Rank and file
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For the separate terms "rank" and "file" in chess, see Chess terminology.
For the chess notation system assigning letters to files and numbers to ranks, see Algebraic chess notation.
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In politics and labor unions the rank and file are the individual members of an organization, exclusive of its leadership. The phrase originated in the military, denoting the horizontal "ranks" and vertical "files" of individual foot-soldiers, exclusive of the noncommissioned officers.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "rank and file". Dictionary.com, LLC. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rank+and+file. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
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