Robert M. Zecker
St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada
Email: rzecker@stfx.ca
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Abstract:
U.S. Communists charged that public-school culture was “a potent instrument in the hands of the bourgeoisie to enslave the toiling masses.” In response, leftists created Workers Schools, counter-beacons to “clarify their minds, …elevate them to the dignity of builders of a new society.” Beginning in 1923, Communist Workers Schools offered courses “to equip the workers with the knowledge and understanding of Marxism-Leninism” so that worker-students could engage in “militant struggle.” In the 1940s schools adjusted to the Popular Front, but New York’s Jefferson School and Chicago’s Lincoln School continued offering courses in Marxism even as they offered a progressive narrative of the United States, delivering some of the first courses in African American history and the history of anti-colonial struggles, championing a revolutionary form of adult education for “workers of hand and brain.” Schools also provided access to literature, arts, and other humanities courses in a progressive milieu.
Citation information
URL: http://www.jceps.com/23-03-01
Author: Robert M. Zecker
Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies
Volume 23, Number 3
ISSN 1740-2743