benefits of the Order.... That it was also dedicated to left-wing, 'progressive,' or indeed Party-supported causes and rhetoric cannot and should not be ignored or glossed over; nevertheless, for most of its members, the IWO met pragmatic needs in an economic and social framework.[ ]
As World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
approached, membership in the IWO continued to climb. At the end of September 1941, the organization claimed a membership of 155,000 and assets approaching $1.9 million. According to the testimony of IWO General Secretary Max Bedacht, these members had organized into over 19,000 branches and generated an income for the organization of over $1 million per year.
Post-war years
At its height in the years immediately following World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the IWO had almost 200,000 members and provided low-cost health
Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...
and life insurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract
A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typical ...
, medical
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
and dental clinics, and supported foreign-language newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
s, cultural
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
and education
Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...
al activities. The IWO offered insurance to all working people at the same rate regardless of race or occupation and was, at the time, the only service provider where African Americans could obtain insurance at the same rate as others and also the only place where workers in dangerous occupations such as coal mining could obtain insurance at a rate equivalent to other occupations.
The IWO also ran a Jewish summer camp, Camp Kinderland and the racially integrated camp ''Wo-Chi-Ca''. Additionally the IWO owned and operated cemeteries throughout the US and Canada, a common practice among left wing Jewish mutual-aid organizations like the Farband and the Workmen's Circle
The Workers Circle or Der Arbeter Ring (), formerly The Workmen's Circle, is an American Jews, Jewish nonprofit organization that promotes social and economic justice, Jewish community and education, including Yiddish studies, and Ashkenazi Jews, ...
.
While the leadership of IWO sections were members of the Communist Party, most of the IWO's rank-and-file members were not party members.
The IWO was made up of a total of 15 sections, the largest section of which was the Jewish section representing one-third of the membership of the IWO and which in 1944 was renamed the Jewish People's Fraternal Order. There was also an English section and 13 other language sections including the Hungarian Workmen's Sick, Benevolent, and Educational Federation; the Ukrainian-American Fraternal Union; the Carpatho-Russian National Society; the (Spanish) Cervantes Society Mutualista Obrera Puertorriqueña; the (Italian) Garibaldi American Fraternal Society; the Hellenic-American Brotherhood; the Serbian-American Federation; the Russian American Mutual Aid Society; the Slovak Workers Society; the Polonia Society; the Rumanian American Fraternal Society; the Czech Workers Society and the Finnish American Mutual Aid Society (descended from the Finnish Socialist Federation).
Demise
As early as 1944, the Special Committee on Un-American Activities of the US House of Representatives (best known as the Dies Committee) attacked the IWO as a "huge patronage machine furnishing positions for a host of Communist functionaries, who serve as the party's controlling commissars within the organization."[Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, ''Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States: Appendix — Part IX: Communist Front Organizations, Third Section,'' pg. 852.] The Dies Committee expressed its confidence that "a comparison made in each local area will bear out the charge that the personnel of the Communist Party and the International Workers Order interlock closely." In addition to General Secretaries Saltzman and Bedacht, those explicitly singled out by the Dies Committee for membership in the Communist Party while holding an executive position in the IWO were President William Weiner, Executive Secretary Herbert Benjamin, General Executive Board members Moissaye J. Olgin and Max Steinberg, and assistant to the General Secretary Rebecca Grecht, among others.
As a financial support mechanism of the Communist Party, the IWO came under concerted government attack during the Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
which erupted following the termination of World War II. The U.S. Attorney General
The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the ...
placed the IWO on its list of subversive
Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to sabotage the established social order and its structures of power, authority, tradition, hierarchy, and socia ...
organizations in 1947. Though financially solvent and conservatively managed, the New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
State Insurance Department contended that, since the IWO was engaged in political
Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
activity, which was prohibited to insurance organizations, it placed its members' interests in jeopardy, leading ultimately to its liquidation in 1954 by order of the New York State Insurance Department
The New York State Insurance Department (NYSID) was the state agency responsible for supervising and regulating all insurance business in New York State.[History, About Us, New York State Department of Financial Services, retrieved on March 5, 2012 ...
.[
]
Legacy
Following the demise of the IWO, Camp Kinderland became an independent entity and the Jewish People's Fraternal Order reconstituted itself as the Jewish Cultural Clubs and Societies without the mutual benefit component of JPFO. A Canadian equivalent of the JPFO, the United Jewish Peoples' Order, still exists as does the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the IWO received mention as a mutual aid society that might bear revisit for applicability to the growing number of gig workers, left out of a 20th-century system whose benefits to employees depends on full-time employment (also considered for mutual aid societies more broadly), though others have questioned the IWO's contemporary relevance if based on intersectionality
Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how groups' and individuals' social and political identities result in unique combinations of discrimination and privilege. Examples of these intersecting and overlapping factor ...
."[
]
Conventions
* Founding Convention – May 1931
* 2nd Convention – Chicago, June 1933
* 3rd Convention – New York City, May 5–11, 1935
* 4th Convention – Pittsburgh, PA, April 23–30, 1938
* 5th Convention – New York City, June 1940
* 6th Convention – New York City, July 2–7, 1944
* 7th Convention – New York City, June 12–19, 1947
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
External links
* Tim Davenport
"International Workers Order (1922 - 1946): Organizational History,"
Early American Marxism website, Corvallis, OR. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
"International Workers’ Order (IWO) and Jewish People's Fraternal Order (JPFO) collection,"
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
"Guide to the International Workers Order Records,"
Tamiment Library at Bobst Library, New York University, New York City. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
{{Authority control
Communist Party USA mass organizations
Insurance companies of the United States
1954 disestablishments in the United States
Ethnic fraternal orders in the United States
Financial services companies established in 1930
Financial services companies disestablished in 1954
Organizations established in 1930
1930 establishments in the United States
Organizations disestablished in 1954