HISTORICAL TRENDS

 

the International Ladies’ Garment Workers, the American Federation of
Hosiery Workers, and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers had established
educational programs. At its convention in 1916, the National Women's
Trade Union League passed a resolution asking women’s colleges to make
some provision for women industrial workers. The American Federation of
Labor gave increased attention to adult education in the national conventions
of 1918 and 1919.

Interest developed rapidly and in 1921 several significant experiments
were initiated. Brookwood Labor College, a full-term residential school for
workers, and the Workers’ Education Bureau, a national agency designed to
promote and coordinate activities, were organized “by representatives of or-
ganized labor and by students of American economy interested in the forms
and methods of organized labor.”* In addition, trade unions, cooperating
among themselves and with educators, founded trade union colleges in differ-
ent parts of the country. Also in 1921 academic colleges began to be active
in the field. Ambherst College had continued an experiment begun in 1920,
by which teachers went to the central labor unions of Springfield and Holyoke,
Massachusetts, to instruct union members in economics, practical English, and
mathematics. In 1921 the University of California organized workers’ educa-
tion classes as part of its regular extension work. And in the same year Bryn
Mawr College welcomed to the campus a summer school for women workers
in industry.

Shortly thereafter several experiments—Commonwealth College and the
Communist Workers School—were undertaken, but the field ceased for a
time to expand. The contraction, like the previous development, reflected
changes within the labor movement. Business principles again dominated
the trade unions. An open-shop drive had followed upon the acceptance of
unionization during the war; organized labor as well as the general public
feared radicalism. Neither wished to sponsor educational programs which
might foster discussion of controversial issues. The few organizations which
did not fear frank analysis and were willing to offer their membership a more
advanced curriculum needed most of their money for more urgent activities.

As trade unions became stronger, interest in education was renewed. Estab-
lished academic institutions continued to cooperate with organized labor in

 

* Charles A. Beard, “An American Adventure in Workers’ Education,” Workers’
Education, Vol. XIII No. 4 (October, 1936), pp. 16-17.

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