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'The '''National Labor Federation''' ('''NATLFED''') is a network of local community associations, run exclusively by [[volunteer]]s, that claim to [[organising model|organize]] workers excluded from collective bargaining protections by U.S. labor law. Specifically, under the [[National Labor Relations Act]] of 1935. Although the groups affiliated with NATLFED have denied having a political affiliation,<ref name=Moran>Moran, Kevin and Carrie Saldo. "[http://www.religionnewsblog.com/1878/past-cult-link-dogs-aid-for-poor-group Past cult link dogs aid-for-poor group]". ''Williams Record'' (Williamston, MA). October 3, 1995.</ref><ref name=Whitnack /> NATLFED is described by some former participants as a front for an organization called the [[Provisional Communist Party]] of the United States,<ref name=FBI>[https://archive.org/details/FBI_file_100_486889 FBI file 10-486889 on the National Labor Federation]</ref><ref name=Kifner /><ref name=Nickerson>Nickerson, Colin. "[http://web.archive.org/web/20030221023747/http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/articles/bostonan.html Boston Antipoverty Group Linked to a Radical Wing of Communists]" ''Boston Globe.'' 1984-03-01</ref> who have, in the past, advocated for an armed overthrow of the government.<ref name=FBI>[https://archive.org/details/FBI_file_100_486889 FBI file 10-486889 on the National Labor Federation]</ref> NATLFED consists of several dozen mutual benefit associations and their organizers who conduct [[canvassing]] in working-class neighborhoods and coordinate assistance programs operated by members of the associations.<ref name=Plain>Plain, Robert "[http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061218/NEWS/312189995 JCFC offers heating help for the needy]" ''Mail Tribune'' (Medford, OR) December 18, 2006.</ref> According to literature printed by the groups, these benefit programs entitle members to emergency food, clothing, medical and dental care, legal advice, child care, and job referrals.<ref name=Berliner1>Berliner, Uri. "[http://web.archive.org/web/20031130014832/users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/articles/opinions.html Opinion Sharply Split on Farm Organization]". ''East Hampton Star'' August 28, 1986.</ref> Press accounts of the groups affiliated with NATLFED sometimes praise their social work,<ref name=Bryson>Bryson, George. "Working It; Volunteers try to build an independent organization supporting low-paid employees." ''Anchorage Daily News'' (Anchorage, AK) April 18, 2003.<!-- This article is no longer online. --></ref><ref name=Curci>{{cite web|title=Determined advocacy|publisher=Ashland Daily Tidings| date=2007-03-17|author=Mark A. Curci|accessdate=2007-08-26| url=http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20070313/News/303139999}}</ref><ref name=Bazar>Bazar, Emily. "Migrant workers get refunds on rent charges" ''Sacramento Bee'' August 26, 2004</ref><ref name=Alvarado /><ref name=Melendez>Melendez, Linda. [http://www.theprospector.org/2003/12/wfwa-here-to-win-here-to-stay/ WFWA 'here to win, here to stay']. ''The Prospector (Yuba Community College)''. 2003-11-24.</ref> sometimes raise concerns about their lack of transparency,<ref name=Moran>Moran, Kevin and Carrie Saldo. "[http://www.religionnewsblog.com/1878/past-cult-link-dogs-aid-for-poor-group Past cult link dogs aid-for-poor group]". ''Williams Record'' (Williamston, MA). October 3, 1995.</ref><ref name=Smith /><ref name=Leskovic>Leskovic, Nate. [http://web.archive.org/web/20080411214529/http://www.bostonunderground.info/article.php?id=210&issue=59 Uncovering the Eastern Service Workers Association]. ''The Boston Underground'' Winter 2007/2008.</ref><ref name=Berliner2>Berliner, Uri. "[http://www.culteducation.com/group/1067-national-labor-federation/14806-labor-group-saga-of-a-cult.html Labor Group: Saga of a Cult]". ''East Hampton Star'' September 18, 1986.</ref> and sometimes condemn the organizations for harsh treatment of volunteers.<ref name=Kifner>Kifner, John. "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9400E3DE133AF93BA25752C1A960958260 Its leader dead, fringe group lives on for its own sake]". ''The New York Times''. November 18, 1996.</ref><ref name=Russakoff>Russakoff, Joe. "[http://web.archive.org/web/20031205211852/users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/articles/doorway.html Doorway to a Cult?]" ''City Paper'' (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) June 26 &ndash; July 3, 1987.</ref><ref name=Solomon>Solomon, Alisa. [http://web.archive.org/web/20030815092704/users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/articles/commie.html "Commie Fiends of Brooklyn"], ''The Village Voice'' November 26, 1996</ref> ==Practices and beliefs== ===Strata organizing=== NATLFED pursues a course of organizing based on the view of current membership leadership who form Councils,<ref name=Jones>"[http://www.ashland.or.us/Files/2006-0221_PublicForum.pdf Presentation by Randy Jones, Operations Manager, Jackson County Fuel Committee to the Ashland City Council](2006-02-21) (proposing a moratorium on utility shut-offs.