A Fraternal Organization Sentenced to Death! The Strange Case of the International Workers Orders Now Before the U.S. Supreme Court
- Description:
- Brochure designed to explain the history and purpose of the IWO in the face of its impending dissolution as a mutual aid fraternal order by the State of New York. Urges readers to support the interracial IWO on the eve of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether an insurance organization with strong fiscal reserves should be dissolved due to its political stances and be determined a fiscal "hazard." Notes the harm caused to policyholders, to civil liberties and labor. "The atmosphere of the Cold War with its loyalty oaths,subversive lists, attacks upon the labor movement, Taft-Hartley Law, political persecutions, trials and jail for unpopular or unorthodox political opinions, the McCarran Acts, deportations, all these contribute to a political climate in which the traditional safeguards of constitutional rights are attacked and undermined and the right of free association trampled upon. The IWO is a victim of a McCarthy-like attempt to make cheap political capital out of destruction of a law-abiding people's organization...The victims would be thousands of policyholders and their families threatened with loss of their lifelong insurance benefits-the elderly, infirm, and uninsurable men and women to whom IWO membership provided a measure of security.."
- Date:
- 1953
- Copyright:
- The copyright status and copyright owners of most of the images in the International Workers Order (IWO) Records Collection (Kheel Center #5276) are unknown. This material was digitized from physical holdings by Cornell University Library in 2016, with funding from an Arts and Sciences Grant to Jonathan Boyarin. Documents include language and representations which comprise the historical record and should not be interpreted to mean that Cornell University or its staff endorse or approve of negative representations or stereotypes presented. Cornell is providing access to the materials as a digital aggregate under an assertion of fair use for non-commercial educational use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Cornell would like to learn more about items in the collection and to hear from individuals or institutions that have any additional information as to rights holders. Please contact the Kheel Center at kheel_center@cornell.edu
- Creator:
- International Workers Order Policyholders Protective Committee
- File Name:
- 5276b16f13_19
- Identifier:
- International Workers Order (IWO) Records #5276, Box 16, Folder 13
- Repository:
- Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University