Independent working class education is an approach to education, particularly adult education, developed by labour activists, whereby the education of working-class people is seen as a specifically political process linked to other aspects of

class struggle Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

. The term, abbreviated to (IWCE), is particularly linked to the

Plebs' League The Plebs' League was a British educational and political organisation which originated around a Marxist way of thinking in 1908 and was active until 1926. History Central to the formation of the League was Noah Ablett, a miner from the Rhondda wh ...

Ruskin College

When

Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is an independent educational institution in Oxford, England. It is not a college of Oxford University. It is named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) an ...

was founded in 1899 the founders

Walter Vrooman Walter Watkins Vrooman (1869 – 2 December, 1909) was an American socialist educationalist who co-founded Ruskin College with Charles A. Beard in 1899. He then returned to America, where he set up a second Ruskin College in Trenton, Missouri. Wa ...

and Charles A. Beard declared "We shall take men who have been merely condemning our social institution, and we will teach them how, instead, to transform those institutions, so that instead of talking against the world, they will begin methodically and scientifically to possess the world."

Proletcult

Having outlined the "fundamental requirement of the modern working class" as the use of "the economic power of the workers for the overthrow of the capitalist system, the abolition of wagery and the inauguration of a classless commonwealth"

Cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...

and

Eden Paul Maurice Eden Paul (27 September 1865, Sturminster Marshall – 1 December 1944) was a British socialist activist, physician, writer and translator.'Paul, Maurice Eden' in ''Who Was Who'' Early life Paul was the younger son of the publisher Charl ...

wrote in 1921 that the events of the previous decade had clearly shown that the political efforts to achieve such a goal would be misguided unless based on knowledge: :"The workers' demand for education is no longer a demand for graduated doses of bourgeois culture. It is a demand for an education which shall make the workers understand their place in the economic and social system, and shall help them in the successful waging of the class war. It is a demand for Independent Working-Class Education" The Pauls' went on to identify the Plebs League as "the most effective exponent of the demand for a distinctively proletarian culture", whereas they described the

Workers Educational Association The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...

, as making a "parade of impartiality" which masked "an unconscious bias in favour of the institutions of the bourgeois state". The Pauls' drew inspiration from

Proletkult Proletkult ( rus, Пролетку́льт, p=prəlʲɪtˈkulʲt), a portmanteau of the Russian words "proletarskaya kultura" (proletarian culture), was an experimental Soviet artistic institution that arose in conjunction with the Russian Revolut ...

, an organisation set up in the wake of the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

. Envisioning an imminent revolution spreading to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, they saw the development of a fighting proletarian culture as being requisite for

social revolution Social revolutions are sudden changes in the structure and nature of society. These revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed society, economy, culture, philosophy, and technology along with but more than just the political syst ...

. "Proletcult is practically synonymous with what is generally known in this country by the cumbrous name of Independent Working-Class Education"

Institutions founded on the basis of IWCE

Central Labour College The Central Labour College, also known as The Labour College, was a British higher education institution supported by trade unions. It functioned from 1909 to 1929. It was established on the basis of independent working class education. The colle ...

, London *

Scottish Labour College The Scottish Labour College was founded in 1916, by John Maclean (Scottish socialist), John Maclean among others. It was modelled on the Central Labour College in London. It ran evening classes in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and elsewhere ...

, Glasgow *

Victorian Labour College Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

, Australia

References

Education theory Working-class culture {{labor-stub