The hope of our people organizing for our economic and social well-being survives among a significant number of us. Even so, too few of us are familiar with the stories of our social organization. I am not going to recount the aims, ways, means, and hopes in those stories here. To many, our story is less interesting than history. Here I will try to point to where some of the hope lies.
That hope diminished when trade unionists failed to teach their children the how and why of every day organization. They taught them much to little of the how of social organization and much to little of the why of responsibility for self-governance. Then a majority of parents abdicated their responsibility for the nature of their children's educational institutions and the very nature of their education. Then their children failed their own children. Soon our schools became the schools then lost in mental mists of they, their, and them. Parents taught less citizen ship skills and civic organization and schools failed to teach those skills and that organization. Where did we learn the skills and powers of citizenship? Somehow, some, found some way, to some of those skills and powers. But it has not been enough to keep a democratic republic strong and bright among enough of us.
Union members learned some of the skills and practices of organization, but were taught little and did taught one another little of how to use our Constitution and our democracy. Some began to see citizenship as sort of gift and right to certain privliges. They began to fail to see it as an opportunity to practice self-governance. Many, to this day, have a very limited understating of our history of governance. We learned very little of how enough of our earliest citizens learned and taught themselves goernance. I believe "committees of corespondece" is still taught in high schools. Those committies were organized by citizens to coordinate their self-governance. Some say that those committies the Post Office of the United States of America.
I seem to have begun this piece with unions and public schools somewhere near my conscious mind. They are a part of our story of organization. We once particiated in the ongoing organization of them both. The idea of the union of ordinary people in what some have called unionism has been important to participating union members and more. I did not intend those participants our main focus. Still some of their activities provide us useful examples of effective democratic organization in a republic. My intention is to include us all in a hopeful story of our ongoing organiztion for self-governance.
However, I am old enough to have been able to hear the talk of of pre WWII union men, many of whom in those days had not completed high school, but somehow had learned of self-governance. They spoke with some satisfaction of how theyhad read a bit and had taught one another some philosophy, democracy, law, government, citizenship, history,and more.
A significant number of what were call working men had taken on a significant amount of responsibity for governing themselves and their government on many levels. They did so in the understanding that they were the most knowledgable of their intersests and the most responsible for taking care of those interests. There learning was incomeplete, but they were leaning to care for their families, neighborhoods, work places, and felt their resposibility extended far to their town, city, county, state, but to little beyond the country. But they were showing up at meetings, practicing organization, and learning governance.
Among a few of our surviving unions and some new ones is archived informatio about active citizenship, organizing, and more. thatinformation can be tapped. Some union members in a few unions offer useful examples of doing effectiveactive citizenship, organizing, active democracy which is available. I will add that in some union activities have beed some very bad examples inccluding the illegal and unjust.
After the Second World War there was some disorganization including a decline in citizen organization. Many men and women became less active in their clubs. Their were many, many clubs, but fewer citizens were becoming members. Most of those clubs had been, in some part, a source of civic education and practice, and did much good. Many club members had done a better job of educating one another about the useful politics of the land than had many union members.
Aspects of knowledge of effective citizenship seem to have been misplaced. There was less knowledge of of the use of popular governance, of democratic organizing, and of active organizing. It may seem that way to you. Stil some clubs have archived useful informatiob about effective active citizenship. Both clubs and unions have a fiund of political and social histories, organizing tactics, civic organization, political science, social movements, and more. There is information and knowledge available.
So, we might have less excuse for our ignorance than we have believed. I can repeat, there is much online dealing with topics like active citizenship, self governance, and organizing, including grassroots organizating. You may be pleasantly surprised at what can still be found at a public library. I am sure that friends and family may be surprised at the amount of their own memories of related topics.
Community colleges, universities and other institutions have much to offer about effective citizenship and active democracy. They may have some members who will say that the only democracy is active democracy. They have instructive stories about effective social movements, including those with long lasting positive effects. University people have done some useful work in modernizing and updating some of our governance wisdom. Sometimes it takes a bit of doing and effort to get to to information which seems useful to us here and now. That may be partially do to the nature of our seeming. As always we are each the captain of our own learning. You are yiur best guide to your effective citizenship. You own a will to adapt, learn, and show up.
An area of agreement among most thought persons centers on the fact that the more citizen activity there is the greater the existance of democracy there is. The fewer the active citizen the less democracy. You may find that fewer agree to this: The less learned the citizen the less usefully effective the democracy. However that may be, I have found that experience can be a darn good teacher, especially to one who is observant. I believe that as we practice citizenship, our chancesof being a positively effective citizens improves.
So, what this come down to is showing up and observing and so learning for yourself through your own experience. That seems right. Also there is a world of the experience of others from which you can learn.
Thank you for reading and congratulations.
RCS
I could also use some help. I need someone who will proof read these writings. I no longer even have a spellcheck app to correct my spelling errors. The "comments" app has disappeared and so you can't help me directly from that app here. At History With RCS you can find a "comments" app just below each post. There you can tell me about my spelling errors, other errors, and make comments. For better responses it it is best to write at the top of your comment, that it relates to a certain post on our governance site and then include the exact name of the post referred to. You may find at the comments app that it says "no comments." click on it anyway.