Editors’ Foreward

Particularly in trade union and Labour Party circles, the ABC of Chairmanship has been considered a definitive guide since its publication in 1939. But it was last revised in 1952. Procedures and practices have changed since then, although mainly in minor respects; the considerable influence exerted by the ABC itself has been a factor in this. Although in updating the book we have taken modern developments into account and employed new examples, we have made few fundamental changes. Readers used to the structure of earlier editions will find the overall layout familiar, although parts of the text have been abbreviated.

There are three additional points. The first echoes Citrine’s original preface – that although this book is written primarily for Labour bodies, there is no reason why it should not be used for and by all other kinds of organisations and societies. The main principles of chairmanship are universal.

The second point is that the title may be a little misleading. Although the book is mainly about chairmanship, secretaries and other officers and members of trade unions, political parties and other organisations should also find it helpful.

Third, should it be chairman or chairperson? The use of ‘chairperson’ is growing, but for us, ‘chairman’ is neuter and does not denote sex; you can have a male or female chairman. An alternative is to call the person who takes the chair ‘the President’, but some organisations have both a chairman and a president. In such a case, the president may be the previous year’s chairman, or it may be an honorary post.

Finally, we should like to thank all those who commented on the revised draft of the book, in particular Francis Jones; HK Communications for the design of the cover and of Appendix B; and Pauline Bryan for the indexing.

Michael Cannell and Norman Citrine
March 1982