WITHIN THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT

 

less experienced local departments. In addition, conferences and institutes at
convenient points have brought together rank and file members and leaders
from various localities.

A Department of Cultural Activities aids scattered groups in the Amalgam-
ated Clothing Workers Union. For example, a correspondence course carried
on through The Advance, the official journal of the organization, reaches iso-
lated students. The paper contains mimeographed material and related ques-
tions dealing with four courses: Problems of Collective Bargaining, Labor in
American History, Economics of the Garment Industry, and the CLO. Enroll-
ment has been free for a certain number of applicants. Beyond the quota, an
entrance fee of 50 cents has been charged. The Department has encouraged
individuals to form study groups for the course and to choose discussion lead-
ers among themselves. Central headquarters, nevertheless, gives weekly, mid-
term, and final quizzes. Failure to answer the weekly questions within two
weeks results in expulsion from the course. Papers are marked by the national
office, confused papers being answered individually, and model answers and
additional information are published. A specific course may take from six
to 23 weeks.*

In summary, three types of program, “mass education,” “classroom educa-
tion,” and “training for trade union service,” constitute the educational pat-
tern of the LL.G.W.U., the A.C.\W.A., and the A.F.H.W. In practice, the
distinct forms merge into a cohesive whole. The primary purpose of the
educational work is to achieve a strong and effective labor movement. The
goal is to perfect collective bargaining by giving leaders and rank and file a
broad outlook. Workers’ education encourages impersonal and detached dis-
cussion and handling of problems within trade unions; cautious action so as
not to endanger the livelihood of thousands of workers; and realization that
no decision is infallible or irrevocable.

Class consciousness is inherent in the educational pattern, although not
apparent in all techniques. Yet the workers are taught to study all sides of a
question. They are urged to guard against “social animism” through which
“persons” are held to blame for this or that, “simplism” in which the “cause of”
anything and everything is “economic,” and an “antagonism complex” through

 

™ “Our Union University,” The Advance, Vol. XXIV, No. 4 (April, 1938), pp. 24-25.
31