Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy

"Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict."

Saul Alinsky

Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy

Saul David Alinsky, community activist, was born in Chicago on Jan. 30, 1909. He was the son of Jewish Russian immigrants, Benjamin Alinsky and Sarah Tannenbaum. His father was a tailor and a landlord. Saul was raised in a Jewish Ghetto in Chicago. His father pushed him to study and his mother instilled in him a sense of responsibility to stand up for others, teaching him that you can’t just walk away from injustice. Saul attended University of Chicago where he earned his Bachelor’s in Philosophy and then continued graduate study in criminology. This was during the time of the Great Depression.

Saul was interested in the connection between poverty/powerlessness and crime. He worked at the Institute for Juvenile Research and the Joliet State Prison during the 1930’s. At this time he became involved with Al Capone’s empire so that he could study gangs from the inside out. Saul was assigned to the back of the yards, an industrial working class neighborhood or slum, to learn the causes of juvenile delinquency. His work there ended up going far beyond that; Saul helped the people in the community unite to form “The Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council” which held its first meeting on July 14^th, 1939.

Saul believed that participation in the political process was the key to democracy. He brought together organizations that already existed in the community including the labor union, churches, and over 100 other organizations. United, they were able to make a show of power and change working conditions for the working class citizens in the community. Out of this Saul went on to create the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), which set out to train ordinary community members on how to organize and participate in politics so that they can create social change. At the time of this documentary the IAF was involved in creating over 50 organizations.

One of the organizations to come out of the IAF was The Woodlawn Organization (TWO) which was created on the south side of Chicago in 1959. Saul challenged the mayor, Richard Daley, who controlled the community and only looked out for “his own people”. The African American community was completely left out of the political process. The voter rolls were declared corrupt and everyone was made to re-register. Despite attempts to block mobilization, busloads of people from the African American community arrived to register, shifting the power structure in the city of Chicago.

In Rochester New York, Saul Alinsky was called in on the wake of race riots that broke out in response to the growing tension between the have’s and have not’s. The unemployment rate for African Americans was at 25% despite economic prosperity that was experienced by the surrounding communities. Saul helped organize an organization called FIGHT. The underlying philosophy was that large corporations had a responsibility to the surrounding community. The biggest employer in the area was Kodak, with 40,000 workers. FIGHT insisted that Kodak come to an agreement to develop a job training program and employ 600 community members. When Kodak refused to honor the request, Saul launched an aggressive attack from the inside out, using the stockholders to pressure Kodak. Eventually, Kodak and FIGHT came to an agreement.

Saul Alinsky laid the foundation for community organization through his radical ideas and actions. He knew how to deal with confrontation and how to unite self interest groups to organize behind issues to create a show of power. Saul Alinsky died of a heart attack on June 12, 1972 at the age of 63. His legacy lives on through the IAF.

http://www.industrialareasfoundation.org/

In the documentary, Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy, two organizations that have been developed through the IAF are presented; East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC) and Dallas Area Interfaith (DAI). EBC was involved with getting community members together to fight for affordable housing units to be developed under the Nehemiah Plan in East Brooklyn, NY. Their direct target was the Mayor of New York. DAI was involved with lobbying for funding of a program called Alliance Schools, which improved public school performance. Community members are trained on how to meet face to face with their representatives to push for more funding. In both initiatives the organizations were able to elicit a reaction from local politicians and gain support for their programs. These examples show ordinary people taking back the power over their communities through organizing and participating in the political process.

Prior to viewing this documentary I had never heard of Saul Alinsky. This was an excellent introduction for me. I am amazed at his ability to see right to the problem and go after it. The truth is that many Americans are disheartened with the political process and intimidated by civic engagement. I have to admit that when I saw the organization named FIGHT I was thinking to myself “Why would you choose a name like that?” when it will set people off. The answer was that the name was chosen TO set people off. Issues need to be confronted.

"Always remember the first rule of power tactics; power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have."
Saul Alinsky

Sources:

Hercules, B. & Orenstein, B. (1999). Democratic promise: Saul Alinsky and his legacy. Media Process Educational Film and Chicago Video Program.