The Workers Circle or Der Arbeter Ring (), formerly The Workmen's Circle, is an American
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
that promotes social and economic justice, Jewish community and education, including
Yiddish
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
studies, and
Ashkenazic culture. It operates schools and Yiddish education programs, and year-round programs of concerts, lectures and secular holiday celebrations. The organization has community branch offices throughout North America, with a national headquarters in New York City.
Formed in 1900 by Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
, The Workmen's Circle at first acted as a
mutual aid society
A benefit society, fraternal benefit society, or fraternal benefit order is a voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit, for instance insurance for relief from sundry difficulties. Such organizations may be formally organized with ...
, helping its members to adapt to their new life in America. It provided life insurance, unemployment relief, healthcare, social interaction, burial assistance and general education through its branches throughout the US as well as through its national office. Soon, the organization was joined by more politically focused socialist
Bundists
Bundism () is a Jewish socialist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to promote working class politics, secularism, and foster Jewish political and cultural autonomy. As a part of that autonomism, it also sought to ...
who advocated the anti-assimilationist idea of Yiddish cultural autonomy, led by education in Yiddish and socialist ideals. The Circle formed the
Folksbiene
The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, commonly known as NYTF, is a professional theater company in New York City which produces both Yiddish theater, Yiddish plays and plays translated into Yiddish, in a theater equipped with simultaneous sup ...
Yiddish theatre troupe and promoted Jewish arts and music, Yiddish school programs for children and Yiddish summer camps. It became influential in the American
labor movement
The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...
and grew to serve more than 84,000 members through hundreds of branches around North America. It also became involved with the Yiddish newspaper ''
The Forward
''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...
'' and operated old-age homes, medical clinics and other services.
Politically, the Circle moved away from socialism towards
liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...
by the time of the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
. By the 1960s, the Circle's membership began to decline, as Jews joined the middle class and moved from cities to suburbs; the Circle no longer seemed as essential to many as it had been. In the new century, the organization ended its direct health insurance program, streamlined its operations, separated from ''The Forward'', and rededicated its mission to education and promoting Jewish community, secular Yiddish culture and social justice activism. It sold its former East side building and moved to new offices in the
Garment District of New York City in 2011. The Workers Circle is a nonprofit
501(c)(3) organization
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...
.
[
]
History
Inception to 1930

With the
pogroms in the 1880s and succeeding decades, more than 2 million
Yiddish
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
-speaking Jews fled Eastern Europe with their families, and most immigrated to the United States, many to New York City. They usually arrived penniless, and the bulk of them entered the fast-growing, but exploitative garment industry. Others found work as peddlers, jewelers, launderers, Hebrew tutors and even shopkeepers. To assist each other in adapting to their challenging new life in America, they formed several
mutual aid societies.
The Workingmen's Circle Society of New York formed in 1892 thanks to the efforts of two Jewish cloak makers.
[
] The Workmen's Circle was established in New York City on September 4, 1900, as a national organization. The group held its first convention in 1901.
[ It immediately provided to its members life insurance, some unemployment relief, healthcare, social interaction such as dances, and financial assistance in obtaining a graveyard plot. It also held general education sessions on the natural sciences and had the generally pro-labor and ]socialist
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
goal "of helping to develop in working people a sense of solidarity, a clear, enlightened outlook, the striving, by means of their unity, to acquire that influence in ultimately, bringing on the day of their complete emancipation from exploitation and oppression."[
] Unlike other mutual aid groups, the organization had a workers' social agenda that it took seriously. It "agitated to abolish child labor, establish social security and shorten the work day."[
]
The organization began to form a national network of autonomous branches soon after its founding, chartered through the national organization, that provided services to their local members.[
] From 1905, greatly increased Jewish immigration to the US, following new pogroms in Russia, brought to America large numbers of politically sophisticated socialist Bundists
Bundism () is a Jewish socialist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to promote working class politics, secularism, and foster Jewish political and cultural autonomy. As a part of that autonomism, it also sought to ...
. The Bundists advocated the anti-Zionist, anti-assimilationist idea of Yiddish cultural autonomy and a secular Jewish identity, led by education in Yiddish language and literature, socialist ideals, Jewish history and ethical and aesthetic culture, an idea championed by Chaim Zhitlowsky
Chaim Zhitlowsky (Yiddish: חײם זשיטלאָװסקי; ) (April 19, 1865 – May 6, 1943) was a Jewish Socialism, socialist, philosopher, social and political thinker, writer and literary critic born in Ushachy Raion, Ushachy, Vitebsk Governora ...
. Many of the Bundists joined The Workmen's Circle and pushed it both to fight exploitative labor practices and to expand its national activities toward Yiddish education and to focus on Yiddish culture, rather than simply providing financial aid. Many of the older members argued that the organization could barely afford to provide its traditional aid to members; this discussion continued for two decades. Zhitlowsky and the Bundists succeeded in persuading the organization to establish a range of cultural activities meant to inform and express the secular Jewish spirit, such as the Folksbiene
The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, commonly known as NYTF, is a professional theater company in New York City which produces both Yiddish theater, Yiddish plays and plays translated into Yiddish, in a theater equipped with simultaneous sup ...