</ref> which contend that since few US workers are still employed in large-scale factory operations, new methods are needed to go beyond historic membership organizing tactics issued from the factory gate.<ref name=Sociology>{{cite book| title=Sociology and the Unrecognized Worker| year=1978| publisher=National Labor Federation | isbn=<!--(none) -->}}</ref> <blockquote>Union workers are kept in separate bargaining units and not permitted to exercise time-honored methods of collective action based on community backing and mutual aid. As a result US workers labor for longer hours under more dangerous conditions for less pay and often without health and pension benefits. A new approach is needed.<ref name=NATLFED08calendar /></blockquote> The organizations in NATLFED direct their efforts toward "unrecognized workers in the United States [who are] so far excluded from the somewhat dubious benefits of the National Labor Relations Act.".<ref name=Sociology /> ''The Essential Organizer'', a manuscript describing the techniques of "systemic organizing", purports to teach participants an approach for unrecognized workers to obtain benefits that are needed and are rightfully theirs in a manner consistent with their best overall interest. At the same time unrecognized workers can materially see the benefits of organization in general as well as how to build their own organizations in specific.<blockquote>The only thing that really makes sense is the local community-based associations that reach unrecognized workers and unite them with current and former union workers, retired workers, local business leaders, professionals and others who share a common concern for the long-term future of our communities.<ref name=NATLFED08calendar >{{cite journal|title=US Workers Struggle (NATLFED 2008 calendar) |publisher=ad hoc Committee to construct NATLFED| location=20 West 20th Street, Second Floor, New York, NY 10011 | date=2007-09-01|author=ad hoc Committee to Construct the National Labor Federation}}</ref></blockquote> A 10-year lawsuit brought by members of Western Farm Workers Association residing in state run migrant camps against the California Office of Migrant Services resulted in a monetary victory for the group of workers who brought suit under the legal guidance and practical organizing participation of Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals to recover illegal rent increases: <blockquote>"Without organization, we could never have gotten money back," said claimant José Rodríguez, a WFWA member in Yuba County and former resident of the Davis Migrant Center in Yolo County. "The State would have taken advantage of us. This is a real victory for farm worker independent organizing efforts." <ref name=Alvarado>Alvarado, Miguel [https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/migrant-farmworkers-win-victory-by-miguel-alvarado/ Migrant Farmworkers Win Victory] ''Znet'' 2004-06-13</ref> </blockquote> ===Recruitment=== NATLFED recruits many of its members and volunteers from college campuses, through voluntary service programs, and by appeal to the larger community through speaking engagements and direct contact. For example, in one meeting of the American Sociological Association, Mark Levine, Western Service Workers Association, explained his view of the dynamics of government policy on [[social stratification]]: <blockquote>[H]e re-directed his PH.D.to service when he discovered U.S. economic policies were mirroring pre-WWII policies in Germany which replaced higher paid workers with lower-paid ones, scapegoating and punishing workers. Levine used extensive volunteer help to enable these workers as an organized voice for change at WSWA functions. They have combated the downward wage effects of enterprise zones, in a deficit-laden California slashing education, health care, child care, and disabled services.<ref>[http://mssrbooks.com/ASArev04.doc Notes by Bruce Russell Sr. on the 2004 American Sociological Association]</ref><!-- notes describing a presentation / giving biographical sketch of Levine. --></blockquote> <blockquote>Shari Beck, a retired school teacher, has been volunteering at WSWA for the past three years. "Everybody who helps out can make things better," Beck said. "I feel like I'm doing something for the community." Beck, who volunteers alongside her husband, believes that by volunteering at WSWA, she has become more aware of things going on in her community. "We wanted to spend time in the community," Beck said.