The Trade Union Educational League (TUEL) was established by William Z. Foster in 1920 (through 1928) as a means of uniting radicals within various

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

for a common plan of action. The group was subsidized by the

Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...

via the Workers (Communist) Party of America from 1922. The organization did not collect membership dues but instead ostensibly sought to both fund itself and to spread its ideas through the sale of

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...

s and circulation of a monthly magazine. After several years of initial success, the group was marginalized by the unions of the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...

, which objected to its strategy of " boring from within" existing unions in order to depose sitting union leaderships. In 1929 the organization was transformed into the

Trade Union Unity League The Trade Union Unity League (TUUL) was an industrial union umbrella organization under the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) between 1929 and 1935. The group was an American affiliate of the Red International of Labor Unions. The fo ...

(TUUL), which sought to establish radical

dual union Dual unionism is the development of a union or political organization parallel to and within an existing labor union. In some cases, the term may refer to the situation where two unions claim the right to organize the same workers. Dual unionism i ...

s in competition with existing labor organizations.

Organizational history

Origins

The Trade Union Educational League (TUEL) was founded in Chicago in November 1920 by William Foster and a handful of close associates hailing from the radical movement. The group was very nearly stillborn, counting only about two dozen active members at its outset, including left wing

Socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

, and former

Wobblies The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

. Shortly after the tiny group was called into being, Foster departed for

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

, ostensibly as a correspondent for the

Federated Press ''This is not to be confused with the independent, research-based organization of Toronto, Canada, also called that targets executives, lawyers, professionals.'' The Federated Press was a left wing news service, established in 1920, that provided ...

news service, but actually to attend the Founding Congress of the

Red International of Labor Unions The Red International of Labor Unions (russian: Красный интернационал профсоюзов, translit=Krasnyi internatsional profsoyuzov, RILU), commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Comm ...

(RILU), best known by its contracted Russian name, "Profintern." The trip would prove to be important, as the former

syndicalist Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...

Foster came to closely identify with the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...

and its tactics. After returning from Soviet Russia in 1921, quietly joined the underground Communist Party of America. He compiled his Russian journalism written for the Federated Press into a book called "The Russian Revolution" and set about touring the country lecturing on behalf of the

Friends of Soviet Russia The Friends of Soviet Russia (FSR) was formally established in the United States on August 9, 1921 as an offshoot of the American Labor Alliance for Trade Relations with Soviet Russia (ALA). It was launched as a "mass organization" dedicated to r ...

and acting as a fundraiser for Russian famine relief. According to Foster's account, TUEL preexisted as an independent organization and "upon my return to the United States I had a meeting with the Central Executive Committee of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

, who agreed to support the work of the Trade Union Educational League." Foster stated that "the League is not an organic section of the Party but is simply endorsed by it."

Development

Foster's efforts to organize radical trade unionists through TUEL to remake the structure of the labor movement and to overthrow its existing leadership put him at odds with

Samuel Gompers Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 13, 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's ...

, head of the

. Historians Peter J. Albert and Grace Palladino have summarized the situation in this manner:

"The forty-one year old
oster Oster ( uk, Осте́р ; russian: Остёр, Ostyor) is a city located where the Oster River flows into the Desna, in Chernihiv Raion, Chernihiv Oblast of Ukraine. Oster hosts the administration of Oster urban hromada, one of the hromadas ...
was everything Gompers was not. He embraced
Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
and the Red International of Labor Unions, or Profintern (RILU), advocated independent
working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
political action, and believed that the AFL would have to function as a strong, centralized organization if it hoped to survive and grow. Whereas Gompers presumed that the great mass of workers would learn the value of solidarity through direct experience, Foster and his supporters favored a more top-down approach.... With amalgamation as its slogan,
industrial unionism Industrial unionism is a trade union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ...
as its goal, and 'boring from within' the established trade unions as its method, the TUEL promised to transform otherwise 'timid and muddled' AFL affiliates into 'scientifically constructed, class conscious weapons in the revolutionary struggle.'"

In defending the existing system from what he perceived as a Moscow-directed attack, Gompers availed himself of every opportunity to question Foster's motives and emphasize his close personal connection with the American Communist movement.Albert and Palladino, "Introduction," ''Samuel Gompers Papers: Vol. 12,'' pg. xvi.

Structure

The TUEL did not have formal membership rolls or paid dues.Ralph Darlington, ''Radical Unionism: The Rise and Fall of Revolutionary Syndicalism.''

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * The Streetwear Brand @008us , inspired by Ian Fleming & Virgil Abloh *"030", the fictional 030 Agent of MI6 * '' 038: Operation Exterminate'', a 1965 Italian action film * '' Explosivo 030'' a 1940 Argentine c ...

Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2013; pg. 282. No membership cards were issued. The organization instead supported itself through sales of pamphlets and magazines and through an unpublicized subsidy by the Communist International by way of the Workers (Communist) Party. Consequently, the size of the de facto membership of the organization is difficult to gauge. Historian Ralph Darlington notes that while TUEL declared a circulation for its publications of from 10,000 to 15,000, in fact the group only had "about 500 hard-core activists" at the time of its greatest strength during the first years of the 1920s.