Yiddish theatre troupe (1915), Yiddish book publishing, orchestras, and art expositions sponsored by the branches around the country, Yiddish after school programs for children and teens (beginning in 1918), adult lecture circuits, Camp Kinderland (1923) and the organization's own literary and political journal, ''The Friend'', and ''Unser Schul'' (''Our School''), a monthly pedagogical journal for the teachers in its schools.[
In the meantime, especially after a series of garment workers' strikes in New York beginning in 1910, the Circle became influential in the American ]labor movement
The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...
through the United Hebrew Trades
The United Hebrew Trades (Yiddish: ''Fareynikte Yidishe Geverkshaftn'') was an association of Jewish labor unions in New York formed in the late 1880s. The organization was inspired by and modeled upon the United German Trades (German: ''Deutsche ...
, later helping to found the Jewish Labor Committee.[ Members of The Workers Circle helped found such labor unions as the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the ]Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Indus ...
.
At the same time, the Workmen's Circle continued its role as a mutual aid society. In 1917 it adopted the National Fraternal Congress of America mortuary table, and by 1920 it established a sanatorium for tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
patients at Liberty, New York
Liberty is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Sullivan County, New York, Sullivan County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 10,159 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report QuickFacts, ...
, where members could receive free treatment for nine months. In the 1920s, the organization reached its peak of 84,000 members, 125 schools nationwide[ and numerous branches nationwide; for example, the ]Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
district had 17 branches in 1924.[ But during that decade, members of The Workmen's Circle sympathetic to the Communist Party initiated a power-struggle in the Circle's national organization and many of its branches around the country, but they were rejected in 1929 and formed a separate organization, taking with them about 5,000 members and some of the Circle's establishments, like Camp Kinderland.][
]
1930s to 2000
In 1930, the International Workers Order split off from The Workmen's Circle as a parallel Communist fraternal benefit society.[
]
In the middle of the 20th century, The Workmen's Circle continued to operate old age homes and medical clinics and offer burial assistance, affordable health and life insurance; it established Camp Kinder Ring to replace Camp Kinderland (and some branches also operated camps); and it continued to have a hand in operating the Yiddish-language newspaper ''The Forward
''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...
'', which shared its office building in New York. The organization continued to emphasize Yiddish education and the arts (klezmer music
Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...
; Folksbiene theatre; choral groups), mutual aid and social interaction. It also emphasized social justice, such as efforts to oppose the repression of Soviet Jewry, and support of humanitarian relief efforts, as its political perspective had moved away from socialism towards liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...
by the time of the New Deal
The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
, and its members enthusiastically supported America's entry into World War II and even became pro-Israel.[
] In 1949, the Workmen's Circle included 700 local branches with 70,000 members in the United States and Canada.
Beginning by the 1960s, the Circle's membership slowly declined, reaching a level of about 50,000 members by the 1980s.[ When the federal Medicare program began in 1966, the Circle's healthcare programs became less urgently needed.][ More generally, as its then-president Dr. Barnett Zumhoff explained to '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' in 1985, with the opening up opportunities for Jews in American society, and their move into the middle class and dispersion geographically from cities to suburbs and small towns, the Circle was no longer as essential to the Jewish community as it had been. Its membership was no longer predominantly workers, but had become small-business owners, professionals and schoolteachers. Still, the Circle believed that it offered a secular alternative to synagogue attendance and Zionist groups in its preservation of Ashkenazic Yiddish culture.[
By 1996, the Circle's membership had declined to 28,000. By then, it considered itself the only organization promoting Eastern European Yiddish culture. It continued to teach Yiddish language and literature, to promote secular Jewish community and Jewish arts, music and culture, to provide its aid and insurance programs, to operate its old age homes, schools, camps and to host "holiday observances interpreting Jewish history in the traditionally secular Workmen's Circle spirit."][
] It also continued its liberal agenda, supporting universal health care, for example. Its then-president, Mark Mlotek, noted: "this is an organization that says that the language of the murdered people in Eastern Europe was Yiddish ... there is a vibrant Yiddish culture hat
A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
has to be maintained. Without it, a heart and soul will really go away."[
]
21st century
In the first decade of the 21st century, the organization ended its direct health insurance program and closed its old age homes, streamlined its operations, separated itself from ''The Forward'', hired a new executive director, Ann Toback, in 2008, reorganized its board and appointed a new president, Madelon "Maddy" Braun, in 2010.[ It rededicated its mission to education and promoting Jewish community, Yiddish culture and social justice activism. "The plan is to reboot by offering something he Circlefeels religious Judaism has failed to provide: an education toward a cultural Jewish identity that uses religion as a trigger for activism and connects with a legacy of progressivism and commitment to universal values."][ The organization sold its former East side building and moved to new offices in the Garment District of New York City in 2011.