<ref>[http://www.statehornet.com/volunteer-organization-aids-low-income-people-families/article_c2836aa7-a403-550e-ab67-6e6f26c708a2.html Volunteer organization aids low-income people, families]. Jose Martinez. ''State Hornet'' (Sacramento State college paper) 2007-12-12</ref></blockquote> ===Goals and objectives=== Carlotta Woolcock, an organizer for Northwest Seasonal Workers Association, described its goals as "to provide a voice for the poor and working people that is independent from the government and addresses the problems that go along with being poor."<ref name=Curci /> Literature printed by the organization asserts the principle that "every man, woman and child is entitled to adequate and appropriate food, clothing, shelter and medical care as basic human rights." <ref name=NATLFED08calendar /> Woolcock described the ultimate end of giving working people a voice to the ''Ashland Daily Tidings'': <blockquote>"Our goal is to form a worker's plebiscite, giving the workers a real vote. What most people vote for is the lesser of two evils offered them. A real say is stating real needs and having the resources to meet them. There needs to be more of a voice for the working people."<ref name=Curci /></blockquote> ==History== ===Origins=== The organization grew out of the Eastern Farm Workers Association in [[Suffolk County, New York]], founded in 1972 by [[Gino Perente]] and others. Perente had worked at the New York office of the [[United Farm Workers|United Farm Workers Organizing Committee]] in 1971 or 1972 and, according to [[Dolores Huerta]], "...created a lot of problems for the union, attacking us in the press. Then he went off and formed his own group...."<ref name=Russakoff /> Perente and his followers headed to migrant labor camps in rural [[Long Island, New York]] from an office in [[Bellport, New York]] in 1972 to organize agricultural workers. The EFWA received press attention in its early days attempting to organize farm workers at the I.M. Young company. Perente organized 800 farm workers with 30 full-time EFWA staff and 70 volunteers in December 1972, when the EFWA led a strike of potato workers.<ref name=Andelman>Andelman, David A. "[http://web.archive.org/web/20031219175713/users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/articles/limigran.html L. I. Farm Workers, Backed by Union, Fighting Eviction]" ''New York Times'' December 19, 1972.</ref> This was the first [[trade union|union]] of agricultural workers on the East Coast; nonetheless, the U.S. [[United States Department of Labor|Department of Labor]] determined that EFWA was not a labor organization as defined by federal law. The 1972 [[strike action|strike]] against the potato grower I.M. Young and Company remains a central part of the volunteer [[training]] process.<ref name=Bryson /> There is little further information about the early years of the EFWA. Perente was by all accounts a [[charismatic leader|charismatic personality]]. He inspired volunteers with revolutionary positions and established discipline among the organizing drive's volunteers. Later accounts identified him as Gerald William Doeden, a former [[disc jockey]] from California with a less-than-pure reputation.<ref name=Whitnack>Whitnack, Jeff, [http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v04n3-4/Cadre_or_Cult_1.html Gino Perente, NATLFED & the Provisional Party] ''Public Eye'', 1984, Vol. 4, Nos. 3-4.</ref><ref name="Kifner"/><ref name=Hermann>[http://www.scribd.com/doc/2931846/USA-v-Reid-85CR2601-NCM-Government-Affidavits-001 Affidavit of FBI Agent Neil Hermann] February 16, 1984</ref> ===Growth=== In the mid-1970s, Perente removed himself from public view, but he encouraged his followers to expand the scope of the initial organizing drives in Sacramento and Long Island. He established an office in Brooklyn to direct the growing network he called the National Labor Federation (NATLFED), and refined an elaborate system to train and ensure the loyalty of volunteers by founding the [[Provisional Communist Party]], a secret society of Perente's cohorts. Perente gave lectures, often running late into the night offering idiosyncratic interpretations of the writings of [[Karl Marx]], [[Vladimir Lenin]], and [[Joseph Stalin]] to audiences at the NATLFED office.<ref name=Kifner /><ref name=Tourish/> Perente's movement used its core of volunteers to expand, sending recruiters to other cities and towns, starting about twenty mutual benefit associations and perhaps as many related support organizations by the late 1970s. The new organizing drives were built closely after the model of the EFWA, using their 1973 organizational handbook, ''The Essential Organizer''. The entities are managed by full-time volunteers, called [[Professional revolutionaries|cadre]], many of whom have dedicated their lives to the movement. In 1973, the California Homemakers Association pressured Sacramento County and won wage increases for attendant care workers.<ref name=Erlich /> Subsequently the county agreed to bargain with CHA over the terms of individual contracts with its home care workers. CHA organizer David Shapiro hailed the agreement as "the first time that household workers have achieved the right to bargain."