The International Workers Order began with a split of the Workmen's Circle, a Jewish mutual benefit society of social democratic coloration. Principle functions of the organization included the provision of unemployment, sickness, and life insurance and a setting for the discussion of social problems. This was byproduct of the Third Period ideology of the Communist movement, summed up by the slogan "Class Against Class" -- in which parallel organizations of revolutionary purity was sought as a general principle. It was, however, the end of a long and frustrating effort at winning the Workmen's Circle to a new line through the process of internal politics -- an effort which was thwarted at every turn by the Right majority of the organization.