NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE M ore blue-collar American men aged 25–54 than ever are no longer employed and seeking work. That sad trend started in the late 1960s, coinciding with President Johnson’s “Great Society” welfare policies, and has strengthened ever since. Today, more than half of “Not in Labor Force” prime-age men are on some form of government disability and not working. 

Five decades of welfare dependency seems to have led to the demoralization of these men, and that represents a tragic loss to them, to their families, and to the economy. What can we do to help these men succeed again?

Could it be that one thing they are missing is camaraderie? What if we could find ways to revive the pre–Great Society tradition of mutual-aid societies, which were fraternal organizations aimed at furthering virtuous behavior and helping out when troubles arose?

In the 21st century, we tend to forget about the importance of civil society, the role that businesses and private associations play in allowing us to come together to further our interests. Rather than seeing civil society as a place to turn to for help, Americans tend to look to the state to address social issues.

However, it wasn’t always this way. Mutual-aid societies were pivotal in American society during the first half of the 20th century; historians estimate a third of all adult males were members of one in 1910.

These organizations were diverse in their membership and benefits. Some focused on providing the sick with care in hospitals, while other societies provided burial services and orphanages for the children of members. They were a key part of the fabric of civil society. 

A great example of that can be found in the history of Ybor City, a neighborhood of Tampa. The city boasted vibrant mutual-aid societies in the early 1900s that exemplified how private individuals can organize to solve social issues within their communities. In the 1880s, Tampa had around 800 residents. In 1885, Vicente Martinez Ybor moved his cigar factory to Tampa (hence the neighborhood called Ybor City). Other manufacturers followed, with over 150 cigar factories in Tampa by 1910, and the population boomed to between 40,000–50,000 people. Most of the workers in these factories were immigrants, largely originating from Spain, Cuba, or Italy.

With the growing population, social problems arose, ranging from ethnic tensions and language barriers to the spread of diseases. In 1891, due to anti-Spanish sentiment in Ybor City, a group of Spaniards formed the help group Centro Español. The club required members to pay 25 cents a week to access social privileges, as well as death and injury benefits. Others followed. In 1902, a group of members of Centro Español left and formed Centro Asturiano. This organization catered to northern Spaniards and was the first mutual-aid society in Ybor to erect a hospital. Círculo Cubano was a mutual-aid society for Cuban immigrants, with a focus on “bind[ing] all Cuban residents of Tampa into a fraternal group, to offer assistance and help the sick.” Other fraternities formed, such as L’Unione Italiana and La Unión Martí-Maceo (targeted at black Cubans), providing aid as well as recreational activities.

Just like mutual-aid societies elsewhere in the country, fraternities in Ybor City often provided health coverage for members for a small fee of around $1.50 a month (a little over $50 adjusted for inflation in 2023). This coverage included a state-of-the-art hospital, pharmacies, doctors, and cemeteries. After Centro Asturiano’s hospital, rival Centro Español built their own. These hospitals were efficient, providing services at a fraction of the costs of others. One Ybor resident is quoted in Tampa Cigar Workers: A Pictorial History as saying, “When we got to this country, we had to take care of ourselves. No one else would do it for us. These clubs provided a kind of hospitalization insurance that was unheard of in the old days.”

While these organizations were built on a model of cooperative social medicine, this was not socialism. Members voluntarily entered these organizations, and their resources were controlled privately by individual aid societies, not by the state. Ybor’s mutual-aid societies also provided outlets for cultural enrichment, erecting their own club buildings, theaters, gymnasiums, dinner canteens, and even bowling alleys.

Ybor City history shows how societies today could address and solve social issues without the state. Many conservatives today are calling for outright redistribution in the form of family-welfare programs, so the time is now to rediscover the time when needs were met through mutual aid — long before the advent of the American welfare state.

Workers’ sick benefits, virtue, family aid, and social cohesion were all provided for and cultivated privately. Mutual aid is actually a free-market-based solution to promote the common good within society. Early 20th century Ybor City provides an example of how it could work.

Iain Murray is a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where Samuel Peterson is a research associate.