By 2010, the Circle had 10,000 members and 20 branches. It used proceeds from the sale of its building to begin to regrow its membership and community and school network, and to hire more educators.][ Toback said, "Our expression of Judaism is through activism, and we also believe that young people come to activism through being literate Jews. The two things go together."][ Continuing to teach children Yiddish is "a way of opening their minds and souls to something in our collective past that it is extremely important to connect to."][ In 2012, the Circle commissioned a study that showed that one in six American Jews "are actively seeking Jewish expression and engagement outside of synagogue life."
The Circle continues to sponsor holiday and community events, coordinate its branches around the country and partner with Jewish school programs. No longer a mutual aid society, it operates seven schools for children (kindershuls) and offers the largest adult Yiddish language instruction program in the world, which also collaborates with New Yiddish Rep. to teach a Yiddish language through theatre class.][
][
] Its social justice activism includes opposing unfair labor practices, genocide and racism and supporting comprehensive immigration reform, single-payer universal health care, gun control
Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians.
Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...
, strong relations between the US and Israel, humanitarian relief, human rights, environmental conservation, women's equality, an increased minimum wage and separation of church and state.
On December 2, 2019, the organization unveiled its new name: the Workers Circle. This name embraces the tenor of the times in gender-neutral fashion and with a nod to the organization's century of activism at the fore of the labor movement, supporting worker rights to this day.
On September 28, 2023, the organization announced it was separating from Camp Kinder Ring and that both organizations will continue to operate independently.
Publications
As an organization organically linked to the historic Jewish labor movement, many of the Workmen's Circle's leaders were involved from its inception until the start of the 21st century with ''The Forward''. Through much of the 20th century, the organization's newsletter was called ''The Workmen's Circle Call''.[ From 2005 to 2009, The Workmen's Circle published '' Jewish Currents'' magazine and supplied it to the members of the Circle.][
]
Youth programs
The youth section of the Workmen's Circle in its early years was the Young Circle League of America (YCLA), established in 1930.[Y. Murray Goldman, "YCLA – Fraternal Order for Progressive Youth," ''The New Leader'' ew York vol. 20, no. 18 (May 1, 1937), pg. 9.] The group self-identified as "first and foremost a ''cultural'' organization," sponsoring lectures, debates, and educational and recreational programs for its members. The YCLA also published its own magazine, ''The Call of Youth.''
The Arbeter Ring runs seven kindershuls, or children's schools of Jewish culture
Jewish culture is the culture of the Jewish people, from its formation in ancient times until the current age. Judaism itself is not simply a faith-based religion, but an orthopraxy and Ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligion, pertaining to deed, ...
, as after-school and Sunday school programs for elementary through middle schoolers. These are located in the Northeastern US and Chicago.[ Kindershuls emphasize the teaching of Jewish history, from Abraham onward. Jewish culture, including klezmer music and traditional Jewish cooking, is also emphasized, along with the Yiddish language and surrounding culture. Students learn to sing traditional songs in Yiddish, as well as in English and Hebrew. At the end of a student's time at kindershul, when he or she reaches age 12, a secular Bar/Bas Mitzvah ceremony, called a commencement, is held.][ Commencement students prepare a research paper, a family history paper, and a writeup on ]community service
Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...
they have performed through the year. At the group commencement itself, students give a talk on their research topic of choice, often also telling their family history.
See also
* United Jewish People's Order
* Arbeiter Ring Publishing, Winnipeg, Canada
* List of North American ethnic and religious fraternal orders
* International Workers Order (IWO)
Footnotes
Further reading
* Michels, Tony. ''A Fire in Their Hearts: Yiddish Socialists in New York.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press (2005)
* Tarasova Chomard, Maria.
The Fertile Soil of Growth, Life and Ideas: Jewish Anarchist Solidarity in Winnipeg
" ''Canadian Jewish Studies / Études Juives Canadiennes'', ''34'', 13–35 (2022).
External links
The Workers Circle
Official website
Guide to the Records of the Workmen's Circle
1903–1993, New York
Guide to the Records of Boston Workmen's Circle
1927–1999
I.L. Peretz Jewish School
Arbeter Ring in Paris
* National Executive Committee of the Workmen's Circle i
1921
1922
1926
an
1933
{{DEFAULTSORT:Workmens Circle
Bundism in North America
Jewish community organizations
Jewish clubs and societies
Secular Jewish culture in the United States
Socialism in the United States
Jewish educational organizations
Yiddish culture in the United States
Jewish organizations based in the United States
Jewish-American political organizations
Non-profit organizations based in New York City
Anti-fascist organizations in the United States
Ethnic fraternal orders in the United States
1900 establishments in New York City
Organizations established in 1900
Social justice organizations