<ref name=Bee>{{cite news| author=(No Byline)| publisher=Sacramento Bee| title=Welfare homemakers win right to bargain| date=1974-03-11}}</ref> ===NATLFED entities=== {{main | List of NATLFED entities}} NATLFED operates about thirty offices, called entities around the US, with concentrations in California and the Northeast. The Eastern Farm Workers Association (now in [[Bellport, New York]] and [[Syracuse, New York]]) and California Homemakers Association (in Sacramento, California) were founded in the early seventies, and were followed by Eastern Service Workers Association, Western Service Workers Association, the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party in [[Oakland, California]], Western Massachusetts Labor Action in [[Pittsfield, Massachusetts]], Western Farm Workers Association in [[Stockton, California]], [[Yuba City, California]], and [[Hillsboro, Oregon]], Friends of Seasonal and Service Workers in [[Portland, Oregon]] and Northwest Seasonal Workers Association in [[Medford, Oregon]]. Since Perente's death, several new entities have opened, including Midwest Workers Association in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], Alaska Workers Association in [[Anchorage, Alaska]],<ref name=Bryson /> and Mid-Ohio Workers Association in [[Columbus, Ohio]]. ===Public scrutiny and controversy=== The NATLFED groups have kept a low profile, operating with little public attention for ten years, and journalists writing about the various groups have both praised and condemned the organizing drives. In the early 1980s several journalists wrote highly critical articles about several groups in the federation. One such article, written for the ''[[The Christian Century|Christian Century]]'' magazine, described changes in the leadership of the Commission on Voluntary Service and Action (CVSA).<ref name=Lyles>Lyles, Jean Caffey. "[http://web.archive.org/web/20031229120654/users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/articles/howthere.html How the Revolutionaries Conned the Bureaucrats]". ''The Christian Century''. July 20 &ndash; 27, 1983.</ref> Originally a church-affiliated nonprofit organization, the CVSA had annually printed a catalog of volunteer opportunities called ''Invest Yourself: a Catalog of Volunteer Opportunities'' since 1946. A number of full-time NATLFED organizers had taken leadership positions within CVSA's board. In the early 1980s, when CVSA was struggling financially, NATLFED took responsibility and control of its operations, leaving some of the church leadership bitter.<ref name=Fager>Fager, Chuck. "[http://web.archive.org/web/20031205212712/users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/articles/edgerite.html The Edge of Right]" ''City Paper'' (Philadelphia, PA) October 22, 1983 &ndash; November 7, 1983.</ref> As many as 50 NATLFED entities were listed among about 200 service organizations in the catalog during the 1980s and 1990s. This number has slowly dropped since then; fewer than ten NATLFED entities were listed in the 2004 edition. [[Image:Invest Yourself 1999 cover.jpg|thumb|right|''Invest Yourself:A Catalog of Volunteer Opportunities'', edited by Susan G. Angus, is among the publications affiliated with NATLFED.]] The political investigative magazine ''[[The Public Eye]]'' published two articles about NATLFED. The first, by Harvey Kahn in 1977<ref name=Kahn>Kahn, Harvey, [http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v01n1/NCLC_Kahn.html NCLC and its extended political community] ''Public Eye'', 1977, Vol. 1, No. 1</ref> alleged an obscure but friendly relationship between Perente's NATLFED and [[Lyndon LaRouche]]'s [[National Caucus of Labor Committees]]. Tourish and Wohlforth report a similarly tenuous but longer-lived alliance between NATLFED and [[Fred Newman (philosopher)|Fred Newman]]'s new [[International Workers Party]] in the mid-70s. Perente became head of the IWP-organized Nationwide Unemployment League, and soon after dissolved it.<ref name=Tourish>{{cite book| last=Tourish| first=Dennis| author2=Tim Wohlforth| title=[[On the Edge (book)|On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left]]|publisher=M. E. Sharpe| year=2000| isbn=0-7656-0639-9}} Chapter 12, "The Many Faces of Gino Perente"</ref> ''The Public Eye'' published a longer [[exposé (journalism)|exposé]] by former volunteer Jeff Whitnack in 1984 in which Whitnack identified Perente as Doeden and interviewed some of Doeden's friends in California. Whitnack concluded that the whole operation was a scam punctuated with drama and hints of violence.<ref name=Whitnack /> The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] raided a law office and the NOC headquarters at 1107 Carroll Street in [[Crown Heights, Brooklyn|Crown Heights]], Brooklyn on February 17, 1984 on tips that they "...had planned a series of violent acts..."