Does Social Work Need Another Rank-and-File Movement?

Nearly fifty years since the founding of NASW in 1955, our profession is once again divided. Although the re-emergence of specialty groups within social work is by and large a positive phenomenon, one byproduct has been the weakening of social work’s two mainstream groups, NASW and CSWE. NASW has not held an annual conference in several years and has no plans to resume such conferences. Social work is now without an annual conference that is truly open to all social workers, social work students and social work educators.The left within social work played a major role in the 1930s and 1940s in building a rank-and-file movement within unions and professional groups, and later contributed to the founding of NASW. Perhaps we need another rank and file movement. Perhaps progressive social workers need to organize discussion groups at the local level to

examine the issues that face our country and the place of social workers in addressing them. Perhaps we also need to recognize that in order for social work to become a truly important voice within

growing social movements for social justice, our professional organizations must cooperate in order to provide an opportunity to gather nationally each year, so that we can compare notes about what is happening in our communities and with our clients and to our agencies.