The Arbeter Ring (Workmen's Circle) is a Yiddish language-oriented American Jewish fraternal organization loosely connected to the Jewish Humanist movement. Rooted in the proto-nationalism of Yiddishist and, largely socialist, Jewish movements of late 19th Century Eastern Europe, the Arbeiter Ring provides death benefits, insurance and old age homes for its members, as well as schools and camps. Although it has severely shrunk from the days when it was the largest organization of its kind in the country, it is still an active and viable entity. The newspaper of the Arbeiter Ring, The Forward, was reputed to have had the largest national circulation of any non-English language newspaper in the United states. The Forward has recently reemerged in an English language edition and appears to be growing in readership.
While strongly socialist (Bundist) and labor oriented, the political perspective of the Arbeiter Ring has moved somewhat to the right.