<ref name=Hermann /><ref name=Rosenfeld>Rosenfeld, Neil S. et al. "[http://web.archive.org/web/20031219174851/users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/articles/grouprai.html Group Raided By FBI Called Harmless Cult]". ''Newsday''. February 19, 1984.</ref> Kit Decious, Kathleen Paolo, and Daniel P. Foster, three other lawyers among the organization's cadre, were convicted of felony [[larceny]] and possession of forged documents relating to the 1984 departure of Mia Prior, a member of ten years; they were [[disbar]]red in New York following their convictions in the 1980s.<ref>[http://wings.buffalo.edu/law/bclc/web/nyfoster.htm Decision of Judge Watchler in People vs. Foster and Paolo]. Court of Appeals of New York, 73 N.Y.2d 596 (1989)</ref> Paolo's conviction was overturned on appeal. The [[New York City Police Department]] raided the NOC again on November 11, 1996, on an anonymous complaint that children were being abused in the office.<ref name=Hamblett /> The police seized 49 antique [[firearms]] and $42,000 in cash, and arrested 35 people.<ref name=Kifner /><ref name=Jones>Jones, Charisse. "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E2DC1F3BF937A25752C1A960958260 Grand jury seeks reason behind a group's arsenal]". ''The New York Times''. November 14, 1996.</ref><ref name=CNN>{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9611/13/city.militia/ | title=Communist weapons cache uncovered in Brooklyn | author=Peg Tyre| publisher=CNN.com | date=1996-11-13|accessdate=2007-08-29}} (online news story with photographs taken at time of 1996 raid)</ref> Newspapers around the country briefly ran columns about the group. Two of the organizers, Susan Angus and Diane Garrett, were initially convicted of [[misdemeanor]] possession of weapons, but the appeals court overturned the convictions because the search was improperly conducted without a warrant.<ref name=Hamblett>Hamblett, Mark. "Emergency Exception Held No Basis for Search". ''New York Law Journal''. January 5, 1999.</ref> No evidence of child abuse was ever produced, and the press coverage died down rapidly. Shortly after the 1996 raid in New York, an anonymously created website appeared by "an informal network of people" who were "frightened for the current members who are our children, siblings, former friends, and coworkers." This website condemned NATLFED, but also archived many news articles and other stories about them. The site, http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed, disappeared from its original host in 2004 and is mirrored on the [[Internet Archive#Wayback Machine|Wayback machine]]: [http://web.archive.org/web/20031127072003/http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/ http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/] In 2016 former cadre Sonja Larsen's memoir "Red Star Tattoo- My Life as a Girl Revolutionary" was published by Random House Canada. The book details her time growing up in field offices and moving to the organization's Brooklyn headquarters as a teenager in the 1980's. Larsen writes about her relationship with Gino Perente/Gerald Dodein and the emotional, physical and sexual abuse of women which she witnessed while living at the safe house around the time of the organization's revolutionary 'countdown.' <ref>https://www.amazon.com/Red-Star-Tattoo-Life-Revolutionary/dp/0345815270</ref> ===Recent activities=== Since Perente's death in 1995, and the raid on their headquarters in 1996, there has been little information about how NATLFED is run, although Margaret Ribar is reported to have assumed leadership.<ref name=Solomon>Solomon, Alisa. "[http://www.culteducation.com/group/1067-national-labor-federation/14786-commie-fiends-of-brooklyn.html Commie Fiends of Brooklyn]". ''The Village Voice'' November 26, 1996</ref> The Eastern Service Workers Association (ESWA) operates on numerous college and university campuses in the Northeast, quietly recruiting student volunteers through the service-learning offices available to all students. The ESWA is thriving in [[Boston, Massachusetts]] and [[Rochester, New York]] with assistance from several local churches and businesses who may or may not be aware of the group's practices or connection to NATLFED.<ref name=DailyRecord>"[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4180/is_20050414/ai_n13608155 Eastern Service Workers Association celebrates planned construction of building]" ''Daily Record'' (Rochester, NY) April 14, 2005.</ref><ref name = Rochester>Benjamin, Cynthia. "[http://www.oralhealthtac.org/files/article1.pdf Dental care is luxury for many locals]" ''Rochester Democrat and Chronicle'' (Rochester, NY) October 2, 2004.</ref> The Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals filed a class-action lawsuit against the State of California on behalf of migrant farm workers who worked in state-run camps in 1996 and 1997. In 2004, they won the case.<ref name=Alvarado /> West-coast entities participated in demonstrations against [[Euthanasia|physician assisted suicide]] in 2005.