Transformation of the organization

In 1928, as a byproduct of the

Third Period The Third Period is an ideological concept adopted by the Communist International (Comintern) at its Sixth World Congress, held in Moscow in the summer of 1928. It set policy until reversed when the Nazis took over Germany in 1933. The Comint ...

ultra-radicalism of the

, the TUEL was transformed into the

(TUUL), a federation of industrial unions established in opposition to the American Federation of Labor craft labor unions. Even though this change of tactics met a refutation of William Z. Foster's long-held strategy of "boring from within" the existing trade unions, in favor of "dual unionism," Foster nevertheless continued to remain loyal to the new TUUL organization.

Conferences

Footnotes

Publications

* William Z. Foster
''The Railroaders' Next Step.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1921. Labor Herald Library #1. Revised edition published as ''The Railroaders' Next Step: Amalgamation.'' * William Z. Foster
''The Russian Revolution.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1921. Labor Herald Library #2. * William Z. Foster
''The Revolutionary Crisis of 1918-1921: in Germany, England, Italy and France.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1921. Labor Herald Library #3. * William Z. Foster
''The Bankruptcy of the American Labor Movement.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1921. Labor Herald Library #4.

Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1922. * Jay Fox
''Amalgamation.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1923. Labor Herald Library #5. * ''Resolutions and Decisions: Second World Congress of the Red International of Labor Unions Held in Moscow, November 1922.'' Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1922. Labor Herald Library #6. *

Mikhail Tomsky Mikhail Pavlovich Tomsky (Russian: Михаи́л Па́влович То́мский, born ''Mikhail Pavlovich Yefremov''sometimes transliterated as ''Efremov''; Михаи́л Па́влович Ефре́мов; 31 October 1880 – 22 Augus ...

, ''The Russian Trade Unions in 1923.'' Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1922. Labor Herald Library #7. * Earl Browder and

Andrés Nin Andreu Nin Pérez (4 February 1892 – 20 June 1937) was a Spanish communist politician, translator and publicist. In 1937, Nin and the rest of the POUM leadership were arrested by the Moscow-oriented government of the Second Spanish Republic o ...

''Struggle of the Trade Unions against Fascism.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1923. Labor Herald Library #8. * William F. Dunne
''William F. Dunne's Speech at the AF of L Convention, Portland, 1923.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, n.d. 923 Labor Herald Library #9. * A. Losovsky
''The World's Trade Union Movement.''
by Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1924. Labor Herald Library #10. * William Z. Foster

Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1924. Labor Herald Library #11.
''Resolutions and Decisions: Third World Congress of the Red International of Labor Unions, Held in Moscow, July, 1924.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1924. Labor Herald Library #12. * A. Losovsky
''Lenin, the Great Strategist of the Class War.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1924. Labor Herald Library #13. * A. Losovsky

Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1924. Labor Herald Library #14. *

Tim Buck Timothy Buck (January 6, 1891 – March 11, 1973) was the general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada (known as the Labor-Progressive Party from 1943 to 1959) from 1929 until 1962. Together with Ernst Thälmann of Germany, Maurice Tho ...

, ''Steps to Power: A Program of Action for the Trade Union Minority of Canada.'' Toronto: Trade Union Educational League, 1925. *William Z. Foster, Earl Browder and James Cannonbr>''Trade unions in America''
by Chicago, Ill.: Published for the Trade Union Educational League by the

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...

1925 (Little red library #1
alternate link
* Robert W. Dunn
''American Company Unions: A Study of Employee Representation Plans, "Works Councils" and Other Substitutes for Labor Unions.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1926. Labor Herald Library #15. * William Z. Foster
''Russian Workers and Workshops in 1926.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1926. Labor Herald Library #16. * William Z. Foster
''Organize the Unorganized.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1926. Labor Herald Library #17. * William Z. Foster
''Strike Strategy.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1926. Labor Herald Library #18. * ''A Fighting Union for the Needle Workers!: Program Adopted at a Conference of Delegates Representing the Progressive Members of the Following Needle Trades Unions: Amalgamated Clothing Workers, International Ladies Garment Workers, Furriers, Cap and Millinery Workers, United Hatters, Journeymen Tailors, United Garment Workers.'' New York: The Needle Trades Section of the Trade Union Educational League, 1926. * William Z. Foster
''The Watson-Parker Law: The Latest Scheme to Hamstring Railroad Unionism.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1927. Labor Herald Library #19. * William Z. Foster
''Wrecking the Labor Banks: The Collapse of the Labor Banks and Investment Companies of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.''
Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1927. Labor Herald Library #20. * William Z. Foster, ''Misleaders of Labor.'' Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, 1927. * ''Save the Miners Union from the Coal Operators and the Corrupt Lewis Machine: Program Adopted by the National Save the Miners' Union Conference, April 1, 1928, Pittsburgh, Pa.'' n.c.: United Mine Workers of America, 1928. *''Program of the Trade Union Educational League'' New York: Trade Union Educational, 1928. *''Do You Want Higher Wages? Do You Want Shorter Working Hours?'' New York: Trade Union Educational League, 1929.

External links

Trade Union Educational League (1920 - 1928)
TUEL organizational history and documents. Early American Marxism website. Retrieved September 4, 2009.

{{Authority control Defunct trade unions in the United States TUEL Communist Party USA mass organizations Profintern William Z. Foster Trade unions established in 1920 1920 establishments in the United States