ABSTRACT
In the spring of 1931, young social workers from various private agencies in New York City staged a debate on the nature of the depression. Out of this debate grew the Social Workers Discussion Club (SWDC), which characterized itself as “an open forum for the analysis of basic problems and their relation to social work.” The SWDC early in its existence had made social action part of its program as well. The Association of Federation Workers (AFW) had begun to spread the message of a social worker “protective organization,” and what came to be called “Rank and File” ideology inside the social work profession, shortly after its creation. In cooperation with the SWDC the AFW created the Committee to Protect Standards of Workers in Social Agencies. The dominant personality behind the AFW’s organizational work was Jacob Fisher—who in 1932 was a young case work assistant supervisor at the Jewish Social Service Association.