<ref name=McCoy>{{cite web|author=James McCoy| url=http://sdnewsnotes.com/ed/articles/1999/0699jm2.htm|title=Who They'll Kill First San Diego Workers Group Understands The Enemy |publisher=San Diego News Notes| date=June 1999|accessdate=2007-09-12}}</ref> In 2006, the Jackson County Fuel Committee petitioned the Ashland City Council to halt utility cut-offs<ref name=Jones /> and distributes 30-40 cords of firewood each year to people in Jackson county.<ref name=Plain /> ==Operational patterns== It is difficult to get information about NATLFED and its entities because the organization is institutionally [[secret society|secretive]]. An internal memo quoted in the ''East Bay Express'' in 1984 gave the following instructions on withholding information from outsiders: <blockquote> We regard outside inquiry from a position of distrust.... Never ask to know more than you need to know if you agree with the goals and strategy of the group. It's unfair to burden a comrade with unneeded information, and also unprofessional. The standard answer to any question you have not been instructed to answer is 'It's not my department.'<ref name=Rauber>Rauber, Paul [http://web.archive.org/web/20030221013152/http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/articles/shadowpo.html Shadow Politics] ''East Bay Express'' May 18, 1984.</ref></blockquote> At times entity operations managers have been directed not to give [[interviews]] to reporters;<ref name=Rauber /> other times managers insisted that reporters volunteer with the organization to get a story on it;<ref name=Berliner1 /> other times volunteers gave reporters a runaround.<ref name=Berliner2 /><ref name=Enriquez /> Most NATLFED entities produce regular newspapers to inform supporters and volunteers, and to generate revenue from advertising. The Women's Press Collective, for example, prints the magazine ''Collective Endeavor'' about media reform and topics concerning women, and the CCLP and CCMP each publish the quarterly newsletters, ''The Gavel'' and ''The Verdict''. ===Mutual benefit associations=== New entities are started by recruiters from the cadre armed with lists of contacts. These recruiters approach community and business leaders with their mission statement and ask for support to help with the founding of the entity. An organizing committee is created that includes community leaders willing to at least lend their names to the new effort, and the recruiters solicit donated office space until they can purchase an office.<ref name=Bryson /> [[Image:ESWA Boston storefront.jpg|thumb|right|Storefront of the Eastern Service Workers Association in the [[Roxbury, Massachusetts|Roxbury]] neighborhood of Boston in July 2007.]] The entities establish a program which provides services to members free of charge and soon start door-to-door campaigns to recruit volunteers and recruit low-income workers.<ref name=Bryson /><ref>{{cite book| title=Essential Organizer| year=1973 |author=Mary Seeber and Polly Gardner| isbn=<!--(none)-->}} Section on benefits and membership.</ref> Available resources and the scope of the program vary from entity to entity, but usually include food, clothing, and holiday events for children. Some entities provide more involved services for members such as medical, legal, and dental services for volunteers and low-income members. Critics of the organizations contend that the 11-point benefit program promises far more than the entities can deliver. Supporters use criticisms of the paucity of resources to motivate volunteers to take action to expand these resources.<ref name=Rauber /> Critics and supporters of the organizations agree that some of the food, clothing and other goods collected for the poor is consumed by the cadre.<ref name=Berliner2 /> Critics and some former members have claimed that the entities are highly inefficient—that the cadre consume much of the cash, food and clothing they purport to collect for the poor.<ref name=Enriquez /> Volunteers for the entities' canvass poor residential areas to recruit low income members, knocking on doors and delivering a door-to-door pitch. This pitch includes a brief explanation of organization, promises benefits, and asks for participation. Poor members are asked to contribute 62 US cents a month as membership dues, an amount said to be the average hourly pay for potato workers at I. M. Young and Company in 1972. New members also sign an authorization form giving the association a vague authority to bargain on behalf of the member.