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5 unusual facts about New York Workers School


Jefferson School of Social Science

Unlike its predecessor, the New York Workers School, the Jefferson School was not focused upon the recruitment and training of new party members but was rather conceived as tool for more broad outreach into the community.

The so-called "Jeff School" was launched in 1944 as a successor to the party's New York Workers School, albeit skewed more towards community outreach and education rather than the training of party functionaries and activists, as had been the primary mission of its predecessor.

New York Workers School

At the end of 1921 a decision was made by key party leaders, approved and driven ahead by the Communist International, for the Communist Party of America (CPA) to emerge from its underground existence of secret meetings and pseudonyms and to attempt to re-establish itself as a public organization known as the Workers Party of America (WPA).

Among those serving on the school's advisory council were labor historian David Saposs, former Industrial Workers of the World organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and left wing novelists Floyd Dell and John Dos Passos.

This effort was met with success, as a majority of the Finnish Socialist Federation, the Workers Council group, and others previously opposed to underground political activity flocked to the new organization.



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