Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring

The Workmen’s Circle (Arbeiter Ring), founded in 1892, became a national order in 1900. It was established as a social and cultural Jewish labor fraternal order. Its purpose was to provide members with mutual aid and health and death benefits and to support the labor and socialist movements of the world. Historically, the Workmen’s Circle was closely tied to Jewish unions, the Yiddish labor press, and the Socialist Party. The Circle was highly dedicated to raising the education levels of members and bringing social change in America. Workmen’s Circle functions provided a place for Jewish radicals of different ideals to mingle.

In its early years, the Workmen’s Circle remained true to its radical origins by building radical ideals into membership requirements. Prospective members had to belong to a union and to vote only for working-class parties. One branch was dissolved because its members were thought to be too religious.

The Workmen’s Circle, dedicated to the promotion of progressive Yiddish culture, established a wide array of cultural activities including the publication of books, adult education and singing and drama clubs. It also promoted Jewish education for young people by opening afternoon schools for Jewish children in 1916. In addition, the Workmen’s Circle established homes for the aged, camps, Yiddish theater clubs, and several choirs.

The first convention of the Workmen’s Circle took place on March 29-30, 1901, in New York City. With increased Jewish immigration to the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century, the Workmen’s Circle became ever increasingly popular. In 1905 membership was at 6,776. Just eight years later membership rose to 45,666. Peak membership was reached in 1925 with 87,000 members. Such a high increase is partially explained by the growing number of Jews on the political left and a lack of major competing organizations in the field. Membership began dropping after 1929 to approximately 55,000 in 1978. Despite beginning as a working-class organization, more and more of the Circle’s members were middle class. The average member age also rose dramatically from 28.7 in 1909 to 55.4 in 1970. Along with changes in membership, the focus of the Circle changed from dominating ideological concerns to Jewish cultural activities.

Two enduring activities of the Workmen’s Circle were education and the Folksbiene. The Folksbiene was a theater group organized in 1915 and still performs Yiddish theater in New York City. The educational system of the Workmen’s Circle was designed to “teach children to read, write, and speak Yiddish; to acquaint them with Yiddish literature; to acquaint them with the history of the Jewish people; to cultivate in them a feeling for social justice; and to develop their aesthetic abilities.” By 1950, the Arbeiter Ring taught approximately 38,000 students.

More recently, the Workmen’s Circle describes itself as a “progressive-liberal organization committed to advancing democratic frontiers, eliminating poverty, strengthening civil rights, promoting universal health care and opposing bigotry, tyranny and totalitarianism.”