United labor bulletin., 1915-01-09
TEACH UNIONISM
TORANk and FILE
Ladies Garment Workers In
tr0duCe Advance Methods
Members Given Opportunity to Acquire
Useful knowledge Of Legal RIGHTS
and Master Problems Of UnioniSn

a most interesting experiment is Oe-
ing carried on in New York this year
by the International Ladies' Garment
Workers Union, the third largest organ
ization in the ranks of American organ
lied labor.
The convention held at Cleveland last
June took up the question of educa-
tion of union members. 1t was uni
versally recognized that this union, like
many others, suffers from the fact that
very few of its members have any thor
ough understanding of the labor move
ment and its problems, so that all the
burden of responsibility in the inter
national and the various locals falls on
comparatively small number OF per-.
sons. who seldom receive hearty and ef-
fieient support from the rank and file.
These so-called leaders get all the
blame for whatever may go wrong, while
they receive only too little credit for
what they achieve under such difficult
conditions. The delegates at Cleveland
agreed that the most necessary step to
strengthen the organization for the
great work it has before it was to start
a work of systematic education of the
rank and file. After general discussion
the matter was referred to the general
executive board and 4 special committee
on education working hand in hand with
it. and they have since worked out an
elaborate plan.
The international union has entered
into an agreement with the Rand School
of Social Science, a workingmen's col
lege located at 40 East Nineteenth
street, New York City, and having
branches in various parts of the conn
try, which has been doing valuable
work for education for more than eight
81 ~ 4.
union and the school regular course OF
instruction is now being given to a
class of more than one hundred mem
bers of the organization.
The class meets twice a week, on
Thursday evening and Sunday after
noon. 1t began its work the first week
in December and will go on until the
end of April.
The course includes such subjects as
an outline OF the history of the labor
movement, with special reference to the
garment industry; labor politics, labor
legislation apd workmen's insurance;
the legal rights OF trade unions; prac-
teal problems and methods of union ac-
tivity, both in time of strike and in
time of peace. These subjects are be-
ing treated partly through carefully ar
ranged lectures given by such men as
yers well known for their services to
the Garment Workers Unions; Meyer
London, another labor lawyer, who was
elected to Congress last November in
the Twelfth New York district; ]. VI.
Rubinow. the foremost American au-
thority on the subject OF insurance
against accident, sickness, old age and
unemployment; Algernon Lee, educa.
tional director OF the Rand School, and
others. Besides the lectures there are
classes, sessions in which the students,
meeting in small groups, review the
topics dealt with in the lectures and re-
ceive instruction in elementary civics.
methods of union work and, to some
extent, in grammar and composition.
Great interest is being shown, and 1T
the last moment the number Of union
members applying for admission to the
class was more than could be accommo-
dated. II is expected that the course
will be repeated on larger scale next
season, and it will probably be extend
ed to other cities where the !, L. G. w.
u. is largely represented.