<ref name=Berliner1 /><ref name=Erlich>{{cite journal| title=California Homemakers: The Domestic Workers Rebel| journal=The Nation|date=1974-09-28| author=John Erlich}}</ref><ref name=deBourbon>de Bourbon, Lisi. [http://www.culteducation.com/reference/natlfed/natlfed20.html Western Mass. Labor Action: Its Veneer of Good Masks a Hidden Agenda]. ''The Williams Record''. October 3, 1995</ref> The groups also solicit resources (funds, food, clothing, medical services and legal aid) from professionals, business owners, and volunteers willing to contribute to the cause. ===Cadre recruitment=== Perhaps the most noticeable feature of the NATLFED entities is their aggressive recruitment of new cadre from the ranks of volunteers who participate. The NATLFED entities send speakers to churches, residential neighborhoods, shopping centers, university campuses, music festivals, and other venues introducing themselves and soliciting volunteers and resources.<ref name=Schwenk>{{cite web| author=Phillip Schwenk |url=http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/1991/10/29/Archive/Forum.On.Labor.Rights.Poorly.Attended-2184174.shtml |title=Forum on labor rights poorly attended| publisher=The Daily Pennsylvanian| date=1991-10-29}}</ref> At these events, organizers will read a brief introduction to the organization to new volunteers and try to schedule visits to their office and participation in volunteer run activities. For recruitment purposes, NATLFED entities keep extensive records of all their contacts on [[index card]]s.<ref name=Kahn /> Drawers of these cards contain detailed information about any sort of contact the group has with volunteers, members, donors, and other supporters. Whitnack has claimed that this elaborate paperwork is unnecessary, inefficient, and intended to exhaust the volunteers, in order to keep them in a suggestible state.<ref name=Whitnack /> NATLFED also has an elaborate system for persuading volunteers to further the organization's goals by becoming roles of authority themselves, and the social pressure they apply convinces some volunteers to de-emphasize goals of their own. Regular volunteers are periodically interviewed and asked to increase their commitment to the organization.<ref name=Rauber /> Former members claim that deception and [[psychological manipulation]] mix with the sensation some new recruits experience of an intellectual awakening as stories of past labor struggles explain the underside of U.S. history, and classes in [[Dialectical Materialism]] provide a coherent, if stilted, world view. The commitment of NATLFED converts is solidified by the emotional impact of working to exhaustion surrounded by others who constantly reinforce the groups message and beliefs. Critics deride NATLFED's focus on the indigent, claiming that it is merely cover for more sinister activity. Jeff Whitnack told the ''Boston Globe'' that "They are like political [[Moonies]]. They use poor people as flypaper to attract members."<ref name=Nickerson >Nickerson, Colin. "[http://web.archive.org/web/20030221023747/http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/articles/bostonan.html Boston Antipoverty Group Linked to a Radical Wing of Communists]" ''The Boston Globe'' March 1, 1984.</ref> ==Cult accusations== NATLFED and its entities are often labeled as a [[cult]], are listed on [[anti-cult movement|cult watch]] websites, and have been described as a cult by various journalists.<ref name=Moran /><ref name=Smith>"[http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-12-09/news/charitable-front/ "Charitable Front]," Matthew Smith, SF Weekly, Dec. 9, 2009</ref> NATLFED supporters and organizers contest the label as loaded and misleading. In his 1984 Public Eye article,<ref name=Whitnack>Whitnack, Jeff. "[http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v04n3-4/Cadre_or_Cult_1.html Cadre or Cult?]". ''Public Eye''. 1984.</ref> investigator Jeff Whitnack argues that the narrow and paranoid ideology of the cadre, the long working hours which sever volunteer's connections to the outside world, and the deliberate schedule of mind-numbing work are all qualities that can be found in a cult. In Larsen's memoir "Red Star Tattoo- My Life as a Girl Revolutionary" she also eventually categorizes the organization as cult-like. "The sense of urgency. The time table. The secret language. The mythical elements. The sexual control. The lack of sleep. The control, internal and external, over thought and movement. The denial of self. There was a checklist, and I made a mark by nearly every line." <ref>https://www.amazon.com/Red-Star-Tattoo-Life-Revolutionary/dp/0345815270</ref> ==Governance and financial questions== In their publications, the individual entities and affiliate organizations, such as CCLP, describe themselves as independent, locally chartered membership associations. The organizations claim to accept only those private donations that come "with no strings attached," and claim to be answerable only to their organizing committee and to their membership. <blockquote>CCLP is not subject to the whims of constantly changing Congressional and Presidential administrations. Because CCLP does not receive federal funds, it can organize without being subject to arbitrary restrictions on representation, audits of client files, unpredictable fluctuations in income, and general harassment from LSC nd OIG bureaucrats, all of which are the plight of an LSC-funded attorney in the 21st century. Unfortunately, the over 30-year history of the LSC shows that these conditions are likely to continue for the foreseable future. CCLP does not focus merely on individual representation or the issue-oriented litigation which others rely on to gain backing.