Web Editor’s Foreward

Forty years ago, the editors of this updated text noted the ongoing influence of Walter Citrine’s ABC of Chairmanship across the union and Labour movement since its original publication in 1939. Remarkably this has continued into the twenty-first century, and any thorough excavation of the rules and order of most modern organisations of this type will show their basis in Citrine’s original standard.

Yet while the influence remains, the broader recognition of this foundational text does not. Unlike its analogous codes Erskine May and Robert’s Rules of Order, Citrine’s text has not been digitised until now, leaving an intellectual gap in the shared understanding of many younger members. They are left relying on passed-down interpretations from experienced officers in their local branches and therefore unable to challenge or utilise the rules for their own purposes.

The text on this website has been edited conservatively and kept almost identical to the print copy it’s based on, the fourth edition originally published by the Fabian Society in 1982, maintaining many small anachronisms from this text. However there has been one major change to note. Despite the assurances of the previous editors that ‘chairman’ did not denote a gender, the use of he/him pronouns to refer to every officer, member, and guest of the organisations discussed is jarring to modern ears and wrong – it needed to change. I have altered them universally to they/them and revised the text where this could introduce ambiguity. I have also changed the role of ‘Chairman’ to ‘Chair’, including the title of this website, as this is now the more common term in the relevant organisations. For the time-being I have left the style of address as ‘Mr’ or ‘Madam Chair’ until a formal gender-neutral standard emerges.

Michael Gribben
December 2022