Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Unemployed Councils
The Unemployed Councils of the USA (UC) was a mass organization of the Communist Party, USA established in 1930 in an effort to organize and mobilize unemployed workers.
The UC was the organizational successor of the Unemployment Council of New York, a broad-based organization established by various trade unions in New York City in the spring of 1921, during the economic downturn which followed the termination of the First World War. The organization was dissolved through merger into the Workers Alliance of America, a parallel organization affiliated with the Socialist Party of America, in April 1936.
In March 1921 a conference was held in New York City to address the unemployment question. This effort was widely supported by the local agencies of organized labor, with some 35 independent or associated locals of the American Federation of Labor and the Industrial Workers of the World sending delegates.
This Unemployment Conference of Greater New York elected Israel Amter, a member of the underground United Communist Party of America (UCP), as the secretary of a new organization, the Unemployment Council of New York.
Shortly after the conference, Amter was embroiled in a raid on UCP headquarters in New York City, in which he was arrested and charged with having committed the crime of criminal anarchy under New York state law. Following his release on bail, Amter threw himself into unemployment work, launching a small newspaper called Jobless and agitating on street corners to crowds of passersby.
Meetings of the Unemployment Council of New York were held at which the slogan "Fight and Live! Work or Compensation!" was advanced and an organizational agenda calling for unemployment relief, employment through public works, and the establishment of subsidized low-cost housing was cobbled together. The group attempted to expand at the local level through the establishment of neighborhood units called "Councils of Action." A national organization was envisioned, to be known as the Worker's Unemployed Council of America.
The Harding administration was moved to action on the issue by Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, who drew up the blueprint for a President's Conference on Unemployment, which brought together leaders of industry and labor to further discuss the issue. The conference envisioned a city-based solution to the problem. By the end of 1921 some 209 localities had established Mayor's Committees on Unemployment to deal with the issue locally, making use of voluntarism.
This activity proved to be largely inadequate to the scope of the problem, with some minor progress made in some localities establishing emergency housing or setting up local employment bureaus to aid in matching up unemployed workers with prospective employers. These efforts did also undercut the radical New York movement as well, with the Communist-backed Unemployment Council of New York rapidly running out of organizational energy.
Hub AI
Unemployed Councils AI simulator
(@Unemployed Councils_simulator)
Unemployed Councils
The Unemployed Councils of the USA (UC) was a mass organization of the Communist Party, USA established in 1930 in an effort to organize and mobilize unemployed workers.
The UC was the organizational successor of the Unemployment Council of New York, a broad-based organization established by various trade unions in New York City in the spring of 1921, during the economic downturn which followed the termination of the First World War. The organization was dissolved through merger into the Workers Alliance of America, a parallel organization affiliated with the Socialist Party of America, in April 1936.
In March 1921 a conference was held in New York City to address the unemployment question. This effort was widely supported by the local agencies of organized labor, with some 35 independent or associated locals of the American Federation of Labor and the Industrial Workers of the World sending delegates.
This Unemployment Conference of Greater New York elected Israel Amter, a member of the underground United Communist Party of America (UCP), as the secretary of a new organization, the Unemployment Council of New York.
Shortly after the conference, Amter was embroiled in a raid on UCP headquarters in New York City, in which he was arrested and charged with having committed the crime of criminal anarchy under New York state law. Following his release on bail, Amter threw himself into unemployment work, launching a small newspaper called Jobless and agitating on street corners to crowds of passersby.
Meetings of the Unemployment Council of New York were held at which the slogan "Fight and Live! Work or Compensation!" was advanced and an organizational agenda calling for unemployment relief, employment through public works, and the establishment of subsidized low-cost housing was cobbled together. The group attempted to expand at the local level through the establishment of neighborhood units called "Councils of Action." A national organization was envisioned, to be known as the Worker's Unemployed Council of America.
The Harding administration was moved to action on the issue by Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, who drew up the blueprint for a President's Conference on Unemployment, which brought together leaders of industry and labor to further discuss the issue. The conference envisioned a city-based solution to the problem. By the end of 1921 some 209 localities had established Mayor's Committees on Unemployment to deal with the issue locally, making use of voluntarism.
This activity proved to be largely inadequate to the scope of the problem, with some minor progress made in some localities establishing emergency housing or setting up local employment bureaus to aid in matching up unemployed workers with prospective employers. These efforts did also undercut the radical New York movement as well, with the Communist-backed Unemployment Council of New York rapidly running out of organizational energy.