<ref name=Verdict0704>{{cite journal| title=Verdict| date=April 2007| publisher=National Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals| location=The Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway, Suite 1807, New York, NY 10279| author=James L. Kaller, Esq.}}</ref></blockquote> The individual organizations are not themselves labor unions.<ref name=Bryson /><ref name=Tourish /><ref name=Enriquez>Enriquez, Alberto. "[http://freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/n/natlfed/enriquez/ Service Groups with Sinister Ties]" ''Mail Tribune'' (Medford, OR) 12/1996</ref> The various entities identify themselves with the labor movement for the purpose of attracting volunteers and supporters, but when describing their organization make it clear that they do not advocate the formation of [[trade union]]s per se, calling themselves "labor organizations of a new type." ==Conclusions differ== The various organizations in the NATLFED network have nearly identical rhetoric and training procedures, though they are spread out in many cities. Many of their donors and supporters speak up in defense of the services they provide for their communities. Former NATLFED cadre Robin Spellman-Fahlberg, who was an operations manager with Upstate NY EFWA for a decade, said in 2004 that in addition to helping in the most disenfranchised communities, <blockquote> There is also a hidden, for want of a better description, evil, side of NATLFED. When I was there, and from what I've heard continues to be the case, there were manipulative people in powerful positions. Full-timers were subjected to an increasingly severe mental abuse and subjugation.... They felt the only way to help poor people was through Natlfed, that there was no possible success for them after leaving, and/or they were subject to physical threats if they did.<ref name=BostonIMC>Boston IMC discussion: [http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/21362/index.php Watch out--Stalinist cult in Roxbury!]</ref> </blockquote> Other entity Operations personnel share an entirely different experience while organizing,<blockquote>Carol Rogers is the Administrative Assistant at EFWA. She is originally from Western Massachusetts, and was met on a door-to-door membership canvass in 1998 by volunteers with Western Massachusetts Labor Action, a sister effort of EFWA. In 1999 Carol became a full-time volunteer with Western Massachusetts Labor Action. In 2004 she came to Syracuse to work with EFWA. She told her story recounting, “I was met on a canvass, people going door to door and explaining the condition farm workers are living in. I learned that I could donate my time and really help people. They seemed different from other organizations. The cost for joining the organization was $.62 per month. I became a part-time volunteer even though I did not have transportation. A young man came every morning. I got trained. I learned how to type. I learned how to work on a computer. Then they asked me if I wanted to be a full- time volunteer, and I asked what is that? They said 24/7. I said okay because I was bored at home. I knew with this organization I would never be bored. We are always doing something, going places, have speaking engagements, we are always busy.”<ref>[http://www.wtb.org/events/may07.doc Statement of Carol Rogers] to the Women Transcending Boundaries group, 2007-05-20 <!-- contains autobiographical statement and the included quote. --></ref></blockquote> The balance of benefit to the community and toll on the volunteers, between the assistance they claim to provide and the actual assistance provided to the [[working poor]], and the secrecy surrounding entity finances and operations, continue to make discussions about the NATLFED groups contentious. ==See also== *[[List of NATLFED entities]] *[[Provisional Communist Party]] *[[Gino Perente]] ==References== <references/> == External links == * Archive of 1996 anti-NATLFED site: [http://web.archive.org/web/20030806233602/users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/ Cached xnatlfed] <!-- * 2006 anti-NATLFED site (in blog format): [http://politicalcults.blogspot.com/ Politicalcults.blogspot.com] DEAD --> * [http://www.culteducation.com/group/1067-national-labor-federation Cult Education Institute] collection * [https://archive.org/details/FBI_file_100_486889 FBI file 100-486-889] on NATLFED/EFWA/ESWA/Provisional Communist Party * [http://eswaboston.org/ ESWAboston.org] <!--categories--> [[Category:Political organizations in the United States]] [[Category:Front organizations]] [[Category:National Labor Federation]]'